Old School RolePlaying Games. Whatever we’re calling it this week.
Here we are again. I don’t think I’m really part of this movement or ideology. Yes, I love some Old School games. Dragonbane, Shadowdark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Old School Essentials to name my Top 4 of 5 fantasy games. It’s a preference in playstyle, a thought movement within the hobby, and/or just a description on a product.
Ideologically, I fall off of the OSR movement. At no point in time have I ever looked at a group and said, “You’re playing the game wrong. Get out of my hobby.”
Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.
On the other hand, there’s a certain large, smelly, greedy, rotten American corporation who absolutely insist on shouting down the Old School movement while still trying to appeal to us to by their newest version of that ampersand game which I am trying hard not to mention by name these days. The company is doing everything in their power to bring back or bring in new players while simultaneously trouncing on their game’s Old School creators as much as possible. Do they realize the OSR was created exactly because of their various new editions of that ampersand game?
This war of ideologies plays out on YouTube almost daily these days.
If not YouTube, then surely on X (Twitter) and Reddit. I hear there’s a battleground on Facebook as well, but I don’t go on there often enough to verify it. Honestly, I think for every single crappy YouTube channel in the RPG space, there are three more Old School channels that deserve amazing, honorable mention.
Let me take this opportunity to do a grand shout-out to:
- Harmony Ginger. If I’m being honest, she’s kind of the Old School darling at the moment. I think most of us old guys might disagree on a lot of things, but we all pretty much stand behind Harmony. I met her on X (Twitter) before she was on YouTube. I think she’s terrific when it comes to gaming all around, and she holds up Old School values like a champ.
- TableTop Taproom. My friend Tom covers Star Frontiers and game publishing among other topics. I think Tom is a great guy because he generally gets along with everyone and stays out of the social media feuds for the most part. He also did excellent work covering the trash fire that was NuTSR and the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. I can’t applaud him enough.
Tom also teams up with Don Semora of Wizard Tower Games regularly. They have the Vlog of many things podcast together which is always pleasant to listen to. Don and Tom usually talk about publishing games and other writer related topics, but sometimes chat about other important issues in the hobby such as AI art. - Last, never to be excluded is my friend The OG GM Adventures. He says he was ostracized from the Old School for not backing one of the many Kickstarters for OSR products in 2023. Hey, I didn’t back that particular project either, but I hope Adventurer, Conqueror, King 2 does well. Personally, I don’t care if OG is considered Old School enough, I resonate with most of what he says on any given day and his channel regularly plays when I’m cooking or in the car.
There are plenty of really cool YouTube Content Creators in the Old School that steer clear of the garbage on social media, and I love em to pieces for it. However, a lot of the RPG hobby does get its news and opinion fodder from social media. Personally, I think it has become the best place for word-of-mouth advertising, which is the most important kind of advertising.
The biggest ideological clash seems to come when Old School butts heads with new(ish) school roleplaying. I think I see a growing divide in the hobby between the newer, more socially aware, politically active crowd of gamers that came in because of Stranger Things, Dimension 20, and Critical Role versus the OSR crowd who grew up in the 1970s, 80s, and even 90s playing RPGs. The clash of ideals starts with the Matt Mercer Effect and continues into Edition Wars over the ampersand game, and then usually spills over into diversity, equity, and inclusion.
There is a regular cycle of topics that come up for debate on social media and YouTube. Most of them fall into the category of Silly TTRPG Arguments around here. The more serious arguments usually take place over things such as ableism, inclusion, discrimination, bigotry, and bullying. There are also a couple of trolls on YouTube who like to take other people’s 10 minute videos and turn them into an hour long rant about why they hate the hobby so much now.
We old folks aren’t always the problem, though.
I’ve now seen multiple videos on behalf of Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons (Oh Lordy, I said it.)that captured the vibe of “If you don’t buy the new D&D, then you’re just a bitter old Grognard white guy who can’t leave the hobby fast enough.”
All I can wonder is how much they pay these shills to make this shlock on YouTube. Seriously? WotC either wants my money or they don’t. Calling me a dirty old white guy doesn’t affect me nearly as much as it will likely enrage a bunch of the OSR YouTubers who don’t tend to look kindly on WotC or 5E already. The arguments and the divisiveness are only going to get worse.
One of my favorite D&DTubers recently made a video akin to what I’m talking about and I’m somewhere between enraged and disappointed with him. I’m not venting fire because I know he’s not going to be the last by any means. A mob of D&DTuber shills are coming. I would bet money that the rhetoric they spew is going to almost be word-for-word the same in almost every video. I’d also bet the same shills are going to have their content on D&D Beyond through some kind of behind-the-scenes contract. (Although that is just my Tinfoil Hat Theory.)
It’s not entirely their fault, either.
WotC knows that they might never make a dime if their player base believes we don’t need another book to enjoy D&D ever again. I have all the books, editions, game systems, and campaign worlds I could ever want to explore. I could pull a different game out of my collection every week and have enough to go on for years to come.
No joking, I could be content for life with just Dragonbane at this point. It’s got the simplistic beauty of 80s D&D without all the corporate drama and YouTube nonsense. I’ll take Dragonbane over pretty much every other game that comes out this year because of its streamlined goodness and being wide open for all of my homebrew machinations. So many other games capture that level of excitement, but none have hit home for me as hard as Dragonbane. I am completely geeked on this game and I’m not giving it up.
The “You’re doing it all wrong” crowd is why I’m here writing this.
#ttrpgfamily, I love y’all. You already know I’m going to say there’s no wrong way to enjoy your game of choice. If 5E is your jam, cool. If Dragonbane is your thing, contact me on social media so we can be friends. Shadowrun? Great! If your thing is some one page Itch.io game? I’m happy for you.
Unfortunately there are some YouTube content creators and social media trolls out there who like to make videos or post about how their way of doing things is best and the rest of us are all wrong. Some of these guys have gone to the next level that just sounds like they hate roleplaying in general and all of us, too. This isn’t even anything new to the hobby. We’ve been doing it since new editions of D&D began. The technology has improved so we can scream louder at more people who may not know any differently.
I feel the most empathy for people joining the hobby or who will be joining the hobby this year/next year. If their first experience with the hobby is some guy on YouTube yelling about how the guy in some other video is doing things all wrong and how the “Neo-D&D” is so terrible and we’re all terrible for enjoying it- is that new player coming back? Nope. The YouTube algorithm is terrible about discriminating between warm, welcoming videos to the hobby and hate spew mostly from the OSR side of things.
Few people on YouTube and social media stop to think about reputation.
(As well as brand recognition.) If the younger 5E oriented crowd screams that everyone who doesn’t buy the new D&D are a bunch of bigots, what does that say about the community? Likewise if all of the OSR pundits scream about how everything in “new” gaming is woke and everything they hate is woke- how does that look to new players. There are people on both sides of the argument espousing gatekeeping at this point and it makes me ill.
We need to be welcoming new people to the hobby with open arms in the next two or three years regardless of which game they play. We’re going to see a huge (*ugh) dare I say, “mainstream” culture following trying D&D for the first time. Yeah, they might be playing the online Frankenstein VTT version of the game, but at least they’ve got their foot in the door. We should love them for it!
Oh, and one other thing regarding new players in any TTRPG: please steer them away from TTRPG X (Twitter,) Reddit, and if possible YouTube. I personally do not trust YouTube not to put incredibly negative content in front of anyone. Best case scenario they get someone kind and welcoming like Ginny Di. (Yes, I mean that sincerely.) Worst case they get [REDACTED] or one of the other you’re-doing-it-all-wrong OSR bros.
Then, once people have seen the corporate monster and its take on gaming, they can play other, possibly more fun games. <whispers “Dragonbane” loudly.> Or maybe, if the less bitter old fartz don’t mind, we could bring some people into the older parts of the hobby such as OSE, DCC, or even old D&D editions. The catch is: none of it is possible unless we make the games we have look appealing to new players. (Try Dragonbane. It’s so much easier to learn.)
No one is going to want to jump into a game with bitter old gatekeepers. That means the OSR needs to stop with the gatekeeping nonsense or get used to keeping to themselves while the hobby dies a slow decline from a lack of new fans. The alternative is to espouse one’s games and its virtues loudly to anyone who will listen and invite new players in as much as possible. If you want new players, you gotta open the door a little.
Disclaimer: Yes, I take some pretty hard jabs at Wizards of the Coast. It’s because I think they’re screwing up all over the place. I’ve honestly turned toward other companies in the hobby and their products. I’m not taking cheap shots at WotC to make D&D look worse and other games look better. WotC makes D&D look bad just fine all on their own. As always, use your own discernment and choose the games that make you happiest.
Other game companies make their products as appealing to their audience as possible. That’s why I love Free League Publishing so much. They don’t have a scandal every time they release a new book. I’m not even sure they’ve ever had a major scandal, but I’m over here in the USA, so maybe they have and we just don’t hear about it. Honestly I can’t see it happening. I’m a hopeless Dragonbane shill and proud of it! Like that guy in the meme- prove me wrong.
New editions of old games keep the industry and the hobby alive.
My beloved Dragonbane is just an English version of Drakar och Demoner, a popular game in Sweden from way back in 1983. (Dragon and Demon would never have flown as an American game during the Satanic Panic.) It’s just proof positive that we need new editions to get old players excited and introduce an all new crowd of players into the hobby. This game has lived up to the hype and continues to do so.
WotC knows this. They’ve been doing it since the year 2000. They figured out long ago that old editions don’t sustain the company. T$R, original producers of D&D were doing it long before then. Mechanical and editing advantages aside, it gives the writers a chance to start fresh on the game. It also keeps the cash flowing into the coffers, so more new and exciting sourcebooks can be made.
I, among many others, have pointed out one basic truth.
Play what makes you happy. Run what makes you and your group happy. Buy whatever TTRPG you’d like from whoever.
No one is going to send the gaming police to collect your old books. Your homebrew is still valid in any edition. With a little adjustment, any setting can convert from one game to another. Trust me on that. I’ve been doing it for years.
Lastly, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not having fun with your game the “right” way. If you’re enjoying it, and the group is enjoying it- you’re doing it right! Never let anyone regardless of age, how long they’ve been in the hobby, or how many thousands of YouTube subscribers they have tell you, “You’re doing it wrong.”
Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.
Jeff's Game Box 