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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Smeelbo" data-source="post: 5014124" data-attributes="member: 81898">No, the 70's was the Golden AgeI found very compelling the definition given by an earlier poster, for the Golden Age as a time when "Things Were Done for the First Time," really means that the 70's were definitely the Golden Age of D&D. An age of heroes, when man was closer to the gods. Obviously, D&D itself was first published in 1974, and it really was very different from the games that existed previously. Rather than the rules providing for the resolution of a specific conflict, D&D provides for a sandbox, a toolkit for creating worlds and playing with them. In 1975, Warlock, a D&D variant developed by students at CalTech and MIT, was published, both on paper, and on the ArpaNet. Revisions, expansions, and errata for Warlock were distributed on the ArpaNet, which was also used to participate in the first, primitive MMORPG. A persistant campaign world, an entire planet mapped out in hexes, was maintained, and the results of in-person, pen-and-paper D&D sessions were uploaded to the world model, the results propigating to the other campaigns. This was the first global D&D campaign. In 1977, DunDraCon, one of the first D&D conventions, opened its doors at the Dunfey Hotel, a hotel in San Mateo built like a castle. Next February marks the 34th DunDraCon. The late 70's marked an explosion of unauthorized D&D supplements: additional monsters, spells, character races and classes, alternate combat, skill and magic systems, adventures, worlds, fiction, art, magic items, all without the benefit of an Open Lisence, or lisence of any kind for that matter. Most of it was cheaply made, and enthusiasticly amateurish, but there was so much inspiration. Mention has been made of Earl Otus, but I saw his work for the first time in The Arduin Grimoire, by the late Dave Hargrave, a DM of fearsome reputation. Alarums & Excursions was a D&D fanzine, composed of xeroxed or mimeographed pages submitted by dozens of authors and stapled together into a package almost half an inch thick. Art, fiction, alternate rules, campaign reports, and published frequently. While not strictly D&D, the original Empire of the Petal Throne, itself one of the oldest RPG's, was the first detailed campaign setting. The boxed set included multiple, large, multicolored hex maps printed on cloth backed vinyl. We will not see its like again. The late 70's also saw the first Science Fiction RPG, Traveller, still widely played, and Superhero 2044, the first comic book RPG. While neither is D&D, both are indicative of the primal creative power that characterizes a Golden Age. So, I'm sorry children, but the 80's were definitely not the Golden Age of Dungeons and Dragons. The Golden Age is the Age of Heroes, an Age of Firsts, when Man was closer to the Gods. If anything, the 80's were an age of disappointment, an age where lawyers made the Hand of the Law weigh heavily upon the enthusiasts with the command Cease And Desist! When the Arduin Grimoire and Alarums & Excursions and all their amatuerish ilk were extinguished. And for what? An "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" that was less original and less playable than that which it displaced. Personally, I found AD&D, both 1 & 2, nigh unplayable and quite uninteresting. I have seen the brilliant mad chaos of the Age of Amateurs, and am not impressed by the corporate pablum that drove it into the grave. Dragonlance, barf. Dark Sun, a thematic rip-off. Planescape, the answer to a question that does not interest me. Spelljammer? Gack. I continued to play Warlock at home, home-brews at cons, and did not return to the official D&D fold until the publication of 3.5.  I am not arguing that TSR should not have asserted its rights. I've worked at a game book publisher, and I understand the absolute importance of protecting intellectual property rights. Nor am I saying that the overall quality of the Age of Amateurs was all that golden. What I am saying is that creative chaos saw much inspiration and invention. And that was the Golden Age. If anything, we live now in a better era for roleplaying games. The creativity unleashed by the Open Gaming Lisence, and the Independent Gaming Movement has given us games, like Spirit of the Century, that are well beyond anything we have seen before. The amateurs, as it were, are now far more professional. Smeelbo</blockquote>

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