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[Ari Marmell's blog] To House Rule or Not to House Rule
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5196244" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>IMO, this is the crux of the thing:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's a tragedy.</p><p></p><p>It's like someone who studied English because they loved stories no longer being able to <em>just friggin' tell a story</em>.</p><p></p><p>It's like someone who studied Film because they loved movies no longer being able to <em>just go to a friggin' movie</em>.</p><p></p><p>As so often in life, I find the words of <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/3605" target="_blank">Kurt Vonnegut</a> to be transcendentally liberating on the general topic:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Cross out "literature" and replace "rules," (or, really, any other creative process -- it works for 'em all!) and you have one of the big maxims by which I create. </p><p></p><p>Ari Marmell is a very good D&D designer. The fact that he can't surrender all his learned over-thinking about balance and caution in order to spice up his own bleedin' home game, like there's Balance Police in his own brain, is a testament to the ability of intellectualization to absolutely crush innate, productive creativity. The creativity of those high school years, of D&D's <strong>target audience</strong>, of wildly unbalanced fun. </p><p></p><p>I think it's really sad that his home games are barren of the rich, verdant fields of off-the-cuff ruling and tweaking that are the hallmark of any great D&D campaign, the thing that makes D&D <strong>yours</strong>, and not someone else's, whatever balance quirks or fudging blah or unintended consequences happen. </p><p></p><p>Seems like he's come to a similar conclusion, since that post ends with a sort of longing for innocence ripe for a dorky version of William Blake. </p><p></p><p>This is the tension between cold, sterile, keen, efficient logic and rampant, wild, destructive, creative chaos. I think it's sad that Ari's home games have lost, for the moment at least, the dangerous wilderness.</p><p></p><p>This is D&D. We're D&D players. The dangerous wilderness should be what we <em>seek out</em>.</p><p></p><p>And when there's no more dangerous wilderness, it's usually time to retire, at least for a time, to that keep you liberated so long ago.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5196244, member: 2067"] IMO, this is the crux of the thing: It's a tragedy. It's like someone who studied English because they loved stories no longer being able to [I]just friggin' tell a story[/I]. It's like someone who studied Film because they loved movies no longer being able to [I]just go to a friggin' movie[/I]. As so often in life, I find the words of [URL="http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/3605"]Kurt Vonnegut[/URL] to be transcendentally liberating on the general topic: Cross out "literature" and replace "rules," (or, really, any other creative process -- it works for 'em all!) and you have one of the big maxims by which I create. Ari Marmell is a very good D&D designer. The fact that he can't surrender all his learned over-thinking about balance and caution in order to spice up his own bleedin' home game, like there's Balance Police in his own brain, is a testament to the ability of intellectualization to absolutely crush innate, productive creativity. The creativity of those high school years, of D&D's [B]target audience[/B], of wildly unbalanced fun. I think it's really sad that his home games are barren of the rich, verdant fields of off-the-cuff ruling and tweaking that are the hallmark of any great D&D campaign, the thing that makes D&D [B]yours[/B], and not someone else's, whatever balance quirks or fudging blah or unintended consequences happen. Seems like he's come to a similar conclusion, since that post ends with a sort of longing for innocence ripe for a dorky version of William Blake. This is the tension between cold, sterile, keen, efficient logic and rampant, wild, destructive, creative chaos. I think it's sad that Ari's home games have lost, for the moment at least, the dangerous wilderness. This is D&D. We're D&D players. The dangerous wilderness should be what we [I]seek out[/I]. And when there's no more dangerous wilderness, it's usually time to retire, at least for a time, to that keep you liberated so long ago. [/QUOTE]
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