What exactly is a Grognard?

[Mercurius]

II mean, I get the gist of it and would probably categorize myself as such (being 30+, starting gaming during 1ed). And I know that the original definition is related to wargaming and not RPGs, but general usage has become much broader. So is there an agreed upon definition? And is there a sharp line or is it more a matter of degree? For example, is one a Grognard only if they started playing before the advent of World of Darkness and/or 2ed AD&D? Or is it an age thing, born in the 70s or earlier?

I don't like the definition of pre-1ed AD&D as that cuts the numbers of Authentic Grognards (AGs) down to probably less than 1% of the gaming population. So I'm thinking a good definition is one who started playing before 2ed AD&D came out. Thoughts?

 

[mmadsen]

So is there an agreed upon definition?

No.

 

[Terwox]

Grognard translates as grumbler, by the way. (Or, well, according to this brief wiki entry. I've seen it elsewhere but this is the only link I see currently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poilu)

Most people tend to define grognard as "Anyone who has been playing just as long as I have, or longer."

I would define grognard as anyone who is conservative about gaming in a non-political sense. That is, back in the good ole days, things were better, and now things are not. It doesn't matter how long you've been playing, people can adopt this attitude almost immediately in order to fit in. Grognard is an attitude that states, "the old ways are better." The attitude often includes, "and you should recognize why."

 

[Doug McCrae]

On ENWorld:

1) Someone who started rpging in the early days of the hobby. I'm a purist in that I think it has to be the 70s, but I've seen some who started in the early 80s call themselves grognards. I began gaming in '82 but I don't self-identify as a grognard.
2) A fan of a previous edition of an rpg, usually D&D. You see quite a few references to 3e grognards but there's an awareness that it's a strange usage as 3e only became a previous edition very recently.
3) Someone who hates everything published after 1985. Unless it's an exact copy of something published prior to 1985, such as Hackmaster.

Not used on ENWorld:
4) A wargamer.
5) A member of Napoleon's Old Guard.

 

[Umbran]

On ENWorld:

1) Someone who started rpging in the early days of the hobby. I'm a purist in that I think it has to be the 70s, but I've seen some who started in the early 80s call themselves grognards. I began gaming in '82 but I don't self-identify as a grognard.

Specifically - someone who came to the RPG hobby from the wargaming roots, which is why the Napoleonic reference is applied. In this sense of the word, there are relatively few real grognards around.

Personally, I don't accept an idea of a "3e grognard".

 

[JDJblatherings]

Specifically - someone who came to the RPG hobby from the wargaming roots, which is why the Napoleonic reference is applied. In this sense of the word, there are relatively few real grognards around.
.

There are a heck of a lot of them, they just dont' hang out on enworld.

The grognards were the "old" guys in the game shop complaining about their hobby being overrun by RPGers.

 

[Cadfan]

For me, a grognard is anyone who, upon being confronted with things a 15 year old finds cool in D&D, finds those things to be really stupid. You are particularly grognardy if you then loudly proclaim your resentment that said 15 year olds are being allowed to muck up YOUR Dungeons and Dragons.

There's no agreed upon definition.

 

[Bialaska]

I am a semi-grognard... At least in some ways I am, but I guess that's what 20+ years of playing RPGs can do to you. Some of my best games were back in the mid-90s, before 3e and 4e. I did convert to 3e as I felt 2e was too restrictive. Now with 4e coming out I feel that they are going the wrong way, as they have made the game more restrictive.

However there are days where I remember back to those amazing and fun games we ran back then, when you did not need miniatures and stuff to play your roleplaying, but it all happened inside your imagination. These days I feel D&D is becoming more of a strategy game than a roleplaying game and has felt so since 3e came out.

So I guess if the definition of a grognard is someone who is conservative and like things they were in the past, then I guess there's a few levels of those in me (or the multiclassing feat).

 

[Umbran]

There are a heck of a lot of them, they just dont' hang out on enworld.

By my reckoning, no, there never have been many of them. They come from the age of RPGs before the boomtime of the 1980s. Back then, there weren't many gamers at all, and only some of them had the direct wargaming roots of the True Grognard.

I am going to to be very skeptical of anyone who claims to be this type of grognard if they are under 40 to 45 years old.

 

[racoffin]

Eh, from what I've seen on the hundreds of 4E/3.5E war threads, grognard is pretty much used as a shorthand for "someone who disagrees with me" or in place of one of the many naughty words that would offend Eric's grandmother.