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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bendris Noulg" data-source="post: 1543899" data-attributes="member: 6398">Well, as stated, I just loaned the thing out, but as I recall, it was hardley anything to hoot and holler about.  At best, it provided "background" information that, at best, only contributes to the stage rather than making the stage a "living" component of the game in play. As for the rest, I want to assume that you are looking at the 1E DMG (when D&D was still close to its wargaming roots), in which case the information was indeed scarce, but, as I stated, was also in its infancy.  The stuff I'm referring to became more noticable as the game matured and grew.  With 1E, Gygax and company only had a minimal understanding of what they had started; with 2E, the concept of role-play was fully embraced within every element of the system (i.e., the game was presented as a role-playing game where in the purpose was to role-play).  This is when you see constant references of "depending on the setting", or "as determined in role-play", and so forth.  And this is what's missing from 3E and why it presents itself as a de-evolution of an RPG (regardless of the advancments made in the mechanics) by drawing back to its wargaming roots not just in the rules but in over-all presentation. For instance, the section in the DMG does present the DM with information and ideas.  However, the possibility of changing the setting (i.e., the presumed default conditions) are hardly (indeed, are never) addressed throughout any of the other rules, particularly the Player's Handbook.  In short, the encouraging and motivating text is confined to the GM's book, in a chapter that may or may not be paid attention to*, where as in 2E, it was found throughout the entirety of both. So, yes, you are right, the "text" is still there, but the motivation, encouragement, and re-inforcement of role-play throughout the whole is absent. *By comparison, consider what the DMG says about game balance in the first chapter, a chapter rarely looked at after being read because it contains no actual numerical rules, and then compare that to the attitude some people have that the rules, as written, are the balance of the game ("the" meaning "one and only" in this instance, rather than just one example of such).</blockquote>

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