What is the OSR?

asked by Matthew

Some people call it Old School Rules, others say Old School Renaissance, and then there's OSE (Old School Essentials). But what is it? And what games are part of it?

1 answer

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    The OSR — Old School Renaissance (or Revival) — is a tabletop RPG movement that draws on the play culture and rules of D&D's first decade. It was made practically possible by the Open Game License in 2000, which let designers legally reproduce the mechanics of older D&D editions. The result is a sprawling family of games called retroclones — independent rulebooks that recreate, remix, or extend OD&D (1974), Holmes Basic (1977), B/X (1981), and AD&D 1e (1978).

    Tonally, OSR play emphasizes high lethality, player agency, "rulings over rules," exploration and resource management, random encounters that aren't balanced for the party, and minimal metaplot. The GM arbitrates loosely rather than running a tightly-tuned mechanical system. Combat is fast, characters are fragile, and the dungeon (or hexcrawl) is the central activity.

    There's a useful sub-distinction some people draw between OSR-Revival (strict retroclones aiming for rules fidelity to a specific old edition) and OSR-Renaissance (games that take the old-school sensibility but innovate mechanically). Most people just say "OSR" and don't bother.

    The core retroclones

    These are the foundational ones, each cloning a specific older edition:

    OSRIC (Old School Reference and Index Compilation) — the first major retroclone, released 2006; recreates AD&D 1e.

    https://osricrpg.com/

    Swords & Wizardry — clones original 1974 D&D. https://www.frogggodgames.com/swords-wizardry/

    Labyrinth Lord — clones the 1981 Moldvay Basic / Cook Expert (B/X) set.

    https://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

    Basic Fantasy RPG — a free B/X-flavored clone with light modernizations. https://basicfantasy.org/

    Old-School Essentials (OSE) — the most popular modern B/X clone; clean layout, well-organized; effectively the current OSR center of gravity.

    https://necroticgnome.com/products/old-school-essentials-classic-fantasy-rules-tome

    The "neoclones" and OSR-adjacent games

    These take the old-school feel but innovate on mechanics:

    Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) — gonzo pulp fantasy, famous for the "0-level funnel" where a stable of peasants gets thinned into heroes. https://goodman-games.com/dungeon-crawl-classics-rpg/

    Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) — early-modern weird horror; B/X-derived. https://www.lotfp.com/

    Mörk Borg — apocalyptic doom-metal aesthetic; rules-lite. https://morkborg.com/

    Cairn — minimalist, Into the Odd lineage, freely available. https://cairnrpg.com/

    Into the Odd / Electric Bastionland — Chris McDowall; stripped down to 3 stats, no to-hit rolls. https://www.bastionland.com/

    Shadowdark — 2023; Kelsey Dionne's modern OSR/5e hybrid that exploded in popularity. https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/shadowdark-rpg-core-rulebook

    Dolmenwood — OSE-derived, fairy-tale forest setting; recent and well-regarded. https://necroticgnome.com/collections/dolmenwood

    answered by Matthew · edited · Modified after import.