Defining Old School Gaming- an Edition/Game Independent Def

[Admin Pete]

Disclaimer: I am not saying this is the only definition or the definitive definition. Everyone is welcome to their own definition. What I am saying is that this definition goes back to the early days while OD&D was being written and play tested and looks at two very different games: Blackmoor and Greyhawk and based on the information available to this writer defines what old school gaming is based on the things that two very different games by two very different referees have in common. It also looks at the things that to the best of my knowledge Arneson and Gygax had in common over 30 years later. I also want to point out that this definition of old school gaming would allow you to play an old school game using any D&D Edition and any other rpg whose rules do not directly conflict with this definition. This means that this definition tells you specifically how you can play games that are greatly different from OD&D in an old school gaming style/manner.

So take a look and tell me what you think. I have seen a lot of different definitions, but I think this one is unique in being truly both Edition Independent and Game independent. I have tried other definitions over the years, but they were tied to the game being played, this one starts with OD&D but then is extended to apply to any rpg game. I also believe that since under this definition you can use all kinds of game features that I do not like (such as skills and ascending armor class) and still have an old school game - because of this I think it is IMO the most unbiased definition to date since you can play your game in a way I don't like and I would still have to agree that you meet my definition of old school.

So here is the definition, part of it I derived myself and part of it I found in various places including on a non-old school focused forum.

Old school gaming is the way that Gary & Dave played in their own campaigns both before and after the initial publication of OD&D and throughout their lives. Some will point out that their games changed a lot over the years and that is true; however, that things I point to as defining old school gaming did not to the best of my knowledge change in their games.

In the beginning Old School Gaming (what became Original Dungeons & Dragons) was Blackmoor as played by Dave Arneson and later on Greyhawk as played by Gary Gygax (and Rob Kuntz/Kalibruhn) and it was played in a sandbox, involved both prep work and improvisation (i.e. winging it) and each campaign was each refs own creation. House ruling/adjudication was done on the fly as needed and slavish By the Book adherence to the rules did not exist (was never a consideration)in the early days. The style of play was test the player not the character which means that metagaming (using all player knowledge) was part of the game and an expected part of play.

A pure sandbox is anything from just a village and the surroundings up to a fully top down designed world that is fully fleshed out.

So here we go for the definition:

Old School Gaming is a sandbox game that involves the full range of the extremes between referee pre-designed and referee improvised (winged) materials where everything in the game is the referees own creation created from any number of inspirations. The referee does house ruling/adjudication on the fly as needed throughout the game. There is no BtB adherence to a rule-set and the game is house ruled and rule changes take place over time. The game tests the player not the character. So called "metagaming" is an expected part of the game on the part of the players.

This tells you how to play OD&D, any OSR game, 3.5E, Runequest, Gurps or any other game in an old school gaming style/manner. It does not tell you that you have to dump this or that rule(s). It is an open-ended definition that clearly defines a specific original play style and yet it is not about imitation since there is nothing in the definition that would require conformity between Blackmoor and Greyhawk or any other campaign to any greater degree than what actually existed. Gary Gygax reportedly like to play in Dave Arnesons game because of how differently Dave did things from the way Gary did things. And yet they both had the same things in common that defined them then and defines old school gaming now.

So what is an Old School Game, any game that readily and easily lends itself to the Old School Gaming style as defined above. What is a non-old school game? Any game that does not readily and easily lend itself to the Old School Gaming style as defined above.

[finarvyn]

Your definition seems more-or-less accurate but terribly wordy. Perhaps that's needed to satisfy the nit-pickers but something like "old school" should have a simple definition.

For me, "old school" is a philosphy where the rules are light and the options are many. The rules are not intended to cover every situation, which encourages players to try things and the GM can adjudiacate success as needed.

Something like that. Maybe mine is too wordy, too.

The problem, of course, is that a lot of storytelling games are rules-light as well and a lot of old timers don't classify them as "old school" so maybe a better definition is:

"Old school" is any TSR D&D product copyright 197x.

[Admin Pete]

Oct 11, 2015 9:18:27 GMT -5 finarvyn said:

Your definition seems more-or-less accurate but terribly wordy. Perhaps that's needed to satisfy the nit-pickers but something like "old school" should have a simple definition.

For me, "old school" is a philosphy where the rules are light and the options are many. The rules are not intended to cover every situation, which encourages players to try things and the GM can adjudiacate success as needed.

Something like that. Maybe mine is too wordy, too.

The problem, of course, is that a lot of storytelling games are rules-light as well and a lot of old timers don't classify them as "old school" so maybe a better definition is:

"Old school" is any TSR D&D product copyright 197x.

I was not defining what an old school game was, I was defining what constitues old school gaming, independent of the game being played. I was defining how (if you play this way - you are playing old school) independent of the name of the game or the rules you are using. Yes it is a bit wordy, but part of that is to answer the nit-pickers and part of it is be independent of the rules.

Defining what an old school game is easy IMO once you agree on what old school gaming is independent of rule-sets. An old school game is any game that easily lends itself to running an old school game. Again the definition is independent of rule-sets and the date of publication. IMO OD&D is the prime and best example of an old school game.

Something that you may find of interest is the hostilty that some have reacted with to this definition. I was accused of trying to invalidate the way "that pretty much everybody else in the world has been playing the games for the past 41 years". I was told that my definition above would "require a genius-intellect referee who's probably devoting as much effort to it as a full-time job, a dozen or more dedicated players, and at least a year or two of playing time to develop and percolate and that those requirements effectively eliminate 99%+ of people who might be interested in playing the game".

I completely disagree with that assessment, as I believe it that pretty much any group can play in the way that I define the old school gaming style. Would it help to have a genius-intelect referee and a dozen or more dedicated players and lots of tme, of course it would. However, those things are not required. I believe that anyone can play this way if they choose to. Some other people gave me more helpful feed back at your forum and here and on the blog and I will be posting about that before too long.

[finarvyn]

Old school is easy do demonstrate, hard to explain.

For folks who have never played a free-wheelin' loose style, it's hard for them to grasp the notion that they can let loose and just try things. I think that 5E made a definite step in the right direction for those 3E/4E players who are addicted to thick rulebooks, but it's not quite there.