TwoSix
Everyone's literal second-favorite poster
I don't think the argument is that complicated.Man I hate to say it but this response only really makes sense if you ignore my other post about that included some of the minor rules changes I made.
You don't need to gut or house rule big parts of the game, you just need a handful of minor changes.
I think the system does matter, but I think that 5E's bones are a lot closer to the OSR then any of you are willing to admit. If the OSR is fried chicken, 5E is roasted and it isn't hard to make roasted chicken crispy and delicious.
One comment I want to make: people with opinions like yours and Overgeek's are exactly who I was talking about in my original post when I said people are very resistant to this idea. Like, you guys legit get offended when someone assumes 5E can produce an authentic OSR experience without much change. It makes it feel like I'M not going to get anywhere because you guys are passive aggressively hostile in your lust to tear down 5E as a non-OSR system.
Baseline 5e has too many bells and whistles for starting characters, and too many mechanics that work against discardable, fungible PCs, to be played in the "OSR" tradition. ("OSR" here meaning in the Matt Finch primer/Principia manner, not "whatever we did in the '80s.") You can get something approximating if you tear down 5e to the studs and rebuild it (a la Shadowdark.)
But, mainline 5e does a pretty good job approximating AD&D '80s-'90s trad-heavy Hickman revolution heroic play. So if that sort of play is "old school" for you, then sure, 5e is a pretty good replica.