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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9691409" data-attributes="member: 7045072">Hashing out what the OSR is or isn't is an impossible task. Personally I've been involved in the OSR and now Post OSR since maybe 2011 (at least that's when I started blogging).  Personally I don't take a rules based approach to defining the OSR.I see the OSR as a RPG scene that started somewhere in the 2000's, maybe 2007 with the first edition of OSRIC ... and remained a largely cohesive community until roughly 2021 with the demise of G+.  The key here is a space or group of interconnected spaces: forums, conventions, blogs, social media platforms and such, where people all shared ideas on what is generally called the "OSR" - even if they didn't always (or frequently) agree.  Exactly like a music, painting or other art scene.At this point though I consider the OSR as an active scene "dead" based on the idea that there are various groups who either claim the name or the inspiration of the OSR and don't communicate with each other much, and are even adversarial.  The OSR scene has broken up into child scenes, and so while it's possible to still say something is "OSR" or to play in an "OSR style" it's not really possible to be part of it anymore.  Like despite being a dungeon crawl designed for Basic/Expert D&D (or OSE) rules, my Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier isn't really an OSR adventure - because it was published after the death of the OSR, and not a product of overall and active scene influence.  It is instead Post-OSR or POSR, if a fairly stolid variety of POSR. I personally define my play and design style as "Dungeon Crawling" meaning it's focused on the "Procedural Exploration of a Fantastical Space" (where each capitalized letter is a term of art/subject to a definition.In keeping with this view, and because of the contention around and among various adversarial stakeholders in the idea of the OSR ... including the use of the term ... I think it's increasingly difficult to discuss or define the OSR. More and more of what I see said about the OSR seems to be itself a nostalgic idealization of the OSR scene (much like the OSR was at least partially a nostalgic idealization of early RPG play).  This means that for me OSR maxims like "Rulings over Rules" become themselves increasingly contentious and debated where previously they had generally agreed (at least among the OSR) core meanings. I try not to use them.</blockquote>

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