The Ravens Nest

Gamers, 

I come to you today to establish a Declaration of Independence. 

Recent events have prompted me to respond in a way that I hope will act as a call to action for others.

The Old School Renaissance or Revival accomplished it’s mission and did it well. It provided the rule sets that many of us had been priced out of or missed and exposed new generations to older rule sets so that they may understand what we did at the table and why. It gave us a teaching tool that has allowed for new creators to create new games based on these old mechanics. Furthermore, it has preserved gaming history that would have otherwise erased at worst or have been merely lost in obscurity at best. 

We thank these individuals for their efforts both past and continued. They have demonstrated a respect for those who came before them and have stood proudly on the shoulders of those giants.

The problem that was coming is there are only so many ways to interpret the older rule sets into something new. Eventually, all we would be able to do is create new games, settings and adventures but, make no mistake, what was once an organic problem on its own has now become something entirely new.

Today, my fellow gamers, we encounter a problem accelerated.

Wizards of The Coast and other larger corporations have telegraphed their move to divide us all by publishing a hit piece, one that never consulted us and never would. Then, WoTC attempted to hamstring the entire industry, essentially creating the largest honeypot in all things. We fought back and we won, however, these larger companies are still trying to subvert us in the name of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion standards insisted upon from some loud groups. These groups also insist that they must shove “racists and other undesirables” out of this hobby. 

It bears repeating that, by and large, most gamers simply engage in gaming without regard to the politics, color, sexual orientation and creed of other gamers with the same interests. In fact, we come from all walks and all stripes. While we may not all agree, we have coexisted at the table for the last 50 years, successfully. We harbor and abet those that have the ability to solve problems, create and share and share alike, no two worlds are the exact same. 

Some of us were bullied, whether verbally, passive-aggressively or physically. Some were assaulted during the times when these games were reaching their heyday. Others were persecuted over nothing more than wanting to at least mentally escaping through dice, paper and the power of imagination. 

Some are not among us today because of it. 

My fellow gamers, I’m here today to appeal to your sense of reason. The assault has begun and it’s well underway. I have warned about overcorrection in the past and today is no different. 

The OSR is not racist. It is not homophobic. It is not any of the paranoid delusional fantasies that many radical activists and professional victims would have you believe. All games are available to all. No exceptions. Many are, without doubt, little more than political activism tools. They are there to tell you how your table will run and you will absolutely be subject to endless purity tests and the dogs will be set up on you over a bad day, a slip or a question. 

It is this very tactic that has come to the OSR today and today, my hope is that you will reject these notions.

The shunning has come and now we must make a choice.

These are not tactics we have not seen before. We were told that D&D was no longer meant for us. We were put on the back foot, labelled against our will and shoved off and told to make our own or play something else. When we did just that, we had demands thrust upon us to justify our move. Now, the same OSR that they claimed to hate is being subjected to the same treatment and it’s designed to put us on the back foot and flee to the hills.

These are our hills to which we’ve retreated.

The biggest thing that has been preserved and will die unless we declare every bit if not more loudly is that we will not back down. We will not run. We will play the games we want, how we want, when we want and no amount of name-calling, ridicule or shunning will work.

We can no more do anything about any other table other than our own.

WoTC forced the hand of many smaller OSR creators to innovate and compose new rule sets inspired by the rule sets of old. Now we have others within the OSR deciding, without authority, that we are always doing things wrong unless we’re following their strict edicts. They have taken the tactics of radical activists and professional victims and have begun using them on us in an attempt to draw us into their culture war. They are issuing ultimatums to people who are creative, problem solvers and innovators. Speaking only for myself, I tell these sets on both sides this. If you are issuing ultimatums then I will choose my side, and tell you both to get fucked.

The goal of both sides is clear: Unrealistic Expectations of Control. 

The true core of Gamers, old and new alike, is to experience at least a taste of true, actual freedom; to send the message that we will never be controlled. No amount of screeching, shaming or otherwise will stop that.

We will continue to make games. We will continue to play games. We will continue to work with others to improve on those games. There are no exceptions to this mindset as every true gamer with a love for games has done for this last half century.

With this, the declaration is simple.

The OSR is not owned by anyone. Not you, me or anyone else claiming a title.

The OSR is decentralized. Material can be made and published by anyone, anywhere and for any reason. Justification not required. Permission not required or sought and the only approval needed is from those purchasing or downloading said materials made.

The OSR (it’s authors, publishers, etc) do not have any authority to exert over anyone else. Make your assumptions. Screech your slogans. Quote your bumper stickers. Engage in your paranoid delusional fantasies but it will only amount to absolute fuck all.

Likewise, GMs and Players absolutely do not answer to anyone. Not me, you nor anyone else.

We Roundly, Boldly And With Great Volume Reject Any Assertions Or Claims To The Contrary.

I cannot emphasize that last line enough. There will be no retreat. There will be no acquiescence. There will be no back-pedaling. If you cannot accept that, then perhaps these games, our tables and our methods are not for you. There’s a better chance than not that they never were.

These very principles do not just apply to old-school gamers, they apply to newer gamers as well. Many of us who enjoy older rule sets enjoy newer ones as well. I am no exception. It’s perfectly acceptable, even to older gamers to either stick with the older games, play new ones or do both.

Your Table, Your Rules has, will now, and shall always stand.

We acknowledge that tables we’d rather not be part of will exist and there is nothing that can be done to mitigate that. Short of installing a series of bouncers at gaming stores, waiting periods for people to buy games, licensing to purchase games, limiting people to the games they can own, issuing purity tests at the point of sale and making illegal ownership a felony, nothing can be done.

Case in Point: Fidel Castro, communist dictator, once had a baseball career before it was cut short and he then became what he was. Should we now harass current baseball players and tell them to renounce communism and continuously ensure that they never stray from the “one true” course that we have set before them?

If that sounds stupid to you, I assure you, it is. We roundly reject the sentiment that it is up to us to shove “undesirables” out of a hobby where it is impossible to do so.

What is up to us is the continued stewardship, innovation and preservation of the games themselves, nothing more. It is up to us to see to it that the next generations reap the same rewards of the same work that we put into them; hopefully, inspiring them to carry that torch ever onward and forward. It is up to us to pass on this legacy, create where we can, promote where we can and support where we can.

The only division that we need is us away from the corporate machine and shills who see us as nothing more than wallets to be parted from our money.

In this, I think we can all agree, old and new alike.

Believe me, dear gamer reading my words as I type them: there is not a single person among us who more cordially loves a union with D&D as I do. But, by the Gods that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as Wizards of The Coast or Paizo proposes; and, in this, I think I speak the sentiments of true gamers.

When the corporation becomes tyrannical in it’s approach to gaming, it is up to us to abolish them entirely, deprive them of the financial due that they believe they’re owed and establish a new, more reasoned approach to gaming. It is our right, and our duty, to throw off such corporations and to provide new safeguards for future security

The corporation is now deemed unfit to be the authors of our games.

Beware making the attempt at levelling ultimatums. When it comes to extremists, we will reject both and choose games.

We declare, as we approach July, the month of Independent Games that gaming is the last vestige, the one stronghold of the First Amendment as it embodies free association, press and expression. Those true, old-school concepts, too, shall be preserved.

We declare our independence from tyrants of all stripes.