D&D General Younger Players Telling Us how Old School Gamers Played

[Bedrockgames]

You know... Gen X actually seems to have gotten away scot-free in the Aging Wars. You don't see anyone hating on them or blaming them for anything.

I think in generally we are less invested in those kinds of conflicts. Also, just my personal theory, but for much of Gen X, our parents were boomers from the 60s and our grandparents were from the Greatest Generation. There was a lot of tension between the boomers and their parents (especially over things like the counter culture and vietnam) and I think a lot of us learned to reconcile the tension there, and we saw over time that tension give way to acceptance on both sides. This isn't true of everyone, but I do think there is something to be said for growing up and being able to see the point of view of someone who was part of the 60s movement and someone who fought in WWII.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

shhhhh us Gen Xers like it that way

Load up on dice, bring your friends
It's fun to play D&D and to pretend
You'll get a sword and raid the dragon horde
Oh no, bard is a dirty word

Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello

Bring a cleric, it's less dangerous
We've got a DM, entertain us
Fighter is stupid but courageous
We've got a DM, entertain us
Don't go solo, fireball needs guano, hit a deathblow, play with gusto
Yeah, hey
Yay

The thief is worse at what he should do best
Just lets the magic user knock open the chest
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello, do I roll low
Hello, hello, hello

Bring a cleric, it's less dangerous
We've got a DM, entertain us
Fighter is stupid but courageous
We've got a DM, entertain us
Don't go solo, fireball needs guano, hit a deathblow, play with gusto
Yeah, hey
Yay

And I forget just why I play
Oh yeah, I guess D&D makes me smile
I found THACO hard, I'm not math inclined
Oh well, whatever, never mind

 

[Sacrosanct]

even today look through a dozen threads on enworld and half of them will have people argueing that they know the right RAW ruleing and/or have the correct house rule to handle the RAW...

I scoff at anyone making that claim about 1e, because the rules contradicted themselves often. Then on top of that, you can a million clarifications in Dragon magazine about how the rules should be. Folks like to say that Dragon was not official 1e, but I argue that it was. When it's Gary writing the article, and Gary telling you that this is an official update, then it's just as official as the PHB, even if it appeared in Dragon. In fact, Gary many times explicitly tells you what is to be considered official and what is not. For example, most monsters in Dragon are not official for the game, except those he wrote and contributed to Dragon.

So unless it's a pretty clear rule (how did the attack matrix table work?), arguing one true way about 1e is a fool's errand.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So unless it's a pretty clear rule (how did the attack matrix table work?), arguing one true way about 1e is a fool's errand.

I'd go further. Even clear rules in 1e aren't the rules.

It's more a sliding taxonomy.

Some rules are more official than others. Other official rules were well-known, but followed by almost no one (weapon AC adjustments). Other rules were so complicated that almost no one did them correctly (initiative). Others rules were clear, but obscure (Elves could not be resurrected, unless by a rod of resurrection). Then there were rules that were not rules, but were so widely misinterpreted that they later became optional rules (-10 hp).

Just a mess!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I'd go further. Even clear rules in 1e aren't the rules.

It's more a sliding taxonomy.

Some rules are more official than others. Other official rules were well-known, but followed by almost no one (weapon AC adjustments). Other rules were so complicated that almost no one did them correctly (initiative). Others rules were clear, but obscure (Elves could not be resurrected, unless by a rod of resurrection). Then there were rules that were not rules, but were so widely misinterpreted that they later became optional rules (-10 hp).

Just a mess!

By that standard 2e looked down right polished... and by 2e standard 5e is a straight jacket (skip 3 and 4 cause they had rules for everything)

 

[Bedrockgames]

It is this thing, called "journalism".

But getting journalism separate from funding is a problem. When you need the clicks for revenue, being controversial, rather than factually correct, has significant draw.

Like, how many older gamers are now going to watch to see how wrong they got it? That's clicks, people! Paying him for being wrong about you is fun stuff.

It is also worth keeping in mind very few people doing YouTube videos like this are trying to do journalism or are journalists. It is mostly people presenting an idea or a topic they have been learning about, similar to someone starting a thread in a forum like this. Many are even just a person thinking out loud. And what you often see over time is people correcting themselves as people give them feedback and insight. I've also found YouTubers in both gaming, movies and music, which are the main ones I watch, are very open if you contact them and give them corrective feedback or tell them what it was like when you were there personally (I've contacted a ton of music channels and had both direct responses and seen my commentary incorporated into a person's later videos).

Also I think it is very worth keeping in mind these are human beings. They have feelings, they get things wrong, most are just really into something as a hobby but have a day job. So it can be overwhelming when they get tons of angry responses over stuff. I've seen channels where fans of bands I like for instance give someone a particularly difficult time because they got something wrong, had an opinion fans didn't like, or just were missing some important piece of information in their analysis, and that almost never makes them more open-minded about the band. It usually just leads to them thinking that is what all the fans are like and being less likely to take such fans seriously in the future.

I do movie podcasting myself from time to time and I just view it as a roundtable conversation.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I gotta tell ya, it's starting to get old constantly hearing from people who weren't even born yet telling us all how old school gaming was back in the day. How about just asking us? We're not all dead yet.

Do they need to hire sensitivity readers?


Someone being wrong on the Internet isn't something uncommon...

 

[Bedrockgames]

So unless it's a pretty clear rule (how did the attack matrix table work?), arguing one true way about 1e is a fool's errand.

I don't think I ever saw 1E or 2E played the same exact way from table to table. I probably saw more uniformity in the 3E era and after (I'm guessing because the internet)

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don't think I ever saw 1E or 2E played the same exact way from table to table. I probably saw more uniformity in the 3E era and after (I'm guessing because the internet)

yeah even 3e (and 4 and 5) have some variations not even counting house rules... just how we read the rules

 

[Campbell]

I think the OSR community would be better off if we embraced our styles of play with much less emphasis on discovery of a forgotten path. It frankly does not matter how things used to be done. We have a cohesive set of principles and fabulous games like Into The Odd and Old School Essentials. No reading of tea leaves are necessary.