Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="GreyICE" data-source="post: 6009944" data-attributes="member: 6684526">As the author of the OP, I can tell you two things.&nbsp; First, it wasn't an attack on any game system.&nbsp; Gary didn't like 3E much.&nbsp; I doubt he'd like 4E.&nbsp; It's pretty obvious to me that he had constructed his perfect gaming system at some point, and his philosophy was never one of change for the sake of change.&nbsp; He wanted D&amp;D to achieve a state of perfection - simple, streamlined rules, unified system, good design.&nbsp; And he wanted to leave it like that.&nbsp; He didn't envision class bloat or tables for combing your hair or anything else, he liked the simple, basic system.&nbsp; He saw D&amp;D being like chess - achieve a good state and remain there, static and unchanging.&nbsp; No edition of D&amp;D has ever attempted to follow this paradigm.&nbsp; It was simply some thoughts that Gary had on the realism debate.&nbsp; Since the debate had been cropping up quite a bit, and I happened to read this recently, I found it fascinating.&nbsp; Not all of Gary's writing is fascinating, but to this day some of it resonates very strongly with me, and this was one of those pieces.&nbsp; It's a brief shining moment where he just sits down and TALKS to the reader, telling them exactly what he wants to accomplish.&nbsp; Not moderated by editors, or marketing departments or anything else, just straight chatting with the reader like he's on the couch with you and you're both cracking beers and relaxing.&nbsp; And second, this wasn't an edition war.&nbsp; If it was construed that way, maybe those construing it as such are a tad too personally invested in this.&nbsp; Gygax is not Jesus, he is one designer who did some great things and some awful things - the life of any game designer anywhere, ever.&nbsp; He had opinions and was not shy about stating them.&nbsp; You may agree with some and disagree with others.But E. Gary Gygax was never, ever boring.P.S.&nbsp; I have no idea why this is in news, but I'm glad someone enjoyed it enough to move it here!&nbsp; Dragon Magazine number 16, I believe the scans are online somewhere if you want to read these old, long out-of-print works no one is making any money on.&nbsp;&nbsp; Also (un)reason is doing an <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/239789-lets-read-entire-run.html" target="_blank">amazing review of each issue</a> if you want to figure out where the highlights are.&nbsp; Or just enjoy his sense of humor and witty writing, which is reason enough to read the thread (even if he has an unflattering picture of Gary at times <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GreyICE, post: 6009944, member: 6684526"] As the author of the OP, I can tell you two things. First, it wasn't an attack on any game system. Gary didn't like 3E much. I doubt he'd like 4E. It's pretty obvious to me that he had constructed his perfect gaming system at some point, and his philosophy was never one of change for the sake of change. He wanted D&D to achieve a state of perfection - simple, streamlined rules, unified system, good design. And he wanted to leave it like that. He didn't envision class bloat or tables for combing your hair or anything else, he liked the simple, basic system. He saw D&D being like chess - achieve a good state and remain there, static and unchanging. No edition of D&D has ever attempted to follow this paradigm. It was simply some thoughts that Gary had on the realism debate. Since the debate had been cropping up quite a bit, and I happened to read this recently, I found it fascinating. Not all of Gary's writing is fascinating, but to this day some of it resonates very strongly with me, and this was one of those pieces. It's a brief shining moment where he just sits down and TALKS to the reader, telling them exactly what he wants to accomplish. Not moderated by editors, or marketing departments or anything else, just straight chatting with the reader like he's on the couch with you and you're both cracking beers and relaxing. And second, this wasn't an edition war. If it was construed that way, maybe those construing it as such are a tad too personally invested in this. Gygax is not Jesus, he is one designer who did some great things and some awful things - the life of any game designer anywhere, ever. He had opinions and was not shy about stating them. You may agree with some and disagree with others. But E. Gary Gygax was never, ever boring. P.S. I have no idea why this is in news, but I'm glad someone enjoyed it enough to move it here! Dragon Magazine number 16, I believe the scans are online somewhere if you want to read these old, long out-of-print works no one is making any money on. Also (un)reason is doing an [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/239789-lets-read-entire-run.html"]amazing review of each issue[/URL] if you want to figure out where the highlights are. Or just enjoy his sense of humor and witty writing, which is reason enough to read the thread (even if he has an unflattering picture of Gary at times ;) ). [/QUOTE]

Verification