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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7325987" data-attributes="member: 37579">It's almost as if during that year, Gygax increased his experience as a designer and DM by 20%....Which didn't mean they didn't exist in the games, just that they didn't exist in the published modules. I'm sure that stuff was assumed to be added by the DMs, based on the actions of the player. If that were even remotely true, it would be impossible to execute scouting missions and raids in the real world. Which happen all the time. They just require a little more skill and quick reactions. I think the living world is a HUGE strength of tabletop roleplaying games. If someone wants a static world that doesn't change, where they can scout and learn patterns and know their enemies never move, they'll play a video game. That's pretty much what they excel at. Tabletop games are special and unique because they don't have the same pathfinding and limited AI. The DM can make the world more than just a dead, static dungeon. They probably also just didn't know any better, as the game was still new and being made up as they went along.Gygax's first players were his kids, who tested the game with them, before he brought in his wargamer friends. But even they ventured out of the dungeon eventually. After all, what's the point of treasure if you can't spend it? Plus all the stuff that happened in the dungeon that affected the world. Such as when Robert J. Kuntz's Robilar released nine demi-gods held captive under Castle Ravenloft, including Iuz. Meanwhile, Robilar himself became the owner of the Green Dragon Inn and kept his ear on the goings on in the Free City of Greyhawk. Why Gygax's early modules focused on the dungeons his game was by no means confined to that space. We're not even talking as late as 1986. The change from wargaming to assuming the role of a character and focusing on a larger story was happening in the late '70s. It was an almost immediate transition. I dare to say that once the game hit stores, the majority of new players were likely NOT wargamers. To me that comes off less as a puzzle/ challenge and more a scripted encounter where enemies respawn. It means the players past actions have little impact—no matter how many giants they killed outside and how many serving maids were slain reinforcements arrive. It's only a puzzle if you need to find a way to "solve" the encounter, bypassing the conflict.Not really, it just adds another dynamic: stealth. Having to avoid attracting attention. Quick strikes before the alarm can be raised. Shifting position after possibly being discovered to strike at a different location when guards come. Causing a distraction to pull guards away from their true place to attack. It's not a siege. It's a special forces incursion. That's still up to the DM. No matter what system is being played, I'm not going to let the rolls of a character solve a "puzzle" or riddle. I might give a clue, reflecting the character's superiour intelligence compared to the player, and any in world knowledge. But thought is still required. (And it's not like Intelligence checks and the like didn't exist in 1st Edition...)It's interesting to think about Gygax's conception of who a player is. He probably had a pretty small pool of players: his middle-aged wargaming buddies and his young kids. Probably a far cry from the high school and college aged kids who were buying the game. That and the game being played by non-wargamers. Wargaming was a time intensive and expensive hobby that required a dedicated play space (like a sand table) and miniatures, while D&D did not. It was a very, very niche hobby. Once D&D expanded beyond that circle, it's wargaming roots faded. Which likely happened the minute the White Box hit stores and people who knew more about storytelling and writing found the game and realised they could use it to tell tales with their friends. If the game being played isn't a classic skill-played dungeon craw, then the GM's worldbuilding provides setting and flavour. Description of the environs. Characters for the world. The nature of worldbuilding doesn't change at all really. Creating the walls of the dungeon or the provinces of a kingdom are the same thing. If you move through the adventure's plot by advancing from dungeon room to dungeon room or from scene to scene, it's functionally the same.</blockquote>

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