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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Starfox" data-source="post: 6061877" data-attributes="member: 2303">The bottom line is that Gygax and Arneson were tactical gamers and buffs for fantasy and historic medeival military action. They had a strong simulationist streak, and thought of heroes in battlefield terms. Thus the importance of armor, the emphasis on the difference between different types of equipment and weapons, and the wear and tear of hit points. Many of the base assumptions of RPGs of all stripes still reflect this. Had they been something else, the game would have been very different and appealed to different people.Designers with more background in another period might have put less emphasis on armor and weapons, and more on tactics and formation.Designers with more heroic fiction background might not have included hp and spell attrition and less focus on tactics, making a game more centered around dueling heroes and the drama surrounding them.Designers with less of a combat bias might have made something much closer to theater than wargaming.Many of these concepts are now in other RPGs. But the original DnD is still a very firm root for all kinds of RPGs - and that includes computer games. So the heritage of Gygax and Arneson and their basement has a profound effect on popular culture today.</blockquote>