The OSR is Dead, Long Live the OSR!

Fresh from Gen Con I posted that the OSR is Dead, or rather more to the point I asked if it was and then followed up with a comment that the movement was dead.

Many took umbrage with this.

Here is the deal.

The OSR as a movement has satisfied it's goals.
There is unprecedented access to "old school" and "old school-like" material.  Yes, several thousand copies of Swords & Wizardry are going out, WotC has AD&D out in stores now and D&D5 looks like a streamline, even old-school, version of 3e, these though are only the largest examples of why the "fight" is over.  If the R is Revolution then the revolution is over. If the R is Renascence then we are in a post enlightenment period. What was learned is not lost, but it does change.

The OSR as a community will continue to thrive.
Anecdotally we have had many posts from the the first rush of bloggers (present company included) talk about how hits and views are down.  How posting is down.  We might not ever see the growth we did of 2008-2010 again.  But that doesn't mean there is not a constant flow of ideas, text and things we can all do.

What does this all mean though really?
Will people stop playing Basic Fantasy, S&W or LL?  No.  Those games will rise and fall by desires of their fans and market forces.
Will people stop making material? No way. They didn't stop when 1st Ed replaced OD&D or 2nd ed replaced that and so on.  In fact it is now easier than ever before.

It will be interesting to see what D&D5 does to the OSR community.  Will people jump ship for this new game? Will the backlash against WotC continue?  Will the Pathfinder continue to grow?  2013 will be interesting to say the least, but one thing is sure, don't expect it to be the same as now.

More Wrap-Ups and Plugs

At Gen Con I got to play a FANTASTIC game of Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG that mixed in characters from Buffy, Supernatural and Charmed.  I got to play Piper and was thrilled to death with it.  Reminded me of running "Semi-Charmed Life" so many years ago.   Kudos to the GM and all the players.

A few plugs I'd like to make:

Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary has a kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewpascal/dungeons-and-dragons-a-documentary
20 days to go and they still have a bit to raise.  I have heard a lot of good about this film and would love to see it get made.

Band of Zombies is down to it's last 50 hours.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1801360072/all-flesh-must-be-eaten-rpg-band-of-zombies-source
There are some nice stretch goals with this one.

Banners on the Cheap has been flirting with the RPG market.
You can see teh map I had made here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-new-map.html
Well now they have a full blown site for maps and battle mats.
http://www.bannersonthecheap.com/rpg-maps-and-banners
The site is super easy to use.

I think that is it for now.

Gaming Wrap-up

With Gen-Con, some time off and weekend gaming I have managed to get a ton of gaming in over the last couple weeks.  Here is a wrap-up

3.x/Dragonslayers
The Dragonslayers are heading into Epic levels, but there are some characters that need some help filling out their last levels.  Also my kids wanted some side-quests for some special magic weapons, so we did that.
Module: WG4 (upgraded)

1st Edition Game
The boys left B1 and on their way discovered the Keep on the Borderlands.  They are currently planning their attack on the first of the caves.
Module: B1

4th Ed Game
The larger group is getting ready to attack an sort of different Keep, this time the Keep on the Shadowfell.  They still don't know who Nera is, but are learning more about the cult of Orcus.  They also just learned a big secret, the God of the Dead, Kelemvor is dead himself.  No new god of the Dead has been named.
Module: H1

All in all the games are going very well.  My two boys, the commonality in all groups, have now played at least 5 different versions of the D&D rules in the last couple of weeks.  It has been a blast.

I like using the modules for a couple of reasons.  First, I want them to experience these classic adventures.  And it helps me keep three (or more) games and adventures straight in my head.

No idea what we are doing next week.

This week it is back to work.

Zatannurday: Gen Con Cosplay

Back from Gen Con and there was only one Zatanna.

But I got her!

I didn't get her name, sorry to say, but I got this pic. One more was sent to me as well.

Love her costume! I thought she looked great. Hope she had a great time at Gen Con.

The OSR is Dead, Part 1.5

I want to add some more substance to this, but until then here are some links of where my thoughts are at.

http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2012/08/d-and-retro-clones-big-reboot-arrives.html
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2012/08/where-d-goes-so-goes-hobby-so-whats-next.html

Some discussion on my Google+ site
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101143993996952001933/posts

And some commentary on the Keynote
http://www.twitch.tv/wotc_dnd/b/328881758
http://www.advanceddungeonsandparenting.com/2012/08/d-keynote-focus-on-vision-rather-than.html
http://www.heropress.net/2012/08/wizards-keynote-address-at-gen-con.html
http://towerofzenopus.blogspot.com/2012/08/overreaction-saturday.html

More this weekend.

Regular Posting

Resumes tomorrow.

Sorry.  Been one of those weeks.

Witches of Oz

F. Douglas Wall over at "There's more to Oz than the Yellow Brick Road" has a post up on Witches in Oz.

He mentions me in it and it is, obviously, something right up my alley.

I have mentioned before in a few places that the Wicked Witch of the West was one of my first witches.  She was the one that started this whole mess to be exact.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/11/having-wicked-time-in-oz.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/adventures-in-oz.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-was-your-childhood-monster.html

Pop by his blog and have a discussion with us on witches.