Original T<\/mark>SR<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once OSR appeared in a post, people set to work on each letter. Everyone agreed from the start the O and S were “old school”. No one could agree on the R. Old School Renaissance and Old School Revival were tossed about but also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I preferred Old School Recidivism. Next up, what is the OSR? It isn’t a genre or a philosophy. It can be called an approach to RPGs that favors certain game mechanics (or design principles) but it is best to call it a movement. The movement has entered its fifth phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1st Phase<\/strong><\/mark>: Fans of old editions of D&D and a few other games from the 70s gathered online and realized a lot of people were still playing the old games or picking them up again. They helped each to find used copies of books they were missing & electronic substitutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2nd Phase<\/strong>: Concerned that new people couldn’t join their hobby, they published the old games again as renamed clones. OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry started this phase. For more details, look for Matt Finch interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3rd Phase<\/strong>: Soon after the 2nd Phase, house ruled versions, improvements and ideal versions of the games were published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4th Phase<\/strong>: Games informed by and inspired by the old games were published (“old” means 1974 to the early 80s). This was the time of greatest innovation in the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n 5th Phase<\/strong>: “OSR” settled into a buzzword and marketing term. Any word that is overused loses its meaning. Today OSR means… whatever. When a movement gets popular, what do you expect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current phase of the OSR has caused some confusion as some people embrace the term while others distance themselves from it. For example, Alexander Macris of Autarch Games<\/a> says ACKS (Adventurer Conqueror King System) is not an OSR game. I consider it 100% OSR. Gavin Norman of Necrotic Gnome<\/a> doesn’t want people to call Old School Essentials an OSR game yet many would agree it is the epitome of an OSR game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A clear understanding of the OSR has grown difficult. Many people who jumped on the bandwagon use it as a tool for pushing their own agendas. People who want to play games without learning the rules, those who push “Rule Zero” and the just plain pretentious have come to dominate OSR discussions in countless places. A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming<\/a> by Matt Finch is a good place to start one’s education. The author has admitted the document is not flawless but it remains a worthy summation. It’s worth noting OSR is not just fantasy games. Science-fiction like Traveller and post apocalypse like Gamma World certainly qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current phase of the OSR is already encouraging spinoffs. The BroSR<\/a> uses memes to rag on the OSR but the BroSR is more OSR than the OSR. By this I mean the BroSR is offering gamers the kind of innovations & advice<\/a> that the OSR offered in its healthier phases.<\/p>\n\n\n During the 2nd Phase of the OSR, people discussed what made the old editions of D&D different from the new ones. What attracted them to the games they promoted? This was when the principles of the OSR were stated. The trouble is, everyone states them differently. “Rulings over rules” was oft repeated but this is frequently misunderstood because it’s a vague statement. It’s trying to express the game master should be able to handle situations not covered by the rules and, also, the game master is the final arbiter of rules during a game \u2014 even if it overrides the rule book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OSR fans can’t point to a central, agreed upon list of principles but this isn’t a problem. The principles didn’t come from an expert or a single game. They were discovered by playing old RPGs and seeing what resulted. A true OSR fan will run old games to see if any set of principles holds water. The do-it-yourself nature of the OSR requires it. In my time in the OSR I have settled on six principles. The pattern they make when they interlink is what the OSR is to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do-It-Yourself<\/strong> \u2014 OSR games assume gamers have a DIY attitude. Game masters are expected to provide their own maps, scenarios, adjust the rules to taste, fill in gaps the rules don’t cover, etc. The games of the mid 70s took it for granted game masters would create their own game settings (or worlds). The OSR community has created a wealth of advice, settings, maps, monster manuals, roll tables \u2014 you name it! OSR games expect you to bolt a variety of books & materials onto the rule book you’re using. If you house-rule the game into something no one would recognize, that’s almost expected. An unexpected consequence of this is allowing people to run a richly provisioned game with no effort but the OSR community doesn’t lose sleep over this. It is assumed you’ll grow bored & use your materials as examples to create something new yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creativity Required<\/strong> \u2014 What brought me to the OSR was the high esteem they hold for creativity. That creativity is emphasized constantly when game books & blog posts encourage game masters to do something new. Players are encouraged to go outside the rules or suggest new ones. Creativity is supposed to guide your choice from the buffet of rule sets & supplements the OSR offers. Inventiveness is your friend when handling a situation during play the rules don’t mention. Phase 4 of the OSR embodied this. Innovative people were attracted to the scene & created a wealth of materials that will change the RPG hobby forever. OSR proponents are constantly banging the drum of “meaningful choices” and “player agency”. This means the players are rewarded for engagement & allowed to decide where the game will lead. This stokes their creative energies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n High Risk<\/strong> \u2014 The high chance of character death creates tension & calls for quick thinking. This increases player engagement. It also facilitates creativity & immersion (as I said, the six principles interlock). The tension makes each game session more exciting. That’s why so many OSR blogs warn against fudging the dice. Don’t do anything to cut the tension until the game drops consequences on the players. Consequences tell the players their choices matter. Frequent character death is why character creation is so quick in OSR games. Quick character creation makes it easier to start games. Is it any wonder the OSR has been so successful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep It Simple<\/strong> \u2014 This principle is the most likely to be misunderstood. OSR games favor less complex rules. This trend has caused some to create games with rules so simple it’s a stumbling block for the people playing those games. Most everything can be taken too far. Also, the OSR began when people who knew games well were writing for a small audience of fellow hobbyists. Many of the early rule sets assumed the customer would immediately fill in gaps or fix problems in the game’s rules. This has lead to some OSR games imitating that early style to the consternation of their customers. The OSR has, at times, unwittingly set a high barrier for new people wishing to join. No movement is perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the simplicity serves several purposes. Immersion is easier with simple rules. The game pauses less often to check rules, allowing the game master to keep the players engaged. Simpler rules make house-ruling easier, encouraging creativity. Less skills and powers pushes the players to solve dilemmas in other ways. This means paying attention to what’s nearby the character instead of what’s written on the character sheet. An example of “less is more” can be found in magic items. The later days of D&D 1st Edition and afterwards had magic item descriptions in the rule books that were terribly long. Every possible situation was covered. OSR books give simple, short descriptions for magic items. When the players get a hold of the item, they’ll try all kinds of weird things with it. The game master has to handle it on the spur of the moment. This can lead to unexpected, even ridiculous, results. Ridiculous doesn’t look good in a published book. However, OSR fans know how much fun ridiculous is at the gaming table. A magic bottle that never runs out of water is supposed to help a man cross a burning desert. It isn’t supposed to help a man flood the home of a merchant who charged him too much for a sword. But, come on, flooding a greedy merchant’s home before leaving town is fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Problem Solving Over Dice Rolling<\/strong> \u2014 The OSR has succeeding in turning back the trend of assigning problem solving to the dice. We assume characters are stronger and tougher than players so we roll dice for combat (less bruises that way, too). In the early days of RPGs, social interactions and problem solving was done largely without dice. If the players offered clever solutions, game masters could avoid rules and dice completely. Critics of early games have pointed to the many rules for combat and lack of rules for social interaction as proof the games encouraged combat. The OSR community has put these claims to rest. Telling the game master how you’re going to bluff your way past the grouchy guard is more entertaining than getting yes\/no from a dice roll. Making players think eases the burden of looking up rules while making things more engaging. It encourages creativity. Experience for gold captured instead of monsters killed encourages players to trick the dragon out its lair rather than kill it. When I was 12 I thought the rule was a mistake. Now I know it was not only intentional, it was genius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simulation & Immersion Over Rules Mastery & Wish Fulfillment<\/strong> \u2014 Simulation is creating a game world that is believable or simulates a genre (like a Conan story or an action movie). Immersion means getting wrapped up in the moment during a game. For some people that is taking in the details of what their character sees, hears, smells, etc. Imagining the moment-to-moment experience of being in that fictional place. For other people, it is getting fully engaged with the situation. Thinking of the upcoming skirmish & planning for every contingency. These things are prioritized over learning the game’s rules well enough to build a superior character or the kind of wish fulfillment offered by games that allow players to win fights easily. Immersion is easier with simple rules, as noted above. Simulation makes many people think of the complex rules in GURPS but many of the obscure rules in early editions of D&D were attempting to simulate the situations found in the fantasy stories of Appendix N<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The six principles above are what I gained from running old games & spending time in the OSR community. The blogs, the chat communities, the conventions have been so rewarding. Even though the OSR is suffering from the current 5th Phase, I remember the 3rd and 4th phases. They aren’t really over. I’m taking the lessons I’ve learned into my games and discussions with other gamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that, ladies and gentlemen, is what the OSR is, what it means and what it has accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n The OSR has established itself as a part of the RPG landscape. Regardless what you may think of it, it isn’t going away. After years of fractious arguments, divisions and uninformed hot air, I realized I haven’t made my contribution. It’s never too late to add fuel to the fire. 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