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Rob Kuntz Recounts The Origins Of D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7795993" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I think it is clear and has been clear for decades and was known to be back even in the '80s that Gygax was the co-creator of D&D along with Dave Arneson. </p><p></p><p>Looking back at both men's life, it's clear that Arneson was a brilliant man who played the first true RPG ever played - in part using Gygax's rules. But it isn't the fact that he used Gygax's tactical combat rules that made Gygax the co-creator. For all of Arneson's brilliance it's clear that there was one area he was deficient in, and that was communicating the ideas in his head to anyone except through first hand examples. He never was a great writer, and you can tell that by looking at the body of work he ultimately produced. Arneson could only distribute and disseminate an RPG by having people play one with him. When he showed that to Gygax, it was Gygax that formulated how to tell people how to do this new thing called an RPG for the first time just by reading some rules, and the act of doing that meant that those idea inherently became in part Gygax's.</p><p></p><p>I disagree that Gygax was motivated by jealousy of Arneson. Indeed, I think Gygax initially probably saw Arneson as the expert and at least an equal if not senior partner in the project to make Arenson's ideas distributable (and sellable), and the two had intended an amicable and equal relationship from the start. It's only after Arneson doesn't meet Gygax's standards for being prolific and productive that the relation starts breaking down and the two men begin to annoy each other severely and ultimately an acrimonious relationship develops. Gygax would go on to build a bunch of stuff. Arneson had the pedigree to be just as productive, even without Gygax's name, but never produced anything that had a bunch of impact. Gygax got the acclaim not because we didn't know Arneson had been first and had the ideas first, but because it was Gygax's stuff that we gravitated to playing. It's not judging between the two, but simply a fact of their varied talents. Partnerships are hard. Writing is hard. </p><p></p><p>Honestly, I thought the piece didn't do a lot of credit to the people quoted in it. Trying to tell the story as if one side or the other was the villain I think misses the point. Mistakes probably were made on both sides. But I don't think there is a black and white story here, that the writer of the piece seems to want to tell, and to the extent that they want to tell it that way, I think it is a matter of their personal biases and not good history. </p><p></p><p>See similar stories about the invention of Calculus, or who is The Founder of McDonalds.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7795993, member: 4937"] I think it is clear and has been clear for decades and was known to be back even in the '80s that Gygax was the co-creator of D&D along with Dave Arneson. Looking back at both men's life, it's clear that Arneson was a brilliant man who played the first true RPG ever played - in part using Gygax's rules. But it isn't the fact that he used Gygax's tactical combat rules that made Gygax the co-creator. For all of Arneson's brilliance it's clear that there was one area he was deficient in, and that was communicating the ideas in his head to anyone except through first hand examples. He never was a great writer, and you can tell that by looking at the body of work he ultimately produced. Arneson could only distribute and disseminate an RPG by having people play one with him. When he showed that to Gygax, it was Gygax that formulated how to tell people how to do this new thing called an RPG for the first time just by reading some rules, and the act of doing that meant that those idea inherently became in part Gygax's. I disagree that Gygax was motivated by jealousy of Arneson. Indeed, I think Gygax initially probably saw Arneson as the expert and at least an equal if not senior partner in the project to make Arenson's ideas distributable (and sellable), and the two had intended an amicable and equal relationship from the start. It's only after Arneson doesn't meet Gygax's standards for being prolific and productive that the relation starts breaking down and the two men begin to annoy each other severely and ultimately an acrimonious relationship develops. Gygax would go on to build a bunch of stuff. Arneson had the pedigree to be just as productive, even without Gygax's name, but never produced anything that had a bunch of impact. Gygax got the acclaim not because we didn't know Arneson had been first and had the ideas first, but because it was Gygax's stuff that we gravitated to playing. It's not judging between the two, but simply a fact of their varied talents. Partnerships are hard. Writing is hard. Honestly, I thought the piece didn't do a lot of credit to the people quoted in it. Trying to tell the story as if one side or the other was the villain I think misses the point. Mistakes probably were made on both sides. But I don't think there is a black and white story here, that the writer of the piece seems to want to tell, and to the extent that they want to tell it that way, I think it is a matter of their personal biases and not good history. See similar stories about the invention of Calculus, or who is The Founder of McDonalds. [/QUOTE]
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