OSR and OSRIC

In 2006-2008, Matt Finch and Stuart Marshall published the Old School Reference and Index Compilation (OSRIC), a rule book "retroclone". Finch's purpose was to preserve the game, so he put the non-copyrightable part of the rules in an open license. This runs parallel to some OSR stories I’ve heard, A consistent theme's a player a long time away who, for some reason, remembers the game, and picks it up again. In 2011, I read the OSRIC book.

In Finch and Stuart, I hear the older game in phrases like, "Fighters are the backbone of the adventuring party," "Magic users are a rare breed...a lengthy apprenticeship...allows these somewhat eerie individuals to store arcane powers," and "Thieves sneak furtively in the shadowed alleyways of cities, living by their wits." Recognizing these themes is simple in classic, fantasy characters - Boromir, Ged, and Cudgel. And PC's I've known. 

Let me know if you've noticed these themes, perhaps in pictures like the one from OSRIC, below?

 




 

 


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