Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

I love D&D, but I don't have an emotional attachment to TSR, gygax, arneson or anyone else. I didn't know who they were back in teh day and I didn't care. No more than I cared who wrote the Monopoly or Life games, who was responsible for choosing the chemicals sold with my chemistry set, or who invented Estes Rockets. After returning to the hobby in my 40s i did read up on the history. Gary was no saint and he was just as cutthroat and vindictive as anyone else in the corporate world. I've read that in the early days that "unofficial" groups of people would go through conventions taking away memographed copies of D&D whenever they found them. When he decided there was a buck to be made he protected his interests and his profits by creating a corporation and spread the risks over a group of people. So live by the sword, die by the sword.

Reading that thread is like going to a revival meeting. I have an image of a group of players at a table having a grand time playing the game while some guy is telling stories about how things were when he was there and on the other side is a street preacher standing on a crate, clutching his 1e bible, and shouting psalms at everybody in the room and calling damnation down on the guy talking about his days with TSR.

Pish, I don't understand the ravings or your earlier than 1E ravings!!

I'm taking my bible... er, 1E rulebooks and going home!
I hear ya though hway... I was out of gaming for almost a decade I think, and didn't even know any of this. I played 1E in HS, then 2E came out, but in college the guys I played with were all 1E with a mish-mash of everything else, including other games (CnC, or HM, I'm not sure what was out then) but for all I knew it was all 1E. ::shrug::

The history is interesting, and the fact Mike hasn't run, crying away is a good one.

Mike is a very formidable opponent. He makes that gene dude look like a whiny bitch. LOL

It is amusing me to watch people make judgments on what they would do based on hindsight study of 30 years of history and compare it to what a hired employee without the benefit of 30 years of research and study should have done. Its the story of describing an elephant all over again. If all you can see is the trunk then that's all you can base your current actions/opinions on. You can't step out of your body, fast forward 20 years and read the entire history of elephants an then jump back into your body and then act.

The world has changed, hasn't it, and yet it's still the same.

Gary lived in two worlds, as most of us do... work and play. But his play was his work. Sometimes, combining business and pleasure isn't such a good idea. He created the things he did with a lot of love and devotion, but then he made the mistake of assuming that assigning the rights to the company he founded and in which he had a controlling interest would be safe. Business issues forced him to give up too much control... and his groundbreaking work was taken away from him.

I know there were many things he regretted from that era, but he had rightly put those things behind him. Sadly, many at K&K have not.

This is why I've made a concerted effort to keep my business and pleasure separate. It's why I make nothing from Basic Fantasy RPG, or any of the other games and materials I've created. Sharing the work is much more gratifying.

I just finished the entire thread. The last few post were very funny ...

If you play 2e, you're playing 1e with all the electrial outlets covered for your own safety.

I don't care what your position is on either edition, but that's just comedy gold. (points off for spelling though)

and then this in response ...

We played some "safety brand" AD&D last night!

people without an axe to grind can be very cordial in there disagreements

Solomoriah wrote:The world has changed, hasn't it, and yet it's still the same.

That's parafrasing one of the quotes The Leopard is famous for. I love that book. It tells the story of Sicily in a nutshell. And is written incredibly well, at that. Best opening line of any book, short of the bible.

Solomoriah wrote:Gary lived in two worlds, as most of us do... work and play. But his play was his work. Sometimes, combining business and pleasure isn't such a good idea. He created the things he did with a lot of love and devotion, but then he made the mistake of assuming that assigning the rights to the company he founded and in which he had a controlling interest would be safe. Business issues forced him to give up too much control... and his groundbreaking work was taken away from him.

I know there were many things he regretted from that era, but he had rightly put those things behind him. Sadly, many at K&K have not.

I agree. I have to say, I respect the denizens of K&K because they have a lot of really useful info. I'm not as absolute about things as they are. I also think the internet plays a role in this. People like to get on a high horse on the internet.

I can dig where they are coming from though. They have carved themselves a home out of the wilderness and want it to stay just how they like it. There's plenty of other wilderness if you don't like how it is there.

Yeah, still, sitting in a corner and churning about how much you hate someone is just not healthy. I mean, that's not all that goes on, but the point remains.

I hope we rescue you soon

Or at least, join him...