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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2015 3:05:44 GMT -6
Beyond what's happening in your own games, what do you foresee happening next year in the old school scene and why ?
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Post by cadriel on Dec 13, 2015 8:22:14 GMT -6
Well, I think that the high profile re-release of Runequest 2 is going to have an impact. They're pretty much going to reprint the back catalog, which is tremendous if you think about it. The old school scene is extremely fragmented, although I know a lot of gamers pay attention to more than one of these publishers and sources. You can pretty much break things down as I have below: - Lamentations of the Flame Princess. So Raggi's going to release things, including hopefully a number by people I like a good deal. I think Jeff Rients's Broodmother Sky Fortress is going to come out, as well as Dave Brockie's Towers Two (which I'm pretty sure is going to offend a lot of people). Not sure if 2016 is the year for the Ref Book or not but he's been talking about a couple of bestiaries, and I'm also hopeful for a Rafael Chandler module or two. I think our own geoffrey is going to be putting out another Carcosa book, which falls roughly in this audience. 2015 didn't have any significant new releases, but this is because of a significant backup in production; 2016 could be huge. - Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The 4th printing with extra excess is going to come out along with expanded versions of a number of modules. This might also be the year that Joseph Goodman finally puts out Mutant Crawl Classics, which does for Gamma World what DCC did for D&D. I expect DCC to continue to grow and explore further Appendix N themes. Also, Goodman Games will probably release more reprint material, in addition to new DCC. It's a force that I think will only continue to grow. DCC and LotFP are both the biggest and most idiosyncratic segments of the old school scene. The below segments are generally well supported but not as trend-setting as those are. (I mean, Joseph Goodman put out a Kickstarter for a book and a d50 at a total of $30 and got almost $20K in 2 weeks.) - Swords & Wizardry. This is going to continue to string along as a bastard stepchild through Frog God Games, receiving publications that you always suspect were more intended for Pathfinder or 5e but have had the lengthy stat blocks simplified and skill check DCs stripped out. On the other hand it does mean that there will be more high quality supplements continually published for S&W. - White Box / White Star. This is a fairly new side of things, but since James Spahn's White Star there is kind of a thing now of folks doing Whitebox hacks out of genre. White Lies is already out there, and I think there's going to be a Western one called High Noon. There's also increased S&W Whitebox support totally separate from the Frog God S&W material. I think this milieu will continue to grow and change, and has a lot of potential. - Autarch / Adventurer Conqueror King (ACKS). They've been slowly carving out a niche, and the stuff in the current Kickstarter positions them for further growth. Dwimmermount meant that it took a while for them to really take off after the initial ACKS book, but they've got some robust growth in the last year and a half, and with their Lairs & Encounters KS I expect them to continue to develop a devoted niche following. - 5e Old School (As one person dubbed it, "O5R"). I see 2016 as a make or break year for this segment. It hasn't really taken off in a coherent way, even though Goodman Games and Frog God / Necromancer have both made forays at the market, and a number of smaller OSR publishers have released modules, but there's no unified feel or messaging. If something "O5R" doesn't really capture attention, this isn't going to emerge from the general 5e scene and is not going to be a "thing." - TSR Creators & Related Folks. There should be more new Metamorphosis Alpha material around Gary Con, though with Jim Ward's health I am not sure if it's going to be done in time. I still think it'll be out. Ernie Gygax's Marmoreal Tomb should be coming out next year. Bruce Heard has another Calidar supplement in the works. - Other old school. There are decent scenes, mostly on Lulu and RPGNow, of self-published OSR material that have been chugging along pretty much uninterrupted for eight or so years. Expeditious Retreat Press, for instance, should keep on releasing quality OSRIC modules. This includes all of the Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC publications and the people who've kept on keepin' on for so long with OD&D, AD&D or Classic D&D. While it's probably larger than any of the other scenes, it's no longer really the driving force. Excellent products will keep coming out of this angle, though. I don't see a huge niche for a new "it clone" to come into, but someone might still be able to come up with one. Mostly I think the old school scene will be most visibly led by the wildest and most out-there participants, while stolid bedrock old school folks just keep on going. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 4:11:03 GMT -6
I am frankly way too uninformed to give elaborated predictions. I suspect the following, though, if not for 2016, then for the next couple of years: - RQ will take D&D's place as the pacemaker for the oldschool-oriented RPG-community. The material Greg Stafford and his crew have been putting out in the 2010s is just too good to ignore, and with the RQ 2e reprints, we're really entering uncharted waters. This will make some noise, and I suspect that RQ will be the game to play, for a while.
- Calidar will become a home for many of the community's more progressive members: The books are pretty sweet already, but what the setting lacks so far, is viral marketing/a culture of actual play. If Bruce Heard continues to act as smart as I think he is, furthering such efforts is the logical next step.
- More first- and second-generation RPG writers are going to not only announce, but to successfully complete projects: Personally, I think the last few years are less testament to the detriment of the hobby, but to the exit of the market by people unwilling or unable to adapt to modern publishing culture. Those who now remain in the business might have had a string of not-the-best luck, but I am pretty sure people like the JG crew, Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman, Dave Morris, the aforementioned Bruce Heard, or the prolific authors from SJG, ICE, and on, will continue to be a active, and to at least notable success.
- The modern D&D brand is going to become even more marginalized: 5e might not be as bad as 4e was, but, let's face it, even the purest traditionalists have long understood that Wizbro is not what TSR was, which was to be the pacemaker for the hobby. I think that role will fully pass on to Paizo in 2016, regardless of what Wizbro does.
- ...And, lastly, on a personal note, I hope by the end of 2016, everybody here will know about my favorite video game at the moment, "Dragon's Dogma": Going to be released for Steam early next year after a 2013 console release, DD is one of the better video games of the last few years. It sports a good story, and puts an emphasis on player empowerment. Less immersing, but also less pretentious than competing titles, it's becoming a title for the well-rounded RPG fan, and I hope it becomes a mainstream title, eventually.
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 14, 2015 8:05:30 GMT -6
People, sick of all the controversies, will abandon the voyeurism of watching professional sports in droves. Conversely, people will discover the empowerment of OSR RPG play in droves as they learn systems like Swords & Wizardry, Zylarthen, and H&H. All RPG income will increase at least tenfold, OSR games will be translated into every language as their reach spreads around the world. DMs/Editors will be in such demand that people will pay to play. New conventions will spring up everywhere, so that on any given weekend you could go to a nearby convention and play OSR games among hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
...Actually, I expect more fragmentation and marginalization, but my first paragraph sounds much more interesting.
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kwll
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Post by kwll on Dec 14, 2015 10:49:33 GMT -6
You forgot to mention (in your first §) that T&T will take over the world and become the most played RPG anywhere.
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Post by scalydemon on Dec 14, 2015 12:41:25 GMT -6
snip...  ...Actually, I expect more fragmentation and marginalization,. I'll go along with this. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 14:10:52 GMT -6
I see the OSR moving more into the previous future. So far I've seen a couple mid-80s to 90s style setting products (such as Dark Albion). There's also been talk about an OSR-like recreation of 90s games such as Vampire. Anyway, that's were I've seen the excitement of the OSR going.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 16:33:25 GMT -6
Beyond what's happening in your own games, what do you foresee happening next year in the old school scene and why ? Half serious, half despondent answers.... There will be a dispute of some kind with RPGNow- ferocious tweeting and facebooking claim many innocent hours. A few new competitor sites will appear and disappear making 60% OFF PDF Sale spam explode in volume. I think Kickstarter is "over" for non-established companies (which, for my sake, I hope is not true). Google+ will whither and go dark. A revival of bloggers happens. They try using Facebook then blog about why its the worst thing since Unearthed Arcana Cavaliers. Ken Whitman will not go to jail. The OSR will finally admit that Moldvay/Cook Basic is the one true version and end their heresies Zach |
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Post by scalydemon on Dec 17, 2015 18:56:20 GMT -6
Beyond what's happening in your own games, what do you foresee happening next year in the old school scene and why ? Half serious, half despondent answers.... There will be a dispute of some kind with RPGNow- ferocious tweeting and facebooking claim many innocent hours. A few new competitor sites will appear and disappear making 60% OFF PDF Sale spam explode in volume. I think Kickstarter is "over" for non-established companies (which, for my sake, I hope is not true). Google+ will whither and go dark. A revival of bloggers happens. They try using Facebook then blog about why its the worst thing since Unearthed Arcana Cavaliers. Ken Whitman will not go to jail. The OSR will finally admit that Moldvay/Cook Basic is the one true version and end their heresies Zach This is the best thing I have read on the internet this week, so thanks!  |
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