It strikes me as relating an experience in personal growth. He went from an isolated teenager, to an engaged adult.
I'll note two things - one we've gone from the general "people", "someone" etc to the particular - this guy.
Nod. He certainly had no reason to be even second-hand 'nostalgic' for the D&D of the 80s, a perfect example of what Zak has been talking past me about...
I am struck about how a lot of the problems, and solutions, aren't really mechanically derived! They are more about... the philosophy of adventuring, GMing, adventure design. He talks about lack of creativity, railroading, bored players... and talks about blogging, inspiration, community. Those are all great, wonderful things... but are they mechanics?
Nope, they're not mechanics, nor directly attributable to mechanics. Mostly attitude, or as I said above 'engagement.' I think it illustrates what I was saying about players generally seeking the experience of a game, and judging the game by that experience, rather than looking for superior mechanics, and analyzing each game from that perspective. (Of course, I make that generalization as someone who is an exception to it.)
... are we even talking about the same thing at all?
Sure doesn't seem like it.
edit: I'm trying to de-rail the derailment so we can get back on track, but it seems surprisingly difficult.
Edit two: tried to clarify a bit
That'd be a re-railment, yes?
I'm game...
The comparative popularity of OSR is part of the fad-cycling of our little hobby. Nostalgia may not feel like the right label for those of us who have been with it the whole time, but it's pretty close: the
appeal of OSR is it's similarity to the game of the past...
I mean, isn't that the point of labeling it 'OSR' in the first place?
It's not the New Wave Revolution, it's the Old School
D&D was a fad, fads flop, and when they do people always say they're dead & gone for good. Then the fad comes back, and people always say its here to stay.
But, really, it's only the popular perception that cycles, the core enthusiasts stick around through the whole cycle, it's not nostalgia for them (OK, us, in this case), because it's not in the past, it's been our present the whole time. Nostalgia lures in returning fans who remember the original fad and associate it with a happier/more-hopeful/whatever time of their youth. Nostalgia can be the occasional pang for us long-timers, too, but we're already deeply committed. For some ongoing & returning players, that nostalgia shines through and informs their engagement with the hobby, making it about being 'true' to the legacy or school or however they choose to put it, of the past. That resonates with some folks, puts off others, it's a thing, but not the thing that makes the come-back happen.
Really, there is no 'the thing,' fads and their comebacks are a confluence of cultural events that generate excitement and buzz that lasts for a while.
D&D's come-back could have been in the early oughts, that'd've been closer to the typical 20 year cycle, but the D&D - d20 - of the day didn't lure back returning players the way 5e has been doing, so the cycle that builds to a come-back - Returning Fans coming back to the hobby, finding Hard Core fans keeping the faith, and generating buzz and excitement that draws in New Blood - was broken.
OSRIC dropped in 2006 into what was essentially a vacuum: no other version of D&D or d20 quite catered to Returning players' expectations and sensibilities (Hackmaster was as much a parodying as catering, IMHO). Eventually, in 2010, WotC reacted to OSR's success by throwing a classic cover on a basic set (filled with very un-classic rules) and putting out re-prints of AD&D - it did not go well, and D&D retired from the field for a couple of years to emerge as the gloriously come-back-ready 5e. That has been going well. Really well.
OSR was obviously part of that, arguably a critical part, and presumably still benefits from all the buzz and attitude that WotC's mishandling of it's brand generated.
And, it's not like that's the whole story. There were shady back-room business fiascos at Hasbro, there was division in the hard-core ranks, books were burned and friendships ended...
...but, there's also been a longer term trend towards nerd culture mainstreaming. RPGing, if you think of it broadly, has already mainstreamed - CRPGs and MMORPGs, but still the mainstream no longer thinks RPG only stands for Rocket-Propelled Grenade. TTRPGing has missed the mainstream boat several times, it (and LARPs) might have gone mainstream in the 90s if Kindred had taken off instead of Buffy, for instance, propelling WWGS & MET/Storyteller to take D&D's place as the only RPG with mainstream name recognition. Or, it could've happened when d20 went open-source, if the d20 systems had been much more accessible. Or it could have happened when D&D, itself did get much more accessible to new players, if the reaction against those changes hadn't poisoned the community. But, until recently, through bizarre comedies of errors and perfect storms, it didn't.
The last couple years Boardgames have staged a huge resurgence, as well, dwarfing TTRPGs, but giving them a chance at greater mainstream exposure at gaming stores everywhere - that has also helped. 5e D&D has buzz going at the same time, generated by happy Returning players, and isn't hated by any fragment of the Hard-Core enough to poison the well, it's drawing in New players and moving units like the hobby hasn't since the fad years (though still not equal to what it was doing in the fad years).
As the even-more-authentic-than-official-D&D D&D-alternative, OSR can only benefit from that environment.
