tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246037824413568064.post7121833891355294633..comments2024-03-13T19:18:38.680-07:00Comments on Tom Van Winkle's Return to Gaming: On RPG Play-sytles, Part 3: Classic Playstyle versus Trad Playstyle versus OSR?Tom Van Winklehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00498476328377801884noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246037824413568064.post-11454936283865502532022-06-01T16:53:47.263-07:002022-06-01T16:53:47.263-07:00Hi, Beoric. Please note that I'm responding to...Hi, Beoric. Please note that I'm responding to the "ongoing discussions" (mentioned at the outset here) about his essay more than to the essay itself. As I wrote, "I have encountered discussion in forums since this essay appeared trying to parse Classic and Trad play-styles and to come to grips with them. They sometimes seem to treat them as two mutually exclusive approaches to RPGs." I can't cite those more ephemeral discussions.<br /><br />Most of his readers did not have those conversations with Retired Adventurer that you had. Instead, readers have taken it two refer to Six Distinct Cultures of Play without the subtlety and blurriness intended. As you point out, it was understated (though that added to clarity of definition in the six alleged ideal types). I have assumed all along that he too did not believe that these were cultures truly distinct and sealed off from each other, but that misapprehension is what I'm addressing. I happened to have some nice examples by early gamers who were really into storytelling and epic story arcs, and I thought that sharing them might help others not to think that these cultures of play are solid, neatly defined phenomena. I'm glad you responded.Tom Van Winklehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00498476328377801884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246037824413568064.post-25954841402863564962022-06-01T16:27:58.661-07:002022-06-01T16:27:58.661-07:00Having been involved in conversations with the Ret...Having been involved in conversations with the Retired Adventure regarding this, I think you are misinterpreting parts of his argument. I believe he is not talking about when these styles elements emerged as style elements, he is talking about when they emerged as _cultures_. That is, when you had groups forming that started to prioritize challenge over storytelling (and I would suggest this refers in particular to structured storytelling), and when groups started to form that prioritized storytelling over challenge, and more importantly when people started identifying themselves as belonging to one camp or another.<br /><br />I also think he understated in his essay the degree to which one culture could include elements of the other. That is, I don't think he sees these play elements as ends of a continuum, or as mutually exclusive.<br /><br />If you want to see his thoughts that arose from discussion after the publication of his essay, you can check out the following thread the read the entries by Pseudoephedine: http://www.tenfootpole.org/forum/index.php?threads/the-state-of-post-osr-content.54/post-7288Beorichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05179135838206052198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246037824413568064.post-59493801919409440412022-06-01T12:29:31.054-07:002022-06-01T12:29:31.054-07:00My rule has always been that the OSR is made up of...My rule has always been that the OSR is made up of folks who play older-style rules the way they wish they had played them back in the 1970s and the 1980s. It's not the way they (we, really) actually played them, but the way we aspired to play them but never could get our brains around and push our friends into doing.Charles Saegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00368131505593336249noreply@blogger.com