D&D General Younger Players Telling Us how Old School Gamers Played

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm sorry it wasn't stated in fifteen written pages.

I mean, learning you don't like old people, the way they play, what they say, or any of that ... is about as shocking as hearing you say something insulting to DMs, or for me to say something about Bards!

It's your shtick, right?

 

[Charlaquin]

He's literally saying "this explains old school D&D and how they played."

Again though, keep in mind that his audience is not old-school players. It’s probably mostly teens and 20-somethings who have only played 5e. And I think from context, it’s clear that by “they” he means Gary Gygax and his group of players specifically. And I’m not sure any what he says about how “they” played is untrue of that group. They did play in a shared world. They did play a lot of D&D, with a large group of players. They didn’t play a through a story with a consistent cast of characters. They did run a lot of dungeons. I don’t know if they actually observed the rule about game time passing at one day per real life day between games, but considering that the book says to do that, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume they did.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Again though, keep in mind that his audience is not old-school players. It’s probably mostly teens and 20-somethings who have only played 5e. And I think from context, it’s clear that by “they” he means Gary Gygax and his group of players specifically.

Except ... he's not actually explaining how they played!!!!! Sorry for the exclamation points, but we are in a golden age of primary material and scholarly research on this period. There's a lot detailing how people actually played back then that's readily available.

So what he is doing is reading something he hasn't played and doesn't understand, and then using that to misinform his audience (who mostly doesn't know any better).

 

[Charlaquin]

Except ... he's not actually explaining how they played!!!!!

Is he not though? As far as I can tell, he makes very few claims about how one specific group of people played. Are those claims inaccurate?

Sorry for the exclamation points, but we are in a golden age of primary material and scholarly research on this period. There's a lot detailing how people actually played back then that's readily available.
So what he is doing is reading something he hasn't played and doesn't understand, and then using that to misinform his audience (who mostly doesn't know any better).

Again, I don’t think he’s really intending to inform his audience about how Gary and friendship played in the first place. The title of the video (like the title of basically every video on YouTube that gets any attention) is clickbait. What he’s doing is sharing his discovery of an OD&D rule, and considering how it might affect play if implemented.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

....why is he making educated guesses?

Seriously. This is the part that gets me. You don't need to make educated guesses, you just need to educate yourself. There is a wealth of material out there. Just ... do a little bit of research! Just a little bit.

i'm sorry that somone finding a rule bugs you guys so much

 

[Sacrosanct]

i'm sorry that somone finding a rule bugs you guys so much

That's not what's happening. He found a rule, claimed that none of us back then were even aware of it, then claims that that rule explains how old school gaming was done (when it wasn't).

Several of us who were back then have tried explaining this many times in this thread, and it appears as several people who weren't back then keep misrepresenting us and are trying to "youngsplain" to us, for lack of better term.

I wish that would stop.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So, FWIW, that section (Time, LBB3 pp. 35-36) is not about keeping track of time in general. It's specific to a type of campaign where you have multiple groups, and trying to coordinate them. See also LBB1 at 5, explaining that a ratio of 20 players to each referee is recommended.

This error is similar to someone reading the LBBs today and assuming that everyone played OD&D using Chainmail for all combat (see. e.g., LBB3 at 31).

I can't even. That video is beyond stupid, first for trying to tell us that this guy discovered a rule no one knew about (um ... nope) and then telling us how games back then were played (yeah ... not so much).

 

[Bedrockgames]

If people are worried he got something wrong, a much more productive approach is to write a blog post or put up a youtube video that is a response (I would just recommend being polite about it). If there are good sources explaining things differently you can point to those. If your memory of how things were is different, you can share that. That sort of thing happens all the time in the blogsphere and on youtube. Someone gets excited about an idea, talks about it, another person feels they got something wrong or missed context and gives a response. There are a lot of "But I was there and this is how it really was" videos. Sometimes it gets very passionate. Often what you do find is its less one person is wrong or right and more that there are multiple perspectives and differing recollections (again there are tons of examples of this in the guitar youtube arena when people talk about classic albums or genres: just look up something like who was the first death metal band on youtube and you'll see what I mean).

 

[GMforPowergamers]

That's not what's happening. He found a rule, claimed that none of us back then were even aware of it, then claims that that rule explains how old school gaming was done (when it wasn't).

no it isn't... he brought up a rule most of us have never heard of and gave 3 options... they either did it, ignored it or chose not to... BUT it was a rule and style choice...

now instead of ignore I would have said house ruled, but that isn't that big a deal. He found a rule and is extrapolating how it interacts with the game

Several of us who were back then have tried explaining this many times in this thread, and it appears as several people who weren't back then keep misrepresenting us and are trying to "youngsplain" to us, for lack of better term.

look I doubt you are much older then me, just cause I joined the game in 2e over 1e isn't that big a difference

I wish that would stop.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I mean, learning you don't like old people

When did I say I didn't like old people?