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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 9454628" data-attributes="member: 7635">I actually think its a bit debatable if Gary assumed heroes would be the default method of play. The existence of the half-orc, the assassin class, and the warning of mixing alignments (rather than outright restricting them) lends some credence to it. Certainly, I don't think the days of Mordenkainen, Rollibar, and Tenser were as heroic as modern D&amp;D says they were! However, the &quot;heroic&quot; strand of D&amp;D did also exist from an early era. Certainly, paladins and rangers being mandated to be good aligned, the fact that &quot;good&quot; aligned races (elves, dwarves, and halflings) were PC races and &quot;evil&quot; aligned ones (goblins, kobolds and orcs) were not, and the fact that Law and Goodness are seen as the correct state of the world while Chaos and Evil are wrong seems to nudge players into the idea that heroic play is the preferred method. I will say regardless, by 2nd edition, the notion that PCs were anything but heroes was firmly established. I think you can see the emerging of that coming from Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms in 1e as well, and certainly Basic (B/X and later BECMI) heavily leaned on that notion in its presentation and modules.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 9454628, member: 7635"] I actually think its a bit debatable if Gary assumed heroes would be the default method of play. The existence of the half-orc, the assassin class, and the warning of mixing alignments (rather than outright restricting them) lends some credence to it. Certainly, I don't think the days of Mordenkainen, Rollibar, and Tenser were as heroic as modern D&D says they were! However, the "heroic" strand of D&D did also exist from an early era. Certainly, paladins and rangers being mandated to be good aligned, the fact that "good" aligned races (elves, dwarves, and halflings) were PC races and "evil" aligned ones (goblins, kobolds and orcs) were not, and the fact that Law and Goodness are seen as the correct state of the world while Chaos and Evil are wrong seems to nudge players into the idea that heroic play is the preferred method. I will say regardless, by 2nd edition, the notion that PCs were anything but heroes was firmly established. I think you can see the emerging of that coming from Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms in 1e as well, and certainly Basic (B/X and later BECMI) heavily leaned on that notion in its presentation and modules. [/QUOTE]

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