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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AmerginLiath" data-source="post: 8272355" data-attributes="member: 777">The old systems served by or emulated by the OSR were puzzle boxes. The design of the dungeons and traps, the monsters to avoided rather than necessarily fought, and the characters with few in-game bells and whistles, those all were built around the players navigating by their own wits various challenges. The modern game’s fleshing out over time of the adventure plot and in particular the character (with its codified abilities) as the means through which the PC makes their decisions and actions more directly has changed that dynamic (and the role of monsters — with the switch from “gold as XP” to monster XP as a driver — has accompanied the switch in plot drivers).Neither is a wrong way to play, and what we see in later D&D was present in other “crunchier” games early on (notice the design credentials for other systems the crew for 3rd edition had, for example). Likewise, many streamlined games of new systems run on more similar conceits to the older D&D model, even if there’s not the complex post-wargaming chassis (the modern D&D math is far more elegant and not the determinant either way — indeed, part of why many OSR games work is that their OGL math works better than the BX or AD&D math they’re emulating). It’s simply a matter of which focus a given game presents to players.I see a number of blogs of writers playing AD&D or OSR with their kids and their kids’ friends, due to that open-world/puzzle box nature (even if these same writers also play 5th edition themselves). I’m reminded of how I was introduced to AD&D as a child in the same manner, stumbling through avoiding dangers and figuring out how to open dungeon gates (while quickly learning how not to get killed). As much as the ongoing stories of WotC-era D&D have given me some of my best gaming memories over my adult life, I still always think back to the AD&D of my childhood and teen years and consider how well that works as a Beer & Pretzel problem-solving game on the order of many board games. I think the OSR can approach things like that in presentation and marketing to some succes.</blockquote>

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