Pack it up, apparently OSR is died this past week and most of us did not even know. How did it die? Was is it gobbled up by 5e and WotC? Was it purged from the Earth by the forces of BADD? Did it just become not cool again and everyone decided to play soccer? No, it died with a picture, at least according to A Roll of the Dice. In this brief, but passionate article the blog states that OSR is dead and the movement has “been on life-support” for at least a year. The blog post focuses on the recent catalog that LotFP put out for GenCon, which features “kids on spikes”. I find it funny that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back considering all the other things that has happened in the past few months, and the products that LotFP has produced before this image.
OSR players leaving the scene.
I do not want this to come off as a defense or an attack on LotFP or A Roll of the Dice, I just find the concept that a picture could destroy an entire subculture funny. I have always had a tenuous relationship with LotFP in that their products are usually of a high quality, and most importantly different from most of what is commonly available in the Old School market. The issue is I run most material at a school, if not there, in public and I cannot use a significant portion of their material. I also run games for many new players, and the content in LotFP products are often not good for first session meetings. That does not mean that they should not make their products though and the lovely thing about choice in the world is that we get to make them. If you don’t like the picture, don’t take a copy. If you don’t like their material, buy someone else’s material. Hyperbolic statements about a sub-culture being dead does not seem to be helpful though. If you want a different style of product to exist, create it.
OSR - Gone but not forget
I guess I should tell Necrotic Gnome to stop the presses and do not print Old School Essentials, because..ya know…it’s dead. All the work that I am doing on my blog, and the countless other blogs out there…dead. Stop what you are working on, stop the current games you are in, and invest in something else because you cannot continue to support a dead, cottage industry. PS It appears that about 3 hours after he released the article, he pulled it down. Sorry for the dead link. I went ahead and created a Facebook group for the blog, if you are interested the link is here.
I posted this on the discussion on mewe. "I sorta rage quit the osr when gplus died and shit was being flung around. I realized what I really wanted was a space where I could create and people I could talk to that wanted to talk with me about rpgs. And of course my current group. I've decided to just make my version a little smaller, and keep creating."
Agree Ryan. I realized I'm really done with all the shit flinging that keeps happening. And I know some people get annoyed when the topic of "Can't we just all get along and play rpgs" is said aloud. However, I've really trimmed down "My osr" to things/blogs/products/and people i care about. And that's totally fine
Yep - dead as a doornail. Sure it is. Look, I have little to no interest in Raggi's stuff - it just doesn't appeal to me. The of-so-controversial art? Mostly meh. The shockjock thing is juvenile, IMO.
Against my better judgement I got sucked into one of the threads on MeWe about that stupid picture. My point was that while he's free to continue to publish whatever the hell he wants to (and he SHOULD - the market is obviously there), Gencon was the wrong place for it, being a pretty family-friendly con. It was inappropriate and in very poor taste to hand this thing out AT THAT CON. That's it. No call to drum him out of business, no cry for censorship. Just my belief that maybe another image - you know, something that maybe actually promoted a product? would have been a better choice. Naturally, he's doubled down on Facebook and sees absolutely nothing wrong. It fits his BRAND! Whatever, the whole topic is so last week now.
Anyway, I'm sure the OSR is as strong as ever, and doubt we'll miss the handful of folks who are SO outraged that they've left it.
Was it in poor taste, yes. But as you said, that is his brand and feeds that market. I'm happy death metal, horror fans have a product and that their is Far Away Land too for the kids. Everybody wins.
I'm guessing from context that it's a new cover from the LotFP series with "kids on spikes," but googling is not really giving me anything.... Just old results.
It's indeed on their Facebook page. Personally I never cared LotFP and I always thought their products are significantly overrated (or maybe the people who like them are the loudest, idk), but I understand a lot of it is a matter of personal taste. At the same time, their excessively gory imagery never bothered me. Everything has it's audience I suppose. But I find "Raggi's surprise" (as he expresses on the FB post) at the people's shock of the picture ridiculous. He's clearly going for shock value and nothing more -- it's the convention equivalent of click-bait.
I posted this on the discussion on mewe. "I sorta rage quit the osr when gplus died and shit was being flung around. I realized what I really wanted was a space where I could create and people I could talk to that wanted to talk with me about rpgs. And of course my current group. I've decided to just make my version a little smaller, and keep creating."
ReplyDeleteThat is the beauty of it, you can curtail it however you want.
ReplyDeleteAgree Ryan. I realized I'm really done with all the shit flinging that keeps happening. And I know some people get annoyed when the topic of "Can't we just all get along and play rpgs" is said aloud. However, I've really trimmed down "My osr" to things/blogs/products/and people i care about. And that's totally fine
ReplyDeleteI like it when people remain civil, but we honestly don't have to agree on everything.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUT0WQ9cTrg
ReplyDeleteSquids on mikes? What has that to do with OSR?
I'm not sure!
ReplyDeleteYep - dead as a doornail. Sure it is. Look, I have little to no interest in Raggi's stuff - it just doesn't appeal to me. The of-so-controversial art? Mostly meh. The shockjock thing is juvenile, IMO.
ReplyDeleteAgainst my better judgement I got sucked into one of the threads on MeWe about that stupid picture. My point was that while he's free to continue to publish whatever the hell he wants to (and he SHOULD - the market is obviously there), Gencon was the wrong place for it, being a pretty family-friendly con. It was inappropriate and in very poor taste to hand this thing out AT THAT CON. That's it. No call to drum him out of business, no cry for censorship. Just my belief that maybe another image - you know, something that maybe actually promoted a product? would have been a better choice. Naturally, he's doubled down on Facebook and sees absolutely nothing wrong. It fits his BRAND! Whatever, the whole topic is so last week now.
Anyway, I'm sure the OSR is as strong as ever, and doubt we'll miss the handful of folks who are SO outraged that they've left it.
Was it in poor taste, yes. But as you said, that is his brand and feeds that market. I'm happy death metal, horror fans have a product and that their is Far Away Land too for the kids. Everybody wins.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the picture everybody is talking about? I think I missed an episode or something
ReplyDeleteGoggle Lamentations of the Flame Princess kids on spikes.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing from context that it's a new cover from the LotFP series with "kids on spikes," but googling is not really giving me anything.... Just old results.
ReplyDeleteGo to LotFP on FB he posted it there.
ReplyDeleteNo go on the Google. Link to pic?
ReplyDeleteIt's indeed on their Facebook page. Personally I never cared LotFP and I always thought their products are significantly overrated (or maybe the people who like them are the loudest, idk), but I understand a lot of it is a matter of personal taste. At the same time, their excessively gory imagery never bothered me. Everything has it's audience I suppose. But I find "Raggi's surprise" (as he expresses on the FB post) at the people's shock of the picture ridiculous. He's clearly going for shock value and nothing more -- it's the convention equivalent of click-bait.
ReplyDelete