Friday, July 11, 2014

Old School OSR



Remember the OSR when it started?
When it was nameless?
When you copied and pasted every cool idea or table because you’d be afraid it’d all disappear?
When there were a few cobbled together D&D hacks but no true retro-clones yet?
When the Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope or Chogwiz were your daily reads?
Before anybody had made a dime off the thing?
When people who disliked 4e were considered lame or behind the times?
When rpg.net was still readable?
Before Pathfinder existed?
When Gary and Dave were still alive?
When people wrote as much about Traveler or Stormbringer or GURPS as they did about D&D?
When people fretted about the OGL and what WotC would do?
Not saying anything is better or worse, just remembering a time, like an old fragrance that is lost.
Is it too early to be nostalgic about a movement based on nostalgia?

6 comments:

  1. "When you copied and pasted every cool idea or table because you’d be afraid it’d all disappear?"

    So true!

    I think I've still got Valley of the Blue Snails and Sham's Grog n Blog in my feed. Just in case they get active again.

    Goddammit, I don't want to feel nostalgic about the early days of the OSR, but here we are. Bring on the OSOSR!

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    1. Good times, and even though we still enjoy an embarrassment of riches, that new love feeling is whittled down to the bone.

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  2. Yes to almost all of them (I never liked reading stuff at rpg.net, by maybe I discovered it too late).

    And I've also got a lot of those blogs still on my blog feed, just in case...

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  3. Replies
    1. Right, but I think the fact we do forget causes some of our problems. We forget that the OSR started for love of the game, not as a marketing extension for the industry, ego inflation for the biggest fish in the pond, or lightning rod for electric trolls. I'm trying to remember and keep my blog in that OSR spirit.

      I'm trying to be the better man, Ringo.

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