A Quick Primer for Old-School Gaming

by Matthew J. Finch

This booklet is an introduction to “old school” gaming, designed especially for anyone who started playing fantasy role-playing games after, say, the year 2000 – but it’s also for longer-time players who have slowly shifted over to modern styles of role-playing over the years.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Nonfiction, Gaming

13 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Seth Kenlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is maybe 12 pages long, but it is an *excellent* book on [tabletop] RPG gaming. It is very much a niche topic; it's not just about RPG gaming, but about getting out of any rut you may have developed by getting too entrenched in rulebooks. Even so, I do feel like its core principle: "gaming should be fun and creative" broadly applies to anyone and everyone interested in gaming. You don't have to be knee-deep in rulebooks and character sheets to be the type of person who gets too serious or overwhelmed or intimidated by the very thing you are supposed to be doing *for fun*.

The essay is written well, with some examples of "right" and "wrong" (allowing for the fact that there is no Right or Wrong, the author instead shows you how things are often done in modern games versus "old school" games).

I think there's a mild danger in this topic to declare that rules are restrictive and therefore bad, but I don't *think* the author is necessarily saying that. I think he's saying that the obsession with rules is bad, and of course, as with anything, if that makes the game experience less fun, then it is a bad thing.

Really great work; lots of food for thought, and some really subtle ideas on how to keep that spark going in your gaming life.

As I said: it's a tiny book, easily read over your lunch break, so if you're interested, don't hesitate.

[Joseph Riina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting primer on Old School dnd, one that kind of presents an extreme way of doing things, which would only work with the lightest old school rules systems. I don't think it's all applicable to most games (less applicable the more rules you have, the more defined a system is) but it's absolutely an interesting thought experiment, even if you don't plan on actually running a game like this

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touch rigid and uncompromising in its approach, perhaps, but on the whole the advice it gives is all good and timeless.