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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7692888" data-attributes="member: 42582">So you're taking the high ground by deriding others' preferences as "average seniors in high school or freshmen in college" rather than childish? With a tactical wargaming jibe for good measure?I'm glad you mentioned B2, though - another Gygax module that I think is better than S1. (I've never done much with the Caves, but have had more than one good experience GMing hijinks in the Keep, mostly involving the evil priest disguised as good.)On G2, it uses the three dimensions of the geography in a way that I've never seen replicated in a D&D module (not that I own the full set, but I've read a few). And consistently with the comments made by the Alarums and Excursions critic that I quoted - and quite at odds with your tactical wargame comment - it has a lot of scope for dealing with NPCs, striking or fracturing alliances, etc. It's a very dynamic environment where the dynamics of the geographic environment and the dynamics of the social environment are in synergy.These comments make me wonder whether you've read the GMing advice for the games you're criticising (FATE, BW, maybe HeroWars/Quest and/or the various -World games?), let alone played them. These games describe and demonstrate play in far more detail than Gygax does (the closest he comes is not in his DMG at all, but in the closing pages of his PHB), and their authors manifestly realise that there is far more to GMing procedures and techniques than just the rules. Their advice and explanations reflect this.I think one of the relevant factors is that, in fact, the "Ask a Friend" spells aren't limited. There is no clock in ToH.This seems to me to drive home [MENTION=31506]ehren37[/MENTION]'s point: optimal play of ToH (with a flying thief on a rope, or sheep being herded through the dungeon, or summoned monsters - the "cannon fodder" someone mentioned upthread) can tend to be boring. This come through in the Alarums and Excursions comment that I quoted upthread: no NPCs to engage with, no dynamism. It's one of the most static adventuring environments ever published, I think.</blockquote>

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