OSRCon Thoughts (Part III)

After I completed my second session of refereeing Dwimmermount, there was a short break, followed by an hour-long Q&A session, featuring myself, Ed Greenwood, Alex Von Thorn, and Glenn Pearce. Discussion was open-ended, though vaguely focused on the question of "How has the hobby changed since the 1970s and 1980s?"

I don't think it's a secret to say that Ed Greenwood loves an audience. So, while there were four of us on the panel, it was really Ed's show and I was fine with that, because I absolutely love listening to Ed tell stories and generally ham it up for the crowd. I should say, though, that Ed made every effort to include the rest of us in the discussion, often specifically directing questions or comments toward us, so that we could respond. He acted as an impromptu moderator of the panel, albeit one who participated fully in the discussion.

And, as I said, I didn't mind at all, since, frankly, Ed's extremely entertaining to listen to. He had a lot of great stories to share, including tales of his introduction to the hobby and his entry into professional writing ("TSR was clearly desperate"). He also ventured his opinion about the current edition of D&D ("It's a different game entirely") and how TSR drew the wrong lessons from the popularity of the Forgotten Realms, to the detriment of both the company and the setting. Glenn Pearce of the Napoleonic Miniatures Wargames Society of Toronto also had a lot of interesting things to say. What I found most fascinating was how the rise, success, and decline of miniatures wargaming so closely mirrors what has happened in our own hobby. For example, Mr Pearce mentioned that 15mm Napoleonics minis were easily obtainable through department stores in the 1960s and '70s, something I never knew. I was reminded of a similar situation with regards to RPGs in my own youth.

The panel lasted only an hour, so there wasn't a vast scope for discussion, but it was worthwhile nonetheless. What strikes me now, in looking back on it, is that everyone on the panel felt that good games have no expiry date. They are -- or at least can be -- every bit as fun to play at age 40 as they were at age 10. That's certainly my feeling on the matter. The notion that you "can't go home again" is only true in a very limited sense. Certainly I can never again be the naive and wide-eyed kid I was in 1979, but that doesn't mean I still can't enjoy the same things I did back then. I may enjoy them somewhat differently than I did back then -- but I still enjoy them and see no reason why that has to change.