As some of you know, I've been spending lots of time on these three jewels lately. My developing reviews are still in progress, but I thought I would do a quick and dirty comparison of the three and why you might choose one over the others. Truthfully though I think all three of these works belong on every gamers bookshelf for a number of reasons.
Castles & Crusades: if you are looking for a rather faithful D&D experience I would strongly suggest C&C. In fact I would suggest it before any of the retro clones, and in some cases before the source material itself. Now, that's a seemingly irrational statement, but honestly finding original materials is a bit of a chore and unless you and all your players have the original works you are better off going with a currently supported system. For me, if you wanna play D&D then I would suggest C&C. I would also suggest C&C if you like fast and furious play where you can focus on the story instead of worrying about mechanics. C&C has all of the frequently played D&D type classes and races, and easily support expansion. The system is easy to learn and elegant. You can literally be up and running with a PC inside of 10 minutes. And if you're a GM in a hurry pretty much any AD&D compatible module will work, or C&C has plenty of excellent offerings to help you out. Abut the only thing that might hang older gamers up is the reliance on the d20 system and the attribute based Siege Engine. The system is very elegant and plays quickly and intuitively, but it is a bit different from the more complex methods of previous D&D incarnations.
Hackmaster Basic: I would recommend Hackmaster to experienced players who are looking for a challenge. Hackmaster stopped trying to replicate D&D when they dropped the WoTC licensing agreement. But what they have created instead is a combat system that begs even the most confident of players to watch your freakin' step! Combat in HM is deadly and more realistic than most RPGs. While still retaining a degree of its abstract nature, Hackmaster adds in a degree of deadliness that early D&D campaigns were famous for. And it does so with an elegance that transcends just upping the damage level and lowering hp level. You have to think in Hackmaster if you want to survive. Hackmaster is a gritty fantasy campaign where hero status must be hard earned. Hackmaster also drives character development more directly than many RPGs out there. In general RPGs leave the details of PC development alone, rarely enforce faithfullness to alignment, and ignore PC action in the campaign beyond numbers of monster deaths. Hackmaster, like no other game to date, requires characters to be as real as you or me. And that means in addition to all our foibles and weaknesses. We are who we are as much for them as for our strengths and talents. Hackmaster also has the honor mechanic that make characters answer for their actions in game. You can't just stab the beggar orphan or cuss out the barkeep without a comeuppance. And choose alignment carefully in Hackmaster because you will be expected to abide by your ethos. All of these things make Hackmaster an incredibly engaging and immersive game. I would recommend Hackmaster to any gamer that wants to step up their game and play a truly challenging and totally absorbing fantasy RPG. The setting and play of Hackmaster is so real, you'll be expecting goblins to meet you on your way to work the morning after last night's session, and leave you gutted behind the wheel.
Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: I'm still getting a handle on this game. But I really like what I see thus far. If you are looking for a very close simulation of the swords & sorcery genre this is the game for you. Ever wanted to step into a weird dark fantasy world? This is the game for you. It doesn't aim at realism as much as it aims at dangerous weirdness. The mechanics of the game are simple and streamlined, somewhat close to 0e play, but with some very interesting twists. First you don't just memorize spells and shoot them off like your pulling a trigger. Magic in DCC is as dangerous and deadly as combat itself. If you expect any degree of power in DCC you must pay the price, and for magical power that means pacts with evil and insidious beings from the beyond. And the danger isn't just there for wizards. The whole game has a core mechanic related to criticals and fumbles that could spell death with a single swing, no matter how powerful you think you are. One thing you can count in in DCC RPG is that you'll run into spectacular effects. They just may not be in your favor. DCC is the perfect RPG for players looking for more than a twist of the fantastic and bizarre in their roleplaying. It is old school in play style: quick and fast and deadly. If you ever thought you could really step into a fantasy world think again, it's a lot stranger and deadlier than you ever imagined.
In summary these games are my top three and have been for some time now. No matter how much I read and peruse new clones, check up on WoTC's latest endeavors or bathe in the fond waters of nostalgia I always come back to these three games. They are, in my opinion the future of the gaming industry, as I've mentioned before. What they are doing they are doing with style and with quality. So which one do you play?
For classic high fantasy: Castles & Crusades
For gritty, low fantasy, (the kind I think about when contemplating what it would be like if I traveled to a fantasy world): Hackmaster
For fantastic, weird fantasy like the Swords & Sorcery of old: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
And as you can see, all three games give a decidedly different flavour of play. They do what they do very well however. And for that reason I suggest having all three on your bookshelf. If you were to ask me which one would be my goto game it would be hard to choose. What that comes down to is the kind of game you like to play. And in case it hasn't been made clear before, for me that is Hackmaster. I am still holding my breath for Advanced Hackmaster to fix the few sniggly items that hang up play now and then in the basic version. But I know that KenzerCo won't let me down. Frankly most of the players I play with prefer High Fantasy, so C&C is popular with them. but given the choice I would run Hackmaster every time. Let me be quick to add all threesystems are on my bookshelves and I will buy any offering that each game presents.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Answer to the Edition Wars: The Big Model
Some time ago Ron Edwards came up with GNS theory to describe different focuses in game design and play. I've mentioned this before, but never has this game theory received a post all of its own. GNS theory is based on breaking game play, and design to some extent, into three camps. Gamist, Narrativist and Simulationist. Gamist gamers and designers focus on the mechanics of play, the rules and the fact that the reason for playing is to in fact play a game. Narrativists on the other hand see the storyline of the game as most important. Narrative is more important than mechanics, and indeed mechanics should support the telling of the desired type and kind of story. Simulationists on the third hand (snicker) are concerned about staying true and faithful to a particular genre. The genre can be a historical period or a novel (or series of novels like The Lord of The Rings), or a subtype of genre like say dark fantasy or supernatural horror, or the DC Superhero Universe.
It was fairly soon after the GNS model came out that quite a bit of furor over this simple categorization erupted. The model was seen as too limiting, too general, too specific, and on and on. Thus it was that Ron Edwards went back to the theoretical drawing board and came up with what he called The Big Model. It is to this last model that I wish to speak now. For in the inevitable edition wars that rage about gaming ad aeternam we seldom actually talk about what it is we are doing when we game. What are the elements of an RPG and how do they dynamically work together. I personally think The Big Model helpful in this regard (and still consider GNS theory to have its place). Helpful in that it aides us to see just what it is perhaps we are arguing about. And either to come to more useful conclusions or to realize our points of difference are really quite personal and perhaps not so far apart as we might think.
The Big Model is slightly more complex than GNS theory, so bear with me as I try and make it as accessible as possible. This is what the bog model proposes:
Gamers want to game with a specific purpose in mind. That purpose is actually encompassed in the GNS model. Gamers game for one of three purposes in varying degrees:
Within the Social Contract we agree that we are going to roleplay or Explore a setting with characters, involving colorful description, situations all within a given system. The Exploration factor of a game is really what defines the game. If someone were to ask you what a game is "like" you would likely describe the Exploration aspect of the game. Such description of a game serves several purposes. Not the least of which is that there are several issues here that need to be agreed upon for everyone's agendas to be met.
Next we have the Techniques used in the game to achieve our ends. This more than anything is related to game mechanics. For instance rolling a d20 and making its roll the basis for most action in the game is a technique of the d20 system. As are point buy and die roll systems used to create characters.
And then we can at last game; which gaming creates what Edwards calls Ephemera or player actions within the game. This includes most of what players do during the game in order to play the game. While such Ephemera constitute much of the game and really are at it's heart, they are incidental to all that comes before. This is what it looks like to play a game.
And if you aren't by now utterly confused Edwards fortunately created a diagram to show how these elements work together in an RPG.
It was fairly soon after the GNS model came out that quite a bit of furor over this simple categorization erupted. The model was seen as too limiting, too general, too specific, and on and on. Thus it was that Ron Edwards went back to the theoretical drawing board and came up with what he called The Big Model. It is to this last model that I wish to speak now. For in the inevitable edition wars that rage about gaming ad aeternam we seldom actually talk about what it is we are doing when we game. What are the elements of an RPG and how do they dynamically work together. I personally think The Big Model helpful in this regard (and still consider GNS theory to have its place). Helpful in that it aides us to see just what it is perhaps we are arguing about. And either to come to more useful conclusions or to realize our points of difference are really quite personal and perhaps not so far apart as we might think.
The Big Model is slightly more complex than GNS theory, so bear with me as I try and make it as accessible as possible. This is what the bog model proposes:
Gamers want to game with a specific purpose in mind. That purpose is actually encompassed in the GNS model. Gamers game for one of three purposes in varying degrees:
- They want to dream up a certain type of world and participate within it
- They want to play a game that challenges them, usually with elements of risk and danger
- They want to take part in a well told adventure story
Within the Social Contract we agree that we are going to roleplay or Explore a setting with characters, involving colorful description, situations all within a given system. The Exploration factor of a game is really what defines the game. If someone were to ask you what a game is "like" you would likely describe the Exploration aspect of the game. Such description of a game serves several purposes. Not the least of which is that there are several issues here that need to be agreed upon for everyone's agendas to be met.
Next we have the Techniques used in the game to achieve our ends. This more than anything is related to game mechanics. For instance rolling a d20 and making its roll the basis for most action in the game is a technique of the d20 system. As are point buy and die roll systems used to create characters.
And then we can at last game; which gaming creates what Edwards calls Ephemera or player actions within the game. This includes most of what players do during the game in order to play the game. While such Ephemera constitute much of the game and really are at it's heart, they are incidental to all that comes before. This is what it looks like to play a game.
And if you aren't by now utterly confused Edwards fortunately created a diagram to show how these elements work together in an RPG.
In this model you can see how the various elements interact and subordinate to each other. And how the Creative Agenda well described by GNS theory cuts across all levels of play. Now, there is no easy hierarchy of importance within such a model, all the elements are important and interdependent. But there is a hierarchy of occurrence. As with all systems based models The Big Model is dynamic and changeable. Truly no one element can be entirely removed from its dependence on the other factors within the system. But it's specificity is such that we can now begin to analyze edition, style and version debates from a more universal standpoint.
If such a system helps us understand these game we play better; and can reduce some of the emotional friction between players of different systems we will have been well served.
For instance 4e heavily slants game play to Gamist motives thus focusing the game's Creative Agenda on one aspect. Thus I feel 4e has broken the Social Contract under which I enter the game. It has also changed the Exploratory elements of the game by changing the default setting, making the color more video game like and cinematic. Situations are often engineered with tactical combat in mind which affects Techniques in that battle mats and minis are a required part of the game, leading to the Ephemera of the game or what it feels like to play 4e as more of a board based strategy game with players moving figures on maps, making the descriptive elements of the Ephemera much less pronounced.
Every aspect of the game has changed. Regardless of the fact that some might claim this is still the same game it most certainly is not. And in fact has narrowed it's focus so tightly as to appeal to the least number of gamers possible.
You can't argue with this logic as it abides within its own system. You can of course choose to take issue with Ron Edwards system as a whole. But there is a lot more work involved in dismantling a well worked up system than in dismantling the subjects it chooses to analyze. Such systems of systems analysis requires an alternate, better system under which to analyze the subjects in question.
Now, on the other hand take several old school systems that appear somewhat dissimilar. 0e, 1e, and B/X. You could just as easily take S&W, LL, and OSRIC. 0e and B/X games allow for narrativist and simulationist Creative Agendas but don't rule out gamist agendas completely. 1e/OSRIC increases all these possibilities, most significantly increasing the possibility of gamist play. Thus the Social Contract supports all sorts of gamers coming together. Exploration is most radically altered with the system of 1e/OSRIC. There are more delineated options within the game as well as restrictions. There are character variations as well, but color and setting are very similar. Now this does not mean 0e is less of a game for the system within 0e implies a focus on make it up as you go sort of play that makes for a different Exploratory feel from 1e. Techniques are very much focused on occasional die rolls which leads to Ephemera interspersed with lots of dialogue, roleplay and working out of game situations.
You see how these games have remained very consistent over time. And the same can be said for 2e, and many of the retro clones that are experiencing success today. The deviation appears with 3e and its 3.5 reboot. There has been much said about how 3.5 was a natural extension of 2e, but this does not hold under a Big Model analysis.
Now, this is not intended to bash these games or to say that they are bad games. But rather to explain and analyze how and perhaps why they are different from one another. In our desire to dissect the innards of various game systems we are often left with rather nebulous and personal opinions of why we don't "like" a game. We often question we are somehow behind the times or not up to par with the rest of the gaming world. Such value judgments don't get us far. Instead I would appeal to gamers at large to analyze and review games in terms of the Big Model. Thus a universal approach to understanding the games we play might help us in determining which games we like to play and why. It may also help us rise above the fray of blog debates where nitpicking arses like myself prattle on endlessly with little else to back us up but our own hot air.
Is D&D 4e old school? And how does it look for D&D 5e?
The real question here is can any game be played "old school style" based on the defining features we set up previously? Well, there's a problem we have to iron out first. Let's look at our definition.
Old School: In reference to table top gaming old school refers to games and their play from earlier eras, that can also apply to new games with features similar to those of earlier games.
Of course that led us to consider what "features" we are talking about. Because truly most of the games we play in the OSR are variants of one type or another. In that sense they are new games with features of older games. I then quoted Matt Finch as our defining master about what features should be considered old school. His features were:
If we use this as a strict definition of old school then Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the 1e or 2e variety is certainly not old school. And if you take games like GURPS that have been around since 1980, they can't be considered old school either. Add in RuneQuest (1978), Harn (1983), and Rolemaster (1980) and you get so rule intensive that these old games will never meet the definition of less rules not more. So really we become limited in our ability to define what old school is if we start adding features to our list of definitions.
I generally play 1e type games. I'm fond of 2e and I really like Hackmaster 4e because of its tone, style, and the depth of its rules. But I wasn't particularly fond of 3.5 or Pathfinder. Mainly because of what they did to the class based systems. I could have really gotten into it without feats and without the manipulation of classes, multiclassing, prestige classes and the like. But is it right for me to say that Pathfinder or 3.5 players of today are not playing old school? I think it would be wrong of me to say that. They fit the definition. They are playing a game of an earlier era or a new game with similar features to the old game.
And I might take offense if some devotee of 0e said I was not old school because I was playing 1e or OSRIC or Hackmaster. Sure they are crunchier by far that 0e or B/X but they are still old school after their own fashion. And compared to 3.5 they are rules light. See what we are beginning to get at here is that there is a spectrum of gaming structure regarding rules, characters skills, feats and abilities, character power and even game balance. All versions have had some notion of game balance. And as I tried to explain in my blog entry on the god-like Parlifin, even 1e, 0e and B/X players can become superheroic.
It's really a matter of preference of play. Whether we call a rules-lite free-form style of play old school or whether we call a crunchy 2e style of play old school is really a moot point. The definition of old school isn't too helpful when talking about styles of play. What we are tallking about is more complex than that. Bringing different styles of play together, much less understanding these styles of play is a challenge in and of itself. Here I quote Mike Mearls wrestling with this very issue among his own customers and players,
"I imagine that most people would prefer a game with a complexity level that they can set themselves. Traditionally, D&D has featured that by making fighters relatively simple and wizards more complex."
Mike Mearls, "The Incredible Expanding Gamer Brain" Legends and Lore colum 3/15/11
But Mike is talking about changing that approach. Later in regards to combat he says,
"Let’s extend that in the other direction, too. I think D&D should also enable groups to focus on tactical combat, or dial down to simple, fast fights. At the end of the day, the gaming group, rather than the rules or a distant game designer, should determine the game’s focus. You can play a D&D campaign set in Kara-Tur, with the characters rallying the daimyo’s samurai to throw back a horde of oni. You can play a campaign of courtly intrigue punctuated with flashy duels, drawing from the works of Dumas. You might play a campaign based on Indiana Jones, with the characters dodging traps and exploring ancient ruins to claim forgotten treasures with the rare, quick fight."
and in conclusion of his article Mike makes a unique and hopeful leap,
"All of those games are supported by the imaginative structure of D&D. In my ideal world, the DM would create a campaign concept and then tune the rules to match the exact type of game that such a concept embraces, from intense tactical combat to quick, sharp duels resolved in a few rolls of the dice."
Mike Mearls, "Combat and Other Forms of Violence" Legend and Lore Column 5/31/11
Is such a game possible? Not long ago here on CRPGR JD Higgins pointed out that when WoTC R&D tries to hint at a change, perhaps to more of a rules-lite structure, the 4e fanboys come out in droves to shout him down. They don't want a "dumbed-down" version of D&D. In spite of the fact that 4e is much less rule intensive that 3.5. So you could essentially say 4e was dumbed down. But it's okay Mike--don't sweat it. Every currently supported system has its devotees that don't want to see the system changed. Mike has to deal with this sentiment among 4e players as these are WoTC's current customers. He can't openly offend them. But he also knows he has driven hordes of gamers away from the game by going rules-heavy/mini-required/tactical/hi-power with the game instead of rules-lite/mini-optional/free form/lo-power with the game. What Mike is trying to do is strike a balance between the two and make both crowds happy.
I think it is possible. I hope his R&D department tries to do so. We have an endless procession of games out there these days, and many of them are trying to reinvent the wheel by adding this rule change or that system tweak. Others are trying to present their games within a given milieu. So they essentially rewrite an existing game to be played in a particular genre of fantasy. LoTFP fits this mold. It's a beautiful game, but is essentially Basic D&D set in a dark fantasy mold. Do we really need a new game to do this? Or could this have been done as a setting/world release? Wouldn't it be interesting to see a game that can be played lite or heavy, slow or fast, in any milieu you choose? I honestly don't think we have anything like that out there. We have universal systems, but the mechanics are fixed and closed; it's the setting options that are open-ended. GURPS is one such system that is crunchy. Savage Worlds one such system that is lite. But no game has open mechanics and open genre options.
Whether it will solve the dillemma of a different game for every preference or not remains to be seen. I don't think it will personally. There will still be lots of preferences out there for all those different expressions of games we like to play. That's ultimately a good thing I suppose. Gaming seems to be heading in the direction of an art form that mimics fiction writing and away from proprietary mechanical systems. I'm not sure how I feel about this truthfully. Lately I've been reading lots more. And I find myself reading games more for the settings and stories they tell or could tell than to play them. Because when you get right down to it all we're looking for is a good story to be a part of.
So, no you can't play 4e like 0e. If that's what you mean by old school. But you can certainly play 4e with a grittier, deadlier, and darker style of play. It's hard to get away from some things in 4e though. The system is more superheroic than heroic, is heavily based on skill/power-oriented PC development and it is and always will be a very tactical game. Some people don't like that, some really do. Thus, asking whether you can play 4e old school is a little misinformed. First of all it is a current version, so by our definition it can't be old school. It certainly doesn't fit most of Matt's features of 0e play.
But let's assume Mr. Mearls manages to pull together his team and community and imagine a game like he describes. A game where the players and DM can dial up or dial down the complexity. Where essentially you could play the game at any stage of it's development from 0e to 4e. So 5e won't really be a game in it's own right, it will be a meta-system that encompasses all versions of the game. I see enormous potential in such a model. For one there wouldn't be any default setting per se. They could focus on offering various systems based on the level of play you preferred. That oughta give 'em enough production possibilities to keep the printers busy for years.
Old School: In reference to table top gaming old school refers to games and their play from earlier eras, that can also apply to new games with features similar to those of earlier games.
Of course that led us to consider what "features" we are talking about. Because truly most of the games we play in the OSR are variants of one type or another. In that sense they are new games with features of older games. I then quoted Matt Finch as our defining master about what features should be considered old school. His features were:
- Rulings, not Rules
- Player Skill, not Character Abilities
- Heroic, not Superhero
- Forget Game Balance
If we use this as a strict definition of old school then Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the 1e or 2e variety is certainly not old school. And if you take games like GURPS that have been around since 1980, they can't be considered old school either. Add in RuneQuest (1978), Harn (1983), and Rolemaster (1980) and you get so rule intensive that these old games will never meet the definition of less rules not more. So really we become limited in our ability to define what old school is if we start adding features to our list of definitions.
I generally play 1e type games. I'm fond of 2e and I really like Hackmaster 4e because of its tone, style, and the depth of its rules. But I wasn't particularly fond of 3.5 or Pathfinder. Mainly because of what they did to the class based systems. I could have really gotten into it without feats and without the manipulation of classes, multiclassing, prestige classes and the like. But is it right for me to say that Pathfinder or 3.5 players of today are not playing old school? I think it would be wrong of me to say that. They fit the definition. They are playing a game of an earlier era or a new game with similar features to the old game.
And I might take offense if some devotee of 0e said I was not old school because I was playing 1e or OSRIC or Hackmaster. Sure they are crunchier by far that 0e or B/X but they are still old school after their own fashion. And compared to 3.5 they are rules light. See what we are beginning to get at here is that there is a spectrum of gaming structure regarding rules, characters skills, feats and abilities, character power and even game balance. All versions have had some notion of game balance. And as I tried to explain in my blog entry on the god-like Parlifin, even 1e, 0e and B/X players can become superheroic.
It's really a matter of preference of play. Whether we call a rules-lite free-form style of play old school or whether we call a crunchy 2e style of play old school is really a moot point. The definition of old school isn't too helpful when talking about styles of play. What we are tallking about is more complex than that. Bringing different styles of play together, much less understanding these styles of play is a challenge in and of itself. Here I quote Mike Mearls wrestling with this very issue among his own customers and players,
"I imagine that most people would prefer a game with a complexity level that they can set themselves. Traditionally, D&D has featured that by making fighters relatively simple and wizards more complex."
Mike Mearls, "The Incredible Expanding Gamer Brain" Legends and Lore colum 3/15/11
But Mike is talking about changing that approach. Later in regards to combat he says,
"Let’s extend that in the other direction, too. I think D&D should also enable groups to focus on tactical combat, or dial down to simple, fast fights. At the end of the day, the gaming group, rather than the rules or a distant game designer, should determine the game’s focus. You can play a D&D campaign set in Kara-Tur, with the characters rallying the daimyo’s samurai to throw back a horde of oni. You can play a campaign of courtly intrigue punctuated with flashy duels, drawing from the works of Dumas. You might play a campaign based on Indiana Jones, with the characters dodging traps and exploring ancient ruins to claim forgotten treasures with the rare, quick fight."
and in conclusion of his article Mike makes a unique and hopeful leap,
"All of those games are supported by the imaginative structure of D&D. In my ideal world, the DM would create a campaign concept and then tune the rules to match the exact type of game that such a concept embraces, from intense tactical combat to quick, sharp duels resolved in a few rolls of the dice."
Mike Mearls, "Combat and Other Forms of Violence" Legend and Lore Column 5/31/11
Is such a game possible? Not long ago here on CRPGR JD Higgins pointed out that when WoTC R&D tries to hint at a change, perhaps to more of a rules-lite structure, the 4e fanboys come out in droves to shout him down. They don't want a "dumbed-down" version of D&D. In spite of the fact that 4e is much less rule intensive that 3.5. So you could essentially say 4e was dumbed down. But it's okay Mike--don't sweat it. Every currently supported system has its devotees that don't want to see the system changed. Mike has to deal with this sentiment among 4e players as these are WoTC's current customers. He can't openly offend them. But he also knows he has driven hordes of gamers away from the game by going rules-heavy/mini-required/tactical/hi-power with the game instead of rules-lite/mini-optional/free form/lo-power with the game. What Mike is trying to do is strike a balance between the two and make both crowds happy.
I think it is possible. I hope his R&D department tries to do so. We have an endless procession of games out there these days, and many of them are trying to reinvent the wheel by adding this rule change or that system tweak. Others are trying to present their games within a given milieu. So they essentially rewrite an existing game to be played in a particular genre of fantasy. LoTFP fits this mold. It's a beautiful game, but is essentially Basic D&D set in a dark fantasy mold. Do we really need a new game to do this? Or could this have been done as a setting/world release? Wouldn't it be interesting to see a game that can be played lite or heavy, slow or fast, in any milieu you choose? I honestly don't think we have anything like that out there. We have universal systems, but the mechanics are fixed and closed; it's the setting options that are open-ended. GURPS is one such system that is crunchy. Savage Worlds one such system that is lite. But no game has open mechanics and open genre options.
Whether it will solve the dillemma of a different game for every preference or not remains to be seen. I don't think it will personally. There will still be lots of preferences out there for all those different expressions of games we like to play. That's ultimately a good thing I suppose. Gaming seems to be heading in the direction of an art form that mimics fiction writing and away from proprietary mechanical systems. I'm not sure how I feel about this truthfully. Lately I've been reading lots more. And I find myself reading games more for the settings and stories they tell or could tell than to play them. Because when you get right down to it all we're looking for is a good story to be a part of.
So, no you can't play 4e like 0e. If that's what you mean by old school. But you can certainly play 4e with a grittier, deadlier, and darker style of play. It's hard to get away from some things in 4e though. The system is more superheroic than heroic, is heavily based on skill/power-oriented PC development and it is and always will be a very tactical game. Some people don't like that, some really do. Thus, asking whether you can play 4e old school is a little misinformed. First of all it is a current version, so by our definition it can't be old school. It certainly doesn't fit most of Matt's features of 0e play.
But let's assume Mr. Mearls manages to pull together his team and community and imagine a game like he describes. A game where the players and DM can dial up or dial down the complexity. Where essentially you could play the game at any stage of it's development from 0e to 4e. So 5e won't really be a game in it's own right, it will be a meta-system that encompasses all versions of the game. I see enormous potential in such a model. For one there wouldn't be any default setting per se. They could focus on offering various systems based on the level of play you preferred. That oughta give 'em enough production possibilities to keep the printers busy for years.
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