@GusL talks about the past and the future of the “OSR.”
I reject some recent efforts to… define the OSR as an ongoing concern
Seems a bit silly.
Personally I expect the fracturing into additional scenes and slightly varied design principles will continue… and with it the endless parade of new games marketed as “OSR” and utilizing a few basic types of mechanics
He’s probably right but I think there is such a thing as diminishing returns. I think the tide of new, very similar games will ebb sooner or later.
Similarly I suspect that the influx of 5E players (now mostly via Shadowdark) will continue and with it a tendency to produce scene based adventures that omit exploration mechanics. In other words, significant parts of the Post OSR will walk the same journey that D&D did in the 1990’s to focus on tactical combat, mechanically modeled character variety, and free form role play around the personalities of the characters.
I always omit exploration mechanics in the OSR games I run and I don’t think I’m drifting toward 5E-style tactical combat any time soon. I don’t think exploration procedures are fundamental to the OSR experience but I appear to be in a minority.
These two broad trends, along with the critical success of Mythic Bastionland, Cairn, and Dolemwood, will continue to support the tendency toward regional adventures.
This is an interesting observation. It’s true that when I think of the OSR-style games days I typically think of regional adventures.
A. Not Silly.
B. Tide hasn’t stopped for over 15 years. There are always people in this hobby who seem to think that what the world needs is another version of B/X … only fixed … because hit points are called “health points” and it now includes “Grimalkin” as a playable race (always instead of halflings…)
C. I don’t pretend to know where your personal game is going. When you omit exploration mechanics it tends to create a situation where set pieces (combat/RP/puzzles) are emphasized and militates for smaller locations. Complexity follows the locus of play - traditionally with D&D-alikes that has been from exploration to combat.
D. It does seem odd to think of fantasy RPGs and jump quickly to regional crawls rather then dungeons doesn’t it? Not bad - but it’s a different approach then the traditional one…
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I appreciate the thoughtful response to my prompt, Gus! Sorry the folks on Reddit are being predictably weird about it. I think those who took umbrage at your focus on procedural dungeon crawling overlooked something important: that procedural dungeon crawling is unique to the OSR and its offshoots. If location-based adventure design declines—or at least stagnates—within the OSR, well, no one else will carry that torch. So to me it seems quite reasonable to feel dismayed about the current state of exploration-focused location-based adventures.
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This was a very interesting post that I greatly enjoyed reading. The thing that caught my attention the most was the bit about Stonehell and B2, which immediately made me think “what about Arden Vul?” But I see a commenter already raised the same point on the post and Gus responded.
To get into even the more recent past, I also wonder how much Dungeon 23 has helped, by spawning successes like The Castle Automatic and Blades of Gixa. Maybe a few years down the line one of these will be the obvious banner carrier for this style of play? Given how hugely popular this type of thing continues to be in video games, I think there’s always a nascent audience for a good tabletop megadungeon.
@GusL I’m curious how your current views relate to city-based campaigns. Judge’s Guild products were produced really early in the game’s history, and I feel like we are seeing more emphasis on these types of settings lately. I myself, have been including them in my games more which feels like a blend of trad and OSR style play mainly because all of my references for city-based gameplay are from the Trad side of things. But I still run them as an explorable area, with random encounters, and in between location-based adventure sites like 35+ room dungeons.
Shadowdark, just released their mega-city the “City of Masks,” DCC is re-releasing “The City State of the Invincible Overlord." Would this fall under “playing outside” for you, or maybe it’s a new trend on the cusp of emerging?
Either way, it feels like a lesser explored space in the OSR, and one I personally have an interest in.