TEXT: PRINCIPIA
  APOCRYPHA
  Elementary Axioms & Aphorisms
  On Running & Playing Tabletop RPGs
  In The Old School Style From
  Ben Milton & Steven Lumpkin
  Assembled & Ammended By David Perry
  Illustrated & Illuminated By Evlyn Moreau
  
  This version is optimized for mobile 
  devices and other small screens. Find a 
  booklet version suited for wide screens 
  and printing, as well as other 
  supplementary material at 
  lithyscaphe.blogspot.com/p/principia-
  apocrypha.html
  Many thanks to G+ friends, the RPG Talk 
  Discord, and the rest of the Gygaxian 
  Democracy for their wisdom, proofing, 
  and copyediting 
  A special thanks to 
  Evlyn Moreau & Eric Nieudan
  Layout by David Perry via Scribus
  Fonts used are ITC Souvenir & Lora
  This work may be freely distributed 
  under the Creative Commons 
  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 
  4.0 International License
  
  Attribution Key
  M  Ben Milton
  Game designer of Knave and reviewer
  at Questing Beast: questingblog.com
  Original principle text from Maze Rats: 
  drivethrurpg.com/product/197158
  L  Steven Lumpkin
  GM of Rollplay: The West Marches 
  Original principle text from 
  Agendas for Old School Gaming posts: 
  roll1d100.blogspot.com
  P  David Perry
  Humble additions from 
  a neophyte syncretic GM
  lithyscaphe.blogspot.com
  Illustrations by Evlyn Moreau
  Artist and creator of Chromatic Soup
  chaudronchromatique.blogspot.com
  
  Introduction
  Introduction
  
  Rediscovering the context 
  of old school gaming
  Players and GMs newly discovering the 
  old school style of RPG play might lack 
  the historical context that rules 
  designers sometimes take for granted as 
  implicit. Many rules-light games in the 
  old school style don’t include much 
  guidance on running the game. I 
  imagine newcomers might feel quite 
  lost, or have a bad experience running 
  or playing them.
  So I decided to compile some advice, 
  borrowing the effective, evocative style 
  of "GM Principles" used by Apocalypse 
  World and other Powered by the 
  Apocalypse games.
  These principles are primarily from two 
  sources that are excellent in their own 
  right: Maze Rats, a rules-light, old 
  
  school style RPG by Ben Milton, and 
  some thoughtful posts and vlogs by 
  Steven Lumpkin, on his blog Roll 1d100. 
  These sources are attributed using the 
  symbols noted in the frontmatter. I’ve 
  taken some liberty to edit them into a 
  more cohesive whole, given them 
  concise and salient titles, as well as 
  expounding on them and adding a few 
  principles myself.
  What is old school style play?
  A concise definition is difficult and 
  subjective, but I like how Ben Milton has 
  characterized it:
  “The more of the following a campaign 
  has, the more old school it is: high 
  lethality, an open world, a lack of pre-
  written plot, an emphasis on creative 
  problem solving, an exploration-centered 
  reward system (usually XP for treasure), 
  
  a disregard for "encounter balance", and 
  the use of random tables to generate 
  world elements that surprise both players 
  and referees. Also, a strong do-it-yourself 
  attitude and a willingness to share your 
  work and use the creativity of others in 
  your game.”
  These elements were present in the 
  early years of the hobby. At first, they 
  may seem crude, cumbersome, or 
  outdated. But many players find the 
  kind of gameplay that emerges from 
  these elements very compelling. They 
  can invoke creativity, engagement, 
  wonder, and a sense of accomplishment.
  The appreciation of old school style play 
  shouldn’t be misconstrued as chasing a 
  sense of nostalgia. That can be true for 
  some, but an increasing number of 
  players who enjoy this style weren’t 
  alive when these rules were popular. 
  
  And beyond simple retro-clone and re-
  hash rulesets, there are many elegant 
  modernizations, reinterpretations, and 
  entirely new and innovative rulesets 
  that foster this style of play, and even 
  more that permit it.
  For links to suggested games and more 
  introductory material, visit 
  lithyscaphe.blogspot.com/p/principia-
  apocrypha.html
  Using the principles
  It may be helpful to think of these 
  principles as rules that you as a GM 
  follow, supplementary to the written 
  game rules. When you aren't sure what 
  to do in an uncertain situation, think 
  back to them. They can help guide the 
  game to support old school style play.
  
  It should go without saying that they 
  won't all apply equally to your game or a 
  certain adventure, depending on its 
  style, tone, scope, and so on. They are 
  written in a commanding style to be 
  memorable, but take them with a grain 
  of salt and feel free to ignore or break 
  the ones that don’t work for your table. 
  When approaching a ruleset with a 
  certain play style in mind, it’s likely that 
  aspects of both will fight each other. But 
  don’t agonize over gaming philosophy 
  before actually running a game. Every 
  GM and every group of players is so 
  different that you will need to try them 
  out in practice. Ask your players how 
  they feel about the experience, and 
  make house rules, or change systems. 
  Play is more of a messy, amorphous act 
  than a solid piece of art to be perfected.
  
  The OSR & 
  the Cardinal Principle
  The “Old School Renaissance”, or OSR, is 
  a scene and community of people who 
  enjoy the old school style of play. As 
  with any other community, it's 
  composed of all kinds of folks sharing 
  ideas with one another. Inevitably, some 
  of those ideas will be strongly-held 
  opinions. Some people have louder 
  voices, and some are deliberately 
  provocative. Drama, miscommunication, 
  conflict and harassment can and will 
  happen. And as with any other 
  community, it's up to all of its members 
  to foster and maintain a healthy 
  environment, for themselves and 
  newcomers.
  
  But when it comes down to it, 
  remember this Cardinal Principle:
  Your Table is Yours
  How you and your friends play games is 
  not magically dictated by the opinions 
  of others. No one gets to tell you and 
  your players how to have fun. Find out 
  what works for your table. 
  I imagine that if someone says you’re 
  doing things wrong, they mean well. 
  They want to help you have the same 
  kind of experiences that they find fun. 
  But there are any number of hidden 
  variables between their experience and 
  yours. The principles are partially meant 
  to help disambiguate what people mean 
  by “OSR” and old school style play, and 
  clarify the reasoning behind certain 
  rules and methods.
  
  That said, the OSR is full of incredibly 
  creative folks and an abundance of 
  unique and engaging content for 
  inspiration or direct use in your games. 
  If you’re not a part of it already, please, 
  take this as an invitation to join the 
  conversation and share your own ideas! 
  The OSR thrives on new perspectives 
  and pushing the boundaries of what can 
  be done with these games.
  In other words, the OSR scene is not a 
  set of rules to follow, it’s an ever-
  growing “Appendix N”.
  —David Perry   
  
  Be an
  Impartial
  Arbiter
  Be an Impartial Arbiter
  
  Rulings Over Rules
  P The primeval old school principle. Old 
  school style games are often sparse in 
  what situations their rules cover. There 
  are often minimal, or no "skills" or 
  "feats". This is a feature, not a bug. The 
  flexibility this openness allows is a big 
  part of the appeal of old school style 
  games. Let players take advantage of 
  this openness and try crazy things (and 
  apply logic to taste).
  P When you encounter a situation that 
  the rules don't seem to cover, don't get 
  distracted searching for it. Instead, 
  make a common-sense ruling within the 
  spirit of the game and move on. It 
  doesn’t have to be perfect. Later, if you 
  find there is in fact no rule and it could 
  come up again, make a note of the 
  ruling and apply it consistently.
  
  Divest Yourself of Their Fate
  P As GM (or Judge or Referee, perhaps 
  more appropriate for old school style 
  games), you are not an antagonist to the 
  players or characters. Nor are you an 
  author writing their story. Portray the 
  world and embody its denizens 
  genuinely, as they would react to the 
  characters’ behavior. Don’t set out to tell 
  a story, let one emerge from the 
  characters’ interactions with the world.
  M Be fair and impartial. Do not fudge 
  rolls and avoid rolling in secret. This 
  keeps the game honest and dangerous, 
  and prevents any accusations of 
  favoritism or railroading. It also 
  encourages the players to manipulate 
  and engage with the fictional world, 
  rather than with the GM.
  
  Leave Preparation Flexible
  M Don’t prepare a plot for the players to 
  follow. During the game, observe how 
  the players deal with a situation, and 
  extrapolate the effects of their actions 
  based on what you know. Don’t plan the 
  results too far ahead of time; players 
  rarely do what you expect them to.
  M Don’t overdo the preparation! Keep 
  your situation ideas loose enough that 
  they can be adapted to the PC’s choices 
  and the flow of the game. Remember 
  that unused prep can always be recycled 
  in later sessions. After each session, ask 
  the players what they plan on doing 
  next and prep a few situations related to 
  that. The direction of the game should 
  be guided by the player’s decisions, not 
  the GM’s.
  
  P Some RPG products are more like 
  toolkits than sourcebooks, helping you 
  adapt and build a unique, flexible 
  setting around your players, rather than 
  being restricted to a rigid, dictated 
  instance of someone else’s.
  Build Responsive Situations
  P Establish situations with several 
  actors or factions pursuing their own 
  ends. Let the players’ actions affect this 
  environment, and let the consequences 
  affect the players in turn. Show the 
  situations worsening if the players don’t 
  address them.
  M One way to create interesting 
  situations is to draw a grid that maps 
  the relationships between the elements 
  of a situation and how they relate and 
  interact, or how the party might 
  intervene.
  
  Embrace Chaos...
  P Listen to that capricious muse, the 
  dice. Relying only on your own 
  imagination can become exhausting and 
  predictable, and can feel less like a 
  concrete world to the players. And 
  external inspiration and random results 
  help you divest yourself of their fate.
  M Use random tables to keep the game 
  fresh. The surprising twists that random 
  tables add can bring an energy and 
  mystery to the game that is hard to 
  improvise.
  ...But Uphold Logic
  P But don’t use random results to the 
  extent that the world feels nonsensical. 
  If there is an obvious choice, 
  consequence, or cause, use it. This can 
  help maintain verisimilitude and let 
  
  players make reasonable plans. It also 
  emphasizes the surprise and intrigue of 
  the instances of randomness when you 
  do use them. You might also customize 
  random tables to give a more cohesive 
  feel to your game’s setting.
  Let Them Off the Rails
  P Feel free to let them know where 
  most of your prep is, but if you expect 
  them to zig and they zag, don’t 
  constrain or re-route them. If you don’t 
  know what comes next, let random 
  tables fill in the blanks, then build on it 
  between sessions. Find the excitement 
  they see and embrace, too, the chaos of 
  the players.
  
     
  Thinking
  Them
  Get
  Get Them Thinking
  
  XP for Discovery and Adversity
  P Many old school style games directly 
  correlate XP earned with the value of 
  treasure returned to safety. This is a 
  convenient abstraction of the 
  characters learning from the 
  exploration and adversity of retrieving 
  that treasure.
  P XP may also be granted for defeating 
  monsters, but that doesn't necessarily 
  mean killing them. And the XP value is 
  usually much less than that of the 
  treasure they guard. This incentivizes 
  players to out-think monsters instead of 
  defaulting to violence.
  P XP-for-treasure is like the fuel of the 
  game's engine. Player decisions almost 
  always hinge upon it. It's also an 
  effective control knob. By adjusting the 
  amount of treasure available, you can 
  
  control the rate of PCs leveling. And you 
  can tailor the focus of your game by 
  adding value to exploring wilderness, 
  saving prisoners, acquiring books, 
  artisanal brewing ingredients, 
  crystallized memories...
  Player Ingenuity Over 
  Character Ability
  M Old school PCs are very minimalistic 
  because the character sheet is mostly 
  there for when players make a mistake. 
  Players are not meant to solve problems 
  with die rolls, but with their own 
  ingenuity. Present them with problems 
  that don’t require obscure knowledge, 
  have no simple solution, but have many 
  difficult solutions.
  M Examples: Cross a moat of crocodiles. 
  A door in a deep dungeon only opens in 
  sunlight. A key in a lake of acid.
  
  Cleverness Rewarded, 
  Not Thwarted
  M Be generous with clever solutions to a 
  problem, as long as they are within the 
  realm of possibility. If the action is 
  unlikely or dangerous, call for a save or 
  ability check, but only forbid a creative 
  solution if it is clearly impossible.
  M If players tend not to think this way, 
  present them with situations that are 
  nearly impossible to tackle head on, and 
  strongly reward even slightly creative 
  solutions. One of your goals as a GM is 
  to encourage this mentality. Feel free to 
  tell your players that cleverness will get 
  them farther than brute force.
  P Give them the benefit of the doubt 
  when they’ve worked to give themselves 
  the upper hand in the fiction. Don’t shy 
  away from giving mechanical advantage.
  
  Ask Them How They Do It
  P Encourage players to interrogate the 
  fiction of the environment “manually”, 
  asking them to describe the manner in 
  which they interact, rather than eliding 
  their actions via a roll or assumed 
  character ability. You can always grant 
  them a roll for a discovery or insight if 
  they give up.
  Let Them Manipulate The World
  M The focus of the game should be on 
  creative problem solving, not brute 
  force, so give players tools to make that 
  appealing. When you give players tools, 
  you give them new ways to engage with 
  the world. Add elements that allow the 
  players to bend the world to their will.
  M For example: rival factions to 
  manipulate, potions with weirdly 
  
  specific effects, items that can be 
  combined or repurposed, dungeons 
  with shortcuts and back passages. 
  Good Items Are Unique Tools
  M A good tool doesn’t (only) increase 
  PCs’ damage or add an ability bonus; it 
  does an odd, very specific thing that is 
  only powerful when used cleverly. This 
  turns every problem into a puzzle and 
  encourages creative solutions.
  M Examples: A rope that becomes as 
  rigid as steel on command. A coin that 
  lands on any result you wish when 
  flipped. A bell that produces silence.
  P Just don’t let magic items become 
  superpowers that trivialize every 
  challenge. Give them a downside, an 
  interesting cost, or a chance to deplete 
  each time it is used.
  
  Don’t Mind The Fourth Wall
  P Don’t worry much about 
  “metagaming”, or the dissonance 
  between what the players know and 
  what the characters know. Favor the 
  ingenuity of the players over strict 
  personification of their characters.
  
  Build     
  Rocks & Hard
  Places
  Build Rocks & Hard Places
  
  Offer Tough Choices
  M Make the players weigh risk versus 
  reward. The deeper players go into the 
  wilderness or dungeon, the more 
  perilous things should become. 
  Whether because resources are running 
  low (food, health, equipment, light, etc.) 
  or because danger builds the longer 
  they linger, keep the players asking if it 
  is worth pushing their luck just a little 
  bit farther. The greatest treasures are 
  always the hardest to reach.
  M Risk and reward are also at the heart 
  of combat. The PCs’ low health is meant 
  to push combat quickly toward the 
  point where players ask themselves, 
  “Should I retreat to fight another day, or 
  do I risk it all to finish them now?” The 
  thrill of that choice is at the heart of 
  combat.
  
  M Look for situations where all obvious 
  choices come with a heavy cost. These 
  situations encourage unorthodox 
  solutions and lateral thinking.
  Build Challenges 
  With Multiple Answers...
  P Avoid singular chokepoints to 
  progress. Give them obvious, equally, 
  but differently-difficult alternatives. You 
  can also keep an extra option in your 
  pocket that they have to dig for. Maybe 
  it’s obscure, but preferable. Maybe it’s 
  just as difficult, but more beneficial.
  L "There's a magically locked iron gate 
  the players have to get past... how could 
  they? I guess one of the NPCs has a 
  key... and there's a potion of Eat Metal 
  hidden in room 12C." When you build 
  your adventures, seed them with 
  challenges that you know the answer to. 
  
  Maybe the player characters have a core 
  capability to get past the challenge, or 
  maybe you've just placed the solution 
  somewhere else for them to find. Use 
  these to encourage players to dig into 
  the fiction, and explore. If a challenge is 
  critical for the continuation of the 
  adventure, consider placing a few 
  solutions. Three is a good number. 
  ...And Challenges 
  With No Answer
  P Trust in your players. Let them 
  surprise you and find answers to 
  problems that you couldn’t expect, and 
  can’t help them with. These can be the 
  most rewarding challenges.
  L "The deeps are stalked by a living 
  maelstrom of ravenous psychic energy. 
  If the players want to get the Golden 
  Falcon they'll have to get past it, but I 
  
  have no idea how they'll manage that."  
  These exist to force players to be 
  creative in ways that surprise everyone 
  at the table. Be cautious with placing 
  these as challenges critical for the 
  continuation of the adventure (unless 
  you intend for players to retreat and 
  come back later), but sprinkling them 
  around can surprise everyone at your 
  table.
  Subvert Their Expectations
  P It’s inevitable that players will have 
  knowledge about common fantasy 
  elements from pop culture. Inject 
  common monsters, locations, and 
  situations with your own unique twists; 
  surprise them. This encourages players 
  to explore these differences and solve 
  new problems they aren’t familiar with.
  
  Dice     
  Death
  With
  Dice With Death
  
  Deadly But Avoidable Combat
  M Combat in old school RPGs is often 
  neither balanced nor fair, and PCs 
  should encounter foes far more 
  powerful and numerous than they are. 
  Players should learn to treat combat like 
  real-world warfare and use ingenuity, 
  preparation and underhanded tactics to 
  rig the results in their favor. Encourage 
  the players to outsmart and out-plan 
  their enemies if they want to survive. 
  P Old school dungeons are usually not 
  about being “cleared” of enemies. 
  Dungeons constrain and focus possible 
  actions. This makes it easier for both 
  the players and the GM to identify, 
  reason about, and plan around the 
  problems presented. Potentially deadly 
  combat is a common problem, one 
  which should encourage solving in a 
  variety of ways other than head-on.
  
  Keep Up The Pressure
  M Whether it’s through random 
  encounter rolls when time passes, or 
  because the dungeon is filling with 
  sand, or because a PC will die in 10 turns 
  from poison, keep the players desperate 
  and on a clock. Maintain a tension 
  between the desire to explore and loot, 
  and the terror of remaining too long.
  P If the players repeat attempts at a 
  challenge, such as a lock-picking check, 
  give them a consequence, such as a 
  chance for wandering monsters. Do be 
  sure to let them breathe; back in town, 
  on long trips through the wilderness, or 
  if they find a safe dungeon room. But 
  always consider a chance for trouble, be 
  it 1-in-6 per hour, day, week, or 
  otherwise.
  
  Let The Dice Kill Them...
  L Remember, the GM is not an 
  antagonist to the players, but their 
  survival is on them. 
  M If the rules and dice say that someone 
  is dead, they’re dead. Protecting the PCs 
  from death can result in games that lack 
  tension, and players who only solve 
  problems with brute force. 
  P Unambiguous character death gives 
  weight to both the risks and rewards of 
  play. Character creation is simple and 
  quick in these games for a reason, and if 
  they have hirelings or retainers, they 
  have instant replacement characters. 
  And don’t worry about players not 
  feeling attached to "simple" characters; 
  they will after gaining something to 
  lose.
  
  ...But Telegraph Lethality
  M Give players the chance to think their 
  way around threats and obstacles by 
  telegraphing them ahead of time. No 
  one likes their death to be random 
  chance. When a PC dies, it should be 
  their fault. 
  P Or at least, they should know why. 
  
  Be 
  TheirWorld
  Be Their World
  
  Reveal The Situation
  M Don’t hide important information 
  from the players. If the PC could 
  reasonably know something, tell the 
  player and move on. The game is about 
  making decisions, and players can’t 
  make good decisions without good 
  information.
  L The players will be probing your 
  vision of this place for useful 
  information. Put your mind into that 
  world, explore, and bring back what's 
  valuable. Likewise, apply a real-world 
  logic to populations and challenges, 
  rather than building a carefully balanced 
  sequence of fights.
  P Assume the characters have common 
  sense, and mention potential danger 
  when it becomes obvious. Don’t make 
  them plummet from a 50 foot cliff 
  
  because the player said they would “hop 
  down” it; they may have heard “five” 
  instead of “fifty”.
  Give Them Layers To Peel
  L What are the PCs aware of already? 
  What do they notice at their first 
  glance? Which of those "first glance" 
  things hides information revealed on 
  closer inspection? How would players 
  get that information? What's obvious, 
  what's subtle, what's hidden, and what's 
  invisible? Create layers of information 
  for the players to peel back and 
  explore. 
  P Some adventure modules indicate 
  what would be obvious to a character to 
  help you parse these layers. If that’s not 
  the case, take care not to blurt out the 
  secrets in a list of the contents of a 
  room. 
  
  Don’t Bury The Lead
  L Keep details of your world gameable. 
  Players should be able to act on the 
  information you're telling them: "Her 
  eyes are a shifting mottled green" helps 
  players remember the NPC, sure–but 
  "...and you notice she never stands more 
  than one long step away from the table 
  and its contents" gives them 
  information they can act on. "The pillars 
  are ornately carved marble... the 
  furthest one is crossed with a 
  latticework of cracks." Your details 
  should allow players to make informed 
  decisions and take effective action. You 
  can hide these details within your 
  layered environments for players to 
  discover, but remember to make them 
  matter.
  P Let unknown mysteries become 
  known problems. Maintaining secret 
  
  lore can be fun, but until it's a problem 
  for the players, it doesn't exist. Tie lore 
  and mysteries into treasure that the 
  players are already want to acquire.
  NPCs Aren't Scripts
  P Give NPCs a motivation or concern 
  that doesn’t involve the PCs. This lends 
  them some depth and grounding, as 
  well as giving the PCs a lever to pull, if 
  they can find it.
  M Treat NPCs like real people. Think 
  about what NPCs want, especially in 
  combat. NPCs want to stay alive, and 
  will rarely start fights that they don’t 
  have a high chance of winning. Only 
  fanatical NPCs will fight to the death; 
  most will try to retreat or surrender if 
  they are losing. Also, remember that 
  enemies and allies can be made to 
  switch sides with the right motivation.
  
  P Use Reaction Rolls and Morale Rolls 
  liberally. Reaction Rolls provide more 
  variety to encounters, and demonstrate 
  that combat isn't always assumed. 
  Morale Rolls encourage battles to end 
  before becoming a slog, or a slaughter.
  Keep The World Alive
  M Old school RPGs shine with 
  improvisation and extrapolation, not 
  rigid plots. During the game and in 
  between sessions, think about how the 
  other characters and factions would 
  respond to what the PCs are doing, and 
  develop them accordingly. Your guiding 
  principle should be “What are the 
  logical consequences?" 
  M Give the players a stake in the world. 
  As the game goes on, players may 
  accumulate a lot of money from 
  completing jobs and looting treasures. 
  
  Encourage them to use this money to 
  buy property, hire retainers, or found 
  factions. This can open up new ways for 
  the players to interact with the world 
  and affect its history. 
  
  Old School 
  Principles
  for Players
  Old School Principles for Players
  
  Learn When To Run
  L Old school adventures often present 
  deadly encounters that, to the eye of a 
  modern gamer, may seem like you’re 
  expected to beat them. Learn to dig into 
  the fiction to see the relative power of 
  what you're facing, and don't be afraid 
  to cut your losses. A party that drags 
  away one dead body is a party on their 
  way to a Cleric, instead of on their way 
  through a monster's digestive system. 
  Combat As War, Not Sport
  P Don’t expect encounters to be 
  “balanced”. Approach combat with as 
  much trepidation and preparation as 
  you would in real life. Nor are 
  encounters self-contained. Think 
  outside the box, outside the encounter 
  area, outside the dungeon. Think like 
  Sun Tzu. Think laterally or die.
  
  Don’t Be Limited By Your 
  Character Sheet
  P Rules and mechanics are only 
  triggered by what happens as 
  established in the conversational fiction 
  of play. To do something, describe your 
  character doing it; if you need to roll 
  dice, the GM will let you know. 
  P When presented with a problem, 
  don't expect to “use” your character’s 
  skills or abilities on it; investigate it by 
  asking the GM questions and describing 
  what your character tries.
  P Don’t worry much about low stats, or 
  roleplaying to match them. If they’re 
  low, it just means you’ll have to be 
  clever, gather information, and plan 
  ahead to avoid dangerous rolls! Or forge 
  ahead, foolhardy, and look forward to 
  rolling up a new character.
  
  Live Your Backstory
  P Don’t put much work into a backstory 
  for your characters. Their experiences 
  in play will be more real to you and your 
  friends than anything you write. An 
  early death won’t sting quite as much, 
  and a survivor will have real tales to tell, 
  and experience to take pride in.
  Power Is Earned,
  Heroism Proven
  P Unlike many modern RPGs, your 
  character starts with little power. Your 
  meager means and abilities at first level 
  encourage lateral thinking to get you 
  out of trouble. Rising to a challenge (or 
  fleeing it) means more when their life is 
  on the line. 
  P Likewise, if you wish to play a true 
  hero, don’t expect anyone to salute you 
  
  when you first ride into town. Prove 
  your heroism through your character’s 
  actions.
  Scrutinize The World
  L Discard any assumptions about other 
  fantasy worlds, and be curious about 
  the one you’re playing in. Pay attention 
  to details—about characters, the 
  environment, social situations, and 
  more. Take notes on them! Make maps 
  of them! Information is leverage, my 
  crafty friend. Those details can save 
  your life. 
  Interrogate The Fiction
  L If you were in a room with a heavy 
  vase in one corner, and you wanted to 
  know what was behind it, what would 
  you do? Probably drag it to the side, 
  
  right? Looking for an air current? Lick a 
  finger and hold it up. Judging the slope 
  of a floor? Spill a little water on the 
  ground. Engage the fiction of the game 
  world as real. Describe the real actions 
  you take to achieve the effect you're 
  looking for. Remember, other games 
  may have dice rolls to do this for you
  —many old school games don't, so 
  engage!
  The Only Dead End Is Death
  L That dead-end hallway may hide a 
  secret door, or maybe there's another 
  passage to investigate. The gargantuan 
  monstrosity in the courtyard? Maybe 
  you can get around it, or negotiate. A 
  recalcitrant noble? Maybe someone 
  knows how to get some leverage. 
  Couldn't pick that iron door? Maybe one 
  of those unidentified potions will help. 
  Old school games have lots of hard 
  
  blockers. When your first attempt fails, 
  change tactics—the dead end is just the 
  beginning of your solution. Often, 
  digging into the fiction and engaging 
  the world as real will open up new and 
  unexpected avenues. 
  Let Your Creativity Flow
  L Your class and/or race can do some 
  unique things the other folks can't. 
  Learn to recognize when it's your turn 
  to shine, and when it's someone else's. 
  When it's your turn, really go for it. 
  Outside of the game mechanics of your 
  character, what are your unique 
  inspirations and ideas? Do you see a 
  clever use for a magic item? Do you 
  want to try negotiating with the 
  ferocious monster? Do you see a 
  weakness in the defenses the others 
  don't immediately recognize? Could you 
  combine a few of these opportunities in 
  
  a unique way? Open up your brain, and 
  let in the weird and the creative. The 
  world is so bizarre... it just might work. 
  Play To Win, Savor Loss
  L Everyone wants to succeed, and 
  certainly everyone wants to play with 
  friends they feel are aiming to succeed
  —but that may not always happen. Your 
  characters may get turned into frog-
  people, lose limbs, be stricken by 
  leprosy, turned into stone, cursed to 
  burp up slugs, entombed in the earth for 
  10,000 years, or just die from being 
  stabbed in the gut by a farmer with a 
  pitchfork. Learn to love the disgusting, 
  horrifying, shocking, surprising, and 
  even disappointing ways your 
  characters are set back. 
  P And remember, through play, a story 
  emerges larger than any one character. 
  
  You will make your mark on the world, 
  be it an unknowingly misleading arrow 
  scratched into a dungeon wall, or a 
  crater where a city once stood. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Goblin Laws of Gaming (GLOG) (osr)/Other/Principia Apocrypha/Principia-Apocrypha-SC-20.pdf