...even myself.
My English sucks so it will be very short - I'm not good at lamenting in foreign languages :D
OSR is not dead and probably nothing can change it. 5e cannot change it and any other "big game" cannot change it. Reason (in my opinion) is simple - big games are made for cash, while most of OSR products are made for fun. While it's highly possible that one day RPGs will be no longer profitable, I don't believe that one day there will be no one to game. At least until we're alive. Period.
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Absolutely! It's two totally different worlds, I feel.
ReplyDeleteI'd not heard the OSR was dead, anyway ;)
Ok, everyone has a different definition of what the OSR is. But what is being spoken about is the commercial publishers of OSR product.
ReplyDeleteMany folks have already seen the steam running out of the OSR as a concept:
http://flamingtales.blogspot.com/2012/08/is-osr-running-out-of-steam.html
But the small publishers who made the products that everything is based on-like Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, etc. Won't be putting out anymore free versions if they can't sell a version as well.
Here's the S&W reaction (I hope he's right):
http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2012/08/d-and-retro-clones-big-reboot-arrives.html
WotC is doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons. They want to knock out the commercial publishers and with their current tactics they will succeed. And as soon as they have achieved that goal they will withdraw, as they have already done in the past, the 'old school' products and that will be the end.
Will people continue to play Old School games? Of course. But the hobby business that has propelled it back to being considered a threat by commercial gaming will be gone and it will fade to a small dot as opposed to being a bright light.
I shelved a project I have invested 4 years of my life into because the market is dead. We already have hundreds of free game systems and with WotC prepared to release their back catalog there is just no need to waste anymore resources on it. I have decided myself to return to my first love in gaming-wargaming- and am currently working on a few ideas for that market. Unlike RPGs the wargaming market doesn't have one big company that can crush its competition and board and wargames are far more profitable because it's all but impossible to 'pirate' them over the internet like RPGs.
Yes, I'm a designer and publisher. I already own all the D&D product I will ever need. So that just leaves me with thousands of dollars invested in a project that will never see the light of day.
The blog scene has already shrunk by half and with many people jumping over to Google+ there will be no one left creating anything. Things must grow or they die. I'm afraid that last year was the peak (remember, the OSR had a large presence at GenCon last year and very little this year. This year it was all about Paizo).
Just Goggle 'OSR is dead' to see other reactions.
Yeah, depends what one means by "the OSR". I guess I see it primarily as a bunch of people like myself who are playing old-school RPGs and using blogs / google+ to talk about the games and/or share material which was created for them.
ReplyDeleteFrom that point of view, WotC releasing any amount of old TSR material won't change anything really. I'll still be there playing my games and writing stuff.
That is, of course, though, just one aspect of it. Just happens to be the most important aspect to me personally.