There was a comment made in
The Tavern's Facebook Community yesterday that got me thinking about gatekeeping in the
OSR. It essentially called the
OSR clones "PDF edits of the originals with minor house rules thrown in" and proceeded to talk about the virtue of learning the original
D&D White Box in middle school. Essentially, the clones have no value.
edit - For clarity, the original quotes:
"we might actually have had to play with our original D&D books instead of derivative pdf files of minor edits to the original game. The horror!"
"hard for new players? Most of us learned to play it in middle school!
Further edit: those that don't have access to the original books at an affordable price or would prefer to read a more modern presentation - in print or PDF - are effectively dismissed. That is my interpretation. YMMV,
A month or so ago, in another
Facebook Gaming Community, a different poster went on a rant about
Swords & Wizardry Light, where he wrote (not quoting exactly) he didn't understand why
Frog God Games was putting so much time, money and effort into
SWL, "the dumbing down of an already dumbed down game."
Gatekeeping is alive and well in the
OSR, or at least the mindset is.
If it isn't the original rules, it has no value.
If it's easy to learn its been dumbed down.
Which are fine attitudes to have at your own table but not the ones needed to grow the
Old School Gaming Community or even keep it viable, Those of us that started with "the originals", be it
OD&D, BX, BECMI, 1e, 2e and
the like - we are getting older. If we want to bring others into our love of
Old School Gaming, we need to be welcoming, not excluding.
When my niece, who was 5 years old at the time, saw that I had written a 4-page
Swords & Wizardry Light ruleset she exclaimed: "Uncle, you wrote a 4-page
Dungeons & Dragons? You can teach me to read 4-pages. You wrote this for me!" I guess I did.
When
+Bill Webb decided to publish
Swords & Wizardry Light (and
+Matt Finch gave me his blessings), when
Frog God Games decided to print thousands of copies to give away for free at conventions and via mail, its because they understood the value of making the entry bar to the
OSR and gaming in general easier for potential players to cross, not harder.
The clones don't have the same nostalgia value for me that my original
1e books have - my entry to the hobby, but when I ran a
1e game a few years back I ran it using
OSRIC - the organization was better, the writing was clearer and it was all in one book. Old school gaming meets modern day presentation.
I want the
OSR to not just survive, I want it to thrive. I think many
5e players will find
Old School Gaming an alternative (not a substitute) for the latest release of the
D&D rules for the times they want a looser playing ruleset, but that's only going to happen if we welcome them, not exclude them.
In November I promised to revisit the issue of the Wilderlands maps if nothing has been released by March for the Judges Guild's City State of the Invincible Overlord Kickstarter. I was able to work out a publishing agreement with Robert Blesdaw II to release the 18 maps I drew for the kickstarter project. In addition, I am permitted to publish a series of revised guidebooks to accompany the maps.
The maps and guidebooks will be divided into four products, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde, Wilderlands of the Magic Realm, and the Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches. Unlike the original releases, Map 6 Viridistan will be included in Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde although edited down to the format of the other four maps.
The PDFs will be free to all Kickstarter backers. The printed cost to backers for all 18 maps will be slightly less than $20. The printed cost of the guidebooks for backers should be around $3 to $4 depending on which print format works out the best. I am tacking on a one dollar charge so it will count as a sale on both OBS sites, RPGNow and DrivethruRPG. There will be shipping charges from One Bookshelf.
