Gabe of Penny Arcade Slams the OSR

[JohnRTroy]

Keep in mind when I use the term OSR, I am speaking about what I believe is about it becoming more about advocacy and the "movement" itself than just the simple fact of creating and playing games. Too many people worry about the advocacy part about it--is it growing, who is saying bad things about it, continuous meta-commentary, etc. It's getting a bit about politics, for lack of a better term.

 

[Grimstaff]

Nevermind

 

[mudbunny]

Keep in mind when I use the term OSR, I am speaking about what I believe is about it becoming more about advocacy and the "movement" itself than just the simple fact of creating and playing games. Too many people worry about the advocacy part about it--is it growing, who is saying bad things about it, continuous meta-commentary, etc. It's getting a bit about politics, for lack of a better term.

Anyone who paid attention to the kerfuffle over a link being included to the blog "Playing D&D with Porn Stars" in one of the main OSR link round-ups saw this play out a couple of weeks ago.

 

[jaerdaph]

Yeah, I think you're reading WAY too much into it, Anthony.

 

[Piratecat]

I think this is a case of someone desperately looking to take offense when none is intended. That probably makes for a disappointing message board experience.

And lets face it, I love OD&D with a passion, and I still don't want to use the 1e grappling, pummeling and overbearing tables over "grab"!

 

[Odhanan]

I actually agree with people who say "tone it down" here. I'm an old-schooler, OD&Der and AD&Der through and through. When I heard about Penny Arcade mentioning S&W, I was all like "why should I give a damn about it?"

I wasn't realizing the kind of readership PA gets nowadays. It may not be relevant to me, but it's pretty cool for S&W to get noticed in this way by people who might have never heard of it before. After that, Gabe's opinions are his own... more power to him, I guess.

So, I say: let's just tone it down. It's a good day for exposure.

 

[OverloadUT]

You have to be pretty goddamn oversensitive to read that article from Gabe as an attack against OSR.

I mean come on, he's showing a bunch of new Roleplayers the roots of the system so they appreciate the entire experience that much more. It's like playing Mario Brothers to appreciate Super Mario Galaxy that much more. Both great games, and playing the former helps you appreciate the latter even more.

This is some victim complex crap right here.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Between the porn star "kerfuffle" and now this, it's actually getting a little embarrassing to be an OSR guy. It's like a few hyper-sensitive Pesto Goodfeather types are giving the rest of us a bad rep. Man, it used to be all about the music... er, I mean the gaming...

 

[Odhanan]

OD&D had a DMG?

I, too, think you are misreading the situation.

I've seen this many times. Many people seem to use "OD&D" to mean "AD&D First Edition", while for others it strictly means "OD&D (1974)" (which is what it's supposed to mean, especially in relation to Swords & Wizardry, here).

True, using OD&D with all its Supplements, you are pretty much playing AD&D but for the Gygaxian prose. But there is a huge difference between the rules of 1974 (OD&D w/o supplements) and what they ended up being in 1978 (OD&D w/all supplements, AD&D).

Allusion to the "DMG" is a glaring mistake though, since it refers to AD&D, not OD&D.

 

[Fifth Element]

AnthonyRoberson slams OD&D

*OK. He MIGHT be referring to the Item Saving Throw tables in the DMG, but I am not sure.

This statement clearly considers "OD&D" to be a generic term that includes AD&D. That's clearly a jab at the OSR. It must be. Somehow.