No they aren't old school, far more than that they are Ancient Regime and I suspect something like them has been played since the dawn of language probably as a teaching tool.
"OK Og, now you pretend you see Mammoth what you do?"
What I like about these games is they are best suited when the game you expect has little to no potentially lethal conflict. Most RPG's are basically driven around this kind of conflict, treasure hunting and exploration with a does of "role play" thrown in. This is natural and understandable as they evolved from a set of miniatures rules. And its fun.
However most games contain a lot of unnecessary elements for type of thing .
In such a situation you really don't need , complex rules for weapons, armor, treasure lists, monster manuals etc . While you certainly can use them for it they really aren't the best choice for games like my own unpublished Ramble which could be described as
"One strange day exploring a city on foot, kind of a little Adventurers in Baby Sitting meets Up with a dose of Garfield. " or for other concepts like the oddly brilliant Nicotine Girls where you play quote
teenage, lower-income girls looking for happiness.
For games like that, you use the appropriate rules set (or just freeform it). The key is to pick the rules that best serve you and to not serve the rules.
Now of late I find my tastes running to Old School and some New School. I miss the action and excited of a nice game of D&D, of killing critters, exploring ruins and looting, leveling up and just havening fun.
So don't you folks worry we haven't gone Indy.While we may publish Ramble someday (as a freebie) 5 Stone will be supporting new school (Pathfinder) and Old School and giving you stuff you can really use, just like always.
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