What is the OSR

Posted this first on substack because my wife has been active there, trying to support her(she is @sarahsoloadventures, and I am @wagalade). 

What is the OSR? The perennial question asked alike by navel-gazing grognards and perplexed youngsters in our gaming hobby. And by my wife @Sarah Blount. So in an effort to confuse her even further I'm giving a small (if you saw my full list of bookmarks you'd agree this is a small number too) collection of posts others have made about the OSR, both lambasting it, praising it, trying to explain it, and even going over the long(where has the time gone?) history of this niche subset of our niche hobby:

https://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2014/10/osr-defined.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-hell-old-school-renaissance-come.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2014/09/once-againthe-deal-with-old-school.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2025/10/what-is-point-of-osr.html

https://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-desktop-my-final-stance-on-osr.html

https://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2019/06/02/the-osr-has-no-gatekeepers/

https://web.archive.org/web/20201109033331/https://hexed.press/2018/01/25/o-s-r/

https://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-osr-as-d-stuckists.html

https://pitsperilous.blogspot.com/2020/03/nostalgia-ok-osr-boomer.html

https://harbingergames.blogspot.com/2016/06/what-i-remember-rant-about-old-school.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-i.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-ii.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-iii.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-iv.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-v.html