We never played that way
Or: revising the revisionist argument
We played ADnD for a long time and have never used the training rules
No one ever played ODnD with Chainmail, so I don't get why you're trying to. It's some weird sort of revisionist massochism.
I have been playing for 45 years and we never did that
Congratulations. So what?
One of the most tiresome arguments I see is some variation of the above. Details change. Sometimes it's personal anecdotes. Sometimes it's appeal to authority; 'even Gygax didn't used most of the rules of ADnD!'. In either case: it's a profoundly stupid argument based in a few misconceptions.
What does it even mean?
To understand just how bad of an argument it is, it might be worth looking deeper into what's implicitly said here, and why each of those elements is wrong.
Did you really?
Did you really never play that way? I'm not going to go into this. Just go listen to friend of the channel Clerics Wear Ringmail on this topic.
I care about how you played
You somehow seem to be under the impression that I really care about how you played the game. I don't.
Since we didn't play that way, neither should you
Even more so: you apparently think I'm of the opinion you're an expert at this, and I therefore value your opinion enough to instantly change my ways whenever you say you never played like that.
You are trying to play as people did in the past
This one is the most insidious. It presumes on our end why we do these things; "you just want to play this way because you think people did so in the Olden Days". The underlying thought is easy to see: "Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch, I was there when it was written". They see someone they think is doing some kind of revisionism of history and wish to put us in our place.
In the words of Lex Luthor: WRONG
I am not interested in recreating how anyone's particular table ran. I am interested in the playstyle that's supported in those old books.
In the words on Gelatinous Rube: "If I'm not permitted to engage or or enjoy a breadth and depth of a specific genre that movies, books or video games combined could not provide me with the RPG is wrong. Either the RPG is wrong or we're playing it wrong. Because we're not engaging with the core conceit of the medium, which is to engage with the full breadth and depth of the genre."
I play these games this way because I feel that it allows me to do just that. I'm not trying to larp as someone from the '70s (at least, not for this reason…). I am not even saying this is how people played back in those days. I'm saying that actually reading the rules and following what's there, instead of skimming it and filling in the parts you didn't read with your own ideas, leads to a more interesting campaign.
Even if Gygax didn't play this way I don't particularly care. I care about what the rules say and what kind of game you get when you follow those rules.
Oh god I have become Death, of the Author
So do I not care about history?
Yeah, I do, even not in the way these people imply I do.
Firstly of course, I care about the rules that were written then. That one's plain and obvious enough that I won't elaborate on them.
Secondly, I care about other writings from that time. Talking about their experiences, talking about their interpretatations, their rules. Not only are those interesting to read, but you can also quite often find amazing gems in there. The issue is of course finding these, but that, and the people guarding these secrets for their own gain, is a story for another day.
Thirdly, I even care about how those people ran their tables. I want to be able to learn from their experience so I don't have to reinvent square wheels myself. What I'm sure as shit am not going to do though is say: "Oh, Bob Johnson in issue 5 of Domesday said he didn't use training rules. Guess we're throwing those out!"
The 'Old School' in OSR is the rules, not playstyles
Fourthly, I love reading about the hobby and its evolution, from primary sources, without the editorializing of others and whatever agenda they have. I love reading cool stories, I love reading alternative rulesets. With everything I read I can create a better context and ruleset which does precisely what I want to do.
So until next time, run your game like you want to, naysayers be damned, count your torches and keep on mapping.