D&D General Why is "OSR style" D&D Fun For You?

[mamba]

Right, but why B/X? What about it, in particular, made it the one that has drawn all this current attention?

it’s simple and covers the relevant levels. Even in 5e most campaigns end before then

 

[Malmuria]

The OSR has been very thoughtful about mechanics and gameplay and drilling down to a particular style of play (even if that style is more specific than the diversity of approaches taken in the early days of the hobby). Aesthetically, OSR products typically do not present themselves in the form of large, baroque simulationist tomes but rather as minimalist zines in a digest format. I wasn't around for this, but from what I've read it seems more similar to the 70s ethos of different, disparate groups making little zines and booklets than the 80s and 90s trend of self-published heartbreakers.

 

[Zardnaar]

Most notions of a “Renaissance” involve some degree of revisionism, idealization, and historiography about an imagined past that may differ from actuality. OSR has a congregated somewhat around a particularized vision of how some old school games were played. I think that OSR has some good insights but not when it snubs modern gaming or other play styles.

Snubbing modern gaming or other styles is kind of the point.

Its fairly easy to explain. Soda some people like coke, others like raspberry.

I don't generally like soda but once in a while vanilla coke, sparkling duet or ginger ale (with lime and whiskey added) do it for me.

5E Is your coke, OSR is your ginger ale or whatever.

No complex explanation needed. Plenty of things I don't get or like but I understand people have different tastes


Editions come and go the latest isn't always the best.

 

[Aldarc]

You should be able to talk about what makes your game or play preferences great without denigrating other games.

 

[Reynard]

The OSR has been very thoughtful about mechanics and gameplay and drilling down to a particular style of play (even if that style is more specific than the diversity of approaches taken in the early days of the hobby). Aesthetically, OSR products typically do not present themselves in the form of large, baroque simulationist tomes but rather as minimalist zines in a digest format. I wasn't around for this, but from what I've read it seems more similar to the 70s ethos of different, disparate groups making little zines and booklets than the 80s and 90s trend of self-published heartbreakers.

I don't know. There are a LOT of big fat multi-hundred page OSR books out there, not least OSRIC itself.

 

[Malmuria]

I don't know. There are a LOT of big fat multi-hundred page OSR books out there, not least OSRIC itself.

I'm not trying to make a hard distinction; certainly plenty of ttrpg products of any kind have a heartbreaker quality, considering wotc's dominance in the hobby.

But I was thinking of things like Amanda Lee Franck's You've Got a Job on a Garbage Barge. Weird, self-illustrated in a distinctive style, zine format, non-traditional fantasy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You should be able to talk about what makes your game or play preferences great without denigrating other games.

An offense WotC itself is guilty of on several occasions. And to be fair, if you're doing things differently from the mainstream you have to describe that difference somehow, and it can sometimes be difficult to do that with the precise non-inflammatory language the 2023 social media outlets seem to demand to pass muster.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not trying to make a hard distinction; certainly plenty of ttrpg products of any kind have a heartbreaker quality, considering wotc's dominance in the hobby.

But I was thinking of things like Amanda Lee Franck's You've Got a Job on a Garbage Barge. Weird, self-illustrated in a distinctive style, zine format, non-traditional fantasy.

No indication how representative something like that is of the entire OSR though.

 

[Malmuria]

I think this requires a view of distinction that doesn't care if the distinction has mechanical teeth. That's not a position all of us share.

I'm aware, but there is a third option: a distinction that has no prescribed mechanical teeth. For example, a system in which a fighter saves the halfling villages, and thus the dm decides that they get a +2 to halfling reaction rolls. There would be no good way for a system to predict the specific things that happen in a campaign, but it can give a light mechanical framework (reaction rolls) that the GM can use to express the changing state of the world

 

[Zardnaar]

An offense WotC itself is guilty of on several occasions. And to be fair, if you're doing things differently from the mainstream you have to describe that difference somehow, and it can sometimes be difficult to do that with the precise non-inflammatory language the 2023 social media outlets seem to demand to pass muster.

Yeah I found this back in the 90s with Vampire.

The Vampire players looked down on D&D. I never really liked Vampire just didn't care/not my thing.

How's that Vampire game working out these days.