D&D General Introduction in the 1978 1st Edition AD&D Player's Handbook

[kamakiriad1971]

It's all easily dealt with by adhering to the "your character couldn't possibly know that" principle.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Jon Peterson's book The Elusive Shift does a really great job of showing us just how disparate the 'roleplaying game' phenomenon got blown apart in just the initial six years of the late 1970s in terms of what it was, how it should be used, and who it was for.

Gygax was just one singular voice amongst dozens upon dozens of well-known (at the time) people in that gaming sphere all with opinions on what Dungeons & Dragons and roleplaying games were meant to be. Sure, his platform was higher that many others... but he most certainly did not have the only voice in the room. So his opinions on his own game and the genre in general had many, many detractors, despite him being the one with his name on the cover.

 

[delericho]

I'd always imagined that the staff at the TSR offices would take turns DMing and being players in each other's campaigns rather than having a 'forever DM' kind of situation.

Apparently there was a long spell when most folks at TSR not only didn't play but were actually contemptuous of those who did.

Which probably explains a lot of the trouble they ran into in the 90s.

 

[Reynard]

Apparently there was a long spell when most folks at TSR not only didn't play but were actually contemptuous of those who did.

Which probably explains a lot of the trouble they ran into in the 90s.

"Most"?

I'm going to have to ask you for a citation.

 

[Joshua Randall]

"The game is ideally for three or more adult players".

"You interact with your fellow role players, not as Jim and Bob and Mary that work at the office together, but as Falstaff the fighter, Agnore the cleric and Filmar the mistress of magic".

I’ve always thought it was part tongue in cheek, and part warning label that you KNOW is going to attract those under the recommended age. Because what could be more appealing to a kid than a product which says “for adults only!!1!!!11!!! No really I mean it!”

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Apparently there was a long spell when most folks at TSR not only didn't play but were actually contemptuous of those who did.

Which probably explains a lot of the trouble they ran into in the 90s.

Beedeebeedeebeedee...

 

[delericho]

Beedeebeedeebeedee...

???

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

???

Buck Rogers, Lorraine, pulling out of a nose dive and going into a flat spin instead, etc.

 

[Charlaquin]

So Basic D&D (the B/X later BECMI) was D&D geared toward children. "Advanced" D&D was geared towards adults. The assumption was you would play Basic when you're younger (due to the simpler chargen, less rules, and less planar influences) and then graduate to "adult" D&D when you sought greater nuance and more sophisticated mechanics.

Of course, the grand irony is that AD&D became the entry-point of D&D for most people anyway, and the OS movement has a far greater love for B/X simplicity over AD&D's convolution if the retro-clones have anything to say.

But yes, you were supposed to graduate from kiddie/basic to adult/advanced, hence Gygax addressing adults in the PHB...

Makes sense that it would end up going this way. I feel like having a “more is better” attitude is more common with younger folks, whereas the idea that a creation is done where there’s nothing more you can take away (rather than when there’s nothing more you can add) is more common with older folks.

 

[delericho]

"Most"?

I'm going to have to ask you for a citation.

Okay, fair enough, that's an overstatement. Perils of posting in too much haste.