OSR Why does OSR Design Draw You In?

[Arilyn]

Nostalgia doesn't draw me to the OSR, because I didn't like D&D back in the day. What is drawing me in is the imaginative ideas and creativity flowing from the modern OSR. Hole in the Oak from Gavin Norman got me excited to run a dungeon crawl for the first time ever. Brad Kerr's Wyvern Song was another. And from there, Shadowdark, Dolmenwood, Mausritter with some Cairn dabbling.

 

[zakael19]

Nostalgia doesn't draw me to the OSR, because I didn't like D&D back in the day. What is drawing me in is the imaginative ideas and creativity flowing from the modern OSR. Hole in the Oak from Gavin Norman got me excited to run a dungeon crawl for the first time ever. Brad Kerr's Wyvern Song was another. And from there, Shadowdark, Dolmenwood, Mausritter with some Cairn dabbling.

Yeah same, between the formatting & the vibes of stuff like Winter's Daughter it really opened my eyes to what was in the realm of possible for "dungeon crawling."

 

[overgeeked]

I've never had trouble with this either. Same with 13th Age, where skills are encompassed in statements like"Ranger of the Far North." Absoluty my favourite way to handle skills.

Absolutely the same. I'd prefer to use that kind of setup for just about every aspect of the game. So much simpler and more elegant than 100s of pages of rules.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

A bit of nostalgia, older design philosophies that I prefer, systems and settings more influenced by the type of fantasy fiction I prefer, things like that. Lack of a huge in depth skill systems in the games I prefer is a bonus. Simplicity, depending on the particular OSR system.

But there are so many different approaches in the OSR world.

And I guess a huge part is the fact that I find almost nothing of interest in D&D post 3e, which was already moving too far in one direction for me.

 

[Greg Benage]

Pithy, but not simple. It's probably the most complicated way to write a rule. It sounds like it would be a nightmare in play.

The player doesn't know, but he always will want advantage. So he's motivated to always ask. Every single dang time. And it tends to push the game toward being resolved by the meta - DM wheedling as the primary play loop.

Meanwhile as a DM now you are not only opening up wheedling as a play loop, but you have to resolve every question as a one off relying on your feelings as a guideline.

It works great. I don’t know how long it’s been around, but I first encountered it in Jonathan Tweet’s “Over the Edge” (1992). Worst case: “Tell us how your background/training prepared you for this task?” and now the player has an opportunity to engage with the game and also flesh out their character.

(Granted, this was me 10 years ago: https://www.basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=51864&hilit=Universal+task+resolution#p51864)

 

[Celebrim]

It works great. I don’t know how long it’s been around, but I first encountered it in Jonathan Tweet’s “Over the Edge” (1992). Worst case: “Tell us how your background/training prepared you for this task?” and now the player has an opportunity to engage with the game and also flesh out their character.

I'm getting old I guess, but that to me doesn't even sound like engaging with the game. That sounds like engaging with the meta, in as much as the actor is the player and the audience is the other participants, as opposed to the actor being the character and the audience being other characters. But I suppose "Over the Edge" is as much about engaging the Meta as Deadpool, who incidentally was created at around the same time.

 

[Greg Benage]

I'm getting old I guess, but that to me doesn't even sound like engaging with the game. That sounds like engaging with the meta, in as much as the actor is the player and the audience is the other participants, as opposed to the actor being the character and the audience being other characters. But I suppose "Over the Edge" is as much about engaging the Meta as Deadpool, who incidentally was created at around the same time.

I really hesitate to get involved in one of these…but what do you consider “the game”? Player thinks about task. Player thinks about character. Player connects the two (or not). That’s it.

 

[Celebrim]

I really hesitate to get involved in one of these…but what do you consider “the game”? Player thinks about task. Player thinks about character. Player connects the two (or not). That’s it.

In the context of an RPG, I consider "the game" to be the shared imaginary world. I consider "the meta" to be the real world where the rules and conversation about the rules are taking place. A player thinking about solving a task in the game world may or may not have any connection to the meta, and also the other way around. If the player isn't connecting the two, they are definitely not engaging with the game. It's a personal peeve of mind when a player specifically focuses on me the GM as the thing to be solved in order to succeed, as opposed to the problem posed in the game, and the process of convincing me that their character is qualified for the task very much sounds like engaging with me the GM rather than with the fiction. This sounds like the beginning of a game degenerating into GM wheedling as a central process of play, which for me wouldn't be fun regardless of which side of the GM screen I was on.

 

[Greg Benage]

In the context of an RPG, I consider "the game" to be the shared imaginary world. I consider "the meta" to be the real world where the rules and conversation about the rules are taking place. A player thinking about solving a task in the game world may or may not have any connection to the meta, and also the other way around. If the player isn't connecting the two, they are definitely not engaging with the game. It's a personal peeve of mind when a player specifically focuses on me the GM as the thing to be solved in order to succeed, as opposed to the problem posed in the game, and the process of convincing me that their character is qualified for the task very much sounds like engaging with me the GM rather than with the fiction. This sounds like the beginning of a game degenerating into GM wheedling as a central process of play, which for me wouldn't be fun regardless of which side of the GM screen I was on.

Okay, if I’m tracking, I think there’s lots of stuff in SD you’d bounce off before the task resolution rules have a chance to annoy you. It’s gamey. Task resolution is often diceless and systemless, but you’re still going to have timers and procedures in your face.