Old School, New School? I don't know!

I feel somewhat torn. You see I have been reading a lot about the Old School Renaissance lately. This is, if you do not know, an attempt to explore the roots of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game and thus roleplaying in general. I find it quite fascinating, and a lot of what people say resonates with me, but I also am not certain about other things.

For instance, though I agree that the prevalence of strictly plotted adventures is detrimental to the hobby, I don't think that a game about saving the world is necessarily a bad thing. Also, though the pulp origins of Dungeons and Dragons mostly include morally ambiguous protagonists who sometimes do questionable things, I generally prefer that characters in my campaigns do nothing truly evil. Also, though I agree that characters should start off weak and work they're way up, I do think that truely mythic levels of prowess should be attainable. After all did not a 1st Edition Adventure involve taking on Lloth, a Goddess? In my opinion the characters who can achieve such a goal should be closer to Heracles, Cu Cuchulain and Son Goku then Conan, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

I plan to explore these subjects further and I will of course record my thoughts in this blog.