I don't know which things go on which layers but I'll order them roughly from top to bottom as my instincts dictate:
THAC0 , Race as Class , Roll 3d6 in order, Gold-for-XP, Dragon magazine
Lamentations of the Flame Princess , Grognardia , G+ , "Rulings, Not Rules" , the Quantum Ogre , Jaquaying the Dungeon , "You can not have a meaningful campaign if strict time records are not kept" , Lorraine Williams
GNS Theory , the Links to Wisdom wiki, "Stable of Characters" style play, Empire of the Petal Throne , FKR
Braunstein , Don Kaye , Gary Switzer's Thief Class
Having any awareness of it at all makes you more OSR than 90% of the current D&D playerbase. Not trying to diss them, they're new to the hobby and Dragon has been dead for awhile.
Actually playing the game; Actually creating a world; Knowing where the concepts come from (Appendix N); Eldritch World-Eating-and-Aether-Commuting Horrors
Rulings, Not Rules; West Marches; Gods Walk the Lands; Conan is a Thief; Very Hacked 5E
Google +; Blogspot Blogs; Evlyn's, Luka's, Matt Adams' art; Bryce's reviews
Vanilla 5E; Races as Class, THAC0, & descending AC*
Science Fiction as Science Fantasy
* I find these three are often stated as "necessary" for OSR, but I find them tedious and dumb. To me, the true purpose of OSR is "How would D&D have progressed if much of the same combat & adventuring philosophies had stayed the same, but if actual system design had continued evolving," and descending AC, THAC0, & Races as Class are not an evolution.
From Petersons 'Playing at the World' one of the first major shared cospaly and roleplay paracosm's had a kind of secret anti-cult who were against the Paracosm and who had that name. (tbh I threw that one on specifically to be obscure as there were things up there I didn't know about and I felt bad about it)
Is the "Z" down there between the Drow and Fungoid tiers of some special significance? Only thing I'm aware of in the zeitgeist is the pro-Russian army symbol, but that doesn't seem on brand for PatStu..
"Varg" and "Serpents Walk" would have to be in there, but at what level?
ReplyDeleteFlailsnails, probably the very top.
ReplyDeleteI don't know which things go on which layers but I'll order them roughly from top to bottom as my instincts dictate:
ReplyDeleteTHAC0 , Race as Class , Roll 3d6 in order, Gold-for-XP, Dragon magazine
Lamentations of the Flame Princess , Grognardia , G+ , "Rulings, Not Rules" , the Quantum Ogre , Jaquaying the Dungeon , "You can not have a meaningful campaign if strict time records are not kept" , Lorraine Williams
GNS Theory , the Links to Wisdom wiki, "Stable of Characters" style play, Empire of the Petal Throne , FKR
Braunstein , Don Kaye , Gary Switzer's Thief Class
Then, at the very bottom,
5th Edition D&D
Would you stick a cut-off on Dragon Magazine? Say somewhere in the low 200's?
DeleteHaving any awareness of it at all makes you more OSR than 90% of the current D&D playerbase. Not trying to diss them, they're new to the hobby and Dragon has been dead for awhile.
DeleteVitriolic debates over the true meaning of Hit Points.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere at the bottom, of course.
[Comment deleted by me in error]
ReplyDelete1 HP PCs, D&D Tournaments, Building your Keep
Alignment languages, Killing another Druid to level up
West Marches, Combat As War
Negadungeons, The Answer Is Not On Your Character Sheet
Clerics are Van Helsing, Everyone is a Thief
D&D is set in the future, The Egg of Coot
D&D is a competitive wargame, 1:1 time
Actually playing the game; Actually creating a world; Knowing where the concepts come from (Appendix N); Eldritch World-Eating-and-Aether-Commuting Horrors
ReplyDeleteRulings, Not Rules; West Marches; Gods Walk the Lands; Conan is a Thief; Very Hacked 5E
Google +; Blogspot Blogs; Evlyn's, Luka's, Matt Adams' art; Bryce's reviews
Vanilla 5E; Races as Class, THAC0, & descending AC*
Science Fiction as Science Fantasy
* I find these three are often stated as "necessary" for OSR, but I find them tedious and dumb. To me, the true purpose of OSR is "How would D&D have progressed if much of the same combat & adventuring philosophies had stayed the same, but if actual system design had continued evolving," and descending AC, THAC0, & Races as Class are not an evolution.
Gary Gygax's forgiving character creation method
ReplyDeleteI have combined, synthesised and updated. Thank you all!
ReplyDeleteWhat is "We, the Guardian"? Ashamed to say I knew everything down to that depth
ReplyDeleteFrom Petersons 'Playing at the World' one of the first major shared cospaly and roleplay paracosm's had a kind of secret anti-cult who were against the Paracosm and who had that name. (tbh I threw that one on specifically to be obscure as there were things up there I didn't know about and I felt bad about it)
DeleteIs the "Z" down there between the Drow and Fungoid tiers of some special significance? Only thing I'm aware of in the zeitgeist is the pro-Russian army symbol, but that doesn't seem on brand for PatStu..
ReplyDeleteIts not pro-Putin, but something nearly as bad. Its an information hazard so count yourself lucky you don't know.
Delete