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*Dungeons & Dragons
The Dueling Essays of Arneson & Gygax
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<blockquote data-quote="Count_Zero" data-source="post: 7805001" data-attributes="member: 40164"><p>The thing is about Gygax and Arneson, going from Playing At The World, is that Arneson, from the sounds of things, really didn't have reproducible, standard rules. He had a whole bunch of notes that <em>he</em> could make heads or tails of, and which Gygax was able to organize, edit, and polish while writing D&D.</p><p></p><p>However, if D&D didn't exist, and we were solely relying on Arneson - fantasy roleplaying probably wouldn't exist now. You wanted to learn how to roleplay, you'd have to know someone in Arneson's group, or someone who knew someone in Arneson's group, in order to basically be inducted into the mysteries of Roleplaying. And if for some reason you didn't get along with that person, then you're out of luck. Similarly, under this scenario, if the members of Arneson's groups (or the members of their groups) didn't teach or share the rules - or Arneson didn't decide to induct them in the first place, then the knowledge would be lost.</p><p></p><p>Gygax compiling, editing, and putting his own spin on Arneson's work with D&D allowed fantasy roleplaying to exist in a form outside of the Great Lakes area. As someone who backed the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary, I'm glad to hear more about Arneson's game. However, going by what I know at the present, before the documentary has come out, Dave Arneson is a person who, if Gary had not presented the idea to him, had no intention of editing his rules into a form fit for publication, never mind sharing them outside his circle of friends. Even Braunstein was a relatively local thing, and probably wouldn't have caught on to the same extent.</p><p></p><p>We would not be having this conversation because this forum wouldn't exist, or if it did, we'd be talking about miniatures wargaming. Gary Gygax deserves all the credit he has received, and I'm frankly <em>very</em> annoyed with Kotaku's article on the topic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Count_Zero, post: 7805001, member: 40164"] The thing is about Gygax and Arneson, going from Playing At The World, is that Arneson, from the sounds of things, really didn't have reproducible, standard rules. He had a whole bunch of notes that [I]he[/I] could make heads or tails of, and which Gygax was able to organize, edit, and polish while writing D&D. However, if D&D didn't exist, and we were solely relying on Arneson - fantasy roleplaying probably wouldn't exist now. You wanted to learn how to roleplay, you'd have to know someone in Arneson's group, or someone who knew someone in Arneson's group, in order to basically be inducted into the mysteries of Roleplaying. And if for some reason you didn't get along with that person, then you're out of luck. Similarly, under this scenario, if the members of Arneson's groups (or the members of their groups) didn't teach or share the rules - or Arneson didn't decide to induct them in the first place, then the knowledge would be lost. Gygax compiling, editing, and putting his own spin on Arneson's work with D&D allowed fantasy roleplaying to exist in a form outside of the Great Lakes area. As someone who backed the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary, I'm glad to hear more about Arneson's game. However, going by what I know at the present, before the documentary has come out, Dave Arneson is a person who, if Gary had not presented the idea to him, had no intention of editing his rules into a form fit for publication, never mind sharing them outside his circle of friends. Even Braunstein was a relatively local thing, and probably wouldn't have caught on to the same extent. We would not be having this conversation because this forum wouldn't exist, or if it did, we'd be talking about miniatures wargaming. Gary Gygax deserves all the credit he has received, and I'm frankly [I]very[/I] annoyed with Kotaku's article on the topic. [/QUOTE]
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