Old School Renaissance

What's Old is New

The Old School Renaissance (OSR) has supplied me with an enormous amount of entertaining reading, both in terms of blogs and published game material. The earliest offerings seem to have been aimed to allow publication of new material compatible with White Box or another of the early editions. Many make use of the Open Game License (OGL) concept and the Standard Resource Document (SRD) and seek to recreate one of the early editions of the most popular roleplaying game.  If they are very close to one of the early editions, they are termed simulacrum or “clones”. At this point there are multiple offerings for just about every version of Original, Basic and Advanced. Each new title brings something new, be it organization, a small change supposed to be an improvement, or some original art. Perhaps their greatest appeal is price as the new products cost considerably less than the collectible originals. The original White Box remains my favorite version of the game, although there are certainly some impressive new games I have recently encountered. P&P has that "old" look to it and does a good job of breaking down the White Box into its "essence" and rebuilding something very similar to the original experience using new mechanics. Chris Gonnerman's Iron Falcon stands out among the "clones" as probably the closest mechanically to the original three LBBs plus Supplement I. Spellcraft & Swordplay by Jason Vey comes to mind as among the most original of the "nostalgia" games. Like P&P, Spellcraft & Swordplay attempts to capture much of the spirit of the White Box era of wargames intersecting with roleplaying. Using a mechanic based on the Chainmail miniatures rules rather than the more common "alternate combat system", Mr. Vey presents an alternative visioning of the game had it continued to develop along those lines.  Whitehack by Christian Mehrstam combines the OSR game feel with some indie-style narrative elements and a brief, but very original setting description, in a way that intrigues me. Indie gamers frequently “hack” their games by modifying published rules for their own use, usually involving an original setting. Yes, the DIY spirit of the 1970’s is still evident in the more amateur side of the hobby and that certainly gets my attention.