Half a Hobbit is Better then None

Over the past few days there have been a couple of blog posts here and there dealing with the level limits demihumans in particular suffer in the various "old school" editions of D&D / AD&D.  Most, if not all of the suggestions, included giving humans an expo boost if one were to remove the level caps from the other races.  I lean in a different direction in my "solution" to the issue (assuming there is even an issue at all, as except for halflings in D&D, most races can hit a level well in the range that the vast majority of the campaigns I've played in have ended at... but that's a whole 'nother post for another day).

My way of dealing with it, if it comes up in the next game I run, will be to treat the level caps as "soft caps".  Once a character hits a "soft cap" on their level, they suffer a 50% reduction on all future expo (if they have an expo bonus due to an exceptional stat it lowers the penalty by the amount of the bonus).

Demihumans under the "soft cap" method will keep pace with their human companions for the early levels, but the advanced levels will come slower to them.  That being said, they will still have the opportunity to increase in level and power... they will not need to be retired, nor will they be forced to adventure for no experience gain.

Hmmm, unless someone plays a halfling in my next campaign it will be a while before this plays out.... assuming it even gets that far.  Time will tell.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.  Of all the Western European / American style holidays, I think St. Pats converts the easiest as a drop in even to a campaign.  Just get the locals drinking a strangely colored beer, a band playing some weird bladder powered instruments, a nice march through town square and lots of people wearing the same color clothes as the strangely colored beer and your set.

Heck, I left out any sort of religious significance, as for the most part there is very little, at least here in the states (there are special masses, and occasional dispensation when the holiday falls on a friday and the masses want to eat their corned beef).  St. Pat drove the snakes from Ireland... what kind of miracles would a D&D "St.Pat" have performed to achieve such a status?

Crit or Miss.. Why?

Critical hits and Dungeons & Dragons have a long, if largely unofficial history.  Most DMs have put together their own critical hit tables and fumble tables, or at least have borrowed from some of the many tables that have found their way into old issues of Dragon Magazine, Rolemaster or other games.

Most of those tables rely upon a to hit roll being a natural 20 (or a natural one for fumbles).  Which basically means a fighter that almost always can hit has a small percentage of crits, and a large number of his misses are fumbles.  Something about that just doesn't seem fair.

My solution, or at least, what I'll be experimenting with in my next Labyrinth Lord game, is the use of a control die.  I may us a d10, or even the lonely and rarely used d12.  Roll maximum on the control die when you score a hit with the d20 and you've scored a crit... miss when you roll a 1 on the control die and you've scored a fumble.

As for the effect of a critical hit or a fumble, choose you favorite tables or use the maximum damage for crit, attack lost next round for the fumble.  You can even make the control die open ended if you wish, adding damage or negative effects as warranted.

Any thoughts?

I Was Lost, Now I'm Found

Well, not really lost... more like sleep deprived and stuck at work.  I went to work as usual around 715 Thursday morning and didn't leave until 1115 Friday morning.  No naps, no dozing.  28 hours, nearly 11 of which were cash over time.  It is, most definitely a beautiful thing, but it does take some time to recover to a normal sleep schedule afterward.

It did get me thinking about D&D, adventuring parties, and how far they could push themselves before succumbing to the need for sleep, the penalties for sleep deprivation and ways to combat those penalties.

I found that burning anger at a co-worker that wasn't around to unleash at was better then any caffeinated beverage ;)

I also paid close attention to the ebb and flow of my energies and alertness.  Once I rolled around to 6 am on Friday I found some renewed energy... probably because that is around the time I roll out of bed on workdays.

I'm going to be looking closer at sleep deprivation and the Adventuring Party later on.  I'm too tired to think about it now :)

If its Free, Its For me...

"If its free, its for me" is a bit of an on going joke on my job.  Public servants seem, for the most part, to be frugal with their money...hell,  they're damn cheap.  We're  in it for the pension, not to make it rich.  So if you can pinch some pennies, so much the better.

RPGNow is running a Read an E-Book special for the next four days or so.  The vast majority of the 1000 plus free downloads were free before, and will be free afterward, but there are gems to be found.  One is White Wolf's World of Darkness Rulebook.  I might not play with the Storyteller system myself, but if it's free, it's for me ;)

I've yet to find an RPG product that can't be strip mined for another system.

As most of those that follow this blog know, I'm big into E-Books and E-Book Readers, so this promotion is pretty interesting to me.

Adventure Games Publishing has Ceased

Adventure Games Publishing, James Mishler's RPG Company, has ceased publishing.  This is truly a shame, as James' work on the Wilderlands of High Adventure for Castles & Crusades was top notch.  I would know, I was one of the early subscribers to his proposed line of products.  Regretfully, what James planned and what was finally produced never really worked as planned.

James' problem was neither talent nor work ethic.  It was a soured economy and his aiming at a niche within a niche within a niche within a niche (Wilderlands of High Adventure - Wilderlands from Judge's Guild - Castles & Crusades - OSR - Roleplaying).  His market was small, and if he didn't convert a large percentage of it, business was going to be tough.

His planned, extremely ambitious for a one man show, monthly releases, lasted two products (high quality products mind you, both in production and in usability).  Small releases followed.  Credit for those early subscribers, and how to convert the credit into the newer products was decided upon.

In the end James aimed extremely high.  He missed his target, which I'm not even sure was attainable.  If you have to ask your readers and customers to donate money so you can buy a paper cutter, that is a good point to probably re-evaluate your business model.

I have no words of wisdom via 20-20 vision to suggest what James could have done differently for a different outcome.

I mourn the failure of a endeavor by a talented man, who gave the OSR and roleplaying in general extremely useful and professional gaming material.  Maybe not so much failure, because I do own his early successes.  Potential unfulfilled instead.  A shame.

James, I wish you the best in whatever career move presents itself to you, now and in the future.  Maybe, when things sort out, you can again share your vision with us.  On a pace that best serves you... no AGP, not your readers... you.

Wasted Weekend Wrap Up

For the first time in... forever... I did a whole lot of nothing this weekend. When I say "nothing", I'm comparing it to the "two 4 hour shifts of driving lessons for my son, shopping, trip to my folks' place in the Poconos for even more driving lessons for my son, trips to the girlfriend's side of the family (aka: more driving lessons for my son)." This was a very nice, low key, snuggle up and watch TV and walk around the park kinda weekend.

Except for the dog / cat interaction that was worked upon. See, the girlfriend is a dog person, I'm a cat person, and trying to get the two pets to interact is full of trials and failures, but each time gets closer and closer to working it seems. My little girl Ashley does the avoidance method, but then can't help but checking things out as the day goes on. She is curious. Chloe (my g/f's little long haired Dachshund) likes to act all big and intimidating, but the truth is she is a pussy cat at heart.

Calls to mind the Old School / New School chest bumping that's been going on recently. I'd like to think it will resolve itself as a "can't we all get along" and "the differences is what makes us so special" as opposed to "typical dogs and cats". 'Cause dogs and cats aren't that typical.

You Got Your Guns in My Fantasy

I remember 1st Edition AD&D having short conversion notes on using Boot Hill and Gamma World Characters in AD&D. Back in the day it struck me as strange. Who would want to mix guns with their fantasy? It seemed unrealistic to me (in retrospect how can that be any more unrealistic then fantasy itself, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms).

Then we were introduced to the Quasi Deities of the World of Greyhawk. Muryland (guessing at the spelling there) was a Paladin with a six shooter. Obviously guns were around in EGG's campaign. Yet if I recall correctly gunpowder was inert in Oerth... no gun powder, no guns. (copout way to handle it if you ask me)

Not that I would want guns to be a part of my fantasy gaming. For me they never felt right for the genre, but that doesn't mean it couldn't work. I did try to integrate them into a campaign years ago... the players to a man preferred the firearms they weren't proficient in over their usual weapons. I ended that experiment shortly there after by removing usuably ammo from circulation.

See what happens when I watch a special about marksmen and trick shooters on the History Channel? Of course my favorite segment was hitting an arrow with an arrow (if it had split the original arrow it would have been even cooler).

Flame Off!

Alas, the yesterday's short Flaming Troll incident over at LotFP was extinguished by James last nite (early morning his time). It kept me up a bit later then I had intended, but a good show can do that.

Anyone can be quoted out of context and shoehorned into supporting whatever arguement one wants to make.

New School, Old School... It's all Rock and Roll to me ;)


- Posted from my iPhone

Two Years Ago...

Two years ago we lost a legend. I remember the day well. I was in my office, catching some posts of the Troll Lord Games Forums, and there was a thread that Gary Gygax has passed. I was floored. My eyes teared up. Not a pretty sight in a 40 year old hardened member of law enforcement.

2008 hasn't started out well at all. Mid January I was transferred from to a unit that was just starting up. An amazing conflict of personalities ensued.

On the last Thursday of the month, my ex (my son's mother) had a brain hemorrhage. She passed on the 3rd of February, never regaining consciousness from that Thursday. (Rest well Minnie)

My plan for that summer was to go to the Lake Geneva Con, and kindly accept and invitation Gary had extended to me (and I am sure many others), to roll some dice with him on his front porch. Alas, that was never to be.

Still, some good did come out of all these losses. My son and I are closer then we've ever been (he's counting the days until he's 17 and can take his road test for his driver's license). I got off my ass and started to actually game again, as opposed to just reading about it... thank God for Fantasy Grounds 2 and other VTTs... they are a great tool for the gaming single parent. I mean, if I couldn't game with Gary, the least I could do was game again.

This hobby of ours helped me realize a lot of the stress of 2008. Its a shame it took Gary's passing to make me realize just how important gaming and the friendships it helps start and old friendships it strengthens really is.

As long as people game, and long as they can bond across the dining room table, the Virtual table, any playing surface, the game lives on. I don't think Gary would really care which game it was, as long as you were playing with, or making new, friends,

Distractions...

My god but today is a day of distractions. Lets see, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 arrived... looks damn purty even if it has nuthin' to do with RPGs (well, except maybe rocket propelled grenades).

I also had my latest (and last for now) delivery of board games. Dominion (really a card game it seems), Nuclear War (er, also a card game) and Descent. Holy crap but that comes in a big and heavy box.

All those goodies and RPGNow is running a GM's sale. I'm thinking about picking up some 1e Dungeon Classics. It's just that there is so much to look at...

Gamer ADD. It's an awful disease. It attacks the wallet and your free time ;)

Quick edit: I didn't realize White Haired Man Games was part of the sale. If you use Fantasy Grounds 2 for your Virtual Table Top of choice they made some real nice products... on sale they are even nicer.

Edit to the Edit: Goblinoid Games (publishers of Labyrinth Lord) have their products on sale. That's it. No more shopping for me tonight. Sale lasts to March 8th anyway.

Back to Basic

So, I used to have my bedroom closet stacked with my gaming crap, floor to ceiling. It was never very orderly. When my son moved in full time, I gave him my bedroom. Shortly thereafter I moved everything out of the lower part of the closet to give him storage and basically pile the crap haphazardly into different closets and storage space... I wasn't paying attention to what went where, let alone what was what.

Tonight I started trying to go thru and organize my old rule books, magazines, modules and such. Lo and behold I find my copy of the D&D basic rulebook, 1st print Moldvay. Haven't seen it in years... heck, I never actually played it, as I started with AD&D. I picked up the boxed set at some general discount store back in the day. All the boxes for sale were beat to crap, but all were shrink wrapped and they were like $3 bucks a pop. Ah, memories.

Seems like my 1st edition, beat to hell, AD&D PH and DMG are still in the top of my son's closet. That will be for another day. Damn, and my old MERP stuff. Did get to flip thru my Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 1st Edition rulebook.

In any case, look like I'll be rereading Moldavy's Basic D&D tonight...

Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! Maybe...

Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! is billed as a beginners / introductory role playing game. How well does it accomplish its task?

Well, first things first: Ancient Odysseys - Treasure Awaits! can be played with or without a GM (referred to as a Director in the rules). Having read thru (yet to play) the game rules, I would say that it probably works okay without a GM, but if a group were to play more then once or twice a GM would be needed to add depth to the roleplaying experience.

Task resolution is resolved using a single d6 and adding and subtracting the appropriate modifiers.

The system is simple, as it should be for an introductory game. There are just three classes (Vocations): Warrior, Rogue and Wizard and four character races (gnome isn't one of them, so you can work that out on your own).

Character generation is simplified in that you roll randomly for one of 6 sets of predetermined ability stats based upon your class. So, random and not... kinda. Characters have 3 stats, ranging from a score of 1 to 5. Wizards will be higher ranked in Reasoning, Rogues will excel in Awareness, and Warriors will be the ones with the highest Fitness.

Choose four skills (Pursuits) for you character, roll for some armor, choose a weapon package, if a Wizard choose your spells and lastly pick your other gear (torch, rope, satchel or grimoire). They say you can be up and running in about 10 minutes... I suspect you can prepare a character in less.

Spells descriptions remind me a bit of OD&D. Short, simple and to the point.

So, overall the rules look workable. They are composed of three books: Basic Play is what is says it is, the game rules. The second book is The Dungeon. Here we find the introductory adventure, suitable for solo, group, or group with GM play. The third book, Further Adventures, give the GM information on running a game, some monster stats and a nice amount of simple but random tables too flesh out one's own dungeon designs.

The author states at the end of the book three that he was aiming for simplicity for beginners and nostalgia for veteran gamers. I definitely feel he found a decent introductory system for new players (but it would definitely work much better with an experience GM at the helm, but then, so do all RPGs. Does it hit the nostalgia mark? Maybe if RPGs weren't so rooted in wargames... there is a lot of abstractness in the system... you are either front line or in the back of the marking order for example. The Conflict Action Map has the positions of closest, farthest, sneaking or behind. You won't be measuring squares or flanking opponents. You will get to kill things and take their stuff - success is based upon killing things and taking their stuff. Wait, I guess that does make it a RPG that hearkens back to the early days of role playing ;)

I'm going to give Ancient Odysseys a 4 beer steins out a 5. Nice introductory RPG but long term re-playability may be lacking. AS for DX-ability, 5 steins out a 5. I've really enjoyed reading this on my DX in bed at night.

Oh, and it also includes a PDF suitable for printing in digest size, if you are into digest sized books in your collection ;)

Theives Can... or Cant

Thieves' Cant. It was one of two secret languages mentioned in the 1st Edition AD&D Player's Handbook. Dragon Magazine, somewhere in the late issue 60's or early 70's even published a dictionary of the Thieves Cant suitable for removing from your Dragon Mag, folding along the lines, and having a pocket reference of sorts. But really, what is Thieves Cant? Another language? A dialect of Common? Choice coded words? Probably more of the later then anything else.

I came across A Hairbag's Guide to Cop Speak for the NYPD today, and it is pretty much Thieves Cant for cops, localized. That is the way I expect Thieves Cant would work in game... a local coded speak for the Thieves Guild.

Below is the Hairbag's Guide to Cop Speak for the NYPD, added to and edited by me to add omissions as I recall them (it is the lingo of my job). It is extremely regional... Police Departments neighborng NYC may use some of the same terms and may use different terms... as I said, it is extremely localized:


Adult Beverages: Alcohol

Back in the bag: An officer who is demoted from a plainclothes to uniform detail

Bag OF Shit: A miserable, no-chance-of-being-solved case

Boss: General term for any police supervisor

Bus: Ambulance

Bracelets: Handcuffs

Choir practice: A drinking party

Cocktails: Manhattan detectives are fond of this term for getting drinks

Dee Wee: Driving While Intoxicated

DOA: dead person (literally, dead on arrival)

EDP: crazy person (literally, emotionally disturbed person)

The Farm: Rehab

Flopped: Bounced out of a detail

Fly: to move from one command or detail to another

Gentleman: What cops call a stand-up boss. Top commanders, however,
sometimes think this means the boss is a pushover who doles out too much OT

Hairbag: An old-timer who thinks he knows everything

Highway Therapy: Transfer against will to a command furthest from one's residence. An “Unofficial Punishement”
The House: Stationhouse

Housemouse: A cop who is afraid to leave the station house and go on patrol; a sissy

It is what it is: A euphemism for a screw-up with political overtones

In the wind: At large, said of a suspect

The Job: Working at the NYPD

Job: A radio run or assignment

Loo: Friendly term for a lieutenant

Mope: Criminal

One Way / One Way Street: Cop out only for themselves

Perp: Perpetrator of a crime

On a Personal: Bathroom Break

Puzzle Palace: A derogatory term for NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan

Rat Squad: Internal Affairs Bureau

RMP: A squad car (literally, radio motor patrol)

Rumproaster: Vice squad term for a perv who rubs up against an unsuspecting person

Sarge: Sergeant

Skel: Criminal

Snitch: Informant

The Squad: Beat cop’s term for a precinct detective squad

The job is on the level: Sarcastic phrase meaning the job is unfair

Tool: Asshole

Tune Up: To beat someone up

Wood shampoo / Bronx Party Hat: To beat an unruly suspect about the head with a baton

Think how this would work in a D&D Campaign:

"Man the Loo is a tool. He's all bent that I gave a skel a wood shampoo. What did he expect, the guy was an EDP. He's even sicked the Rat Squad on me!"

You don't need a lot of words or phrases to make your own Cant... a dozen or so choice ones will keep your players on their toes and you can add more as you find the need.

Carcassonne - The First Step to Assimilation?

I mentioned last week that I was picking up some Euro-Family games to replace the weekly Friday Nite Uno / Other Card Games my girlfriend and I play with my mother.  The ladies love the bonding and knitting talk, I get to cement the future family relationships.

The game plan, so to speak, was to break out one of the newly acquired games this past Friday nite, but Thursday's 21" of snow put a damper on that.  So, yesterday afternoon we pulled out Carcassone.  My girlfriend was excited about trying the new game ( and was only moderately disappointed it didn't use any "funky" dice ) and my mother was willing to humor us.

By the end of the first game all 3 of us were hooked.  It's a simple game with unexpected depth.  The pieces are high quality.  It plays fast.  You're never quite sure who is going to win until the end.

We played three games before we pulled ourselves away to watch a DVD.  My girlfriend is already talking about breaking the game out this afternoon, although Catan and Ticket to Ride are also tempting here.

Before you know it I'll have them playing Decent, then a game of White Box Swords & Wizardry ;)

I Kill Trees - Sometimes

I am very Pro-PDF.  Not because I am a left wing, save the snails, recycle toilet paper kinda guy, but because I am running out of space to store my dead tree / paper printed gaming materials.  It's pretty much a given that most folks that play RPGs don't get rid of too much of their "old stuff".  I might never read another Rifts Sourebook in my life, but if I see the cover of the Core book I get flashbacks of playing in an awesome campaign back in the day. Roleplaying makes memories, and the products we played with can invoke those memories.

Suffice to say I have lots of memories.

To combat the lack of storage for future memory enhancers, I've turned to buying most of my RPG goodness in PDF format.  Its not a perfect solution, but it doesn't need any storage besides a hard drive or two, and by transferring the PDFs that I want to read to my Kindle DX I get an extremely portable way to carry around part of my RPG library.  The thing is, its kinda awkward to read certain gaming PDFs on the Kindle.

We'll start with my latest dead tree (previously purchased in PDF), Stonehell Dungeon.  It looks fine on the Kindle DX, but at 130 or so pages, with maps that one likes to flip back and forth to reference, it just isnt the perfect solution.  It's fine if I want to read thru while away on vacation, but not so great when one is trying to prep for a game.  Besides, you can't notate on the Kindle DX - I can mark up my dead tree Stonehell as much as I need (in pencil - no desecration here;)

It's pretty much a similar reason I bought LL and S&W in print on demand from LuLu.  They look fine on the DX, and if you are looking to do a straight read thru its a sweet way to read, but as a reference at a gaming table I need it in paper please.  With LuLu, it's tree killing on demand.  I should probably feel more guilt than I do when considering that fact.

Now all I need to do is find some storage for those old memories.  Maybe those clothes I swore I'd fit in again... can always donate to Goodwill and reclaim that space.  I'll just buy new if I can get back into shape.  Damn things are probably outa style anyway.

OD&DITIES Issue 13 is Here

OD&DITIES Issue 13 has hit the pavement, or at least the virtual shelves of RPGNow.  At 24 pages (OGL statement would make it 25) its bang for your buck ratio isn't bad.  OD&DITIES uses the LL rules, but most of the articles are not system specific, and those that are can probably convert to other OSR rules without too much trouble.

The Table of Contents are/is (i need a grammar checker) as follows:

 Editorial
 Building the Keep on the Borderlands
 Table: Twenty Reasons That Guard is on Patrol
 Designing the Keep on the Borderlands
 Table: Twenty Things Found in a Kobold's Pocket
 'A Touch of Class': The Illusionist's
Introducing New Classes to the Campaign
'Man's Best Friend'
'Surviving the DM's Wrath': Party Formation
 Magical Miscellany
 Mr. B's Last Word


As it just released today, and I just purchased it a mere hour ago, I've just given in a quick read thru.  You get a decent amount of articles (and a promise that OD&DITIES will be monthly) .

Timing is everything these days.  The version of the Illusionist Class presented here has a few new spells but a very small spell list compared to the class presented Advanced Edition Companion.

Surviving the DM's Wrath rates classes on their party value.  It includes classes not present in the LL Core rulebook (they are the versions published by Brave Halfing. Again, timing is all.  I expect future issues will reference the AEC.

The rest I just skimmed at this point.  So far, it looks good.  Not perfect, but not bad at all for a reboot after a seven year absence.  Looking forward to Issue 14.

I'm Even More Board... Games

Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride arrived today.  Damn but my girlfriend is pumped about Friday nite.  Of course, as fate has it, we are getting yet another snowstorm here in NYC Thursday / Friday, so the first game nite might be a cancellation.  The city is damn big and we live on opposite ends of it.  Well, that and her poor little doggy will leave poops little doggy poops all over her apartment if she doesnt make it home Friday nite at some point.

Tried a little Catan via the catanplay.com website.  Caught on to the tutorial after a bit.  Not a bad way to play the game, decent looking for being flash based.  I lost tho.  Go figure.

Sheep wasn't the problem.  It was the stone/granite dealie.  Live and learn.

Oh, did I mention I ordered Descent?  Figure I'll work the girlfriend up to that on the way to turning her to the Drak Side (RPGs).

I'm Board...Game

For some reason I've steadfastly avoided picking up any new board games.  Its not that I never played them.  Talisman, Amoeba Wars, Risk, Blood Bowl (first edition), Chaos Marauders (more of a card game), Nuclear War (definitely a card game)... I played these all when we had less then a full group to sling dice back in the day.

I have the OOTS game (never played it) and Adventurer (card game I really should play)as the recent games I've added to my collection, but I've had a major hole in all this... none of the above lead to getting my non-gaming girlfriend and possibly my parents involved in playing.  Friday nites my girlfriend actually enjoys playing cards or Uno with my mother and me... she likes the "family bonding".  So I broke down and ordered some recent (well, for me anyway) board games that should add some variety to Fridays.

The first to arrive is the Settlers of Catan.  Haven't even read the directions yet.  I guess I better start.  Hmm, even includes a limited trial PC/Mac game.  Time to learn me a new board game it seems ;)

The OSR - How Big is it?

There are some great comments to James' latest post at Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  You probably should read it.  I'll wait...

...

Alright then.  Anyhow, just how big is this "niche of a niche" we call the OSR?  Even better question might be "does size even matter"?

I would guess that 4e, 3.5e/Pathfinder and WoD are the big three in terms of this hobby of ours.  Barnes and Noble, B. Daltons, Borders... hit the major book stores and its probably 60% 4e, 20% WoD, 10% Pathfinder (give or take)  and the rest a remainders from lord knows when.

I haven't seen a single OSR product in the retail bookstore chains.  Which is a shame, as probably the easiest way to grow our corner of this hobby is to bring back those that left gaming around the time of the TSR implosion.  Work, family, school, careers, responsibilities cause many folks to leave behind this hobby.  They are also (i'm willing to guess) easier to bring back with an Old School Game that they can browse then a a New School Game that resembles little of their nostalgic memories.  Besides, these people already know how to game. 

What about those of us already enjoying the OSR?  Are publishers at risk by offering too many choices?  Can we be oversold?  I don't think so.  I would guess (its an assumption...  right or wrong) that those gamers that enjoy the OSR are older than the average 4e player... most of us started in the 70s or 80s or early 90s... we have our families, our careers, and most importantly disposable income.  We fall for the nostalgia of our youth, and there is nothing wrong in that.  We will buy quality products that will succeed or fail by word of mouth. 

I do find at this point in my life that finding time for a weekly game is much more difficult then when I was younger.  Playing 4 or 5 times a week wasn't all that unusual during summers in college.  Playing twice a month can get hairy to schedule these days, and that's with the convenience factor of using a Virtual Table Top.  (as an aside, Old School publishers would be well advised to get their rulesets converted for use with Fantasy Grounds 2 - only Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades have such at the moment).  Still, I find time to purchase and read OSR products that are well done.

The OSR is a "healthy niche within a niche".  There is nothing wrong with that.  Its something to be proud of.