On the Endless Repetition

I just have an observation to make. Much of the work that is being done in the OSR has been done. I know personally I've created tables and later found out that someone else has created the same type of table. We're remaking the same rules over and over again a hundred different ways. I know that a lot of what is in my down loadable documents is a collection of data from various sources.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this.

There are several reasons why I think that. The largest, is that any resource I use, I'm going to adapt for my own game. Then when I post that online, even if it doesn't contain new content, it is a reflection of how we played the game - our time and our lens though which we played the hobby. Another is that for someone, it may be the first time they have been exposed to that resource.

Another reason is have you ever tried to search the blog-o-sphere? This is a task bordering upon the impossible! I routinely see articles and fail to recall where they have been located. Duplication is our filing system.

The downside is that it is all to easy to fail to give credit to those that deserve it. I plan on adding my own 'name the mega-dungeon zone' table to the internet. Is this offensive to Al over at Beyond the Black Gate? It will be my own table, and my own work, but without his table I doubt I would have thought of it on my own.

Is there another table somewhere he was inspired by? Can this proto-source ever be accessed?

Edit: I wrote this earlier in the week and had it scheduled for Friday. Wouldn't you know it, someone decided to address it in the meantime! Check out  the Jovial Priest and his new Website which is designed to be an OSR wiki/repository!

Links to Wisdom