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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8302833"><p>Just to revisit this point: OSR and skilled play are not interchangeable terms. Skilled play is sometime you see in the OSR. So I wouldn't say it is the single thing that defines what OSR play is. However here I think you are missing what makes skilled play in the OSR. It is about creatively and intelligently hedging your bets (not necessarily about guaranteeing you accomplish your goals, but more than that, skilled play is about finding enjoyment in the challenge of overcoming these kinds of scenarios (ideally some of them will be challenging enough that there isn't a guarantee of success). And it isn't just about luring orcs into ambushes (thought that is part of it). Another approach you see is negotiation with the creatures inhabiting a dungeon. This comes up a lot in discussions. Skilled play in this sense often involves interacting with say the leader of one faction of orcs in the dungeon in order to pit them against another faction or another type of creature (so forming an alliance or finding some kind of shared goal). So this doesn't just have to be about bluffing a guard: this can be about involved negotiations with a group of monsters. And that does take skill, and it isn't something that usually gets left to die rolls in a typical OSR session (mechanics can certainly come up; for example the GM, if he or she is uncertain about how an orc chief might respond could call for a roll of some kind, but ideally the orc chief is responding to the specifics of what the PCs are saying because that is what makes the interaction skilled in this way of playing. The important thing is this is a much different approach to the idea of skilled play than say making a diplomancer. That too takes skill, it is also a viable form of play, but it where the emphasis is placed in most OSR games I've seen talking about skilled play.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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