Grognard Rage
Like life, the Old School comes at you fast. You start off thinking you’re the new and cool gamer and suddenly, without warning, they change the game and you’re a grumpy old gamer complaining that things were better when you were young. This can happen with the launch of an edition, or even with a mid-edition change, like the revision of Curse of Strahd or changing how races are presented and gain their ability score boosts.
I was watching a video by Dungeon Craft on the “Critical Role, Pokemon, and the Future of D&D“ where the streamer says “It’s not just a grognard like me” and brings in a “Millennial” to agree with his points. But Millennials are as adults as old as 39 and as young as 20. As most Millennials are pushing 30; many D&D fans in that generation probably got their start in gaming during 3e or 4e. Millennials would be grognards now! The young gamers are now the so-called “Generation Z” or “Zoomers.” And we’re probably only 4-5 years from the first wave of Generation Alpha gamers joining their parents and grandparents at the gaming table.
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As much as I love the simplicity of early-’80s Basic/Expert D&D rules, I do not miss the backwards-math of the to-hit system (regressive AC scores and the use of tables or a THAC0 score) or the itemized saving throw set (Death Rays, Breath Weapons, Purple-Nurples, etc.), nor the limits on class and level by race, not to mention the way Advanced D&D made *everything* needlessly complicated.
Ten years ago, I was a vary much an old-school Grognard, until I realized I was acting like an annoying fedora and handlebar-mustache wearing Hipster.