Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
2e, the most lethal edition?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 7637096" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>You are presuming that Gygax's writing is like what we see in modern rulebooks. it isn't - Gygax's writing is not the methodical writing of a modern game designer writing a rules manual. Gygax had his own style of writing which is in many places - including this one - much more like a person making an academic argument about the rules you should follow than a person just laying down the rules.</p><p></p><p>If he had wanted it to be the default why would he include an entire paragraph of argument of why it's a terrible choice? It's just not logical that he would lay out an argument about why 3d6 down the line was bad if that's how he's expecting you to play the game. You have to think about the audience of the book - his paragraph of intro text is a justification for DMs who are used to playing OD&D and who have always used 3d6 down the line. He's arguing that it's a bad idea to do that and then laying out four alternative ways to roll stats. Could it have been clearer? Of course it could - the entire DMG could have been clearer. It's his prose style - it's part of what gives the DMG its charm.</p><p></p><p>But honestly I've been having this argument with people younger than me for going on 30 years at this point. So I concede that I'm never going to change anyone's mind about this. If you want to believe that despite an entire paragraph explaining why it's a bad idea to roll 3d6 down the line for stats Gygax ALSO thought it should be the default for his game, and only provided four alternatives for rolling stats because, I dunno, he was bored when he wrote up those rules or something, then more power to you. Heck you're in good company - I've always thought that was the stance of the folks who put together 2e. My read on their prose that was quoted earlier in this thread is exactly that - they thought anything other than 3d6 down the line was for whiny players who wanted to be able to actually play a Ranger or a Paladin or one of the other classes in the PHB they'd spent good money on, and if you as a DM want to coddle those whiny players and their desire to play something that had a stat minimum on it, well, that's your choice. But that's not the way D&D "should" be played in their eyes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 7637096, member: 19857"] You are presuming that Gygax's writing is like what we see in modern rulebooks. it isn't - Gygax's writing is not the methodical writing of a modern game designer writing a rules manual. Gygax had his own style of writing which is in many places - including this one - much more like a person making an academic argument about the rules you should follow than a person just laying down the rules. If he had wanted it to be the default why would he include an entire paragraph of argument of why it's a terrible choice? It's just not logical that he would lay out an argument about why 3d6 down the line was bad if that's how he's expecting you to play the game. You have to think about the audience of the book - his paragraph of intro text is a justification for DMs who are used to playing OD&D and who have always used 3d6 down the line. He's arguing that it's a bad idea to do that and then laying out four alternative ways to roll stats. Could it have been clearer? Of course it could - the entire DMG could have been clearer. It's his prose style - it's part of what gives the DMG its charm. But honestly I've been having this argument with people younger than me for going on 30 years at this point. So I concede that I'm never going to change anyone's mind about this. If you want to believe that despite an entire paragraph explaining why it's a bad idea to roll 3d6 down the line for stats Gygax ALSO thought it should be the default for his game, and only provided four alternatives for rolling stats because, I dunno, he was bored when he wrote up those rules or something, then more power to you. Heck you're in good company - I've always thought that was the stance of the folks who put together 2e. My read on their prose that was quoted earlier in this thread is exactly that - they thought anything other than 3d6 down the line was for whiny players who wanted to be able to actually play a Ranger or a Paladin or one of the other classes in the PHB they'd spent good money on, and if you as a DM want to coddle those whiny players and their desire to play something that had a stat minimum on it, well, that's your choice. But that's not the way D&D "should" be played in their eyes. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
2e, the most lethal edition?
Top