As we are conducting our list of Essential Free OSR 3 Packs I thought I ask: "Which RPG product has been the most influential on the OSR and why?" I ask, because I can't think of a single one - I have a handful.
Castles & Crusades, as it opened the door that led to the OSR, even if it didn't know it was doing so at the time.
OSRIC, which firmly planted the flag to which other retroclones followed.
LotFP Weird Fantasy, a game that showed you could be true to your roots and still change things up. It also showed the importance of high quality art, and pushed the line of what's considered acceptable in RPG art.
I guess each one represents a different stage of the OSR for me.
Look at that, I asked for one anser and I gave three ;)
So, what are your thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Tenkar's Tavern is supported by various affiliate programs, including Amazon, RPGNow,
and Humble Bundle as well as Patreon. Your patronage is appreciated and helps keep the
lights on and the taps flowing. Your Humble Bartender, Tenkar
Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition
-
-
Deeper & Deeper Into The Station From Hell - The Red Room's Orbital Decay & Night Owl Workshop's Colonial Troopers - Session Report - Tonight's DM Paul's Colonial Troopers/Orbital Decay campaign and tonight's game picks right up where we were in last week's session. Our scientist Pu ar ...4 hours ago
-
More thoughts on Only Heroes Get to Resist - I've never implemented this rule, but I keep thinking about running a game that would use it: One Heroes Get to Resist I have a few more thoughts on it, n...6 hours ago
-
QuarHammer - I stumbled, addled, into my local semi-rural game store in search of off-brand Contrast paint to finish up Ionus Cryptborn, and while wandering around, I ...14 hours ago
-
More (Mostly Pointless) Messing About - I thought I would try an experiment: I re-scaled one of Bergman's 1:100 Char B-I (bis) models to 1:200 and printed it on my Mars Pro. It's the yellow ...15 hours ago
-
-
grodog's Founders & Legends and GaryCon XVI Convention Reports - 14-25 March 2024 - Part 3 - GaryCon XVI – Thank YOUs and SwagContinued from *Part 1 – Arrival through Founders & Legends and Interregnum Tuesday* and from *Part 2 - GaryCon XVI – 20-2...16 hours ago
-
#AtoZChallenge2024: V is for Vampire - [image: Dracula by Edgar Alfred Holloway] Dracula by Edgar Alfred HollowayLong before I was ever known as the "witch guy" I was the "vampire guy." A lot of...17 hours ago
-
Stonehell: Dipping their toes in the sewer - Session 227 was played on 9/24/23 Morgana, Magic User (Rob) Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse) Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC) Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC) Jameth, Fighter 5...18 hours ago
-
AD&D ability tests, streamlined - As I've mentioned in my Hyperborea review (check it pout!), I really liked how the game tries to streamline AD&D ability checks: This is a simpler versi...18 hours ago
-
Gammarauders (1987) - From the web: Each player plays a large cybernetic creature known as a bioborg, which wanders about a radioactive science fiction landscape. Bioborgs are...20 hours ago
-
On preparing adventures for the Ghostbusters RPG - With my mind on a lot of things lately related to West End Games' classic RPG *Ghostbusters*, I was thinking of putting together a blog entry offering so...1 day ago
-
d100 Wasteland Weirdos - Possibly some Charginspire leaked onto our new album. Sampler short https://youtube.com/shorts/Yj7jn40iomM?si=dflfJ10EdYYJqMYr My Gunderholfen solo play...1 day ago
-
Standoff at Sandfell Sea Fort - By MalrexThe Merciless MerchantsOSR/1e/2eLevels 4-7 Eerie lights? Strange noises? Ships are sailing blind into the rough shores of the Bay of Saurvorn. Why...1 day ago
-
A World in a Magazine - Four years ago, I wrote about my history with miniature games and getting back into them during the lockdown. Summer 1995 saw me seduced by the world of ...1 day ago
-
Miskatonic Monday #278: The Viscount Who Left Me - Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for *Call of Cthulhu* under the Miskatonic University Library Associati...3 days ago
-
Living Rooms, Beyond the Living Room, and The Open Form Broadside - Living rooms set to liven up your RPG adventures, and a broadside journal set to stimulate those little grey cells... Rob Kuntz's latest releases! *Livin...3 days ago
-
Return to the Known Lands – Session #43 – Beware of Strangers with Magic Swords, Pt. 2 - PCs: - Frakus (Dw FM 3) - Osan (Elf F/MU 4/2) - Omes (Half FM) - Arro (MU 3) NPCs: - Marnes (CL 4) - Burdar (Dw FM 1) -...4 days ago
-
New Printable Scenery Campaign: Ramshackle & Ruin - [image: New Printable Scenery Campaign: Ramshackle & Ruin] I don't know how many of my peeps here are into 3d printing, but I'm always collecting the STL ...1 week ago
-
Play as Sculpture, Play as Prism - Watching my eldest child and friends engaging in imaginative play, I'm often struck by the fact that what seems to excite them is deciding who gets to be...1 week ago
-
OSR: Mirrors, Cubes, Rods, Staves, and the Deck of Motley Things - I've written another 10 pages of the Treasure Overhaul (title pending), a condensed magic item compendium for old-school games. Unlike the first two prev...1 week ago
-
Session #12 & Adventure Sites Compilation - Firstly, I wanted to let everybody know that Adventure Sites I by Coldlight Press is now available as a free download on DriveThruRPG. It includes my own...1 week ago
-
The Evolution of Gaming, or Why My Thoughts on Gaming have Changed Drastically Over Time - I have been thinking about this for quite a long time and though I am not an eloquent man, I thought I should put these random and chaotic thoughts down in...1 week ago
-
The Release of How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox and the Isle of Pyade - The Release With the successful conclusion and fulfillment of my Kickstarter, I am releasing How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox and The Isle of Pyade to the publ...2 weeks ago
-
Clerics of the Flanaess, Part 2 - Sorry it took so long to get to the next article in this series, but here we are! This continues the details of specialty clerics for the World of Greyhawk...2 weeks ago
-
On the Sector Turn - It's very simple. There are many important things cybertechtronically enhanced secret agents need to do: Buy illegal tanks with railguns. "Convince" the...2 weeks ago
-
Arsenic & Old Lace (a Review)... - The free-kriegsspiel revolution (or FKR; sometimes free-kriegsspiel roleplay) has been getting a lot of attention lately, which seems inevitable given re...3 weeks ago
-
The Light Dawns - THIS!!! Yes, a thousand times, this! Back in the day, I referred to this as “neo-classicalgaming,” which is to say, the sorts of games that came ou...3 weeks ago
-
Improvised Awful Lights Missions - Asking about The Awful Lights, a commenter asks: *I'd love to hear about how this is run - with the Handler determining mission location and objectives ...3 weeks ago
-
Jim Ward's Adventure in Gygax's Wonderland - Last weekend at GaryCon, many of us raised a glass to the memory of Jim Ward, who passed away just days before the convention. Ward was very helpful to m...3 weeks ago
-
It’s Tolkien Reading Day - I recently started rereading *The Silmarillion*. I had last read it over two decades ago. I liked it then but I’m really enjoying it this time! Despite b...4 weeks ago
-
Osr anchorites? - It's been a long time since I listened to any osr podcasts. Anchor was a lot of fun. I'm not sure if the community is still going? I deleted the app ...5 weeks ago
-
Chaos War Dogs - Welcome back to the Vault! My gaming partner and I had a fun day at the Meme Team doubles last weekend, placing mid-table results wise. My eye is now lo...5 weeks ago
-
ShadowDark Magic Items - The next campaign I run will use the ShadowDark RPG. I'm not sure when that'll be (I'm hoping a little later this year), but ShadowDark is my choice. I'v...1 month ago
-
Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon? - Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after the passing of Janelle Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well known p...2 months ago
-
GLOG Class: Bioweapon - I got this idea from mad gods on bear blog. Crab Evo from Kagaku Sentai Dynaman A thousand soldiers were slain. Too many to be tragic--this is just a fact...2 months ago
-
The Economy Engine, v0.2 - I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition Dungeon M...2 months ago
-
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace - A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or more w...2 months ago
-
[MODULE] The Webs of Past and Present & Cloister of the Frog-God (NOW AVAILABLE!) - Can you have enough frog-themed modules? I am pleased to announce the publication of two adventure modules, *The Webs of Past and Present *and *Cloister of...2 months ago
-
What Else Have I Got in Me? - Brechewold's been done for a little while. Still incredibly pumped to have this labor of love out in the company of LotFP's marvelously creative body of ...3 months ago
-
Housekeeping 2024 - Coactus Illustration © Heather Gwinn. A gift she gave me in 2013 for an edition of Miscreated Creatures which I hope exists someday. Coloring by me. I am a...3 months ago
-
Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...3 months ago
-
Sex-Crazed Falling Stars, Free Weather Magic, and Adventures: News of the Hill Cantons - *Grandma Gaya, the Rav-Witch of High Kezmarok*, seeks the stout of limb and humble of mind in the *obtaining of fallen stars* from an upcoming prophesied ...3 months ago
-
Time Rolls On - Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both goo...3 months ago
-
Play Report: Skull Mountain - At the end of the last Skull Mountain session the PCs had retreated to safety at Owen's redoubt, met with visiting elves, and recovered from injuries ...5 months ago
-
-
Moving On... - So, my D&D 5e experiment has blown up the lab in a puff of green smoke leaving my face blackened like Wile E. Coyote after a failed roadrunner Acme trap...10 months ago
-
How to Keep Megadungeons Fresh - People often consider megadungeons boring. Not because the play style is boring, but because they are in the same locale for a majority of the campaign. If...11 months ago
-
ODIOUS UPLANDS and COMPLETELY UNFATHOMABLE DCC AT LAST - NOW AVAILABLE in PDF and Print on Demand:ODIOUS UPLANDS and COMPLETELY UNFATHOMABLE (DCC)CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW! SO YOU SURVIVED OPERATION UNFATHOMABLE? Od...1 year ago
-
The Blade Itself - I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Blade Itself, volume one in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. This was my first exposure to his wo...1 year ago
-
Master Treasure Seeker: A Dungeon23 MegaDungeon - Introduction - Sean McCoy, author of Mothership, posted an article on his substack titled Dungeon23 and it's taken the indie RPG scene by storm. So, I'm throwing my hat...1 year ago
-
Genteel Magistrate at FenCon XVIII - Victorious author Mike Stewart will be a guest at FenCon XVIII this weekend at the Sheraton DFW Airport hotel, 4440 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, TX, ...1 year ago
-
Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) - [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970]Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970 [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover Illustration 1970]Shonen Maga...1 year ago
-
Helvéczia: Journal de Campagne, 3 - We resumed play this past week, joining the company still within the farmstead where those that remain of the seven knaves are restrained or incapacitate...1 year ago
-
This is an Important Game Mechanic - *"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does some s$&...1 year ago
-
Clean Your Room - Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it was ...2 years ago
-
-
My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter! - I can't believe I didn't post about it here! The Dead are Coming, Screams Amongst the Stars and Running Out of Time are on *Kickstarter right now!* Thes...3 years ago
-
Maximum HP 004, one week to go - Just one week to go for Maximum HP issue #004, the undead. We are pushing through stretch goals and wracking up contributions for the best issue yet. We...3 years ago
-
Steve Jackson Interview - James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and upcomi...3 years ago
-
The Hero’s Journey 2nd Edition, Campbellian roleplaying at its best! - (this review done using the reviewers own purchased copy) I have been a James Michael Spahn fan since he wrote his Swords & Wizardry Companion. His writing...3 years ago
-
Undermountain Map Origins - As documented on the Ruins of Undermountain sales page, "TSR didn't actually use Ed Greenwood's original maps," at least not in their entirety. This post d...3 years ago
-
WB:FMAG Total Print Sales - Hello Folks, The last time I did a quick sales report was in September 2018. I pulled reports from Amazon, Lulu and DrivethruRPG from October to current fo...4 years ago
-
The Minotaur for Old-School Essentials - *Minotaur* *Requirements:* Minimum STR 9, Minimum CON 9 *Prime Requisite:* STR and CON *Hit Dice:* 1d10 *Maximum Level:* 8 *Armor:* Leather, including shield...4 years ago
-
WIZARDS OF POHJOLA - Init +0 Melee Atk • sword or dagger +1 (1d5 or 1d3) Ranged Atk • hot iron sparks +3 (1d4+2 to two targets within 20' but not closer than 5') AC 14 HD 12d...4 years ago
-
The Withered Crag custom print version for sale again - Just re-enabled the direct sales button for the custom print (classic style detached cover) version of F4 The Withered Crag, and also for F3 Many Gates of...4 years ago
-
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule - *As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in Warren...4 years ago
-
-
D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...4 years ago
-
James A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Video - A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We miss you! To view video, click here Memorial Video Note - The original video...5 years ago
-
Let's Talk About Pacing! - The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player was...5 years ago
-
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2 - This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release, along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a Saint 8000...5 years ago
-
SHORT BREAK. - I'm going to take a break for a week or so and will start up again in the New Year. Thanks for reading and we'll start with Level 6 when I get back.5 years ago
-
Iain Lovecraft, 3D Sculptor - Nope, it's got nothing to do with Cthulhu. I just did a video conversation with Iain Lovecraft, who designs 3D miniatures and terrain. If you're not doi...5 years ago
-
New website! - Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that site wil...5 years ago
-
Please Update Your Link! - If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is out of date. Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is h...5 years ago
-
Mord Mar - Session 6 - We weren't able to play Mord Mar last week, due to a family funeral. This week we played on Monday for the first time, due to kids returning to school and ...5 years ago
-
A Small, Quiet Plea - There has been a great deal of discussing political agendas, social grievances, and personal attacks within the little corner of gaming that is my hobby....5 years ago
-
Don’t Sleep It’s Broken - Expanding/editing my comments from What Makes Something Broken G+ thread: “Broken”, for me, is anything that makes normal character choices, tactics, or ro...6 years ago
-
Swords & Wizardry Light-Themed Birthday Party - Last month, my wife and I helped our oldest to celebrate his birthday in style. Ever since 2013, we have hosted a themed birthday party for our now-15-ye...6 years ago
LotFP is definitely the product that got me interested in the old-school movement in the first place -- at least in the D&D-ish part of it, since I've never stopped playing T&T or (Chaosium) RuneQuest in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say Labyrinth Lord as that's the rule set a lot of folks initially sunk their claws into. Others may have come first, but the old-time simplicity and OGL connected with LabLord brought a lot of folks back to the gaming table, I'd assume.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Tim.
ReplyDeleteAlthough was leaning toward Swords & Wizardry which thanks to Frog God has a good presence now, I think in terms of actual play, products and general discussion Labyrinth Lord may have had the most penetration. It helps that LL recreates the B/X D&D experience and then tacks on the Advanced compendium...those two books together are an instant emulator for how I actually played D&D back in the day (using AD&D for characters and options, but falling back to B/X for combat and rules basics).
ReplyDeleteI think when I first started getting into the OSR, there was a friendly split between C&C, OSRIC, LL and a little of S&W, but it seemed everyone was using and talking about the OSR Primer.
ReplyDeleteI think it award would go to Labyrinth Lord, because there just seems to be more stuff officially compatible with LL than any other product, then I'd say either OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry. And if you ask Matt Finch, who worked on both, he'd probably say LL too.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Tim Shorts: I think Matt Finch's Old School Primer, which transcends any rule system is the reference to what old school play is all about. I also think Castles & Crusades has been tremendously important to the OSR as a gateway to old school play - sort of a methadone clinic to ween new school addicts off the junk.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's definitely Labyrinth Lord with Original Edition Companion (as Tori stated), followed by Realms of Creeping Chaos (for use with LL) and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
ReplyDeleteThe document that is the OGL.
ReplyDeleteI vote LL too.
ReplyDeleteC&C lay the groundwork but was pre-OSR. OSRIC had a tentative start as just a player's handbook, with the added complication that the publishers didn't strongly promote the game (it wasn't initially intended to be a game in itself, just a tool to help folks publish 1e-compatible stuff). And S&W, while popular, quickly became a confusing messy morass of different versions.
Right from the start LL was marketed as a standalone game and remained fairly constant in its format. I could be wrong but I also believe it was the first of the clones to make it into bricks'n'mortar distribution.
You know, the OSR started way before OSRIC, LL, and (gods forbid) C&C. I find it incredibly bewildering to look at the OSR movement today and note just how oblivious it is of its genesis. Before OSRIC, before LL, and before (gods forbid) C&C...and before this whole OSR thing, there was Dragonsfoot and OD&DITIES. Just a bunch of guys sharing OoP support for free to other lovers of old-school (A)D&D. It really was a pretty cool time to be an old-schooler, back before retro/neo/kinda clones and endless kickstarters to support someone's house-rules. We've come a long way, i guess, from the days of logging onto DF to see if there was any new stuff to d/l for our preferred (OoP) edition of D&D, all the while fearing WotC would take it down. Who knows, maybe its just that I don't feel any kind of kinship to this "new" old-school movement like I did back in the early (pre-OSR) days.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that you're "old school" old school? ;)
DeleteGood point about DF though. They kept the torch burning for many years.
The roots of OSR is more complex than just one or two elements, of which the two you mention skathros are definitely a couple of them. However, the phrase OSR began to be commonly used in the context of seeing TSR D&D back in print for the first time since WotC took control of the brand. There was no revival/renaissance of old school gaming itself, since people never stopped playing it - which DF is testimony to. What did suddenly change was seeing the old rules actually back in print again, even if in the form of retro-clones - that was renaissance in the OSR. :-)
DeleteBlogs. Seriously, Grognardia, Rients, Chicagowiz, Poleandrope, loftp...these and others were most influential for me. Actual products less so.
ReplyDeleteThe blogs were how I first got interested in the OSR. Others above mentioned the forums from whence many of those blogs came as a big deal, though I myself have little experience with Dragonsfoot or the other forums. A lot of blogs were influential to me. Probably of the older ones, Grognardia, Jeff Rients and Sham's Grog and Blog were the ones I paid the most attention to originally in my case, though sadly Sham doesn't really update any more, and none of them have much of a post rate like they used to. (Of course, by the time I came along there were tons of those blogs - I think maybe the first one I saw was "It's OK, Gary sent us.")
ReplyDeleteAs far as actual products, I agree with those who state the importance of the OGL in allowing retroclones to exist. Also, though it's a special case, Hackmaster 4th Edition, as the very first retroclone (all the way back in 2001!), broke ground for all the Castles & Crusadeses and OSRICs that followed.
The blogs were how I first got interested in the OSR. Others above mentioned the forums from whence many of those blogs came as a big deal, though I myself have little experience with Dragonsfoot or the other forums. A lot of blogs were influential to me. Probably of the older ones, Grognardia, Jeff Rients and Sham's Grog and Blog were the ones I paid the most attention to originally in my case, though sadly Sham doesn't really update any more, and none of them have much of a post rate like they used to. (Of course, by the time I came along there were tons of those blogs - I think maybe the first one I saw was "It's OK, Gary sent us.")
ReplyDeleteAs far as actual products, I agree with those who state the importance of the OGL in allowing retroclones to exist. Also, though it's a special case, Hackmaster 4th Edition, as the very first retroclone (all the way back in 2001!), broke ground for all the Castles & Crusadeses and OSRICs that followed.
Sorry. The back key is not my friend.
ReplyDeleteHackmaster.
ReplyDeleteIt was clearly the third edition of D&D. Not only did it give us the OGL, but it also created a design philosophy to react against. If 3rd edition was a refinement of 2E it would have been very minor differences left for the clones.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know their was an osr but C&C inspired me to write my own bx variant rules - discovering the bloggosphere was the the biggest influence after that.
ReplyDelete