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This jogged my memory about a commentary I'd written for my unpublished ms A New Ethos in Game Design (© 2013-2017 Rob Kuntz): C48: Throw out the Fantasy template, excise the mechanics and other play parts, and otherwise pare the game down to its vital conceptual component only. Now...

Ar least It's a step above doing the laundry. ;)

Well Gary Gygax did suggest that the game should be played in whatever way the players deemed fit, so according to him, and i quote, a game of "Dungeons & Beavers" was not off the table. I just don't imagine he foresaw "Ironing Boards and Household Implements..." ;)

Righto! The theme underscores all verbal and written legend, myth, folktales and even modern SF (as in Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth or in ERB's novels). Dante's Inferno is a classic example that in fact incorporates past myths and tales in its narrative. The ancient Greeks saw...

In my estimation if GDW had not been sued into oblivion they would still be here today and a major player in RPGs and cross-over IP deals. Just reading up on them, Chadwick, their best-sellers streak (IIRC a few on the NYT bestsellers list), their many awards, their great designs, this tells...

I predict a huge resurgence in DCs since it will require really fine-tuned and more abstracted designs less reliant on existing templates and more on new models grafted together from the parts discussed here and yet to come. The real designers worth their salt must now stand forth and make...

Well yes, I didn't see that as a question; it's bourn out in the series that Eclavdra (House Eilservs) is opposed to Lolth as you note.

I can't say for sure, but in following the logic and alliances of the underworld, i.e., from Norse, English, Celtic and Germanic literature, many of these evil elves allied with demons or other creatures such as the giants of Norse myth. So I found the giant part in the G-D-Q and the Lolth bit...

I am sure Gary had in mind the dark elves from Norse myth, Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar - Wikipedia Dark elves dwelt in the earth, were of evil intent, had dark skin and hated and avoided daylight as it turned them to stone.

Since I helped playtest it and otherwise interfaced with the gamers that did I can say that it was not a "combat slog" kill the monster and take its stuff ordeal, The playtest lasted several months in fact; and from what I observed there was a lot of various types of play going on; and...

Well it's part of the whole story starting in Hommlet>The Ruined Moat House>TOEE. Putting one's finger on a part of the finale and saying, "look in the end = combat," rather than accurately dispersing the narrative among its various parts, would be like saying, look, we investigated and talked...

Yeh. It was the seminal campaign 1973 onward in that the S&C area occurred; there was no real solidified WoG until the folio release in 1980; Gary and I used the Outdoor Survival Map for recreating outdoors for the world and added the old map from the C&C Society (1971) to fix locations (but...

Sounds similar to my Greyhawk Sewers and Catacombs!

It's a gorgeous mini. Your dog gets a perm. +2 attack bonus vs. Death Knights!

Like Talislanta's Races? https://futurolog.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/talislanta-archetypes-illustrated/

Hah. I love serendipity. You have errantly stumbled into an RPG history vortex by suggesting a duplication of a level contrived almost 50 years ago in 1974. The story is: Gary and myself were still adding levels to GHC2 then. Ernie Gygax, Gary's son, encountered a chap (unnamed or now...

I believe this argument could be settled by acknowledging his point that missing information can be added. Even as Hussar pointed out, even though info for other than engaging encounters as h-n-s ones is not there in a majority of cases upon reviewing these cases the DM can devise, on the fly...

Obviously you are filled in on one of our levels from Castle Greyhawk2. There's also an interesting history behind it.

Well that does explain your philosophy via hands-on investment. You're the UR-dm. ;) And UR-dms have to be designers. I wish you luck while engaging pre-made philosophies these days, the borrowed rather than forged. :)

Did a bit of searching and came up with this extra find. This chap and his group went gonzo with Phandelver, added extra maps and game materials. Very good to see! Lost Mine of Phandelver Campaign Resources