OSR "Rules & Regulations": An Essay on the OSR

[I'm A Banana]

For the copyright thing, he's actually pretty accurate. Just because those games use the OGL doesn't mean that they're using WotC IP. The OGL transcends the SRD, which was more of a d20STL concern than an OGL concern.

 

[delericho]

He's also wrong about the costs involved in posting PDFs at DriveThru - because these are new scans rather than simple reposts, there's a non-trivial amount of work required in preparing them for release.

 

[dd.stevenson]

This article includes a lot of edition war talking points, targeting every single edition. (Except 5E.) Pretty impressive, actually.

 

[Umbran]

I think the author needs to acquire a more broad view of the gaming world before attempting to address this kind of question. He keeps his discussion firmly on D&D rules, ignoring that there are now several other rule sets out there that may well support some of the play style elements his talking about better than D&D ever did - he should look into Savage Worlds, FATE, and several other systems, their playstyles and market shares, before trying to make statements about what the OSR is, and why it happens, and what kind of players play which games.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I don't get old schoolers. Guess I'm not old enough.

 

[D'karr]

<snip>why it happens, and what kind of player splay which games.

I hope never to be even in the same zip code with that player.

 

[Umbran]

Rule #34.

Moving on....

 

[TwoSix]

I don't get old schoolers. Guess I'm not old enough.

I don't know. I can see the attraction sometimes of a lack of codification, especially as a DM. You come up with a concept, think of a resolution method that roughly models it, and drop it in the game. And as a player, too, the freedom of knowing that what you want to attempt won't be in the rules somewhere and can thus simply be attempted and adjudicated seems nice.

I think that sort of game works best with both a permissive DM and proactive, imaginative players. (Don't all games?) But while being imaginative is fun, it isn't a game, and having more structured rules scratches an itch for me that the freeform play that OSR sorts recommend just doesn't have the same feel. I get bored spending half an hour working on a puzzle the DM placed or exploring rooms for loot and traps. OSR type games don't feel visceral enough for me.

Having said that, I love the crunch in a game like ACKS, and wouldn't mind taking a swing at it. That game seems to have some solid rules for economic and domain management, which is nice and crunchy, and the classes have a bit more detail than your standard OD&D game. I can get behind domain and henchman management as a resource balancing game.

I also have to give out a shout out to Beyond the Wall, which might be the best OSR derived game I've seen yet for character creation, with playbooks like Dungeon World, and a simple but fascinating magic system based around rituals.

 

[qstor]

I didn't see it so much as edition bashing as commentary on WOTC release of the older edition stuff particularity 1e

Mike

 

[Morrus]

[video=youtube;rfQfy1LJEBs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rfQfy1LJEBs[/video]