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D&D variants are games that vary from the rules (of some official edition) of D&D, and can be used in place of it. On the tight side, I'd even suggest that some D&D settings are best described as D&D variants rather than D&D per se, because they feel too different from D&D as we know it. Dark...

The OSR is, essentially, three big patterns on a scatterplot that kinda overlap sometimes, but are clearly recognized as different clusters: 1) those who believe that the OSR is based on recreating old rules, or at least creating similar rules to old D&D. This movement is centered on...

While I don't exactly use it a lot, my favorite one to read is Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss from late in the 3e cycle. It's just a wonderful, wonderful monster/cosmology book with a great Lovecraftian vibe that I can't get enough of. Other than that, I think I most enjoyed some setting...

What does that mean that he did, though? I'm trying to understand what this means for the brand and for the game.

Not to be that guy, but does anyone know what exactly Todd Kenrick did other than that interview series of YouTube videos? What exactly was his role with D&D, and what exactly did he do?

I kinda feel like this too. I have a great copy of a POD B/X that I made from the PDFs I bought years ago from Lulu. I also have a POD of Basic Fantasy, and pdfs of Labyrinth Lord. That's already several more versions of the same game than I need. I like B/X as much as the next guy (unless the...

As a player? No, not at all. As a homebrewer? Not very much. As a reader? Sometimes, if it matters to a book I'm reading. Mostly not, though. It has it's place. It's not usually a super important place, though.

It might just be semantics, but my recollection was that there wasn't really a movement until the retroclones. Sure, AD&D still had its fans, but all of the elements didn't really come together into a movement until the retroclones sparked it. Sure, sure; the elements were already there, but it...

Well, that's fair. The whole reason the retroclones came into being requires some context, after all; people who weren't happy with 3e, who were happy with older versions, but weren't happy with the market for the rules (i.e., they were hard to get and very expensive on ebay, or whatever). And...

Same. That said, the letters in the OSR shouldn't be taken too literally. It's not just a revival of anything old school; it's a movement that was specifically created to make older versions of D&D available again (in retroclone form) and enable the printing of new material compatible with those...

It's a couple years old now (or more) but this is the best exegesis I've ever seen on what the OSR is. https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-i.html https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-ii.html...

I don't know why I'm very ornery about an overly expansive and incoherent usage of the word OSR, because I don't even identify with the OSR exactly, but the OSR is specifically about playing retroclones of D&D. It's not just for any game that's vaguely oldish, it's not for clones of any other...

I despise the new(ish) business model of subscriptions for software, and refuse to pay any of them. For most, there's an open freeware alternative. I do get Microsoft 360, for instance, through work, but I use LibreOffice at home, for example. I use Google Meet for free, and Teams through work...

Curiously, just in the last few weeks I've read a number of short story collections: Horror in the Museum (the collection by Del Rey, not the actual story, although it's obviously included) by Lovecraft, although these are the ghost-written and revised ones. The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E...

As soon as a see a rule that I don't like, or the lack of a rule that I think I need. Eventus stultorum magister est. I know what I want a game to do before playing it.

Played a few sessions of D&D off and on, but almost immediately checked out Gamma World, Top Secret and Star Frontiers too. Took me a little longer to look outside the old TSR sphere.

Shortish; hardly rolled any dice.

Are you suggesting that I can't engage with the premise of the OP in good faith, trusting that his experience is, in fact, his experience? Now you're being deliberately obtuse.

No. I didn't. I can see why you would have thought that, but when I said, no that's not what I meant, why would you double down and tell me that yes, I did?

If that's not your view on backwards compatibility, then every version of D&D (and most other fantasy RPGs too) is compatible with every other version. It's not a lot of work to run a B/X or AD&D module in 5e, as long as you have a Monster Manual. And you probably don't even need that.