An Open Letter to the "OSR Blogosphere"

[darjr]

Heh, while I understand the distinction now, between fans of older editions of D&D and OSR, I think there are more people from the OSR here that pay attention than even I knew.

 

[Ourph]

You know, this is the fourth time within 5 days that I see an OP cross posted on several forums (not always by the same person), and it draws a wide spectrum of reactions, all of them fairly fair minded and respectful.* But geez, on Enworld there's always that someone special who manages to drag it down, with plenty a sneer, right there on page 1.

Is my reaction really that unreasonable? The OP writes a blog post critiquing other bloggers for being too focused on attention seeking, then proceeds to cross-post his blog entry on no less than 4 gaming messageboards.
Dragonsfoot, TheRPGsite, Knights & Knaves Alehouse and Enworld.

It's pretty obvious he wants comments and reactions. My reaction just happens to be that this pretty much pegs the needle on my hypocrisy meter.

 

[pawsplay]

Get over yourselves.

No, really. Get over yourselves.

Get over yourself. The people who love the less-loved things of this world are beautiful and rare. It is very understandable that at times the desperation to see that any other person loves the thing as much occasionally transmutes into something unpleasant. The OSR, and any other thing like it, would not live if it were not for people who love much, perhaps overmuch. In a sense, the OSR is a microcosm of our entire hobby.

 

[Fifth Element]

It's pretty obvious he wants comments and reactions. My reaction just happens to be that this pretty much pegs the needle on my hypocrisy meter.

Well, your reaction to the post is that if he doesn't want to read other people's opinions, he doesn't have to, and shouldn't complain that they're expressing their opinions...advice that just as easily apply to your response to his post.

Don't like the thread topic? You don't have to read it. And just because you disagree doesn't mean the OP is wrong for posting it in the first place.

 

[Grimstaff]

Is it Festivus?

 

[Henry]

I'll agree with Dungeon Delver on one of his points -- I'd rather (and in fact, do) read blogs and forums that actually supply something new than yet another person who only has something negative to say.

That's why I enjoy the house rules forums and the like -- there's often a new way to do something, or an idea that WotC or Paizo hasn't touched on, or even sometimes someone saying, "Quite Frankly, I believe healing surges suck... BUT, here's what I would do to fix 'em..." At least, it's something thrown in a positive direction.

 

[Festivus]

Is it Festivus?

Huh? What?

 

[TerraDave]

In before the lock...I mean what bugs me about this is that I know there is a "OSR" controversy going on right now (I mean, beyond the standard), and believe I shouldn't care, yet I still wonder what exactly it is.

Oh, yes, this is ironic. But the OP was still pretty good.

 

[Lanefan]

It's pretty obvious he wants comments and reactions. My reaction just happens to be that this pretty much pegs the needle on my hypocrisy meter.

There's a difference between simple attention-seeking and trying to make a point to an audience whose location is uncertain. This trends well toward the latter, in my view.

Lan-"around here, there's no "R" in OSR"-efan

 

[Votan]

That's why I enjoy the house rules forums and the like -- there's often a new way to do something, or an idea that WotC or Paizo hasn't touched on, or even sometimes someone saying, "Quite Frankly, I believe healing surges suck... BUT, here's what I would do to fix 'em..." At least, it's something thrown in a positive direction.

This is a good point. Positive and constructive engagement is a great way to strengthen the hobby. That said, many of the OSR blogs I have read (admittedly, an eclectic sampling) seem to err on the side of improving and/or looking back at what are good elements in the history of the hobby. These are typically things that improve the community and, hopefully, really represent the majority of the OSR!