Slate article on Gary's legacy (Merged with Gary Gygax Slandered)

[DM-Rocco]

It is important to note, that those role-playing games he does like, wouldn't be around if Gary had not invented D&D. Just another idiot trying to make a name for himself.

 

[DM-Rocco]

There is a way to wring real creativity, and possibly even artistic merit, from this bizarre medium—and it has nothing to do with Gygax and his tradition of sociopathic storytelling. In the mid-1980s, right around the time that Gygax was selling off his company, Steve Jackson began publishing the Generic Universal Roleplaying System, or GURPS. Jackson's goal was to provide the rules to play games in any genre. More importantly, characters in this new system could be fleshed out down to the smallest detail, from a crippling phobia of snakes to a severe food allergy. And when it came to experience points, characters got whatever the "gamemaster" decided. They might earn points for succeeding at a given task or simply for playing their character in a compelling way. Of course, players could still take out their real-life bitterness in a fictional killing spree, and the game master might end up with a bumbling and incoherent story line. But GURPS created the potential for so much more...

Um, okay, I guess I never awarded XP for good role-playing or resolving a battle without blood shed or gave my favorite rouge a limp and a fear of dying alone. Whatever dude. You just rock on to your own tune. What a jerk...

 

[DM-Rocco]

Not that there are any rules for said chemical analysis, or for much of anything, really. Gygax wasn't much for the details. In the end, his games are a lot like his legacy: goofy, malformed, and fodder for a self-deprecating joke or two—before being shoved in the closet for good.

See, the whole point of D&D in the early days was a set of loose rules that the DM could change. A more ridge set of rules would end up bogging down the game. I don't want to pick a fight with 3.5 versus 1st edition, but the additional rules, more at the higher levels, of 3.5 really bog things down. I haven't played GURPS, so I can't say it is the be all end all or a pile of crap, but one thing is for sure, you get out of D&D what you and the DM put into it.

Who wants a set of rules for a chemical analysis of your snot? I can't see a useful arguement for it. Gary wasn't into the details because he wanted the players to create the details and the DM to maganage the rules. This guy is not selling me on playing GURPS, he is turning me off from that system and making me want to play D&D all the more.

Again, what an idiot.

 

[Michael Morris]

[bq]While it might feel good to mock and belittle the author of the article it nevertheless poisons the atmosphere in this thread and to a lesser extent the boards. Please refrain from such insults. We are better than that.[/bq]

That said, I'm asking for the thread to be closed - there's nowhere for it to go but downhill.

 

[DM-Rocco]

My bad, sorry, I just lost me head. I'm kind of sick of all the bad mouthing of Gary.

 

[Michael Morris]

My bad, sorry, I just lost me head. I'm kind of sick of all the bad mouthing of Gary.

I don't like it either, but no one is above reproach. No matter how good or kind someone is in life there will always be people who spit on them in death. Such is the nature of evil.

 

[Kayla Silverhand]

Gygax slandered

I saw this article about Gygax and was horrified! So in fact I also started a petition to let us give our 2cents as well.

 

[pogre]

One man's opinion is not slander. No matter how incorrect the opinion is. The article is not worth reading. The guy touts GURPs as some leap forward in rpgs - ummmm, OK.

Save your energy and do not bother reading the article. It's a guy saying D&D is nothing but hack and slash gaming. Heck, you can read better critiques of D&D over at other gaming sites. At least they're humorous.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Why send the petition to Popular Mechanics? It's the New York Post which owns the Slate. If you want to quit reading anything it should be EVERYTHING produced by The New York Post and News Corp since it was them who put up the column NOT Popular Mechanics.

 

[moritheil]

A relatively mainstream news publication currying favor with its readership by implying that something is wrong with gamers (or games, or a particular gamer?) How unexpected.