Seems like this is becoming a relevant topic at least once or twice per year.
But at least it’s not Wizards of the Coast’s latest flub. Am I right? This is truly not the article or topic I wanted to be talking about today. Alas, the city, the entire ICONS setting I’m working on that closely resembles Seasons One and Two of Batman: the Animated Series has to wait another month or so.
Let’s get into the meat and bones of the discussion. We’ve got yet another YouTuber talking about how the OSR is dying. (Again.) While I have my issues with some of the players within the OSR subculture, as I have said elsewhere. They’re not all to blame.
Oh, and when I say, “OSR,” I’m not talking about that clown that renamed his NuTSR properties. That dude can go kick rocks. That’s not the OSR. Little nazi wannabes are not the true OSR. Not even close.
Every culture/subculture is comprised of different people, attitudes, and personalities.
We all share one common connection: TableTop RolePlaying Games. Beyond that, it gets a bit varied and in some cases, conflicted. We’re all passionate about the hobby in one way or another, but what form that love takes varies from almost person to person. I talk more about that in this article.
The OSR movement is a cultural phenomenon within the TTRPG community. We’re not going anywhere any time soon. I have many irons in many campfires. Life is complicated but wonderful with experiences. What can I say?
Sure, Dungeons & Dragons is the largest, loudest gorilla in the room.
There’s no arguing that D&D is HUGE, especially right now because for one reason or another- movie, OGL debacle, social media influence, and to on. It’s become a larger phenomenon in the overall mainstream popular culture. By default, that means there’s also more mainstream focus on TTRPGs as a hobby. Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and then a massive heap of indie titles and smaller companies are getting noticed by, “that D&D crowd.”
I know someone who I shan’t name said that anything besides D&D doesn’t amount to a blip on the radar. I think that’s bunk. Shadowdark garnered over a million dollars on Kickstarter. People are paying attention to TTRPGs right now. (Of course, the same YouTuber also said some nasty things about Shadowdark and my friend Kelsey in a different video, and uh… I’m not impressed, dude.) My point is, people are taking note of D&D and it’s going to become increasingly more obvious next year when the 50th Anniversary of the game draws attention to it and the hobby.
Dramatically, the OSR enters the room surrounded by fog, mystery, and basement dudes.
Okay, I had to do it. But when we talk about the early history of D&D and the nostalgia of it all, we also have to mention the good old OSR. The OSR is designed around the longing for the D&D games of yesteryear.
Yes, we could buy reprints, that’s all fine and good. OR we could support a “new” version of the old games. I love Old School Essentials. I love it so much; I’ve begun work on a sourcebook for it. (*More on that in the coming weeks/months.) Dungeon Crawl Classics, which is more of a mix of B/X D&D and 3rd Ed is also very high on my list of favorite games.
As much as some folks don’t want to hear it, this is a partially OSR-related blog. That’s not to say I readily identify with the cringe parts of the OSR. I don’t! But yes, I do identify with the wholesome goodness of older and simpler rulesets. I love TTRPGs, period. Old, new, weird, or whatever as long as they’re not espousing hate and suffering.
There are a ton of us who still like that easier-going, beer-n-pretzels style play. We want to share it with everyone. It’s fun. We don’t embrace that stuff WotC puts in the disclaimer. We’re not too keen on any of that. It’s not just nostalgic. It’s for the fun of a simpler game that we all relate very well to.
The OSR, like many of us gamers, still has lots of good years ahead.
It’s true that no pop cultural phenomenon lasts forever. Although, many pop items do go and come back again reborn fresh with an all new fanbase. That’s what we’re seeing with D&D these days. It’s just that some of us don’t really dig the new mainstream because we never really stopped digging the old stuff. We just want to be able to share it with a new audience. That’s what OSR is for.
Yes, D&D turns 50 next year. Monopoly is over 100. Many of D&D’s creators have transitioned to the next life. The game is still going strong in its dozens of forms. We discuss it every day on this blog and hundreds like it across the internet. We’re keeping the tradition alive.
Stories told around the campfire to friends and family are one of humankind’s oldest traditions. History, philosophy, religions, facts, and fiction all passed on for generations as oral traditions. We live in an age where we’re spoiled by global telecommunications, information clouds, and the ubiquitous print books we see everywhere. Does anyone seriously believe a tradition such as TTRPGs is just going to fade into obscurity overnight?
Print is not dead.
Much like the OSR, the nebulous “they” have been saying print is going the way of the dodo for decades now. “They” have been some of the same ones saying TTRPGs, especially old school games, are going to become extinct to be replaced by video games, Virtual TableTops, and MMO games. When the electricity goes off, I can still read my dead tree gaming books by candlelight. I can still run my Old School Essentials by lantern light with physical dice if I need to. (Take that, zombie apocalypse!)
No, I’m not going to live forever in this meat suitcase. Much like Gary Gygax and dozens of other original T$R alumni, I will eventually move onto the next life. My goal is to make sure that generations after mine remember TTRPGs in some form. I don’t care what edition of what game as long as they’re having fun and passing the tradition along.
Yes, there are some horrible actors in the OSR subculture and TTRPG community. I get it. But let’s think about the thousands upon thousands of good, hardworking, considerate, respectful gamers out there, okay? The good, if not great, outnumber the bad by a magnitude of 10x or more. It’s easy to see if you look past the handful of goons who are getting negative press. I mean, WotC, Games Workshop, and Troll Lord Games make mistakes and we still follow them. It happens. You just have to be willing to take a little bit of bad with a whole lot of good sometimes.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. The same YouTuber who started me off on this rant has been responsible for some other things we’re going to cover later on. Good grief.
Special thanks to Tenkar of Tenkar’s Tavern and Tom of TableTop Taproom for fighting the good fight. I’d also like to thank Dave “Knighthawk” Simpson for all of his hard work. We might not all see eye-to-eye on everything, but I admire you all for your compassion, commitment, and determination to spreading the good word. Keep up the good work.
Jeff's Game Box 