Old school D&D / OSR likes and dislikes

Pat · March 31, 2022, 12:14:33 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 31, 2022, 10:40:51 AM
However, "old school means whatever you want to mean" is not a great definition... We old school enthusiasts should e able to come up with a definition most of us would agree, and maybe aswer simples questions such as "does this include AD&D? traveller?" etc.

The idea that words mean what you want them to mean is postmodern garbage. It's a living word so there will always be ambiguity, but OSR typically refers to the movement started when a bunch of gamers got frustrated with third edition and started to create stuff for older games. In a narrow sense, this covers games based on an older version of D&D, usually defined as 2e or earlier. In a looser sense, it can include other older games like Traveller. It doesn't need to be one and not the other. As with most words, the meaning should be clear from context. But in general, the first usage is a lot more common.

estar · March 31, 2022, 12:25:40 PM

Your post is also a good way of describing the situation.

Quote from: Pat on March 31, 2022, 12:14:33 PM
In a looser sense, it can include other older games like Traveller. It doesn't need to be one and not the other. As with most words, the meaning should be clear from context.

And to riff again off a recent movie, The OSR is Everything, Everywhere, All at once. Especially now that we are over 15 years into this mess.

Pat · March 31, 2022, 02:36:37 PM

Quote from: estar on March 31, 2022, 12:25:40 PM
Your post is also a good way of describing the situation.
Quote from: Pat on March 31, 2022, 12:14:33 PM
In a looser sense, it can include other older games like Traveller. It doesn't need to be one and not the other. As with most words, the meaning should be clear from context.
And to riff again off a recent movie, The OSR is Everything, Everywhere, All at once. Especially now that we are over 15 years into this mess.

Again, that's postmodern garbage. Words have meanings, otherwise communication would be impossible. We've dealt with ambiguity and context-dependent meanings since the origin of language. It's not an excuse to say nothing means anything.

estar · March 31, 2022, 04:16:03 PM

[quote author=Pat link=topic=44562.msg1211796#msg1211796 date=1648751797, OSR doesn't have a "meaning" that is useful for the purpose of communication beyond that something is connected to one of the classic editions of D&D. It is not a way of running adventures, it is not a way of creating RPG systems, it is not a way of creating settings, it not certainly not a way of playing.

There are however large subgroups that do have a playstyle, design systems a certain way, create settings in a particular way. But none of them are the OSR only part of the OSR.

Pat · March 31, 2022, 04:37:08 PM

And again, that's complete garbage. Movements can encompass many things and can still be defined. This nothing means anything approach is basically linguistic nihilism, the Noam Chomsky equivalent of a 14 year old writing death poetry.