D&D General Not the Wicked Witch: Revisiting the Legacy of Lorraine Williams

[Mistwell]

In classic "I don't want to hear dissent, but I want you to hear what I have to say instead" form, Snarf replied to my challenge, and then blocked me. Knowing I cannot read the reply, but others can. Which is messed up. You want to block me, that's fine. But don't reply first and then block so you get some cheap last word in there.

 

[Mistwell]

I bet you don't even look anything like your avatar. What are you trying to hide?

I admit I am not a giant meatball.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh is it already that time of the year for this topic to be recycled, again with the usual suspects making the same arguments they made last time, being refuted by the same usual suspects who made the same refutations last time?

Gosh, I thought it was "Fudging Dice is Wrong" August.

Mod Note:

Oh is it already that time of the year for people to forget to quietly report things they believe problematic instead of threadcrapping and escalating the tensions in the thread?

C’mon, son!

 

[Clint_L]

In classic "I don't want to hear dissent, but I want you to hear what I have to say instead" form, Snarf replied to my challenge, and then blocked me. Knowing I cannot read the reply, but others can. Which is messed up. You want to block me, that's fine. But don't reply first and then block so you get some cheap last word in there.

I don't think it's etiquette to discuss specific instances of when people choose to block each other. On a general note, I will say that when I block people, it's not them, it's me. I do it when future conversations are unlikely to be productive and likely to get stank on the forum. I do it as a form of self-discipline, in other words, and I suspect that is often what folks are doing. I wouldn't assume that it's personal.

 

[damiller]

I just listened to the penultimate episode, the reenactment of the board meeting. And it was around there that I just found it jaw dropping that Gary argued that to Lorraine and the board that he, only he had the rights to all of the material he produced for TSR. In other words law for thee but not for me. Wow

The other thing I found weird throughout the podcast was creatives saying, "X doesn't know the business of D&D" First off, if it was a such a new thing, then no one knows the business, and two, its not like they created book publishing, tv distribution, or the like. Those had, and still do have, specific "life cycles" that any business looking to get into business in those areas, have to follow.

 

[Clint_L]

I just listened to the penultimate episode, the reenactment of the board meeting. And it was around there that I just found it jaw dropping that Gary argued that to Lorraine and the board that he, only he had the rights to all of the material he produced for TSR. In other words law for thee but not for me. Wow

That blew me away, also. But, in the sense of Greek tragedy, it is a near perfect example of hubris. The very contract that Gygax used to control everyone else, and himself signed assuming that it didn't really apply to him personally, was what undid him. Hearing Gygax (through a good voice actor reading Gygax's actual words) be so dismissive of the contract that he and Kevin Blume had so ruthlessly enforced was /chef's kiss from a dramatic perspective.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I just listened to the penultimate episode, the reenactment of the board meeting. And it was around there that I just found it jaw dropping that Gary argued that to Lorraine and the board that he, only he had the rights to all of the material he produced for TSR. In other words law for thee but not for me. Wow

The other thing I found weird throughout the podcast was creatives saying, "X doesn't know the business of D&D" First off, if it was a such a new thing, then no one knows the business, and two, its not like they created book publishing, tv distribution, or the like. Those had, and still do have, specific "life cycles" that any business looking to get into business in those areas, have to follow.

I have a love for the old D&D materials, and, yes, for Gygax's purplish verbiage (I know, shocker) that will never abate. I may write about this in a longer post, but I will always be thankful to him for the hours upon hours of joy that the materials he made gave me. That will never go away. Heck, I would argue that Gygax's D&D- the overly verbose passages that used every word in the dictionary (and sometimes invented some) and the arcane rules- likely influenced me in terms of my life and career.

But it is also clear that Gygax did not take well to fame, and that from his move to Hollywood on, he truly lost himself for a while.

 

[Clint_L]

Snarff, I found that final showdown riveting, but I can only imagine what it must have been like from a lawyer's perspective.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Snarff, I found that final showdown riveting, but I can only imagine what it must have been like from a lawyer's perspective.

...painful.

My thought when I was hearing all of it? Gygax hasn't run these ideas by counsel yet, has he? He is simply assuming that things work a certain way, because that's what he wants to believe. But beliefs are not the same as the law.

 

[Eric V]

I don't think it's etiquette to discuss specific instances of when people choose to block each other. On a general note, I will say that when I block people, it's not them, it's me. I do it when future conversations are unlikely to be productive and likely to get stank on the forum. I do it as a form of self-discipline, in other words, and I suspect that is often what folks are doing. I wouldn't assume that it's personal.

You might be right...but maybe Snarf simply didn't like the self-appointed thread police coming in. Not sure why people like doing that.