Am I "Old School"?

I first got into blogging by stumbling upon a really great site called Grognardia. The author of this blog is a self-declared 'old school' gamer. In the months since then, this and other sites have been defining and re-defining what it means to be 'old school'. From what I've read? There doesn't really seem to be a consensus. My gaming background is a lot different from most folks—since I grew up in the middle of nowhere (aka South Dakota). Because of that, I consider myself a 'non-traditional' gamer. Yes, I got my first game (D&D Basic Set) in about 1980, but I never had what I would call a 'traditional' gaming group or experience.

So am I 'Old School?'

By some definitions of chronology, yes. I was in on the middle and tail-end of the so-called 'Golden Age' of D&D. More importantly, when I think of D&D, I think first of my Basic and Expert rules sets. I think of the original Monster Manual and DM guide for AD&D. But does this qualify me to be old-school? I don't know. And honestly? I don't much care. Suffice it to say that I do enjoy the old-school games a lot more than I have their recent iterations. So in spirit, at least, I understand and support the old-school movement.

There is a certain amount of nostalgia involved—and I'm certain that is the case with a lot of old-schoolers. But that is not the primary reason for my preference, or theirs. In my college gaming experience, I totally bought into the 'newer and better' vibe of a lot of fantasy games. But looking back on it, all the rules expansions—while cool and flashy—didn't really add a lot to the game. In fact, their increasing complexity eventually turned me off. Its one of the reasons I turned so heavily to the D6 system presented in the Star Wars RPG.

As I have stated quite frequently in my other blog, I don't really hold any ill-will towards the d20 system. In fact, there are several things I admire about it. But all games come down to personal preference. And in my case, that puts D6 on top, followed by D&D Basic, followed by AD&D 1st Ed. and part of 2nd.

To me, the essence of the Old School Renaissance is this: do not let the rules get in the way of having fun. And in a lot of the early systems, they didn't. Therefore, they serve as a great model for how to do things.