Still bamboozled by OSR? Well, that’s alright, because you can leave that behind you and take up the standard for KSR! What is ‘Classic Swedish Roleplay’ and why does it have such a grip on me?
Let’s start with Anders Blixt, a key author of many Swedish roleplaying games, particularly in the 80s. He outlined his take on KSR in the early pages of his new TTRPG Expert Nova.
To quote/paraphrase:
- Skills Rule!: d100 or 1d20 equal to or less than resolution at the core of the game. Character ‘levels’ are not used.
- Medium Powered Adventurers: characters do not power scale like D&D, and hit points tend to stay close to the initial score. Combat is deadly and needs ot be taken seriously. No nuclear magic (or tech).
- Brains before brawn: social interactions generally pay off
- Genre-emulating settings: The selected genre defines the setting, with open ended adventures, with plenty of problem solving. Milieus with broad vistas and flexibility for the games master.
My recent daliance with Hjältarnas tid confirms that it is placed deep in the heart of KSR. The Swedes themselves will argue on the terminology, and its applicability beyond a narrow strata of locally produced RPGs. It’s a delight to see the tensions of terminology systematisation apply to KSR as much as OSR.
I think Anders’ simple categorisation pretty much nails it. The KSR term has been described by RPG fan Whilpers. Here are some quoted sections of his presentation:
There are no rules for what constitutes KSR, but there are guidelines. Not everyone will agree on what is KSR and what isn’t, that’s natural.
KSR describes both rules and a style of play
Rules
- The game has simple rules. Probably the whole game fits into a book of 50-100 pages.
- It is easy to determine one’s chance of succeeding with an action, and the decision comes from dice rolls, preferably percentage rolls from BRP.
- Pool systems and freeform are not KSR.
Play style
- The genre is the gaming world. In order to start, the players do not need to study the game world. It is enough to get an explanation in a few words.
- The game is played in the form of adventures, prepared stories that should resemble stories in books or movies. The game manager fights against a game system that is actually quite unsuitable for the task in order to achieve that goal.
- The game leader is faced with the question of whether it is OK to “cheat” in order not to ruin the adventure.
KSR does not have to be Swedish
KSR doesn’t really say anything about what language the game is written in.
“Swedish” is included in the name to distinguish it from classic RPGs in general, which for the rest of the world are probably early versions of D&D. Games in that style are already referred to by the by now well established term OSR.
OSR stands for Old School Revival/Renaissance/Revolution, depending on who you ask, playing RPGs like you did when you played D&D in the late 70’s and possibly early 80’s.
Classic Swedish Roleplaying here means the own games similar to those that Áventyrsspel released in the period 1984-1990. Adventure games completely dominated the scene for a decade, so for old Swedish roleplayers, “classic” is probably their products, and not D&D.
Adventure Games also released quite a few more or less direct translations of English-language games, eg Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (MERP), which I don’t consider KSR, based on their rules engines, not their original languages.
Depending on how purist you wish to be, then I would say that Free League’s new Dragonbane is fundamentally KSR, cleaving to a style of the 80s and 90s, albeit with a fresh sprinkling of modern design. It is Drakkar och Demoner after all.
Why do I gravitate to KSR, even after huge dollops of thoroughly enjoyable D&D 4th Edition, stuffed with rich, high fantasy, fullness? In part, it will be the heady nostalgia of the 80s and 90s, where BRP, or Stormbringer centred systems, were a deep well of fertile exploration and game development. I’m essentially a traditional roleplayer, with more than a swathe of narrativist applications. The simple simulationism of KSR appeals deeply, along with the brevity of ruleset that goes with it. Rulebooks that encompass the game at 130 pages or less? Thank you. Er, and the approachable bite size supplements that expand on the base game too. And the adventures, and…
I think my KSR allegiance runs a touch deeper than the simple and intuitive d100% roll under skill systems, though that takes me a long way. Lower powered characters, who are yet heroes, and where combat is continuously dangerous (if carefully manageable through subsystems and playstyle) due to the inherent rulesystem, rather than the ascneding ‘level bubble’ is important to me. Perhaps both approaches achieve the same thing, but KSR does it with a lot less fuss.
Evocatively drawn game worlds that can be explored quickly, principally through the process of adventure also appeals, leaving the spaces needed for the group to create detail when needed to provide context at the right time.
And yet, as I step back, I see some similarities of OSR and KSR, if you take some mechanical considerations out of the equation. Fast play, deadly encounters.
I’m no hostage to any codified game banner, and yet I feel most comfortable with KSR. I might throw in some push mechanics, or sit back and enjoy the freeform traits and dice swapping of Hjältarnas tid and be happy. And, whilst I am at it, I must pick up a copy of Expert Nova.