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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9062944" data-attributes="member: 7035894">AD&amp;D was by design far more &quot;locked down&quot; than OD&amp;D - as TSR rapidly expanded they realized the value of their IP and the risk of not defining/defending it. On top of that, Gygax was eager to make it his game, with the specific purpose of removing Dave Arneson from the royalties. TSR went to court over it, expressly arguing that AD&amp;D was an entirely different game than OD&amp;D.So the video's underlying premise - that the game does best when it is most open - doesn't really track with D&amp;D's history, because it enjoyed its most explosive growth (yes, even compared to 5e) in the early years of AD&amp;D, when TSR was aggressively trying to tighten the screws.2e had a lot of optional rules for the same reason that 2e had a lot of books, period: TSR was trying to dig out of a financial hole after teetering on bankruptcy in 1984-85, and their method was to ramp up publication while taking advantage of a pre-existing deal with Random House that paid them in advance on the assumption that all the books would eventually sell (they didn't, and couldn't). This bought TSR about a decade, all while digging themselves deeper and deeper.That's what ultimately bugged me about the video - it is all about reducing a lot of complex history to a fairly facile thesis. While it is good that they recommend source materials, if you are interested in this subject then books like Game Wizards (in particular) and Slaying the Dragon (more anecdotal, but still useful) do a much more comprehensive job of detailing the rise and fall and rise and fall of TSR.All that said, I do think the OGL was probably a net benefit to the success of 5e, in particular, though I think the ascendancy of Gen Xers and geek culture in general has been far, far more impactful. I'm not as certain that it has been good for TTRPGs in general. Over the past decade we've seen the D&amp;D ecosystem spread far and wide because there's gold in them thar hills, but this makes me wonder how much it has contributed to the homogenization of the hobby.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9062944, member: 7035894"] AD&D was by design far more "locked down" than OD&D - as TSR rapidly expanded they realized the value of their IP and the risk of not defining/defending it. On top of that, Gygax was eager to make it [I]his[/I] game, with the specific purpose of removing Dave Arneson from the royalties. TSR went to court over it, expressly arguing that AD&D was an entirely different game than OD&D. So the video's underlying premise - that the game does best when it is most open - doesn't really track with D&D's history, because it enjoyed its most explosive growth (yes, even compared to 5e) in the early years of AD&D, when TSR was aggressively trying to tighten the screws. 2e had a lot of optional rules for the same reason that 2e had a lot of books, period: TSR was trying to dig out of a financial hole after teetering on bankruptcy in 1984-85, and their method was to ramp up publication while taking advantage of a pre-existing deal with Random House that paid them in advance on the assumption that all the books would eventually sell (they didn't, and couldn't). This bought TSR about a decade, all while digging themselves deeper and deeper. That's what ultimately bugged me about the video - it is all about reducing a lot of complex history to a fairly facile thesis. While it is good that they recommend source materials, if you are interested in this subject then books like [I]Game Wizards[/I] (in particular) and [I]Slaying the Dragon[/I] (more anecdotal, but still useful) do a much more comprehensive job of detailing the rise and fall and rise and fall of TSR. All that said, I do think the OGL was probably a net benefit to the success of 5e, in particular, though I think the ascendancy of Gen Xers and geek culture in general has been far, far more impactful. I'm not as certain that it has been good for TTRPGs in general. Over the past decade we've seen the D&D ecosystem spread far and wide because there's gold in them thar hills, but this makes me wonder how much it has contributed to the homogenization of the hobby. [/QUOTE]

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