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I& #39;m reading Gary Gygax& #39;s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for the first time.
This is a thread about my thoughts:
There& #39;s a pervasive narrative that Gygax was a brutal DM who didn& #39;t care about player experience, but the introduction puts that to sleep fairly quickly.
This is a thread about my thoughts:
There& #39;s a pervasive narrative that Gygax was a brutal DM who didn& #39;t care about player experience, but the introduction puts that to sleep fairly quickly.
It& #39;s clear Gygax understood that player experience is at the forefront.
He just doesn& #39;t have, what you might call a "modern," interpretation of what a good player experience is.
He just doesn& #39;t have, what you might call a "modern," interpretation of what a good player experience is.
I remember the meme going around a little while ago long the lines of:
Player: I want a hyper-realistic game!
DM: Ok, you get dysentery and die.
From Gygax& #39;s aD&D DMG pg. 13
Player: I want a hyper-realistic game!
DM: Ok, you get dysentery and die.
From Gygax& #39;s aD&D DMG pg. 13
People talk about how human-centric Advanced #DnD is.
What I think most fail to realize is Gygax intended it to be so, and was under no allusions to the contrary.
The human-centricity of AD&D is a feature, not a bug.
What I think most fail to realize is Gygax intended it to be so, and was under no allusions to the contrary.
The human-centricity of AD&D is a feature, not a bug.
Alignment is really strange.
In particular as it& #39;s detailed in alignment language.
The section implies that there is a grand conspiracy between creatures of like alignment; but also that it& #39;s intrinsic, but also changeable through mundane action.
In particular as it& #39;s detailed in alignment language.
The section implies that there is a grand conspiracy between creatures of like alignment; but also that it& #39;s intrinsic, but also changeable through mundane action.
There& #39;s a huge emphasis on keeping the characters "hungry", needing more gold to sustain their growing power.
It makes a good justification as to why anyone would want to put themselves in harm& #39;s way the way adventurers do every time they strike out into the world.
#dnd
It makes a good justification as to why anyone would want to put themselves in harm& #39;s way the way adventurers do every time they strike out into the world.
#dnd
It& #39;s clear AD&D considers PvP standard, and thinks about the party as a loose association of individuals with different, and sometimes conflicting, goals.
The AD&D party is a group of rivals all trying to maximize their personal gain.
#DnD
The AD&D party is a group of rivals all trying to maximize their personal gain.
#DnD
The AD&D Players Handbook even suggests you write up an in-game document, akin to pirate articles of agreement, for how too divide loot.
That kind of #DnD party is more like a crew of pirates than a band of heroes.
That kind of #DnD party is more like a crew of pirates than a band of heroes.
Advanced #DnD assumes demi-humans will be multiclass characters.
Much like Basic, the game really wants demi-humans to be defined by the features of their race.
With class restrictions making multiclassing an obviously superior choice, demi-humans are class generalists.
Much like Basic, the game really wants demi-humans to be defined by the features of their race.
With class restrictions making multiclassing an obviously superior choice, demi-humans are class generalists.
