The OSR blogosphere has been struggling with the terms 'old school' and 'old school renaissance' more or less since the beginning. Needless to say, I have explained my personal trinity of old school gaming, too.
Matthew Finch's excellent Quick Primer for Old School Gaming is not a concise definition but one of the best and probably the most widely accepted explanations.
Matthew Finch's excellent Quick Primer for Old School Gaming is not a concise definition but one of the best and probably the most widely accepted explanations.
If you're like me and still interested in tackling these terms and what they mean to you, then here's an experiment:
A friend calls you and invites you to a game. His cousin is in town. He's a gamer and has offered to run a one-shot game. You have no information except that your friend characterizes one aspect of the upcoming game as 'old school'. What are your expectations?
1) "My cousin is an old school DM."
I'd expect a DM whose word is law and who has no qualms about killing off PCs. <gulp>
The term 'dungeon master' (rather than GM, judge, referee etc.) actually encapsulates this perfectly. The word 'dungeon' suggests danger and 'master' signifies a figure of authority and competence. The combination implies an adversarial role.
2) "He's going to run an old school adventure."
I'd be surprised if this turned out to be anything but a dungeon crawl. Killing things and taking their stuff will be the order of the day. Bring it on!
A wilderness adventure would be my second guess if this wasn't a one-shot affair.
3) "He's using an old school system."
The rules (a) are out of print and (b) have been superseded by later editions.
By that spontaneous definition neither Labyrinth Lord nor Call of Cthulhu qualify.
The former is a retroclone, available for purchase in places other than eBay and thus feels like a modern game to me (albeit one that celebrates and revivifies the old).
The latter isn't 'old school' because there has never been a serious split in the community. Different editions exist but to me an 'old school system' is one that is chosen over a later edition. The rejection of the later edition is part and parcel of the old system in this age, whether you like it or not. OD&D is not just defined by what it is, but also by what it isn't (4e, for instance).
4) "The adventure takes place in an old school setting."
There's no such thing as an old school setting. So we're either looking at a gloriously half-baked homebrew fantasy setting (which has probably been in development and in use for years) or no setting at all (beyond the PCs' immediate surroundings).
The former seems more likely, as it's been called out as a feature. If it were Tekumel, your friend would have said 'Tekumel', not 'old school setting'.
Of course I'm aware that venerable settings like Greyhawk might qualify as 'old school' but the above is just what my gut reaction would be (and this goes for the other points as well -- this is not an analysis).
So what is your take on this?
Edit: I mistakenly attributed the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming to Michael Curtis rather than Matthew Finch. Thanks to Brendan for the catch!
Edit: I mistakenly attributed the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming to Michael Curtis rather than Matthew Finch. Thanks to Brendan for the catch!
Matthew Finch, not Michael Curtis.
ReplyDeleteLabyrinth Lord seems pretty old school to me, though there are a few 3E aspects that jump out at me (the extra armor types and first level cleric spells, for example). I think it's close enough both in style and substance to Moldvay to be considered old school, probably more so than AD&D by your definitions above.
I agree that there is no such thing as an old school setting disconnected from play style, but there are old school ways of managing a setting. Just because there is a Temple of Elemental Evil doesn't make it old school.
Thanks for the catch, Brendan! I've edited the original entry accordingly.
ReplyDeleteThe retroclones like Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry are one of the most important parts of the OSR. However, they don't immediately come to my mind when I think about "old school systems". On further thought, of course, I whole-heartedly agree. In fact, they are the only D&D related old school rules I have (physical) access to.
I like your point about old school ways of managing a setting. What would that entail, though?