Is Clang evolving?

[PapersAndPaychecks]

You can certainly still get the original 1e books if you want them.

OSRIC has two purposes:-

1) For new players, to introduce them to 1e and hopefully, give them some incentive to hunt down the original books on ebay; and
2) For older players, to provide a low-cost rulebook that they can use at the gaming table (so that their precious DMGs can remain free from coffee and beer stains, cigarette burns and pizza-coated fingers).

A softcover of OSRIC costs £10.39, which is cheaper than downloading it for free and printing it out on your home printer.

[AxeMental]

You can certainly still get the original 1e books if you want them.

OSRIC has two purposes:-

1) For new players, to introduce them to 1e and hopefully, give them some incentive to hunt down the original books on ebay; and
2) For older players, to provide a low-cost rulebook that they can use at the gaming table (so that their precious DMGs can remain free from coffee and beer stains, cigarette burns and pizza-coated fingers).

A softcover of OSRIC costs £10.39, which is cheaper than downloading it for free and printing it out on your home printer.

It also acts to clearify many rules (even for the seasoned DM who never bothered to figure them out, using common sense instead) and best read when you wanting another take on the original text. I'm not talking about controversial things like initiative, but things like movement, time, charging, etc. Also the organization allows you to find some things more quickly which is helpful espl. in game.

And all in one book, makes it great for travel (espl. considering all the monster books covered).

[Clangador]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to get one of these (even though my preference is the original hard-backs), but if I have new players wanting to join an AD&D game, I'm definitely going to recommend the Lulu or BBP version of OSRIC. Plus I'm really wanting it for the JH artwork!

The real issue here is (1e) AD&D is 23 years or so out of print. OSRIC is right there to fill that hole. I had SEVEN guys playing at my game on Friday. Three of them had never played 1e before and they liked it.

Yeh, all silliness aside, it's great to have all the rules you need in one book. The original AD&D HBs are two decades out of print and getting harder to find....and pricier, if I list a PHB in my ebay store for less than $25 it's gone in days. The original MM and DMG are pretty close behind. I don't see these on the shelves of used bookstores like I used to, either.

Mike B.

So do you auction it or is it buy it now?

I have noticed that 1e stuff is going for more at the local used book stores in my area.

[Clangador]

Clang, "every day in every way your getting better and better" I want you to repeat three times a day while staring at your OSRIC book.

I tried but my new OSRIC book interrupted me and said:

Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more awesome than thou.

Then it disappeared.

[Clangador]

I actually had one of my friends tell me has (and his group) were made fun of by some young guys for playing AD&D at a local game store.

They said something to the effect of oh my dad use to play that game and laughed.

Had I been there, I would have also asked them if their dad taught them any manners.

When I ran OSRIC last Friday in the public area in front of a game store, I didn't get anyone like that. In fact I had a pretty good reaction from the spectators. I am sorry I cannot claim this was my doing. I had the new printing of OSRIC sitting out on the table, and we all know how handsome and charismatic it is.

[francisca]

I actually had one of my friends tell me has (and his group) were made fun of by some young guys for playing AD&D at a local game store.

They said something to the effect of oh my dad use to play that game and laughed.

Had I been there, I would have also asked them if their dad taught them any manners.

Welcome to adulthood. Kids have been making fun of the older generation for, uh, ever?

Why would RPGs be any different?

1e AD&D is to RPGs as the '69 Olds 442 and other big block muscle cars are to hot rods.

[foxroe]

The original AD&D HBs are two decades out of print and getting harder to find....and pricier, if I list a PHB in my ebay store for less than $25 it's gone in days. The original MM and DMG are pretty close behind. I don't see these on the shelves of used bookstores like I used to, either.

Sooo... what's the link to your store?

I tried but my new OSRIC book interrupted me and said:
Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more awesome than thou.
Then it disappeared.

It didn't happen to suck your soul out in the process, did it?

[Clangador]

The original AD&D HBs are two decades out of print and getting harder to find....and pricier, if I list a PHB in my ebay store for less than $25 it's gone in days. The original MM and DMG are pretty close behind. I don't see these on the shelves of used bookstores like I used to, either.

Sooo... what's the link to your store?

I tried but my new OSRIC book interrupted me and said:
Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more awesome than thou.
Then it disappeared.

It didn't happen to suck your soul out in the process, did it?

I have had an empty feeling inside like I've lost my clang-ish essence or something...

[Philotomy Jurament]

I have had an empty feeling inside like I've lost my clang-ish essence or something...

You should more carefully guard your precious bodily fluids.

jack-d-ripper.jpg (11.78 KiB) Viewed 59 times

[Clangador]

A

I have had an empty feeling inside like I've lost my clang-ish essence or something...

You should more carefully guard your precious bodily fluids.

jack-d-ripper.jpg

I always do. I love the bomb!

[Random]

I actually had one of my friends tell me has (and his group) were made fun of by some young guys for playing AD&D at a local game store.

They said something to the effect of oh my dad use to play that game and laughed.

Had I been there, I would have also asked them if their dad taught them any manners.

The sad fact is that AD&D is laughable to the majority of gamers.

[T. Foster]

The sad fact is that AD&D is laughable to the majority of gamers.

The majority of current gamers, perhaps, but always remember that the entirety of current gamers is a pathetic rump remnant numbering no more than about 10% (and maybe even more like 1%) of the number of gamers back at the hobby's height in the 80s, and of that other 90-99% of onetime gamers, pretty much all of them played AD&D.

[James Maliszewski]

but always remember that the entirety of current gamers is a pathetic rump remnant numbering no more than about 10% (and maybe even more like 1%) of the number of gamers back at the hobby's height in the 80s

I won't say I love hearing this, because it's sad how much smaller the hobby is today than it was when I was introduced to it, but I do appreciate its being said and said so clearly. Too many gamers seem to labor under the patently false notion that the hobby hasn't appreciably declined in numbers since the 80s or that, if it had, its ranks swelled again in the 21st century with the advent of 3e.

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Hmm. That's not quite my experience; I've recently discovered that a group of people I've known for ages play pen and paper RPGs with each other. (Specifically d20 modern, d20 Call of Cthulhu, and Amber Diceless, unfortunately.)

This means that I know more gamers in 2011 than I did in 1981.

The obvious counter to that is that data is not the plural of anecdote, of course. My personal experience might be anomalous.

But I don't trust the view that there are "obviously" fewer gamers than there were in the early 1980s.

What we know is that there are fewer game stores and fewer places to meet other gamers. And we know that sales numbers for games have plummeted. But we don't know how many people still quietly play AD&D, Classic Traveller or Runequest 2.

Does anyone know a "lapsed gamer"? Someone who used to play but doesn't any more? Because I've never met one.

[Steve]

Yes, I know several lapsed gamers; I used to be one myself. Of all those I've played D&D with from back in the day, for those that I have current knowledge, are lapsed gamers (as far as D&D is concerned).

I got into contact recently with the DM of my 2E group from college (this was before the days of Ebay, where you have a ready supply of OOP books for sale), and I've talked him into attending NTRPGCon with me. It turns out he started with 1E, too. Currently, he is only playing a Supers RPG.