DarkCrisis
Reeks of Jedi
The first one I read was:
Empire of Imagination. A very Pro-Gary Gygax book. I really enjoyed it. I say "Pro" because while fun to read it displays Gary as an old gamer who just wanted to make games for gamers until a bunch of evil people took it all away. And, to quote Kenobi, "From a certain point of view" that is correct. Through every book one thing is clear, he was done dirty by those he called "Friend". The old tale of money and friends as old as time itself.
Next was:
Slaying the Dragon. A more serious take that also showed the other side of Gary and his issues with Dave etc etc. I first see Dave had issues with committing to the work while Gary turned all of Daves notes etc into a functional game and product. Things run badly once TSR really started making money. Things even getting worse when Gary went to LA (and started living phat) and his co-owners back home running things into the ground. Gary of course came home to try to fix it but it was far to late and again knives in the dark. And of course the 2E and up into WotC. Lorraine Williams comes off as not the witch people like to make her out to be.... more or less. She like everyone else preferred money and made awful business decisions. BTW TSR in its heyday sounded like an amazing place to work... before the dark times and they delved too greedily and too deep.
And then:
Game Wizards. A more in depth version of Gary and Dave. Dave the inventor. Gary the innovator. Mostly the same as Slaying above but as I said a bit more on Gary v Dave. One thing that really stood out was a bit more on the WotC era. Peter Adkison, much like Gary wanted to make "games for gamers" but unfortunately he later sold WotC to Hasbro and well.... Gamers want to make games but tend to not make good business decisions. Corps want to make a product.... TSR in 2E. WotC via Hasbro... pick your poison I guess.
Finally:
Of Dice and Men. What was this? A good half of the book is the author telling about his friends modern era vampire world homebrew 3.5E D&D game. This is bare bones for any real info aside from the bullet points. Dave and Gary met. Made D&D. They split. TSR rose to power. TSR died. WotC! BTW his description of "D&D Next" as per Mark M... what happened to that game? Simplified Rules but modular for playstyles. Greyhawk. Faerun. I'm guessing it's because Hasbro assumed direct control? Oh and the almost complete lack of 4th ed. "3rd ed was great..... then 5th appeared!" Really odd duck book.
If I had to pick ONE to recommend. Probably Game Wizards, but Slaying is really good as well. Do both!
Fun reads, looking forward to a new one down the line that incorporates the behind the scenes of the Hasbro era... if that ever happens.
Empire of Imagination. A very Pro-Gary Gygax book. I really enjoyed it. I say "Pro" because while fun to read it displays Gary as an old gamer who just wanted to make games for gamers until a bunch of evil people took it all away. And, to quote Kenobi, "From a certain point of view" that is correct. Through every book one thing is clear, he was done dirty by those he called "Friend". The old tale of money and friends as old as time itself.
Next was:
Slaying the Dragon. A more serious take that also showed the other side of Gary and his issues with Dave etc etc. I first see Dave had issues with committing to the work while Gary turned all of Daves notes etc into a functional game and product. Things run badly once TSR really started making money. Things even getting worse when Gary went to LA (and started living phat) and his co-owners back home running things into the ground. Gary of course came home to try to fix it but it was far to late and again knives in the dark. And of course the 2E and up into WotC. Lorraine Williams comes off as not the witch people like to make her out to be.... more or less. She like everyone else preferred money and made awful business decisions. BTW TSR in its heyday sounded like an amazing place to work... before the dark times and they delved too greedily and too deep.
And then:
Game Wizards. A more in depth version of Gary and Dave. Dave the inventor. Gary the innovator. Mostly the same as Slaying above but as I said a bit more on Gary v Dave. One thing that really stood out was a bit more on the WotC era. Peter Adkison, much like Gary wanted to make "games for gamers" but unfortunately he later sold WotC to Hasbro and well.... Gamers want to make games but tend to not make good business decisions. Corps want to make a product.... TSR in 2E. WotC via Hasbro... pick your poison I guess.
Finally:
Of Dice and Men. What was this? A good half of the book is the author telling about his friends modern era vampire world homebrew 3.5E D&D game. This is bare bones for any real info aside from the bullet points. Dave and Gary met. Made D&D. They split. TSR rose to power. TSR died. WotC! BTW his description of "D&D Next" as per Mark M... what happened to that game? Simplified Rules but modular for playstyles. Greyhawk. Faerun. I'm guessing it's because Hasbro assumed direct control? Oh and the almost complete lack of 4th ed. "3rd ed was great..... then 5th appeared!" Really odd duck book.
If I had to pick ONE to recommend. Probably Game Wizards, but Slaying is really good as well. Do both!
Fun reads, looking forward to a new one down the line that incorporates the behind the scenes of the Hasbro era... if that ever happens.
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