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OSR is Overhyped

Everywhere I turn these days there is another article or conversation about OSR -- the Old School Revival.  OSR is about making and resurrecting old games, usually those that resemble pre-3.0 D&D.  I'm not a big fan.  When I speak of playing AD&D, its like when an old grandfather tells his grandchildren about walking uphill both ways to school in 6 feet of snow with no shoes on.  It was character-building at the time, but there is no reason I would want to go back to that.  There were a lot of reasons that old school gaming was replaced:


  • Old school games limited choice.  Want to play a character you really like and can get in to?  Too bad -- you rolled a set of stats that won't work for the character you want to build.  Here, play this lame character you don't like instead.  Don't worry though, he'll probably be dead soon anyway...
  • Old school games were really lethal.  Don't get too attached to your character, because you'll probably be dead soon.  First level characters don't even need a name.
  • Strategy often wasn't really useful.  Yeah, and about that dying thing.  Don't think you can figure your way out of dying.  Sometimes you're going to die for no good reason.  Life is a b**ch, so why shouldn't your fantasy game to escape it be one too.
  • GM is god.  The whole GM god complex was a cornerstone of old-school gaming.  After all, when the players can't even keep characters alive for that long, isn't the story really just about everything else?  And that is everything the GM controls.  Old school gaming is much more about the GM.
All of these reasons are why new school gaming was invented.  Give the players the choice to play new characters, have epic and interesting adventures,  and build stories.  If you watch the current trends in RPGs, the real move is to reduce GM power and, if possible, eliminate her completely.

Now that being said, yeah I have a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics and the D&D reprints.  I also run the Tomb of Horrors on special occasions.  I also have a lot of AD&D era source books.  The books are a good read and I admire the elegance of Gary Gygax's original D&D publications, but when it comes time for a long-term gaming group, I put away the old school and focus on game rulesets that I know will really be fun for everyone.
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  1. UnknownMarch 18, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    As GM power-mongering goes, I prefer to run somewhere in the middle. I view it as a collaborative game between the GM and the players.

    When it comes to the OSR, I love the art style, I love the sense of danger and adventure that comes along with OSR games and I really like the sheer brutality of OSR monsters. That being said, I like the player options, deeper role play opportunities and core mechanics of newer RPGS. I just mix the two and have had a pretty good experience. I use modern rule sets with an OSR mindset.

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