D&D General Melf's Guide to Greyhawk Coming From Luke Gygax & WotC

[VashVet]

Did he though?

I haven't watched the video, but I got the impression that Ayoub was apologizing that there has been a long rift between the GAME and the Gygax family (including Gary, of course). Beginning with TSR, and continuing with WotC.

Has WotC treated Gygax poorly? In what way? Initially Adkinson brought Gary on as a consultant on 3E, but that didn't last too long. Luke has also been a consultant more recently, but it's still been a while until "Melf's Guide".

So in the video, around the 5:15 mark, Ayoub says that he felt like they had lost touch with the gamers who came before us and he wanted meet with Luke Gygax to mend whatever rift had come between the family and the franchise business. Joe Manganiello was key to getting the two of them together to talk it over and they both felt like the two guys who could fix whatever divide existed.

The impression I got is this is more of a “Why is there even a rift to begin with?” kind of thing. People sometimes just carry on whatever animosity may have existed in the past between others. Sometimes it’s just because no one ever reaches out to begin with.

Really, it’s this:

 

[Dire Bare]

I assume it's about the Making of OD&D book that got Rob Kuntz all angry and defensive because it called out some of Gygax opinions for what they were. Which is weird because Gary was dead at the time so he wasn't treated in any way at all.

Yeah, Ayoub certainly did not apologize for that!

 

[wizard71]

Did he though?

I haven't watched the video, but I got the impression that Ayoub was apologizing that there has been a long rift between the GAME and the Gygax family (including Gary, of course). Beginning with TSR, and continuing with WotC.

Has WotC treated Gygax poorly? In what way? Initially Adkinson brought Gary on as a consultant on 3E, but that didn't last too long. Luke has also been a consultant more recently, but it's still been a while until "Melf's Guide".

Yes, they did. The book by Ben Riggs was very much in the blame Gygax vein and a thread on this site tried to shift all blame to Gygax for the fall of TSR even though he was long gone after the collapse took place and Lorraine Williams was running the show.

 

[wizard71]

So in the video, around the 5:15 mark, Ayoub says that he felt like they had lost touch with the gamers who came before us and he wanted meet with Luke Gygax to mend whatever rift had come between the family and the franchise business. Joe Manganiello was key to getting the two of them together to talk it over and they both felt like the two guys who could fix whatever divide existed.

The impression I got is this is more of a “Why is there even a rift to begin with?” kind of thing. People sometimes just carry on whatever animosity may have existed in the past between others. Sometimes it’s just because no one ever reaches out to begin with.

Really, it’s this:

Actually many of the old D&D team felt that WOTC shafted them. Weis and Hickman sued them in court to get them to honor their book deal. Professor Dungeon Master said he felt insulted and made a video about it and the TSR apology also.

 

[wizard71]

Yeah, Ayoub certainly did not apologize for that!

Then what do you think he meant about reconnecting with older players again? Wa it the terrible dwarves baking art he was apologizing for?

 

[VashVet]

Actually many of the old D&D team felt that WOTC shafted them. Weis and Hickman sued them in court to get them to honor their book deal. Professor Dungeon Master said he felt insulted and made a video about it and the TSR apology also.

I’m just pointing out what was said in the video, and my own take on it. I didn’t hear any reference to Weis and Hickman, just the Gygax family. Professor DM is a third party to these affairs so I’m not sure what he has to do with it other than his opinion as a YouTuber.

 

[kronovan]

..Doesn't really change my point at all.

Yup, I wasn't arguing the point that over time dark elves have become equated with evil, but just your assertion that that equating comes from Tolkien's lore or European folklore. I'm personally not bothered by WotC having varying skin tones for Elves, because there's been differences and diversity among Elves going back to their very foundation in literature.

 

[humble minion]

I'm kind of a proponent of WotC using different settings as exemplars of different ways to play the game. VRGtR had some great genre advice etc for horror games, for instance, but you could very easily go further with additional rules systems, optional mechanics etc. I just haven't always agreed with how they've done it. FR is obviously the default setting, where all the standard rules apply. Strixhaven probably should have been positioned hard as the 'nonviolent solutions' setting, but they kinda half-baked that and split chunks of it off to Witchlight. Dragonlance via SotDQ was pushed as 'the war setting' which was a bit of a misfire on a number of fronts, partly because the board game they were promoting vanished without a trace (other than remainder outlets) and DL was always about personal relationships and melodrama first, with war as just a backdrop. It should have been the 'narrative control' setting with all sorts of extra mechanics leveraging bonds and flaws etc. Dark Sun, if/when it comes, could be the survivalist setting (nerf goodberry!) or the bastion building setting where you try to build up your free village in the wastes against the threat of monsters and the power of the citystates.

In that light, it makes a lot of sense to have a setting which exemplifies old-school higher-lethality play with lots of dungeon crawling etc, and Greyhawk seems an excellent choice for this. It's not my preferred way to play, but it's a very valid and time-honoured one, and it makes sense for WotC to cater for that audience.

 

[mamba]

Yes, they did. The book by Ben Riggs was very much in the blame Gygax vein and a thread on this site tried to shift all blame to Gygax for the fall of TSR even though he was long gone after the collapse took place and Lorraine Williams was running the show.

Book by Ben Riggs? For one that is not from WotC, so they have nothing to apologize for, and for another, you are mischaracterizing it.

 

[GothmogIV]

Maybe Luke will make a gritter, OSR-like variant set in Greyhawk. My joy would be substantial.