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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DMScott" data-source="post: 1190149" data-attributes="member: 11734">My personal tastes up front: I really like Gygax's adventures. I really don't think he's very good at writing rulebooks and non-adventure supplements. Also, my opinions are those of a gamer with no special knowledge of the industry.Back in the early 80s, there were two main reasons Gygax wasn't viewed with universal love among gamers, and they're somewhat interconnected. The first was the sprawl of the AD&D rules system, which was spread over more than a dozen hardcover rulebooks and many other supplements - a lot of it very poorly balanced (which may not have been Gygax' fault, but still was seen as his responsibility - his name was on the cover, after all). Second, was the stance on official AD&D products and intellectual property - I still remember tossing a Dragon magazine across the room after reading a Gygax editorial piece that said I wasn't playing AD&D unless all my gaming stuff had TSR logos on it. These two aspects combined to produce an unfriendly environment at conventions and such. Imagine being told you're not playing AD&D because you use a supplement by Judges' Guild!So, I was one of the gamers who was happy to see him out of TSR. Reading some of his other stuff post-TSR didn't make me change my mind - Cyborg Commando had an entertaining setting but really awful rules, Role-Playing Mastery and Mastery of the Game looked like they were trying to set up a level advancement system for players and DMS, and the Dangerous Journeys stuff ranged from "OK" on down to "awful". The d20 era, allowing other companies such a huge amount of access to D&D, seems to me to be a 180 degree turn from the position Gygax took. In summary, I like a lot of his work. Any Gygax adventure is pretty much an automatic buy for me. I'm really happy he helped create the game that has given me such enjoyment for about 25 years. But I'm also happy he left TSR when he did.</blockquote>

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