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 the Design Principles in Early D&D
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="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8594335" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>I grew up with TSR D&D, and Gygax's writing still makes me go cross-eyed.</p><p></p><p>I don't object to long-winded writers--I mean, here I am in a Snarf thread! But Snarf is writing essays, not rulebooks. More to the point, his prose is pretty clean and straightforward; there's just a lot of it. Gygax's writing was full of false starts, overuse of the passive voice, irrelevant parentheticals, and obscure words used in not <em>quite</em> the right way. (In Snarf's example, Gygax clearly thought you could just drop in "weal" anywhere you'd normally say "good." The two words have very similar meanings, but "weal" typically requires an indication of who or what is benefiting.)</p><p></p><p>Gygax seems to have aspired to Dickensian style, but he did not have the mastery of the craft and the sense of timing that allowed Dickens to pull off his baroque half-page sentences*. Also, there are some people who should on no account be allowed access to a thesaurus.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">*I am not a Dickens fan. But I can appreciate his skill even if I don't usually like the results.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8594335, member: 58197"] I grew up with TSR D&D, and Gygax's writing still makes me go cross-eyed. I don't object to long-winded writers--I mean, here I am in a Snarf thread! But Snarf is writing essays, not rulebooks. More to the point, his prose is pretty clean and straightforward; there's just a lot of it. Gygax's writing was full of false starts, overuse of the passive voice, irrelevant parentheticals, and obscure words used in not [I]quite[/I] the right way. (In Snarf's example, Gygax clearly thought you could just drop in "weal" anywhere you'd normally say "good." The two words have very similar meanings, but "weal" typically requires an indication of who or what is benefiting.) Gygax seems to have aspired to Dickensian style, but he did not have the mastery of the craft and the sense of timing that allowed Dickens to pull off his baroque half-page sentences*. Also, there are some people who should on no account be allowed access to a thesaurus. [SIZE=3]*I am not a Dickens fan. But I can appreciate his skill even if I don't usually like the results.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Understanding the Design Principles in Early D&D
Top