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Let's Not Save The World...Again
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<blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7718522" data-attributes="member: 6778044"><p>Because Gary Gygax wrote a lot of editorials, and has answered a lot of questions, and the original players and other designers have also written or responded to a lot regarding their approach and intentions in the design of the game at the time.</p><p></p><p>TSR didn't start releasing adventures until after Judge's Guild did, and showed there was a market for it. But they had been running tournament modules before that. Tomb of Horrors was originally run at home before it was formatted to be a tournament adventure in 1975, but not released as a published product until 1978. Things that became "rules" or "canon" upon the publication, such as what it took to kill Acererak, were partially improvised in the original campaign in response to the actions of the players. </p><p></p><p>While GDQ and the A series certainly had longer APs, most of the adventures released were standalone. The S-series, the B-series, etc. were mostly one-shots that you dropped into a campaign designed by the DM.</p><p></p><p>Don't get me wrong - it doesn't make it the "right" way to play the game or any RPG for that matter. </p><p></p><p>Ed Greenwood's approach is well documented as well, and is even closer to my preferred approach. Note that Ed's novels are under certain contractual obligations (Elminster must appear in every one for example), and aren't necessarily in line with the descriptions of his home campaign. Of course, I'm dependent upon what's been revealed and reported as well, so it might be very different than what I think.</p><p></p><p>In any event, my point is that the way AD&D was written and presented, it was a lot more open-ended in terms of the expected structure. Since the Holmes box along with AD&D were my introduction, the design of Keep on the Borderlands was fairly influential as well. While my friend's parents played D&D at the time, we learned on our own. And pretty much the first thing we (and everybody I met in school that were also players) did, was start to design our own Caves of Chaos copies, with lands around, dungeon and hex crawls. Add in the release of the original World of Greyhawk, and the writings of many in Dragon magazine, and that seemed to be the "proper" way to DM. You fleshed out the world for the characters to explore. </p><p></p><p>My point is simply that this style of play is largely missed by new players. One reason is that back then we had no other frame of reference. Now there's lots of movies, video games, MtG style card games, complex board games, etc. that set expectations to some degree. If you decide you want to learn how to play D&D, you start with the Basic set and the free downloads or the PHB, and then buy an AP. If you're a new DM, you might pick up the DMG. The advice in the DMG is pretty good, and combined with most of the APs it presents one particular style of play.</p><p></p><p>Overall, it makes sense to me, and is a much better way to get folks into the game. There's a much lower level of complexity in terms of learning how to play (and especially how to DM), although it could still be better. But it doesn't do a great job of introducing players to the many playstyles that D&D supports (or spawned with games others have released).</p><p></p><p>I can't say that the old days did it better. It undoubtedly didn't because there was a lot less guidance. Although Dragon magazine was full of articles about different ways of doing things (contrasted by Gary's editorials about how to do it "right."). Even the tone of Sage Advice was very different. And I think that more "adult-oriented" presentation - that it wasn't a game marketed to kids yet - had a significant impact on how a kid like me learned it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ilbranteloth, post: 7718522, member: 6778044"] Because Gary Gygax wrote a lot of editorials, and has answered a lot of questions, and the original players and other designers have also written or responded to a lot regarding their approach and intentions in the design of the game at the time. TSR didn't start releasing adventures until after Judge's Guild did, and showed there was a market for it. But they had been running tournament modules before that. Tomb of Horrors was originally run at home before it was formatted to be a tournament adventure in 1975, but not released as a published product until 1978. Things that became "rules" or "canon" upon the publication, such as what it took to kill Acererak, were partially improvised in the original campaign in response to the actions of the players. While GDQ and the A series certainly had longer APs, most of the adventures released were standalone. The S-series, the B-series, etc. were mostly one-shots that you dropped into a campaign designed by the DM. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't make it the "right" way to play the game or any RPG for that matter. Ed Greenwood's approach is well documented as well, and is even closer to my preferred approach. Note that Ed's novels are under certain contractual obligations (Elminster must appear in every one for example), and aren't necessarily in line with the descriptions of his home campaign. Of course, I'm dependent upon what's been revealed and reported as well, so it might be very different than what I think. In any event, my point is that the way AD&D was written and presented, it was a lot more open-ended in terms of the expected structure. Since the Holmes box along with AD&D were my introduction, the design of Keep on the Borderlands was fairly influential as well. While my friend's parents played D&D at the time, we learned on our own. And pretty much the first thing we (and everybody I met in school that were also players) did, was start to design our own Caves of Chaos copies, with lands around, dungeon and hex crawls. Add in the release of the original World of Greyhawk, and the writings of many in Dragon magazine, and that seemed to be the "proper" way to DM. You fleshed out the world for the characters to explore. My point is simply that this style of play is largely missed by new players. One reason is that back then we had no other frame of reference. Now there's lots of movies, video games, MtG style card games, complex board games, etc. that set expectations to some degree. If you decide you want to learn how to play D&D, you start with the Basic set and the free downloads or the PHB, and then buy an AP. If you're a new DM, you might pick up the DMG. The advice in the DMG is pretty good, and combined with most of the APs it presents one particular style of play. Overall, it makes sense to me, and is a much better way to get folks into the game. There's a much lower level of complexity in terms of learning how to play (and especially how to DM), although it could still be better. But it doesn't do a great job of introducing players to the many playstyles that D&D supports (or spawned with games others have released). I can't say that the old days did it better. It undoubtedly didn't because there was a lot less guidance. Although Dragon magazine was full of articles about different ways of doing things (contrasted by Gary's editorials about how to do it "right."). Even the tone of Sage Advice was very different. And I think that more "adult-oriented" presentation - that it wasn't a game marketed to kids yet - had a significant impact on how a kid like me learned it. [/QUOTE]
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