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[Dimirag]

I would say OSR is more RIAYNI: Rule It As You Need It

[Tazer_The_Yoot]

Very common house rule for level one characters to get full hp.

As to the deadly nature of low level. That is a fundamental characteristic of old school. Characters start off just a scoach above the normal non-adventuring person. Nobody is heroic at level one. Goals for level one is to survive to level two or more. Heroic adventurers have paid the price as low level for often a long period of time.

This is a feature of old school play... not a flaw.

I always tell people that low levels in OSR are deadly *if* you choose to get involved in a lot of combat, especially head to head combat. I encourage selective application of violence and especially strategic avoidance of it in my games. Finding a way to befriend or avoid an ogre gains you the same amount of xp at my table as slaying it. Violence is sometimes, but not always, the answer.

[Rosisha]

This is a good point. I had a ton of fun having a fighter harvest stone from a cleared dungeon and sell it to masons. The campaign came to a complete stop as we all shifted attention to become merchants.