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<blockquote data-quote="Cadriel" data-source="post: 6466593" data-attributes="member: 4295">OD&amp;D is a game about exploring dungeons and wilderness, and that is what the exploration rules focus on. Complaining that these aren't about broader forms of exploration seems to me to rather miss the point, and doesn't somehow prove that the game was really about combat.As far as the castles in the wilderness, only fighters want to joust. Magic-users and clerics are likely to send the PCs on some kind of quest rather than fight them.As far as social interaction, you really need to read Playing at the World to understand where the creators were coming from. Gygax and a number of people in his circle were fanatic players of Diplomacy, a game that spontaneously generated intense role playing, alliances and backstabbing. But it had no social rules at all - it was simply an emergent feature of the game's rules. Compared to that, OD&amp;D did have some significant social rules. Again, complaining that they related to the overall theme of dungeon exploration misses the point; that's what roleplaying in OD&amp;D was for. Just like in Diplomacy, it was a weapon in your arsenal. Negotiation was a strategy for getting an advantage, gathering intelligence, or just getting out of a dangerous situation without having to fight.You reference AD&amp;D here, which is quite a different beast from OD&amp;D. The years between the release of D&amp;D to the world and the publication of the AD&amp;D DMG were years of dramatic change, literally a whole hobby growing where only the vaguest predecessors had existed. As I said above, the game changed and how people played it changed. It stopped being a game of college age wargamers and became a game aimed at teenagers with no such experience. Combat did take on a bigger and more detailed role, although its supremacy is still being vastly overstated. AD&amp;D still had all the social and exploration elements of OD&amp;D, but it had a lot more stuff as well. But how AD&amp;D was played in the 80s was very different from how D&amp;D was played in the mid-70s. That discovery was a big force behind the OSR and ideas today like three pillars of play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cadriel, post: 6466593, member: 4295"] OD&D is a game about exploring dungeons and wilderness, and that is what the exploration rules focus on. Complaining that these aren't about broader forms of exploration seems to me to rather miss the point, and doesn't somehow prove that the game was really about combat. As far as the castles in the wilderness, only fighters want to joust. Magic-users and clerics are likely to send the PCs on some kind of quest rather than fight them. As far as social interaction, you really need to read Playing at the World to understand where the creators were coming from. Gygax and a number of people in his circle were fanatic players of Diplomacy, a game that spontaneously generated intense role playing, alliances and backstabbing. But it had no social rules at all - it was simply an emergent feature of the game's rules. Compared to that, OD&D did have some significant social rules. Again, complaining that they related to the overall theme of dungeon exploration misses the point; that's what roleplaying in OD&D was for. Just like in Diplomacy, it was a weapon in your arsenal. Negotiation was a strategy for getting an advantage, gathering intelligence, or just getting out of a dangerous situation without having to fight. You reference AD&D here, which is quite a different beast from OD&D. The years between the release of D&D to the world and the publication of the AD&D DMG were years of dramatic change, literally a whole hobby growing where only the vaguest predecessors had existed. As I said above, the game changed and how people played it changed. It stopped being a game of college age wargamers and became a game aimed at teenagers with no such experience. Combat did take on a bigger and more detailed role, although its supremacy is still being vastly overstated. AD&D still had all the social and exploration elements of OD&D, but it had a lot more stuff as well. But how AD&D was played in the 80s was very different from how D&D was played in the mid-70s. That discovery was a big force behind the OSR and ideas today like three pillars of play. [/QUOTE]

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