Things are happening faster than I can keep up almost. First I own the OSR and my readers an apology. My rant on the Old School Movement's failings were misplaced. I have already begun eating my crow. (Tastes like chicken by the way).
What I really want to do here is to encourage people to support the Old School Renaissance Group! ADD Grognard pointed this out to me recently and I had no idea they existed. We already let TARGA slip away. So I would really urge all OS gamers to support this excellent endeavor. Ostensibly they are an organization for publishers of OS games to get coverage at GenCon. A wonderful idea in and of itself, but more than that it has incredible potential to be something even more. This is a place where old school publishers can come together and rub shoulders, get advertising, exposure, and more. The OSRG can also serve as a place OS players can come to find all OS publishers in one place. I know the group is now focused on getting presence at GenCon, and establishing a presence in the industry. So let's support them wholeheartedly in this endeavor, and encourage them to be all they can be.
If you ask the typical OSR gamer right now they would say we are a small but ardent group.
ReplyDeleteBut I see something larger.
Picture it like a huge ship sinking, full of people who never met before, who set out in life rafts.
2, 5, maybe 10 to a raft and over time they forget where they came from and believe that their raft is all there is.
And then land appears and standing on the shore there is 5, 20, 50...more than you can count...all landed with new passengers they picked up along the way.
There is a huge hole in sales numbers in TRPG because on the one hand the trades report the shrinking numbers in the 'industry' while I keep seeing more and more, young and old, gamers coming along and finding each other.
Old school, old style, new games, new ways...that 'blackhole' of numbers, those numbers that they can't account for with Pathfinder's growth...that's us.
And we are legion.
Yeah, what we need to do is start bringing people together. Both the designers and those who play the designs. I would love to see similar organizations start to support organizing old school play. More games being run is the key to growing to the next level. And OSRG is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, ADDGrognard!