Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="smetzger" data-source="post: 8563143" data-attributes="member: 1230">I didn't read the whole thread, so I apologize if it has already been mentioned... internet, social media, and online availability of rules and alternate rules.1e - We had Dragon Magazine and Tournaments.  This resulted in very little cross-pollination of ideas and when it happened it was a slow process.  This is also a reason why it is difficult to quantify the feel of playing 1e D&D.2e - Dragon Magazine, Tournaments, and later in the life we had newsgroups rec.games.frp.dnd  at the very tail end there was an official D&D website (remember the Beholder on the front page).  Still very little cross-pollination of ideas and it was slow.3/3.5e - Internet blows up. Eric Noah's site (pre-cursor to this site) and discussion forums. Ruleset is put online (OGL) and any individual could easily post their rules variations online.  The result is cross-pollination of ideas proliferates very quickly.  Combined with the granular and detailed nature of the rule sets this results in a meta-game of optimized character creation.I have not yet moved on from 3.5e, so I cannot comment on the later additions.</blockquote>