Old School Renaissance, also known as OSR, is a subgenre of tabletop roleplaying game that seeks to emulate classic roleplaying games, particularly Original Dungeons & Dragons (pre-AD&D era from 1974-1979). Best codified by the Matthew Finch's Quick Primer for Old School Gaming, OSR places an emphasis on freedom, player skill, and ease of use. Characters are primarily just direct avatars for players, with only a few stats and abilities. In addition, most challenges outside of combat are completed through player creativity, rather than die rolls. None of this is inherently bad by any means, but the OSR scene certainly faces a swathe of problems which it needs to push past.
Mechanical Stagnancy in OSR
While there are dozens, possibly hundreds of OSR titles out there, many only seek to update classic D&D gameplay with some modern sensibilities. More straightforward rules, clearer GM guidelines, and elimination of some unnecessary subsystems are common elements of various titles. While seeking to refine a seeming evolutionary dead end is admirable, many titles do little more than that. Of the dozens of OSR titles, only a few really stand out as unique gameplay experiences, and those are titles that shrug off some of the yokes of the genre.
Why does this happen? For one, it's because many OSR designers seek to emulate the mechanics of classic D&D, rather than emulating the themes and ideas. Compare Knave to Torchbearer. Both are undoubtedly inspired by the earliest days of D&D, but while Knave is emulating the mechanics, Torchbearer creates a wholly unique, but similarly nostalgic experience by translating the themes into an entirely new set of mechanics. For a game that trends closer to the typical OSR title, there's Dungeon Crawl Classics. DCC, unlike other titles, tends to lean significantly into the more bizarre and unwieldy nature of classic roleplaying games to give it an interesting and unique rules texture. This is most clear in the spellcasting rules, but DCC also expands on the improvisational ideals of OSR with mechanics such as the Fighter's Stunt Dice. This ability places power in the hands of players by embracing the player creativity aspect of OSR rather than sheer numbers or codified powers.
The OSR Community
Like with games in general, many players attracted to older titles can be difficult to work with, to say the least. RTS's, FPS's, and FG's all have these issues with older goinmul (standing water) games. These games have playerbases that have become so entrenched that they become toxic to newcomers either through an impenetrable skill floor, or more relevantly to OSR, a toxic culture. OSR tends to attract a crowd that is hostile to racial, sexual, and gender minorities. This is further compounded by OSR games relying on heavy GM adjudication, which attracts immature and adversarial GMs, which is frankly the exact opposite of how one should GM OSR. OSR is at its best when GMs work directly with players to embrace player creativity, rather than combative or punitive GMs which force the players to follow the GM's logic. OSR games should do a better job at communicating the role of a GM, but much of this issue lies with a community obsessed with the past rather than looking to move forwards.
In addition, the OSR crowd has its fair share of snobbery. Much of the promotion of OSR, including in the previously mentioned Quick Primer for Old School Gaming, tends to involve the denigration of other TTRPGs. Rather than highlighting the strengths of OSR as a genre, they instead focus on how modern TTRPGs, both story games and tactics games, are "badwrongfun." When the introduction to the genre is this hostile, OSR will drive away many of the more levelheaded folks who may otherwise enjoy OSR games.
How Can OSR Move Forwards?
The answer is simple: innovate. Rather than simply copying the mechanics and culture of older titles, new OSR titles need to take the concepts and themes of these games and transform them into something radically new. We don't need an extra dozen B&X hacks when those already exist. Instead, recontextualize those ideas into unique gameplay experiences. Question why certain elements of traditional OSR exist, such as to why combat is heavily codified if nothing else is. Find new ways to communicate similar themes by starting from square one, and when you do, make sure to arm GMs with that new perspective.
While this may seem to be "improve OSR by making it not-OSR," that's not entirely correct. One can embrace change and innovation while maintaining the core conceits of a genre. After all, why bother making new games that don't do anything new? Such a practice is simply masturbatorial, and not worth any time as a designer.
Next time, I'll be covering why CRPGs directly adapted from tabletop games suffer compared to ones with entirely new systems.
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