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Review: Jon Peterson's Game Wizards
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8430248" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>I kind of like your CN/LN framing, and I think you're quite right about Dave having ever-changing rules, but you've got the chronology a bit off.</p><p></p><p>By the time AD&D was under development Dave had left the company (in 1976). So there was no wrangling or arguing between Dave and Gary over the <em>development</em> of AD&D. Dave had pretty much no input into TSR's D&D after Supplement II: Blackmoor in 1975. </p><p></p><p>Gary also talked about DMs making D&D their own in most publications in the mid 70s as well, including that famous exchange in Alarums & Excursions where someone wrote that D&D was too important to entrust solely to Gary Gygax, and Gary wrote in to agree! But a few years later, nonetheless, we see him nailing down and defining rules in all sorts of details in AD&D.</p><p></p><p>To my understanding there were two main drivers for that:</p><p></p><p>1. TSR made a bunch of money in the mid 70s running tournaments at gaming conventions. Tables were PACKED. People paid cash, and most of that cash went straight to TSR, with maybe a little slice to the convention. Tim Kask has talked about this repeatedly. It was a substantial revenue driver before the AD&D hardcovers came out, and before the original Holmes-edited Basic set really took off (sales of that went through the roof after the James Dallas Egbert controversy). The tournaments also drove module sales once they started doing those. With tournaments such a key source of income, standardizing the rules to facilitate said tournaments was a big deal. This is also part of why the Monster Manual was the first "AD&D" book, and on reading with this in mind, it becomes apparent that it's basically completely compatible with OD&D +supplements, rather than "truly" an AD&D book. It was immediately useful to OD&D players, representing a much more comprehensive and organized set of monster rules for the existing game. </p><p></p><p>2. TSR and Arneson had already had a dispute (and I believe the first lawsuit) over royalties on the Homes Basic set, and that gave Gary a strong motivation to develop a NEW game based off D&D, to cut Arneson out of the profits. No doubt Gary felt justified since Arneson had only even been with the company for a year or two, and because the notes he gave Gary to turn into a game were so rough. </p><p></p><p>A recent article on the royalties on the Holmes Basic set, the dispute over them, and the remarkable importance of the modules bundled with the basic sets and those royalty deals.</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.polygon.com/2021/10/12/22722602/dungeons-dragons-game-wizards-book-excerpt-jon-peterson-arneson-lawsuit[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8430248, member: 7026594"] I kind of like your CN/LN framing, and I think you're quite right about Dave having ever-changing rules, but you've got the chronology a bit off. By the time AD&D was under development Dave had left the company (in 1976). So there was no wrangling or arguing between Dave and Gary over the [I]development[/I] of AD&D. Dave had pretty much no input into TSR's D&D after Supplement II: Blackmoor in 1975. Gary also talked about DMs making D&D their own in most publications in the mid 70s as well, including that famous exchange in Alarums & Excursions where someone wrote that D&D was too important to entrust solely to Gary Gygax, and Gary wrote in to agree! But a few years later, nonetheless, we see him nailing down and defining rules in all sorts of details in AD&D. To my understanding there were two main drivers for that: 1. TSR made a bunch of money in the mid 70s running tournaments at gaming conventions. Tables were PACKED. People paid cash, and most of that cash went straight to TSR, with maybe a little slice to the convention. Tim Kask has talked about this repeatedly. It was a substantial revenue driver before the AD&D hardcovers came out, and before the original Holmes-edited Basic set really took off (sales of that went through the roof after the James Dallas Egbert controversy). The tournaments also drove module sales once they started doing those. With tournaments such a key source of income, standardizing the rules to facilitate said tournaments was a big deal. This is also part of why the Monster Manual was the first "AD&D" book, and on reading with this in mind, it becomes apparent that it's basically completely compatible with OD&D +supplements, rather than "truly" an AD&D book. It was immediately useful to OD&D players, representing a much more comprehensive and organized set of monster rules for the existing game. 2. TSR and Arneson had already had a dispute (and I believe the first lawsuit) over royalties on the Homes Basic set, and that gave Gary a strong motivation to develop a NEW game based off D&D, to cut Arneson out of the profits. No doubt Gary felt justified since Arneson had only even been with the company for a year or two, and because the notes he gave Gary to turn into a game were so rough. A recent article on the royalties on the Holmes Basic set, the dispute over them, and the remarkable importance of the modules bundled with the basic sets and those royalty deals. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.polygon.com/2021/10/12/22722602/dungeons-dragons-game-wizards-book-excerpt-jon-peterson-arneson-lawsuit[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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