Character Progression and OSR Games

 After recently finishing a 12-session Shadow Dark RPG campaign my players and I debriefed about what we liked and didn't like compared to our normal fantasy RPG of choice, D&D 5e. We came to the conclusion that we really liked the following:

• Because combat is so dangerous, just swinging your sword is not the first thing you think of when you get into conflict. The system inadvertently encouraged talking (even though there aren't social RP mechanics).
• Combat felt tactical. You actually had to worry about positioning, and taking actions in combat that would change the playing field and environment not just reduce HP.
• Exploring felt fun, because your resources mattered. It's almost a meta-combat against the environment. Instead of just tracking HP you had to track rations and torches and the risk-reward of adventuring felt real.
• They felt MORE attached to their characters than in the previous few 5e campaigns because they knew they had to work to keep them alive. 

However, there was one glaring dislike.

• There was no real character progression outside of numerical bits. They sorely missed getting new character powers to add to their character sheet.

This got me thinking ahead for the next game I DM. I want to square the circle of character progression in an OSR-style game (for my group). To do this, I think I will steal the Dungeon Crawl Classics philosophy of "quest for it". So I want to provide quest tables for potential "powers" that players want. Each is a reward for a task. What is nice about this is the non-linearity of character progression. A thief can quest for thief powers, wizard powers, or fighter powers. It would potentially enhance their current play style or let them lean into another. 

1. Spells: Search for a wizard who can train you/grant you this boon and complete a task that he needs a group of adventurers for.
1. The thief wants to be able to cast invisibility so they can go super-stealth. 
2. The cleric wants to harness the power of the Sun god by adding fireball to their spell list.
3. The warrior wants to be able to impress the court at the next feast, so he seeks charm person.
4. The wizard wants to be able to alter his magic formulas and change the elemental damage of any elemental spell as they prepare it.
2. Fighting Skills: Prove yourself in combat to the master-at-arms in a local militia or seek out a legendary warrior to train you on the top of a mountain.
1. The thief wants to be able to cross swords with the best of them, so he seeks out the swashbuckling pirate-king to train him.
2. The cleric wants to not only cast out demons but smite them back to hell, so they seek out the training of a legendary holy warrior or travel to the site of a holy warrior-saint and pray for the blessing.
3. The warrior wants to feel the battle fury that is sung about in the songs, so he seeks the blessing of the warrior gods or takes part in the rituals of the warrior culture.
4. The wizard has heard of those who can weave their spells with blades and seeks the blade-singing master to teach them these secrets.

The list could go on and on. I know that this is primarily the purpose of magic items in old-school games, but new-school players don't really know that, so I think this helps bridge that gap between "I want to add a new power to my character sheet" and "go find your powers in the world". I also don't think any of these should be a menu provided for the characters. It should be taken one at a time, and as the player wants it. These are also permeant in playtest, so feel free to adjust it since there really is no guidance on what some of these powers would look like translated. Lastly, don't try and port mechanics, port vibes, and use the mechanics of whatever game you are playing to elicit the vibe of the power the character wants.