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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tav_Behemoth" data-source="post: 5132197" data-attributes="member: 18017">Bullgrit, I just posted about what the OSR means to me  <a href="http://muleabides.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/osr-huh-good-god-yall-what-is-it-good-for/" target="_blank">at The Mule Abides</a>. I see it as useful in the same way that a genre label like science fiction is: if I read a library book with a rocketship sticker on the spine, it's awesome to know that I'll probably like other books on that same shelf, and the process of reading all the works grouped together in that way will help me form my own take on what "science fiction" means and what I consider its unique virtues. Rob Conley's comments there suggest a writerly viewpoint: for a SF writer, it means a dialog you want to participate in and a set of concerns around which you want to write stuff that others haven't explored.I agree that there's a wide diversity of games in the pre-WotC/White Wolf period that OSR folks are interested in, and very different approaches to playing the same game from that era. But in my experience, actively playing with those games and learning about how others play them now & in the past can teach you valuable lessons about how to approach gaming that are different from what you learn from new-school games. For me - and my opinion about who is an old-schooler is worth as much as anyone's, which is to say "not worth anything at all" - playing older games is necessary but not sufficient. The other part is how someone thinks of themselves! If someone tries playing a game I think of as old-school and doesn't find any aspect of its approach interesting or worthwhile, neither of us would say they're old-school. If someone is like "that was awesome, I totally get what its unique strengths are and I see how I can change the aspects of the expectations/rules/adventure design/etc. of the RPG I normally play that get in the way of that awesomeness," I'm happy to call them old-school. I'd only grumble only if someone claims that their campaign is old-school but doesn't base that on actual experience with old-school games, and that's more about the limitations of internet communication than paying dues or establishing cred. If I haven't been able to play in your campaign, I can't know whether it hits the notes I think of as uniquely old-school; if we've both adventured in the Caves of Quasqueton using a similar ruleset, we have a common reference point to compare whether we're coming from the same place.Bullgrit, I've always found your own engagement with old editions of D&D to be inspirational and informative, so I'm happy to award you my own stamp of approval (that, and $4.95, will get you a cup of coffee). Whether you want to consider yourself an old-schooler is up to you!</blockquote>

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