OSR Is there room in modern gaming for the OSR to bring in new gamers?

[Retreater]

Old-school games could do heroic fantasy. It’s not like they had to take the approach the OSR takes. That’s how we ended up with how things are in newer editions. It was the dominant style. However, that’s not one of the priorities for OSR play. If you abandon that, then you just end up with what everyone else is already doing.

Depending on where we place the classic TSR era, but I would say 2e (when I came in) is safely in the OSR wheelhouse. When I came in, Dragonlance and epic fantasy had already supplanted Howard, Moorcock, and Leiber in the inspiration of D&D games.

 

[Fenris-77]

Most OSR stuff stops short of 2E. Not all of it, but most. Generally it's 1E and previous. I'm not gatekeeping here, just passing on my experience.

 

[Retreater]

Most OSR stuff stops short of 2E. Not all of it, but most. Generally it's 1E and previous. I'm not gatekeeping here, just passing on my experience.

True, with the exception of For Gold and Glory (AFAIK). The rules of 2e seem more or less compatible enough with 1e that one could probably use OSRIC for the same effect, as long as the tone for more heroic fantasy is preserved.

 

[Fenris-77]

True, with the exception of For Gold and Glory (AFAIK). The rules of 2e seem more or less compatible enough with 1e that one could probably use OSRIC for the same effect, as long as the tone for more heroic fantasy is preserved.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are some 2E OSR products, they just aren't the usual, which tends to be BX. BECMI, and 1E, generally speaking.

 

[transmission89]

So, in this you elide from "we" to "one".

Let me counter that with... novels. One person can only read so many novels in their lifetime. If one person can only read X novels... do we not only need X novels to exist, ever? Of course not., because we have millions of different readers, with different desires. We need many times X novels to exist, so that folks can have choice.

We have millions of people who play RPGs, too, so, we can reasonably have many times the number of games any one of us can hope to play to allow for choice and personal preference.

What "one" needs, and what "we" need, are not the same.

Yup, I get that, hence the further clarification that was snipped. Also, within the context of that post that was trimmed, I was specifically referring to the numerous derivations of classic that are coming out that essentially do similar things and asking for an expansion on Mr Kuntz’s assessment on OSR stagnation. He then expanded on it that he didn’t mean this as such as opposed to a completely new design paradigm. Which makes sense.

 

[transmission89]

Most OSR stuff stops short of 2E. Not all of it, but most. Generally it's 1E and previous. I'm not gatekeeping here, just passing on my experience.

I mean, I don’t think it stops short, it’s just that there’s no meaningful addition that could really be noticed in an adventure or clone.

Core 2E is essentially a cleaned up 1e with a few tweaks. All the additional stuff like kits, expansions and that aren’t in vogue with the OSR movement, which design preferences are pushing a back to basics approach (now almost literally with a capital B basic). I think that aspect would still be ignored today if all these kits and such were in 1e for example.

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm not arguing about genre, just telling you what things actually look like.

 

[Campbell]

It might just be that I tend to engage with more out there OSR stuff, but I think some of the most interesting new stuff is coming from the OSR space. Games like Worlds Without Number, Beyond The Wall, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Necrolautinus, Mothership and the Nightmares Underneath are exploring some pretty compelling new ground. I think it's actually less ossified than the traditional space.

Exalted Funeral and Tuesday Knight Games are also really leading the way on representation. Dissident Whispers was timely, well designed, had important stuff to say, and like still a quality gaming product first.

 

[Fenris-77]

It might just be that I tend to engage with more out there OSR stuff, but I think some of the most interesting new stuff is coming from the OSR space. Games like Worlds Without Number, Beyond The Wall, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Necrolautinus, Mothership and the Nightmares Underneath are exploring some pretty compelling new ground. I think it's actually less ossified than the traditional space.

Exalted Funeral and Tuesday Knight Games are also really leading the way on representation. Dissident Whispers was timely, well designed, had important stuff to say, and like still a quality gaming product first.

 

[transmission89]

It might just be that I tend to engage with more out there OSR stuff, but I think some of the most interesting new stuff is coming from the OSR space. Games like Worlds Without Number, Beyond The Wall, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Necrolautinus and the Nightmares Underneath are exploring some pretty compelling new ground. I think it's actually less ossified than the traditional space.

Yup, that’s what I was suggesting before. It’s a space with two parts, a more staid, traditional back to basics view and then this really out there creative side that adds pushing all kinds of crazy elements.

I mean, perhaps that could be the pitch to newer players? “Products to take your imagination to the next level”?