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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwoSix" data-source="post: 6312385" data-attributes="member: 205">Well, if Shakespeare had only written Hamlet, he would still be talented, but he wouldn't be Shakespeare.  Here's the thing, if Gygax had only written up to the 1st edition AD&D books, and then written absolutely nothing else, there would be much less pushback about his design chops.  He's not getting criticized for only doing D&D, he's being criticized because Dangerous Journeys was a terrible game.  When Gygax + Arneson create a new brand, and Gygax by himself produces Dangerous Journeys, people start to do their own math.That's not to say Gygax shouldn't be revered within the community.  People who create things are important.  The Wright Brothers are important because they made the first airplane, even if they turned out not to be so good at making better airplanes.But, in general, people are going to be less impressed at the talent of people who are one-hit wonders than by people who produce a string of classic work.  The Beatles wouldn't be the Beatles if the only hit song they wrote was "Hey Jude".  Shigeru Miyamoto would be a relatively influential game designer if he had just made Super Mario Bros and the Legend of Zelda.  But he also made Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Super Mario 64, and the Ocarina of Time, which is what elevates him to the very top of game designers.Long story short, doing bad work opens you up to criticism, regardless of the importance of the work you did previously.  That applies to Gygax as much as anybody else.You can't edition war about Dangerous Journeys, because there isn't anyone around who cares. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  The most effective way to be an edition warrior is to act as though your opinion is the correct one, and not merely one taste variation among many.  Well, no, since I think the opposite.  Being a genre creator makes you worthy of respect, but it simply isn't the only factor in determining some hierarchy of critical "worthiness".  That would be like calling "Arrested Development" just another knock-off of "I Love Lucy."</blockquote>

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