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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9539934" data-attributes="member: 7045072">In thinking about this topic a bit more I suppose some of it comes down to what you see as the goal of the OSR?Was it primarily about rediscovering and figuring out how to play old games as they were meant to be played .. A revival or even return (RETVRN?)orWas it primarily about playing old games and iterating on them building off the past creatively and exploring odd dark corners of the RPG past for ideas and ways of doing things that can make something fun and based on or inspired by older things but really the OSR's own ... A Renaissance perhaps?While obviously the OSR contained elements of both - at different times and among different groups one or the other predominated - I primarily focus on the second and find it far more interesting. Interestingly these two OSRs mirror the scholarly literature on nostalgia as a cultural and psychological phenomenon. The first tends to link up with restorative nostalgia, an impulse brought by dissatisfaction with the present and a sense that things used to be better.  This can be psychologically healthy on an individual scale (nostalgia generally is) as it encourages alienated and unhappy people to reach out or find things to do that they like. It's also a bad but effective basis for a social/political movement as it has psychological appeal but requires creating a narrative of rupture form the idealized past, and presenting the goal of a return (which is impossible).  At this point is usually falls into blaming some group of people for the rupture and also any failure to achieve the impossible nostalgic ideal. It can get ugly...Reflective Nostalgia doesn't have the same psychological hit as restorative, it tends to be a slower looking back to look forward sort of thing.  It also helps one build on one's remembered past and adapt what made one happy to the present reality.E.G. If you find yourself at 40 looking back at a childhood sports hobby and thinking "I used to be a sports star! I was the king of my high school!" and then go and try to do all the things you did as an 18 year old athlete it tends to be disappointing (and lead to knee injuries).  This is restorative nostalgia, and people with a lot of investment in the nostalgic ideal will usually blame someone because they aren't 18 anymore and have a beergut/bad knee - their family, thier job etc.  Reflective nostalgia would instead ay "I used to be a sports star!" and then look at their present and think about what they liked about the nostalgic past and how to get it in the present - maybe it was the community of the team sport or the physical fitness - but as an out of shape 40 year old you can't just join the varsity team or try out for the NFL.  You instead can look for teams you can play on and go to the gym, reconnect with you childhood friends etc.</blockquote>

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