TSR How Did I Survive AD&D? Fudging and Railroads, Apparently

[Retreater]

Twist the OP didn't survive AD&D and has been dead this whole time!!!!!

I'm the Darklord in my own Ravenloft Domain of Dread, cursed to run unsatisfying games for my players.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I'm the Darklord in my own Ravenloft Domain of Dread, cursed to run unsatisfying games for my players.

And the worst part is, you were railroaded into it

 

[CleverNickName]

And the worst part is, you were railroaded into it

 

[PHATsakk43]

Gygax later made derogatory comments indicating he was pretty hostile to "thespian" play, and very much expected players to have more of a pawn stance to their characters, as you note re White Plume Mountain. This fits with the general Wargame approach of D&D pre the Hickman Revolution.

Yeah, there was definitely something there where it seemed that Gygax had a different idea of what the game was compared with what a lot of the players did.

I totally get both sides of the argument. Gygax was really (I think based upon what I’ve read over the years) looking at the published game as sort of a “tournament rules” where the “role” in role playing was more the idea of classes having a specific job and rewards were based upon how a player “kept in there lane”.

Which, if you’re looking at the game from the perspective of it being something done somewhat formally and competitively in focused groups, like a local bowling or softball league, this makes sense.

At the same time, there is a significant amount of anecdotal information that Gygax ran quite a “thespian” style of game in private. I think that many of us probably do as well.

I’m 45 and never have played in a tournament nor have I ever been to a convention, so the play style I developed was basically just the same as playing army in the woods with the neighborhood kids. It was just make believe with some guidelines to add some verisimilitude to our imaginations.

Now that I’m older, and if I had the opportunity to run a time limited convention game, I’d probably hew closer to a “crunchy” style and let the chips fall as they would. I don’t think that anyone at that setting would be looking particularly hard for character development.

On the other hand, in my basement with friends and family, if I wanted to play in this kind of a game, I’d probably just run HeroQuest instead of D&D.

 

[Emerikol]

At the same time, there is a significant amount of anecdotal information that Gygax ran quite a “thespian” style of game in private. I think that many of us probably do as well.
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I wouldn't use the word Thespian as it has some negative connotations in some circles but overall I agree. I think stories emerge from games. It's a game and stories emerge.

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On the other hand, in my basement with friends and family, if I wanted to play in this kind of a game, I’d probably just run HeroQuest instead of D&D.

Absolutely. The greatness of D&D is doing something you really can't do in any other type of game.