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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8101258" data-attributes="member: 59082">There is truth to this, but some of what you call flaws, OSR folks call features. And further, the &quot;feel&quot; of something, of 1E in this case, isn't tied to the technical elements - the rules. One can evoke &quot;1E feel&quot; with the 5E rules. Even many of the OSR games are modernized in some way. Streamlined and cleaned up. I think the &quot;feeling&quot; part is less about the rules, and more about evoking other qualities of D&amp;D from those earlier periods (on the other hand, there are &quot;old school purists&quot; who won't touch anything published after 1982, the year before Dragonlance ruined the protean purity of True D&amp;D).Even if it is mostly about nostalgia, you kind of answered your question - that is a massive selling point for many. OSR stuff evokes the D&amp;D of youth, or at least the youth of those who started playing in the first decade or two of D&amp;D. Or as someone once said, &quot;the golden age of science fiction is 12.&quot; Or fantasy. Many of us started playing in middle-school, and a large portion of OSR folks are Gen Xers who started in the 70s-80s, and OSR stuff evokes some of that original inspiration and imagination.And of course one could argue that D&amp;D is inherently nostalgic - a game of wizards and dragons, a lost age of forgotten secrets. Some of this comes from Tolkien, who was deeply nostalgic and believed the modern world was, in many ways, &quot;fallen&quot; -- and each successive age of Middle-earth was a further fall from the primordial golden time of Valinor.A note on the art. Some OSR and actual older art is &quot;terrible,&quot; at least in terms of technique. But some of it is, again, evocative. Don't confuse technique with quality. Some people like the older, pre-Elmore/Easley/Parkinson/Caldwell art because it is less realistic and detailed, and thus can inspire the imagination in a different way. And of course, some of the WotC art veered from pure realism into stylistic qualities that some dislike. While technical ability is somewhat objectively measurable, art is far more than technique.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 8101258, member: 59082"] There is truth to this, but some of what you call flaws, OSR folks call features. And further, the "feel" of something, of 1E in this case, isn't tied to the technical elements - the rules. One can evoke "1E feel" with the 5E rules. Even many of the OSR games are modernized in some way. Streamlined and cleaned up. I think the "feeling" part is less about the rules, and more about evoking other qualities of D&D from those earlier periods (on the other hand, there are "old school purists" who won't touch anything published after 1982, the year before Dragonlance ruined the protean purity of True D&D). Even if it is mostly about nostalgia, you kind of answered your question - that is a massive selling point for many. OSR stuff evokes the D&D of youth, or at least the youth of those who started playing in the first decade or two of D&D. Or as someone once said, "the golden age of science fiction is 12." Or fantasy. Many of us started playing in middle-school, and a large portion of OSR folks are Gen Xers who started in the 70s-80s, and OSR stuff evokes some of that original inspiration and imagination. And of course one could argue that D&D is inherently nostalgic - a game of wizards and dragons, a lost age of forgotten secrets. Some of this comes from Tolkien, who was deeply nostalgic and believed the modern world was, in many ways, "fallen" -- and each successive age of Middle-earth was a further fall from the primordial golden time of Valinor. A note on the art. Some OSR and actual older art is "terrible," at least in terms of technique. But some of it is, again, evocative. Don't confuse technique with quality. Some people like the older, pre-Elmore/Easley/Parkinson/Caldwell art [I]because[/I] it is less realistic and detailed, and thus can inspire the imagination in a different way. And of course, some of the WotC art veered from pure realism into stylistic qualities that some dislike. While technical ability is somewhat objectively measurable, art is far more than technique. [/QUOTE]

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