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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 8055455" data-attributes="member: 4348">Well...what are the Wizard of Oz books?Are they anything made by anyone that has the land of Oz with it, or are they strictly the book series and things created by Frank Baum?What is the Lord of the Ring?Is it the items written by J.R.R. Tolkien and his designated heirs, or is it anything anyone puts out with the name Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth put on it?I think in both cases you have what one could call the official works, and those that are by other authors.   One is the REAL, or official setting and writings, the others are more fandom items, made for fans and having their own Canon, but not recognized by the Author's as compatible with what they created.In otherwords, to be official it needs to be recognized as such by the author, or at a minimum be compatible with what they made and wrote.In that light, for the Wizard of Oz, only the selected works by Frank Baum are the REAL Land of OZ, they being the official canon and creations of him.There is an entire universe for the Land of Oz beyond that, and which many fans enjoy, which is also the Land of Oz and the Wizard of Oz, but they are not the REAL OZ, merely artifacts that have their own creation and universe.  The foundation is something different.In that light, only the items approved by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien and recognized as part of the Lord of the Rings/Middle-Earth Mythos are actually the OFFICIAL canon, or official world and canon of it.Nevertheless, you have a ton of other items which fall under the Middle Earth franchise, which are official to their own setting, but not actually the real thing.  These would include movies, games, toys, etc.We see this in games and literature all the time.  In games we could ask which is the original Landlord's game.  Should that honor fall on Monopoly, or maybe the Game of Life?  Both are it's heirs and take their ideas from it?  Which is it?Plausibly it would be neither, as the Landlord game is it's own rules.  Monopoly has descended from it, but it is not the original game that it came from.Thus, with D&D, anything that was created by Gary Gygax would be seen as the OFFICIAL D&D, be it D&D or AD&D.  Arneson's hand makes it even more official, but more limiting, with it being recognized that it would therefore be limited to OD&D and possibly AD&D.If we include that which was also seen as compatible by the original authors, and as it is specifically spelled out in the Grandfather clause, and until at least the lawsuits ironed everything out, it would also indicate that early AD&D 2e (at least the core rules and maybe one or two supplments) would also be included under the umbrella.However, later AD&D 2e which was never acknowledged by Gygax or Arneson as compatible with their earlier creation, nor any of the later versions, despite them being credited (and though more privately, it can be found in some public sentiments Gygax's feelings on 3e being a different game), could be seen as the OFFICIAL game, or version.Sure, they are D&D, just like the Lord of the Rings movies are Middle Earth, but they are not the OFFICIAL versions or the authentic versions or base upon which it actually was seen as by it's creators.PS: Unless we simply say whatever we slap the name of D&D on is D&D (which is basically what people are stating today when they say D&D still exists in 5e or 4e or 3e) which then means the name or title of D&D really means nothing at all.  They could slap it on a cookie recipe and call it the game of D&D and it is therefore D&D in that respect.  On the otherhand, if we do it by similarities and rules,  then by including 3e-5e as D&D based upon similarities to the rules of Gygax's D&D, we would by necessity also state the following as D&D...D20 ModernD20 Star WarsStar Wars Saga EditionPalladium RoleplayingRiftsGamma WorldGamma World (4e version)PathfinderStarfinderMutants and MastermindsFederation SpaceDC heroesStar Ship TroopersCastles and CrusadesSwords and SorceryFor Gold and GloryAmazing Adventuresand on and on and on...because if it's based on rules and similarities to AD&D or BX/BECMI/OD&D there are many games out there that have similarities far closer to it than whatever current version of D&D has the title slapped on it.</blockquote>

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