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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6004897" data-attributes="member: 3400">The approach definitely changed. I don't know if it was really related to everybody wanting "official" rules any more than people wanted them back in the 1e/2e days. That tendency was already getting lampooned pretty hard in Knights of the Dinner Table a decade before 3e hit the shelves.One thing different with the appearance of 3e was the stronger influence of Skip Williams. Check out this interview: <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-skip-williams.html" target="_blank">GROGNARDIA: Interview: Skip Williams</a>As people may have surmised from being the Sage for years, Skip's a guy who likes to have the rules defined. They keep things from going wrong in DM/player disputes. They also offer some transparency to the player who can more rationally predict how his choice of actions will play out with less GM whim. That approach is a real and significant contrast with earlier designers like Gygax and Zeb Cook.Exactly how much that bled through to the buying public is anybody's guess. It might be that Skip's rise coincided with a broader rise in that sort of demand from D&D because he was a good fit for it.</blockquote>