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Recent OSR zine explosion - is it just the beginning?

Started by theOutlander, January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM

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theOutlander

January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM
Going through r/osr yesterday, almost every second post was a zine kickstarter promotion. It seems everyone's making zines now!

Much of the content is allegedly OSR, but not conforming to the classical fantasy trope: it's wacky, weird, with robots, mutants, existential horror and anthropomorphic rodents. The whole thing is really out there and all over the place in terms of style. And it seems many of these projects are getting backed for hundreds to thousands of gold coins.

What do you think is coming next?


  • Expansion. The OSR/DIY mindset will somehow position itself on the market next to the big boys, perhaps as a punk alternative. Getting better and polished until the inevitable sell out.
  • Decline. The content space will oversaturate, ending with few diamonds in a vast sea of mediocrity. Leaving people exhausted, bored and unsatisfied with the OSR, so they may switch to something more grounded like Savage Worlds.
  • Stagnation. The "community" will self regulate to keep its boundaries, going for the cool kids club. Basically keeping the weird (as in Mork Borg or Troika) on some level that it always stays a niche space.

Or something else?

Melan

#1
January 28, 2021, 03:13:31 PM Last Edit: January 28, 2021, 03:15:41 PM by Melan
This is really the combination of two things:

  • Kickstarter's annual Zinequest event, which is slated to run in February. Zinequest was initiated by Luke Crane, who works at Kickstarter, and has strong ties to the storygames community.
  • The usual publication format for the people who otherwise publish itch.io mini-games, and play hipster magnet stuff like Troika.
Results vary, and a lot of it is not really connected to the old-school movement in any way beyond taking advantage of name recognition, and being tied to some kind of rules-light rules paradigm that is kinda-sorta B/X-based. Honestly, it is closer to the storygames community and progressive politics than anything else. You certainly wouldn't see a lot of these guys playing Against the Giants, except maybe ironically.

What it is to old-school gaming is "tangential".
Now with a Zine!
ⓘ This post is disputed by official sources

Eirikrautha

#2
January 28, 2021, 04:06:26 PM
Quote from: theOutlander on January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM
Going through r/osr yesterday, almost every second post was a zine kickstarter promotion. It seems everyone's making zines now!

Cool.  WTF is a "zine"?  (We've already reached peak stupid when no one can be arsed to write out "magazine" or "fan-magazine."  Guess it sounds "hip."  which is the beginning of the end of utility and quality)

Quote from: theOutlander on January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM
Decline. The content space will oversaturate, ending with few diamonds in a vast sea of mediocrity. Leaving people exhausted, bored and unsatisfied with the OSR, so they may switch to something more grounded...

This one.  It's already happening in the RPG hobby as a whole now, anyway.  It's unavoidable...

Quote from: theOutlander on January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM
... like Savage Worlds.

LOL!  Out of the frying pan...
"Testosterone levels vary widely among women, just like other secondary sex characteristics like breast size or body hair. If you eliminate anyone with elevated testosterone, it's like eliminating athletes because their boobs aren't big enough or because they're too hairy." -- jhkim

robh

#3
January 28, 2021, 05:42:09 PM
Quote from: theOutlander on January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM

  • Decline. The content space will oversaturate, ending with few diamonds in a vast sea of mediocrity.
Definitely this.
But most of the stuff out there (and including the other self aggrandizing plague; Patreon) fails even to achieve the dizzy heights of mediocrity.

Pat

#4
January 28, 2021, 06:54:00 PM
Quote from: Eirikrautha on January 28, 2021, 04:06:26 PM
Quote from: theOutlander on January 28, 2021, 02:34:00 PM
Going through r/osr yesterday, almost every second post was a zine kickstarter promotion. It seems everyone's making zines now!

Cool.  WTF is a "zine"?  (We've already reached peak stupid when no one can be arsed to write out "magazine" or "fan-magazine."  Guess it sounds "hip."  which is the beginning of the end of utility and quality)
They're short magazines. So they shortened the word, magazine. I think it's rather clever.

More precisely, they tend to be self-published magazines with small circulations on fringe topics. Music zines were an early example, and a little under a decade ago they became popular among in the OSR crowd. Something about the do-it-yourself nature and small discrete bits appealed. From Loviatar to The Manor, to newer ones like Undercroft or Crawl!, they tend to be saddle stitched, digest sized, with black and white interiors, and are often are in the 16 to 24 page range.

Thornhammer

#5
January 28, 2021, 09:17:36 PM
Speaking of "zines" and actual quality OSR material - Melan, what did you write for Knock?

I ordered a copy tonight and thought "Hey, I know that name..."

Svenhelgrim

#6
January 28, 2021, 10:12:36 PM
Can we really call it the Old School "Renaissance" any more?  It has been around so long now that it rates being a "reformation", which is convenient because it still uses the same initials.

Melan

#7
January 29, 2021, 02:39:55 AM
Quote from: Thornhammer on January 28, 2021, 09:17:36 PM
Speaking of "zines" and actual quality OSR material - Melan, what did you write for Knock?

I ordered a copy tonight and thought "Hey, I know that name..."
I wrote Does Energy Drain Suck?, The Overly Thematic Dungeon, and The Tapestry and the Mosaic Box.
Now with a Zine!
ⓘ This post is disputed by official sources

theOutlander

#8
February 09, 2021, 10:18:39 AM
Quote from: Melan on January 28, 2021, 03:13:31 PM

  • Kickstarter's annual Zinequest event, which is slated to run in February. Zinequest was initiated by Luke Crane, who works at Kickstarter, and has strong ties to the storygames community.
  • The usual publication format for the people who otherwise publish itch.io mini-games, and play hipster magnet stuff like Troika.

I didn't know it was a curated event. Now it makes sense.

As for the tangential thing, I think /r/osr gives the wrong impression. It is THE OSR subreddit, yet nowadays it's all about the "hipster magnets" and artsy rules-lites. Maybe partly because of the Zinequest surge, but I'd believe this will stay as the new normal.

Melan

#9
February 09, 2021, 10:28:48 AM
IIRC the main OSR Discord is also run by a cabal of transsexual furries.

Internet. It is a weird place.
Now with a Zine!
ⓘ This post is disputed by official sources

Wicked Woodpecker of West

#10
February 09, 2021, 11:26:29 AM
QuoteIIRC the main OSR Discord is also run by a cabal of transsexual furries.



"Nah, I can't even act surprised"

Eric Diaz

#11
February 09, 2021, 11:53:13 AM
How does one submit to this stuff? I think I might have an article or two.
Chaos Factory Books  - Dark fantasy RPGs and more!

Methods & Madness - my  D&D 5e / Old School / Game design blog.
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