Writing an OSR Novel

There was screaming coming from below. 

Down a short flight of steps was a stone archway opening into some kind of gallery. All Dariel could see were figures moving and a flickering green light. She leapt down the steps and rushed into the room, leading with the buckler on her forearm.

Here, the floor was made of stone blocks instead of packed earth and sconces on the wall glowed with unnatural green flames that burned from no visible source. Piles of bones were gathered in alcoves along the walls. Several of those piles had apparently collected themselves together and stood up, because there were four skeletons in the room. The eye sockets of their skulls glowed with red light and they clutched ancient swords. At their feet lay one of the elves Dariel had met earlier, a rusty blade stuck through her throat. The other elf was cowering against the opposite wall, screaming.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of my work-in-progress novel, THE COMPANY. Trying to find her way into a life of adventure, Dariel has decided to join a "funnel," a mass dungeon crawl with a bunch of other untrained adventurer-hopefuls. Unfortunately, what seemed a promising opportunity proves to be a deathtrap for most, and presents Dariel with a choice about what kind of adventurer she is going to become. 

THE COMPANY is a "dungeon lit" fantasy adventure novel. It's the tale of Dariel, a woman who dreams of starting her own adventuring company with her friends Jase and Quintus, and the troubles and adventures they encounter along the way, from questionable deals with the Shadow Dwarf Cabal to creeping through an underground city with no light source, trying to avoid the attention of gargoyles, to discovering just what that magic ring really does, after all. THE COMPANY is a tale of found friendship and following your dream--even if that dream happens to be crawling through dank underground rooms filled with things that want to kill you and eat you.

The seed that would become THE COMPANY began with an idea for a game about running and managing an adventuring company. It was a backburnered idea - I'm an author, not a game designer, after all. Then, about a year ago, while mired in revisions on a book I had completely stalled out on, I had a conversation with a friend about creative pursuits and doing it for the joy of the work. I re-assessed my priorities and decided to start work on something fun, refreshing, and exciting. What if I took that idea for a game about running an adventuring company and wrote a story about it, instead? Thus, THE COMPANY was born.

“Lookout!” shouted someone behind her. She heard a thwang, and an arrow whistled past her head, shooting into the ribcage of one of the skeletons. The arrow punched clean through a ragged scrap of fabric and out the other side but the skeleton seemed unfazed.

One of the skeletons lumbered towards her, swinging its sword awkwardly. Dariel raised the buckler and the blade clanged off it, making her arm vibrate. She swung her sword down hard, chopping at the skeleton. Her blade struck the thing’s clavicle and she heard a crack, but the old blade broke free of the hilt and clattered to the floor uselessly.

“Shit!” She scrambled backwards as the skeleton swung awkwardly again. “Blades and arrows are useless,” she cried, hoping either the elf or the goblin archer had some other weapon handy.

THE COMPANY is an OSR-inspired novel! I wanted the book to have the feel of something exciting and dangerous - where heroism is earned rather than the default assumption. The characters lean on their wits and creative solutions to solve problems and survive inside Mythbarrow, the fantastic megadungeon that is the setting for much of the novel.

When developing the world, I leaned on details and random tables from OSR games like Shadowdark and Old School Essentials. I used these tools to generate location details, character names and traits, history, as well as things like adventuring supply expenses - very important when managing an adventuring company. 

I used the tools in Josh McCrowell and Warren D's Designing Dungeons course to design Mythbarrow. Their prompts on theme, background, and space were especially helpful in coming up with the history of the megadungeon and how different levels within Mythbarrow look and feel.

Much of the planning of the novel was very much like how I plan my upcoming sessions as a GM. I figure out where the characters are headed, flesh out dungeons, NPCs, monsters, and treasure, then toss the characters in and see what happens!

I also got to poke fun at what it would look like to live in a world where the bureaucracy of fantasy adventuring is the norm - resurrection insurance premiums, adventuring licenses, and shady contracts are all problems the character struggle with just as much as slime wizards and giant spiders.

A second skeleton clambered towards her. The other two were heading across the room towards the other elf. Dariel dropped the useless hilt of her broken sword and swung with her fist at the skeleton in front of her. She struck it square in the face. Its jaw careened off into the darkness and its nose and cheekbone shattered. The thing staggered back just as the other skeleton closed in on her.

She tried to twist to get the buckler up in time, but it was on her opposite side and she was off-balance. She felt a blow on her right bicep and then a jagged spike of pain that made her shout. Black spots swam in her vision and tears sprang unbidden to her eyes.

Was this it? Was this how she was going down? Her first dungeon crawl?

The characters continually surprised me as the book grew and evolved. I'm normally a planner but I had only the loosest of outlines for this book, and instead it was the decisions the characters made confronting the situations that really shaped the direction of the story. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but there were certainly some moments that happened between characters that came as big surprises to me!

So what happens next? I'm currently working through revisions. If you'd like to be a Beta Reader for the novel, email me at shannon.rampe@yahoo.com or hit me up on Bluesky (either my TTRPG blogger handle, @thenovelgamemaster or my author handle @shannonrampeauthor). I would love some input and feedback from the community, as well as ideas for where you'd like to see future books go and what kind of trouble you'd like to see Dariel, Quintus, and Jase get into next!

To hell with that. She rolled out of the way, landing atop the skeleton she had punched just as it was trying to climb back to its feet. She caved its skull the rest of the way in with the buckler, trying not to worry about the blood that seemed to be everywhere.

“Use this!” someone shouted. She glanced up and saw the half-gnome. He was holding one of the long, wooden hammers that the elves had been carrying. He slid it across the floor towards her.

Dariel snatched it and swept it up in one motion, driving the hammer’s head into the breastbone of the second skeleton as it bore down on her again. Bone splintered as the skeleton exploded into dusty shards. “Thanks,” Dariel called. 

If you'd like to stay abreast of Dariel's adventures, keep an eye on my blog here, but also consider signing up for my author newsletter at shannonrampe.com. I'll send out news about the book as well as sample chapters as things progress next year.