Old School Gaming

When I returned to playing Dungeons & Dragons last year, I heard about "old school gaming" for the first time. The term is explained in a booklet called Quick Primer for Old School Gaming and tries to explain the difference in playing style (not rules) between earlier editions (original, Basic, and Advanced) of D&D and the later third and fourth editions. It's a good read even if you are not interested in role playing games, because it's an insight into how these games are played.

I lurked in a few fourth edition games in Wave. I really should play in a game some time just to get a better idea of how the fourth edition system works. From what I've observed, it has very little resemblance to AD&D, the edition I'm most familiar with. The game play was more like a text description of video game action, complete with flashy special abilities, even with low level characters.

I assume that Wizards of the Coast, the current owners of the D&D game, decided that the game had to appeal to people in a video game age. And the simple fact is, it has worked wonderfully from a marketing stand point. But it probably caused a reaction with the older players because old school gaming is still very popular on the Internet.