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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SpellObjectEnthusiast" data-source="post: 9691212" data-attributes="member: 7031017">The OSR is a RPG design movement started in the mid 00s as a direct reaction to the release and prevalence of D&D 3e/The D20 System developed by WoTC.  The OSR takes inspiration from and/or seeks to recreate the original TSR era D&D in designing new systems.  The OSR has two goals which may converge or diverge to different extents depending on the individual: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Creating systems and/or adventures which have direct mathmatical compatibility with TSR era D&D, such that the existing TSR library can continue to be used with new this new content and vice versa (very important early on with the push for retroclones, since there was no legal digital version of those edition, and physical copies were out of print)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Creating systems and/or adventures around modern "OSR sensibilities" - community-developed principles which were created directly as opposition to the design of D&D 3rd edition: GM rulings over detailed rules, House rules over RAW, random/unbalanced over balanced encounters, simple+random PCs vs optimizable PCs with lots of skills/feats/abilities, and location driven adventures over plot driven adventures.  These principles are expressed in the various OSR "primers" released over the years by notable authors.  </li> </ul>Nowadays people tend to use the OSR to mean specifically the second goal, and have ret-conned the design intent to oppose the current edition of d&d (5e) rather than to oppose 3e as originally envisioned.  Importantly - OSR's identity is tied fully and wholely to defining itself against the various editions of D&D and their surrounding play cultures.  It is not a movement about old games in general - it is specifically and exclusively about D&D.  OSR is a relatively modern invention - the design goals and sensibilities of the OSR exist only as a reaction to the development of D&D under wizards of the coast, and has nothing to do with the many ways that players in 1974-1999 actually played.To answer your specific questions:A game is an OSR game if it fulfills one or both of the following: it is mathematically and procedurally compatible with a TSR era edition of D&D with minimal conversion, and/or it is designed in direct opposition to as many of 3rd edition's design principles as possible.  A game cannot be an OSR game if it is not trying to be D&D - things like PBTA games or Call of Cthulhu for example simply are not relevant to the conversation.</blockquote>

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