Red Box, Nostalgia and the OSR

My D&D Basic books or more precisely my Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal booklets are some of my most cherished gaming materials in my collection. To my best estimate I began playing D&D after school, in the library when I was twelve years old. For Christmas that year, my Mother bought the Basic (Red Box) for my sister and me. By the time we returned to school from Winter break, I had already run the materials in the book and begun writing my own adventures, crafting maps and planning epic quests to save the worlds. By that Summer I discovered Star Frontiers and between the two games, my life was changed forever.

The release of the 4th edition Red Box brought about a flood of emotions and memories. I guess that's how nostalgia marketing works. Wizards invoked these feelings by reminding us of how much fun we had when we gamed with the original Red Box. They hoped to rekindle those old feelings and get you to buy the new package and get interested in the new game. It worked, I bought it, but not for nostalgia, per se. I still play and I teach new players too. I think its best to teach the most easily accesible version of the game to ease the transition from "noob" to community member.

The OSR (Old School Reformation) is a gamer movement that's growing across the blogo-verse. You see, a lot of what we accept as cliche in our games today was actually new back when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were kicking around the ideas of Heroes taking missions separate from their wargaming armies. All seems pretty simple nearly 40 years later. But, back then, it was quite a paradigm shift. The movement is pushing for gamers to do more of the DIY (Do It Yourself) type projects that we did when the rules were less codified.

Look at it this way. Before there were rules for skills, it was assumed that a PC could do whatever the Player and DM agreed he could. Now that we have a skill system, if you don't buy the skill, you don't have it or you don't have it at any effective level. Likewise, the tactical combat systems of the modern versions of the game take quite a bit away from the old school, all-in-the-mind's-eye combat resolution. Once upon a time, players would look around the battlefield asking questions of what their characters could see. Often these details were made up on the fly. The combat that unfolded was a wild melee, remembered through glimpses of awsome deeds. Today we move tokens and take effects, but seldom do my players describe what their characters are doing. Most likely they just tell me where they are moving, what their minor action is and what power they are using. It used to be more fun, before the system defined so much of what happens at the table.

My solution? Take what you want from the game. You bought it. It's yours. If your gaming becomes painful, bothersome or un-fun, then leave the table, find something else to do with your time and money. Really. It's a game! It should be entertaining. It doesnt matter how you play, nor what game you play. Play it to have fun, play it for the social engagement factor. Do it because you wnat to.

Game on my friends. May all your hits be crits!!!