What does the "old school renaissance" (OSR) in role-playing mean to you?
Back in December, Mike Evans asked:
"Many people have different opinions on this... so: what does the OSR mean to you? What characteristics define it?"
I responded at the time in the thread he started, but wanted to repost my thoughts again here for future reference:
The Old School Renaissance (OSR) in role-playing games seems to mean different things to different people, and I've seen some frustration, especially outside the OSR community with trying to pin down a definition. Or disdain due to the idea that OSR is simply shorthand for nostalgia-driven, regurgitated pap.
But the ambiguity doesn't really bother me at all. When I see OSR I know what I'm getting, and nostalgia is only a piece of the formula.
In my mind OSR is associated with any combination of the following:
Compatibility (either 1-to-1 or in spirit) with older types of games.An effort to figure out the mindset which went in to earlier games, approached with both a critical eye and an open mind. Usual…
"Many people have different opinions on this... so: what does the OSR mean to you? What characteristics define it?"
I responded at the time in the thread he started, but wanted to repost my thoughts again here for future reference:
The Old School Renaissance (OSR) in role-playing games seems to mean different things to different people, and I've seen some frustration, especially outside the OSR community with trying to pin down a definition. Or disdain due to the idea that OSR is simply shorthand for nostalgia-driven, regurgitated pap.
But the ambiguity doesn't really bother me at all. When I see OSR I know what I'm getting, and nostalgia is only a piece of the formula.
In my mind OSR is associated with any combination of the following:
Compatibility (either 1-to-1 or in spirit) with older types of games.An effort to figure out the mindset which went in to earlier games, approached with both a critical eye and an open mind. Usual…