I was at a game store recently and noted that while the shop believed they were on the cutting edge of indie and the OSR scene, and perhaps they were, the meaning of the OSR had escaped them and they were peddling only games released since 2018. In strictly OSR terms they were only selling some of Old School Essentials. Everything else they were selling were 5e-lites and/or minimalist trash like Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Shitty, and Mork Borg. There was, of course, an entire shelf devoted to ShadowShart. TSR products were relegated to a locked glass cabinet. I had to annoy a perplexed employee there to have him open said cabinet for me to look at his proper TSR wares, then he made comments betraying the fact that he had no knowledge of these products and, like Ron Swanson, I assured him that I knew more than him and therefore he needn't fucking say anything at all.
This interaction was not why I began typing this post. The shop was full of libtards and normies. Bitches with blue hair and septum piercings. Women dressed like whores with their skin hideously decorated with tattoos betraying their whore nature even if their attire didn't give it away. Every male within was a simp and/or a theater kid and/or a beta male. One of these sterling representations of the modern man was conversing with a more conservatively dressed woman in the shop and was remarking on Mork Borg. I overheard their conversation while pretending to look at the pitiful trappings of the shelves.
To summarize he stated that Mork Borg was one of his favorite new games because it was stylish and killed characters. And then I had a stark realization. The OSR has become a summer camp for 5E players. We're the drug-addicted, tattooed black guy 5E's blonde daughter fucks to get back at her parents. A stop for the tourists touring outside of where they normally tour. That's right, the OSR is Pigeon Forge TN. And like the locals of Pigeon Forge, I'm sick and tired of these fucking tourists. But worse than that, I'm annoyed my neighborhood has been ruined by them.
The OSR still means what I say it means, but I don't have control of the underlying zeitgeist. It's been subverted and turned into a goddamn meme. The meme of low level PC fragility attached to the DCC funnel and now, probably, the ShitorFart random bullshit level gain mechanic stolen from Jim Raggi's bullshit LotFP playtest or, less likely, 1pot. I can't do dick about it but wait for the tourists to leave.
Luckily none of these games have any staying power. DarklyDark's garbage fake hexcrawl will fade into the sands of time like every copy of Sorcerer's Dictionary of Mu. Ten years from now Noble Knight won't know what to do with all the thousands of copies they have been traded in. Because the tourists will leave and the core fans will remain, and all of us realize what a fucking joke these shitty low effort games are. Turdburgler, now on kickstarter, will be yet another waste of $125-$250 per person buying garbage they don't need, shouldn't want, and already fucking own. It is guaranteed to be a dust collector in 5 years and completely forgotten about in 10. Just like ShadowDark.
