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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8281031" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Building on this - when you read Gygax's rulebooks and especially his DMG, you can see in so many places how <em>decisions that have been made by him in the course of adjudicating and preparing for an "evolving" game</em> are presented as <em>frozen/locked in completely devoid of that "ecological" context</em>.</p><p></p><p>Which I think is quite weird, and in some ways self-defeating. Rather than give us his solutions to his problems - ear seekers, lurkers above, 100 rules for opening doors, guidelines on how NPC MUs will never teach spells, etc - it would be better to identify possible pressure point of play, and places where the GM is likely to need to exercise control. And then encourage each GM to find his/her own approach and way of handling things.</p><p></p><p>I know the previous paragraph is a bit unrealistic in that it is calling for a degree of self-conscious reflection that is unlikely in the early days of an activity. (Though in some ways Tunnels & Trolls has more of this than Gygax, and was written not that much later.) But it's a bit odd that things are <em>still</em> frozen all these years later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8281031, member: 42582"] Building on this - when you read Gygax's rulebooks and especially his DMG, you can see in so many places how [I]decisions that have been made by him in the course of adjudicating and preparing for an "evolving" game[/I] are presented as [I]frozen/locked in completely devoid of that "ecological" context[/I]. Which I think is quite weird, and in some ways self-defeating. Rather than give us his solutions to his problems - ear seekers, lurkers above, 100 rules for opening doors, guidelines on how NPC MUs will never teach spells, etc - it would be better to identify possible pressure point of play, and places where the GM is likely to need to exercise control. And then encourage each GM to find his/her own approach and way of handling things. I know the previous paragraph is a bit unrealistic in that it is calling for a degree of self-conscious reflection that is unlikely in the early days of an activity. (Though in some ways Tunnels & Trolls has more of this than Gygax, and was written not that much later.) But it's a bit odd that things are [I]still[/I] frozen all these years later. [/QUOTE]
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