Are we in the "golden era" of OSR?

Time to look back, and do some OSR: Old School Rewind.

Greetings fellow bathroom-reading wizards,
In the past couple of years we had a lot of great OSR and Indie TTRPGs, and more and more players found out about this scene and are actively playing these titles.
The situation then begs the question: are we in a golden era for OSR?

Before we start, it’s better to make things clear first.
What is OSR? I think the legendary Ben Milton made a wonderful video explaining it, and since he made one of the greatest OSR games ever (see Knave), I think he is more than qualified to give a correct answer.
And for the sake of this article (and my sanity), we will refer to OSR games even those games that have nothing to do with “that Old Dragon Game”, but simply inherited the Old School playstyle.

With that being said, let’s get to the question: Are we in a “golden era” for OSR?
In short, I think we are.

Despite OSR being here by quite a lot of time, I think it’s the last 6 or 5 years that made its scene incredible.
It started (probably) around 2018-2019.
In these years, Old School Essentials was published by Necrotic Gnome, and it remastered a game that needed quite the remaster.
However, for me it’s games like Knave by Ben Milton or The Black Hack 2nd edition by David Black that really brought the scene to a new level. It wasn’t just a simple conversion this time, they were new games. These titles built on the old school gameplay and its philosophies, using it as foundations rather than as a cage.

These games became pretty popular, and coincidently many other creators went on and started making their own.
Creators also realized that OSR was not anymore shackled by its definition of “clones of that Old Dragon Game”, or “Games that only people that were alive in the 80s can enjoy”. No, OSR was getting recognized more and more as a playstyle, that was really enjoyed even by people that started out with the 5th edition of “that Old Dragon Game”.

It seemed only fitting that something else would come, and absolutely break that old cage of the prejudice that OSR was just nostalgia.
In 2020, right before the big pandemic hit, Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr would release Mörk Borg, and it took the scene by storm. With its artistic flavor and simple rules, Mörk Borg defined the OSR as a style that not only wasn’t just nostalgia, but it was big and had a lot more to say.
If Knave and Black Hack opened the door, Mörk Borg straight out teared down the wall.

Where are we now? In the last 4 years many other games have made “their own OSR”, and they are pushing further and further the scene to high places.
Games like Shadowdark by Kelsey Dionne are incredible love letters to OSR and artistic gems, and there’s always more.
Following a certain crisis that starts with O and ends in GL many tried to find new games and stumbled upon the OSR scene, and became enamoured with it. Not only there are more and more players each day, but in the true DIY spirit of OSR, these players often become creators writing their own homebrew adventures and share them in the community.

So, are we in a “golden era” for OSR? Maybe yes, but ultimately it will be up to those that come after to judge. What we know for sure is that the world out there is full of great OSR games, and the greatest thing is that there are even more to come.
We may not know yet if we are in a golden era.
But we know for sure it’s a golden time to get to play.