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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7585251" data-attributes="member: 82106">Actually, this passage is rather key in terms of understanding the evolution of RPGs. "for your players expect to play this game, not one made up on the spot." Why is this? Because if the game is the one the DM 'makes up on the spot' then it is under the arbitrary control of the DM!!!! Players want, and always wanted, to have the assurance that their authority would not be compromised. Nobody is arguing that Gygax was really BIG on player authority, but he well knew that the instant the DM started screwing with things that the players believed they were entitled to (hitting the orc on a 15 for example) then the gig was up! As far as the last sentence in that quote goes, I think this was Gary's undoing as a game designer. He went a long ways, but he failed to get beyond his own creative agenda, at least in a formal sense. It is telling that this is the last significant piece of writing which he did for a game system, it is 1977 and he never authors another game book, except 1e UA which really is nothing significant. OTOH I would point out that anyone familiar with the original GH campaign, as described in various Dragon articles and other places, will know that players like Rob Kuntz and others had a huge amount of autonomy in his actual campaign, to the degree of creating entire nations, making up major world events, creating NPCs, cities, organizations, and many other things. Gygax might have started the thing, and maintained some level of control, but it was NOT a work of personal authorship. Certainly not in all the ways you seem to imply.</blockquote>

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