Gasp I think I am a grognard now

[amerigoV]

Gasp I think I am a grognard now

You've taken your first step into a larger world.

 

[Crothian]

There are Grognard's that play current editions.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Me. I'm pretty much not advancing to 4e. I'm simply burned out with rules changes and new editions and the influence to go buy buy buy expensive books.

I also play many other different games so I've become resistant to all kinds of rules changes.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I'm in a similar boat.

When 4th edition and Pathfinder came out I realized that:
a] neither game was for me
b] I had grown sick of 3rd edition

I'm still playing in a 3rd edition game BUT, if I could get others on board, I'd tweak AD&D and run a Planescape or Greyhawk campaign in a heartbeat!

 

[the Jester]

I'm a grognard who plays 4e and loves it.

I'm working on my own system- "D&D Jazz"- that incorporates the elements I like best from each edition. I have found that the closest thing to a 'base' that it has is 1e, but it has elements clearly derived from each edition, even ones I haven't played (true OD&D).

 

[Mercurius]

Gasp I think I am a grognard now

My guess is that some grognards would take issue with your definition, or at least the OSR grognards that feel D&D changed for the worse with Dragonlance and was only revived with Labyrinth Lord et al.

But what is a "grognard," really? It is yet another term that is used differently, depending upon who is using it. The classic definition is much more narrow and refers to a wargamer who is probably old enough to remember life before D&D and adopted it as a secondary pursuit to wargaming. So we're talking about folks born in the early 60s or earlier.

A looser definition is someone who plays, or at least prefers, older versions of D&D, even following a formula of "the older the better." It seems that "Old School" and grognards have some overlap but don't mean the same thing. As I implied above, Old School seems to refer to D&D pre-Dragonlance, or pre-metaplot (maybe pre-THAC0?), whereas grognard is specific to wargaming roots and/or preference for an older version of D&D other than the present one. In other words, one could loosely use the term and say they are a "3E grognard" but they couldn't really say they are into "Old School 3E."

To put it another way, "grognard" is more of a relative term than Old School, which is more fixed and refers to a specific era of D&D with a distinct beginning (1974) but a variable end-date (usually between 1977 and 1983, although some move it up to 1989, and then there are the OSR games that harken back to pre-83 gaming).

 

[scruffygrognard]

I'm working on my own system- "D&D Jazz"- that incorporates the elements I like best from each edition. I have found that the closest thing to a 'base' that it has is 1e, but it has elements clearly derived from each edition, even ones I haven't played (true OD&D).

That sounds awesome, in spite of the name!

 

[DumbPaladin]

We did. Our group made a conscious choice, after reading about 4e, then reading a good chunk of the DMG for 4e and listening to friends who'd played it, to start a new group in 3.5. Our DM has since bought around 60 books on eBay and at the local gaming store, all from that edition.

So we sort of became grognards on purpose, I suppose.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I think I'm a Grognard
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think I'm a grognard
The beating of my heart
Is the only sound....

 

[Mythmere1]

You have now entered the slippery slope that leads to OD&D 1974 (or Swords & Wizardry if you're strapped for cash and don't want to download pirate pdfs).

Welcome to the dark side.