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What if Murlynd Survived?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7694886" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>I always enjoy some neat speculation/thought experiments. The history of TSR is pretty rife with twists and failures and drama. Less of that and more focus on the game might be been better. </p><p></p><p>Don Kaye's death certainly caused some of that drama. It weakened Gygax's hold on the game for sure. Would things have been better with Kaye and Gygax? Honestly, probably not. </p><p>What was needed to really help the game survive is someone with business skills and experience in the publishing business, specifically books and periodicals. And maybe some law experience. That it was under Don's oversight that the death of a partner could so cripple the industry and he left so much control to his wife who was so apathetic to the game was a pretty serious error in judgement; this doesn't fill me with confidence that had he survived his future decisions would have been better. Or that having Gygax have more power would have worked well, when his business sense also wasn't the greatest. </p><p></p><p>Gygax was never a fan of making lots of D&D products. He wanted to move on to other games, like board game companies. With a greater controlling interest and less time fighting, he might have been able to produce more side products and focus less on D&D. </p><p></p><p>If he had decided to keeping riding the D&D wave, we'd have still gotten a 2nd Edition, albeit one that was very different. I imagine skill kits rather than classes, as that sounded like Gygax's future plans. </p><p>From what we know of gamers, the 1e/2e edition war would have been more divisive. Since the change was greater than just codifying side rules, tweaking initiative, giving rangers TWF, etc. And 3e - if there was one - would have likely continued the revisionary trend rather than just codifying and unifying mechanics. </p><p>We likely wouldn't have had the influx of campaign settings like we saw in late 1e, since Gygax was reluctant to publish that content. At best we might have seem more Greyhawk books and the Realms would remain the property of Greenwood. </p><p></p><p>What wouldn't have happened was the acquisition of TSR by WotC. So no 3rd Edition. No OGL. No OSR or Paizo. </p><p></p><p>Honestly… the now kinda rocks. Things were hard in the '90s and the past 15 years have been ups and downs, but there's been a heck of a lot of good. I find it hard to think Earth-2 where Kaye survived would have been that much better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 7694886, member: 37579"] I always enjoy some neat speculation/thought experiments. The history of TSR is pretty rife with twists and failures and drama. Less of that and more focus on the game might be been better. Don Kaye's death certainly caused some of that drama. It weakened Gygax's hold on the game for sure. Would things have been better with Kaye and Gygax? Honestly, probably not. What was needed to really help the game survive is someone with business skills and experience in the publishing business, specifically books and periodicals. And maybe some law experience. That it was under Don's oversight that the death of a partner could so cripple the industry and he left so much control to his wife who was so apathetic to the game was a pretty serious error in judgement; this doesn't fill me with confidence that had he survived his future decisions would have been better. Or that having Gygax have more power would have worked well, when his business sense also wasn't the greatest. Gygax was never a fan of making lots of D&D products. He wanted to move on to other games, like board game companies. With a greater controlling interest and less time fighting, he might have been able to produce more side products and focus less on D&D. If he had decided to keeping riding the D&D wave, we'd have still gotten a 2nd Edition, albeit one that was very different. I imagine skill kits rather than classes, as that sounded like Gygax's future plans. From what we know of gamers, the 1e/2e edition war would have been more divisive. Since the change was greater than just codifying side rules, tweaking initiative, giving rangers TWF, etc. And 3e - if there was one - would have likely continued the revisionary trend rather than just codifying and unifying mechanics. We likely wouldn't have had the influx of campaign settings like we saw in late 1e, since Gygax was reluctant to publish that content. At best we might have seem more Greyhawk books and the Realms would remain the property of Greenwood. What wouldn't have happened was the acquisition of TSR by WotC. So no 3rd Edition. No OGL. No OSR or Paizo. Honestly… the now kinda rocks. Things were hard in the '90s and the past 15 years have been ups and downs, but there's been a heck of a lot of good. I find it hard to think Earth-2 where Kaye survived would have been that much better. [/QUOTE]
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