D&D General An Appreciation of David "Zeb" Cook

[darjr]

He’s still an avid wargamer and I think that is his primary hobby. It strikes me as strange sometimes when I hear folks point out the wargamimg roots of D&D as to why it is the way it is, and then laud the story and RP aspects of it especially in the light of 2e. I guess Mr. Cook is a renaissance man.

 

[Jack Hooligan]

There were, and they had kind of an exciting theme, like about becoming a dragon rider (can't remember if it was just one PC or what). I still have the first one around somewhere.

Recall the names?
I'm coming back to D&D after about 25yrs+ away and having the best time running LMoP and SKT, but I would drop it all if I could run 5e games in Krynn. The conversion work is just too much for me atm.

Anyway, yeah, that Time of the Dragon box left a long, lasting impression on me. I might need to pick one up again just for old time's sake.

Cheers for bringing it back up!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

He’s still an avid wargamer and I think that is his primary hobby. It strikes me as strange sometimes when I hear folks point out the wargamimg roots of D&D as to why it is the way it is, and then laud the story and RP aspects of it especially in the light of 2e. I guess Mr. Cook is a renaissance man.

I mean, he definitely is. Taladas and Planescape are probably two of the most RP-centric, RP-friendly, least-dungeon-oriented settings D&D has ever had. I can't offhand think of any D&D settings which are further from the "dungeon-bash" roots of D&D, not even third-party ones. What's shocking about both as well is the level of erudition involved in creating them. The complexity of a lot of the ideas, and the extremely broad and in some cases deep knowledge of history, anthropology and philosophy he was clearly drawing from is truly remarkable. I suspect he is the most erudite designer/writer D&D may ever have had.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Recall the names?
I'm coming back to D&D after about 25yrs+ away and having the best time running LMoP and SKT, but I would drop it all if I could run 5e games in Krynn. The conversion work is just too much for me atm.

Anyway, yeah, that Time of the Dragon box left a long, lasting impression on me. I might need to pick one up again just for old time's sake.

Cheers for bringing it back up!

Listed here: Taladas & Otherlands Product List - The Piazza

DLA are the ones I'm thinking of.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yeah so maybe discuss that in the thread about it?

Because I was making a comparative reference to OA and the rest of his body of work, that's why I brought it up here. Not to mention the OP brought up OA so it is relevant to this conversation.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I've heard that Taladas was quite a unique setting book, but didn't it unfortunately get disowned and excised from Dragonlance by Hickman & Weiss?

 

[Cadence]

1. OA is "credited" to Gygax, but as a matter of historical fact Zeb wrote it.

The inside credits are kind of interesting in that they do credit it appropriately:

Original AD&D Game: Gary Gygax
Original Oriental Adventures Concept: Garyygax with Francois Marcela-Froideval
Oriental Adventures Design: David "Zeb" Cook

This thread is making me think back to how much the folks I played with loved 2nd edition. It really feels to me like we never would have gotten to 3rd or 5th without it.

 

[Jack Hooligan]

I've heard that Taladas was quite a unique setting book, but didn't it unfortunately get disowned and excised from Dragonlance by Hickman & Weiss?

I have no idea. Is this true?
Still a unique setting either way.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I would be facetious if I didn't say that 2e was the Zeb Cook product that had the most impact on me. That being said, I'd be remiss to not mention Commando, for Top Secret/SI. As kids that grew up on 80s action flicks, Commando absolutely brought that flavor to our games.

 

[Jack Hooligan]

Top Secret, now that I did play! It was as close to a GI Joe RPG as we had at the time...that I was aware of.
I'll have to look at this Commando supplement.