OSR/NSR Tabletop Roleplaying Games

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Whither Reddit? In the meantime, here’s a place to chat up old school revival (OSR) and new school revolution (NSR) style TTRPGs.

My name is Todd aka Hexed Press and I am the current caretaker (have I always been the caretaker?). Here are some other places to find me, if you are so inclined:

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What's the difference between OSR and NSR? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello there! I've been OSR-curious for a few years now. I like sandbox games where the dice decide reactions, weather, random encounters, etc because that keeps things interesting even for the GM. Incidentally, it also works great for solo play which I like.

However, while the older versions of D&D and retro clones commonly associated with OSR are good games, they're not my preferred type of game. I want the "powers" that newer games gives me as a player, with more mechanics per class. Therefore, I prefer games like Pathfinder over Old School Essentials.

So, while I think I have a decent grasp of what OSR is, I'm not quite sure what NSR is; my impression is that NSR means "playing in the OSR style, but with modern mechanics". Is that correct, or maybe I'm completely off the track?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

@Enfors There is no final definition of NSR yet because it is still a movement in the making. Some have been using it to classify games that break retrocompatibility, others to reclassify OSR games that focus on minimalism, others to distance themselves from the "right-wing" part of the OSR, others yet to speak exclusively of games coming from Yogai's NSR community…
It's a creative shift but the delineation is fuzzy and lot of games will fall somewhere between the two labels.