Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants!

This was my response to the current Non-troversy surrounding the OSR logo. I haven't been personally involved in the OSR in years mostly due to the way people in the OSR behave. It started out as a labor of love and then turned into a battle of egos. I'm not going to name anything specific but it just wasn't the same thing to me that it was at it's peak in 2010.

Quite a few years ago I came up with a logo based on the TSR logo. An original ripoff you might say. I made no claims on it and put it out there for anyone to use. A lot of gamers came up with their own versions, ones way better than my crude logo.  One in particular was really good and it was adopted for quite a few products.

A couple of days ago I came across a rant about how his logo was being used to harass minorities so he was revoking it's use for such purposes.  He didn't name anything specific so it was left up to the reader's imagination. Any gaming products meant to harass anyone seems like a really poor gaming material and I doubt you'd find an audience for it. I thought this seemed strange and sounded a bit like a political purity test.

I contacted the author and told him I did the original and said people ran with the logo and he blocked me on Twitter. I'm not going to try to understand his motivation but I don't  trust grandstanding in the guise of silencing speech. You can inject your politics or personal views in your games but you run the risk of alienating some of your audience. Immersing yourself into a fantasy world means leaving every day nonsense behind. I know I don't need to explain escapism to gamers but more and more it seems political extremists want to inject their ideology into every form of escape, creating no-escapism. Why buy a product that just reminds us how crappy the real  world can be?

I may get involved with the OSR again, I did enjoy it early on but a big failing of the OSR is the lack of humility and reverence for the original creators. If it weren't for them then none of this would exist. Make your own products and enjoy your gaming but remember that you stand on the shoulders of giants.

Messing around with the OSR logo

Burn It To The Ground

There have been a few blogs, very good ones, that have decided to completely destroy everything that they've done.  I don't really understand how someone could put so much work into something only to burn it to the ground.  It's a personal choice I guess but if I ever got tired of doing Maximum Rock & Roll Playing I would be flattered that people still wanted me to keep it archived.  I'd have a hard time setting it afire.

Yes, it is your own creativity and you don't owe anybody anything, but to me it comes off as senseless.  Am I alone here?

Dungeon Crawl Classics

As most of you know, Goodman Games is offering a beta of their Dungeon Crawl Classics game along with a Quick Start Rules.

When I first heard about DCC and that it was based on 3.0 I was really skeptical as to how "Old School" it would actually be. After all 3.0 is the beginning of why I was growing tired of D&D as a system.

Some of the gaming glut DCC is doing away with is as follows: Prestige Classes, Attacks of Opportunity, Feats and Skill Points.

They're keeping the following things:

-Race and Class as the same thing like in the Original Edition.

-Ascending Armor Class

-All attacks, saves and skill checks are resolved with a d20 roll.

Vancian magic seems to be somewhat here, the ability to recast a spell will be dependent the success of the spell being cast (seems like a good way to handle it).

One thing I'm not sure I like is that spell's success and results are determined by a die roll. It's not a make or break issue with me though.

There are quite a lot of tables like the occupation table determining your characters lot in life, luck table, critical hits table, etc... That's a bit of a draw back for me.

Character classes include: Cleric, Thief, Warrior, Wizard, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. Just like in OE!

Skills are included in the system and to me this is a biggie in my opinion. I think the introduction of skills is a big reason why the free-form system of D&D started to disappear. I know that it started with 2nd Ed. but I've only played 2nd ed. a few times so I associate skills with 3rd ed. Although the way it is presented in DCC abates my fears a bit. It's only to be used when the situation isn't really covered by the rules. This would also take away the DM fiat issue, I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Overall it's an interesting book that is presented very well and has some great "Old School" art in it. So far the Beta clocks in at 168 pages, when most of the OSR tomes are around 60-100. It has enough of 3.0 in it that makes it hard for DCC to win me over, but I will check out the book when it is released. At this point I'm going to wait until it's release to decide, but for me personally I don't need another clone I can just go back to the original source through "Rules Cyclopedia" and supplement that with the many OSR products or I can still play an enjoyable and rules light game with Tunnels & Trolls!

Keep Rockin' and Roleplayin'!

Unofficial U-Series gets a sequel!

Center Stage Miniatures and Pacesetter Games & Simulations team up to put out a sequel module for the U series! Read the full story here!

OSR Official Logo, or Group Think?

When I originally came up with the TSR/OSR parody I didn't intend on it being taken seriously. I am flattered that it made it on the cover of a couple of books though. It's nice to have a logo as an identifier for older edition friendly gaming material. It makes it easier to identify what will work with a campaign or gaming ideas for the OSR crowd.

Part of me wonders if this could engender a group think mentality. Not just the identification alone, but could it turn into a form of elitism or "my way or the highway" mentality. For the most part I don't believe this will be the case, it might happen on a individual level but not as a whole. I think group think is partially what lead to the demise of TARGA. Group think wasn't the original idea behind TARGA, it was supposed to be a hub for like minded gamers to share ideas and news on "Old School" events. But somehow it turned into a "let's label this officially "Old School" and that off limits for our club.

I wish TARGA had been a success, I wish that we could've had this resource where everyone could meet and exchange ideas and maybe even a forum for online gaming. But maybe it's for the best that it didn't work out. After all should an open form of gaming be constrained by a list of do's and don'ts of OSR gaming?

It's okay to play a game of D&D, Tunnels & Trolls, Traveller or Top Secret and then decide to play Vampire the Masquerade or Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. And there's no reason why a product with the OSR identifier couldn't be used with a "New School" game. As long as fun was had, and nobody (other than a few orcs) was hurt in the end. I've been finding that my game time has been few and far between for me to get really picky anyways. Just remember that the "All Seeing Die" is watching!

As always, Keep Rockin' and Roleplayin'!

OSR, don't be a player hater!

Old School Renaissance, Old School Rules, Old School Republished, Old School Rukus, Old School Retreads, Only Some Roleplaying, Only Suckers Roleplay, Order Some Rutabaga, etc...

What ever you want to call it, just do it! Don't be part of a movement, be part of a game! And have fun DAMNIT!

Old School vs. New School

Summed up in an old Apple Macintosh commercial!



Brought to you by the hive mind of the OSR.

We are not a movement.

We were never here.

TSR was the cornerstone...

... to what the OSR has built off of. Both the old guard and the second generation can work together to create and grow this hobby for future generations.

This all reminds me of how Rock 'n Roll began. Elvis wasn't exactly the first, but he was the best! He blended country and blues, along with gyrating hips and a greaser/juvenile delinquent look complete with bedroom eyes that made the girls scream! Then he got drafted into the army for a couple of years and came back to do films rather than rock 'n roll.

Enter The Beatles. They changed the look of rock, with their mop top hair and snappy looking suits. Perfect harmonies and great pop sensibilities had the fans screaming and cheering so loud you couldn't even hear the music.

Some have argued that the Beatles were less rock 'n roll than Elvis. Sure, they were more polished than Elvis, their brand of rhythm and blues didn't translate the same as The King's version of rhythm and blues. And they arrived on the scene long after Elvis paved way. But in the end they were still rock 'n roll.

Both artists are icons and have long enduring legacies and influences that live on today!

This is how I see TSR and the OSR!

I don't really see any benefit of the old guard and the second generation of gamers splitting. If you don't like the moniker OSR, fine. It's not really important, it's the games and the camaraderie that matter. Pied Piper Games has distanced itself from what is called the OSR and that's fine (although on the official distributor's website, Noble Knight hasPied Piper listed under the genre Old School Renaissance) , although I'll bet a lot of people who buy their products identify themselves as part of the "Old School". I personally haven't bought anything from them yet, but I plan to in the future, they've got some interesting looking stuff!

I'd hate to see such division between two groups that have so much in common.

Keep Rockin' and Role Playin'!

Chad Thorson

Time for another "Old School" movement!

It'll be a minute.

OSR Logo final

Thanks to DrDucker!

OSR Logo revised

Better, no?

OSR Logo

I just did this for fun! Feel free to use it if you want!

The Diet of Worms and the Old School Reformation

The assembly of the Holy Hasbro Empire decided long ago not to support older style gaming. And had issued a papal bull outlining newer styles of gaming, remaking what is now a 400+ page tome of rules and regulations to follow. When the original text was good enough to follow without adding any newer and more concise rules.

For years we have had to pay indulgences by buying new updated rules every 5 years or so, and paying more money for each addition.

Then came the OSR. With it 95 theses nailed to the door of the Church of Holy Hasbro, outlining the complex simplicity of the original rules.

Heresy some said, but here we are now a year or two later gaining more and more supporters every day.

Let's not split further into calvins and anabaptists if the OSR movement, but remain focused on the reason why we play the classic games.