Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Understanding History: Why Serious Scholarship of D&D Matters
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9073077" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>This is true, and is very important, but there's another factor that I think which needs to be talked about more, which is avoiding (the appearance of) partiality when it comes to writing about history.</p><p></p><p>Although it's fashionable to look down on objectivity as a concept, saying how everything is filtered through one's senses and so no one is ever truly objective, that technical truism is all too often used to dismiss the importance of writers and historians actively trying to remove their own biases from their work to the best extent that they're able. Doing so, I believe, is extremely important, not only because it helps to give a clearer picture of history, but also because even the appearance of partisanship erodes faith in a particular work, since it blurs the line between personal preference and rigorous scholarship.</p><p></p><p>While Peterson does excellent work in this regard, and Appelcline is almost as good, I find that Riggs tends to take the opposite approach, eschewing what I suspects he thinks of as a "dry" presentation of history in favor of sensationalism. He not only openly inserts himself into the narrative (I had so many professors who would have screamed at the use of "I" in a history work, notwithstanding a quote), but repeatedly makes it clear how he feels about the individuals he's writing about (read <em>Slaying the Dragon</em> and take a drink every time Riggs refers to Gary Gygax as "Saint Gary"; see how many it takes before you pass out). All of which is a shame, because his work presents a lot of insightful materials in terms of both quotes and facts (though I honestly wish he had put more of his data points into his book, rather than on his Twitter feed).</p><p></p><p>I agree that the history of our hobby needs <strong>serious</strong> scholarship, as opposed to scholarship that's presented like something you'd find on Gawker.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 9073077, member: 8461"] This is true, and is very important, but there's another factor that I think which needs to be talked about more, which is avoiding (the appearance of) partiality when it comes to writing about history. Although it's fashionable to look down on objectivity as a concept, saying how everything is filtered through one's senses and so no one is ever truly objective, that technical truism is all too often used to dismiss the importance of writers and historians actively trying to remove their own biases from their work to the best extent that they're able. Doing so, I believe, is extremely important, not only because it helps to give a clearer picture of history, but also because even the appearance of partisanship erodes faith in a particular work, since it blurs the line between personal preference and rigorous scholarship. While Peterson does excellent work in this regard, and Appelcline is almost as good, I find that Riggs tends to take the opposite approach, eschewing what I suspects he thinks of as a "dry" presentation of history in favor of sensationalism. He not only openly inserts himself into the narrative (I had so many professors who would have screamed at the use of "I" in a history work, notwithstanding a quote), but repeatedly makes it clear how he feels about the individuals he's writing about (read [I]Slaying the Dragon[/I] and take a drink every time Riggs refers to Gary Gygax as "Saint Gary"; see how many it takes before you pass out). All of which is a shame, because his work presents a lot of insightful materials in terms of both quotes and facts (though I honestly wish he had put more of his data points into his book, rather than on his Twitter feed). I agree that the history of our hobby needs [B]serious[/B] scholarship, as opposed to scholarship that's presented like something you'd find on Gawker. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Understanding History: Why Serious Scholarship of D&D Matters
Top