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RuleOfThule's avatar

I have a fondness for DCC which will always be the apex example of an OSR game in my mind. It is charming, weird, playful, and a bit incoherent; but its incoherence stems from a deep-anchored chaos that determines its style and feel.

ACKS does not occupy the same galaxy of concepts as DCC in my mind; your work on and emphasis of simulationism is only a single, if prominent, example explaining the totally different feel of ACKS from DCC.

It is most practical in the current context to consider "OSR" not as a historical moment but as a "living" philosophy which is a rough constellation of ideas evolved from "We're Not 4th Edition D&D." The main thrust against 4E D&D was that it wasn't D&D. The problem is that it was also a very tightly designed game, in many respects, and its more prolific detractors shunned that in favor of deep chaos. These points are irrevocably wound up in the meaning, presentation, and expectations of "OSR."

Today, Rule Zero and "rulings, not rules" and all the other undermine-your-own-game nonsense is unfortunately a core component (even if only implicit) in the OSR mindsphere. Your work on the role of referees, and thus your attitude towards these ideas and where they lead, aligns you strictly against the mindsphere on this and many other points.

Essentially, it may be worth considering positioning yourself as an ALTERNATIVE to the OSR mindsphere. There are many factors to weigh, but apparent misalignments of this nature can create serious friction.

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Blaine Pack's avatar

While ACKS is definitely an OSR game, it doesn't really fit in with the main stream of the OSR, you know? Questing Beast is currently the gateway to the OSR (to my limited understanding) and I wouldn't be surprised to hear he'd never looked at ACKS. You went in a different direction than nearly everyone else, and you've wound up in vastly different places because of it. Add to that all the fundamentally new school people who saw OSR as a less mechanically rigorous way to publish adventures, and it's not hard to see why ACKS doesn't come up that much.

I don't think it's your supervillain status, because I've seen a few recent blog posts begrudgingly mentioning Zak S (trigger warnings firmly attached, don't you worry), who is probably more reviled than you, and I suspect that it's because his stuff better matches the "rulings, not rules" crowd's ideals.

Basically, you're the weirdo in the corner of the OSR fraternity, scribbling out your math assignment while everyone else is getting drunk. Congratulations.

P.S. no, I don't know how to fix that.

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