It's a Different World for Dungeons & Dragons

Recently, on a AD&D social media page, a member lamented the fact that on two different online locations he had tried to approach the subject of comparing authentic old school play with an eye towards defining the changes made in the game -- only to be rebuffed by OSR "modernists". That last term is mine not his. By OSR modernists, I mean people who are playing with clones and simulacra of Classic D&D who see reference to the original TSR materials as somehow subpar to what is being produced currently. Many of these players are actively seeking to publish their own material or are interested only in playing in the new world of OSR creativity. These I call OSR modernists. 

I suppose they could be contrasted to OSR "purists" that seek to play using the actual TSR rulesets and materials. I definitely consider myself more of a purist, but I certainly buy, read and use lots of new OSR material. In the end I'm kind of a play and let play kind of guy. I may be philosophically interested in defining what D&D is and what its origins and original intents may have been (by and large the content of this blog for the past eight plus years), but I am not one to decry that someone is having their fun wrong. For whatever it's worth, I am much more concerned about what we call our fun than what our fun actually is. Definitions matter after all. 

What I wanted to address today is the rather stout rebuff this person received from what was masquerading as a Classic or Advanced edition public forum and in reality was an OSR Modernist environment. Not only am I bothered by such situations, since I consider them to be perpetuating a falsehood, but it also confirms a growing realization I am coming to. Namely that today's world is a very different world for D&D.

I mean, not even considering the giant elephant in the room on the coast sporting a tiny wizard's hat, we have now witnessed a vast and global division in the OSR community. The schism is far worse than even what I pointed out above. We have the Rainbow OSR which is strongly influenced by the socially conscious Y & Z generations and the alt-Right OSR which is largely a reaction to the former . Or, who knows, maybe the former is a reaction to the latter. I myself have been torn in two by this division. I socially find myself very sympathetic to the Rainbow OSR causes all the while finding myself very much aligned to the alt-Right gaming preferences. I prefer my Drow dark, my orcs evil and my classic swords and sorcery without social health warning labels. Maybe I'm an insensitive, middle-classed, Christian, white male for saying so or maybe I'm just old--but I like to think that I simply like the games the way they were written originally.

I'm not taking a moral stand here. My own daughter played a lesbian character in my recent game, and another player we have is openly gay himself. But some will see my lack of judicious distinction and consideration for filtering past material as implying a hidden agenda. I can't argue that, because, well, I acknowledge that there certainly may be certain worldviews portrayed in our past that is today seen in a very different light. See -- torn.

So can I see the need for a community that is playing with very similar rulesets to the TSR versions, but have been scrubbed clean from the wrongs of the past, and are producing incredible new material? Yes indeed. But I can also admire James' Raggi's work on Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Geoffrey McKinney's work on his Carcosa material. Classic swords and sorcery old school goodness there with definitely un-politically correct content. I suppose in some cases such materials might be considered black books, banned material or a sort of social porn. I never would have thought that such a thing happened after D&D fought so hard against being censored and banned in the 80's. 

But social justice is not the only cross upon which the game as been crucified. No, today is the age of rich digitally produced art, video games, instant gratification and social presence. Almost the exact opposite of what the game was originally. Sure, D&D created the fantasy video game, but in titanic Greek fashion the son has dismembered the father and thrown him in the pit. Railing against the presentation of modern gaming books, slick production values and quick to print on demand availability is as hopeless a cause as railing against what is lost when our sins have been left behind. There is no right answer here, because there is no answer. Only progress of the existential machine. 

Before long even the original books will be gone and but a memory. Ghosts of a golden age? Or an age of barbarism superseded?