I have been meaning to post this for a while. About twenty years ago I was a young Journalist who had the opportunity to interview Gary Gygax, I was one of the last who had that opportunity before he passed. Third Edition had just come out, and he had some choice words on the matter. I don't recall everything, but what I do remember changed how I play, and how I looked at the world. I would like to share what he said to me in brief summary.
Dungeons and Dragons was born out of making up stories for the civil war miniatures game that he played with his friends, until the stories became the game itself, and there in lies the key. It's about the story, the shared story that everyone creates and lives in together. It's not about the combat, loot, or stats, it's about shared experiences that seem so real in a fictitious environment. Never lose sight of that.
He felt that Third Edition had lost that sense, though I think he would be proud to see the modern crowd has reconnected to it. He felt that a good DnD game has people feeling real emotions for what is going on, and ultimately the players learn from each other and are better people for it. DnD is a playground for the mind, and when done right, touches people and makes solid memories. Life is meant to be lived, in our realities, and in our fantasies.
That's all I can remember at the moment. I will add more if I remember more. Points to anyone who can find my original article, it was published in Lumino Magazine. Again, about twenty years ago.
Dungeons and Dragons was born out of making up stories for the civil war miniatures game that he played with his friends, until the stories became the game itself, and there in lies the key. It's about the story, the shared story that everyone creates and lives in together. It's not about the combat, loot, or stats, it's about shared experiences that seem so real in a fictitious environment. Never lose sight of that.
He felt that Third Edition had lost that sense,
It's really cool that you had the chance to meet Gary Gayax!
Your recollection on Gary's view of D&D seems so poor and sad to hear. D&D has always been a roleplaying game that is about story, as little or deep as it can be and combat, loots and stats has been present in D&D all the way back to it's begining. 3E could be as story driven as 1E and countless players enjoyed the roleplaying game as much in 2000 when the new edition rolled out than it did all the years before during 2E. I ran plenty Basic D&D, and 1E games in the 80's in which combat, loot and stats was important aspect. In fact, stats, combat and loot is one thing that hasn't change much since 1974!
It reminds me of the roots of the edition war with 4E even though you could roleplay just fine, some people felt it was too video-gamey, sure the esthetic was pushed very far away to what it was known, but the roleplaying aspect never stopped being there. The only time we didnt really roleplay when playing 4E was during D&D Delve, special kit featuring 4 combat encounters with little to no story meant to be played in a short time. Otherwise all the campaings i ran or played in nearly 40 years always had story and combat to some degree, sometimes heavily story-driven with little combat, other times combat-heavy hack and slash with little story and many other times somewhere in between.
Taken 3E was more different to 2E than 2E was to 1E so i can understand Gary finding the new edition to be different mechanically, but i will never agree that story could not be a shared experience at the heart of them as easily as it was before it.
Dungeons and Dragons was born out of making up stories for the civil war miniatures game that he played with his friends, until the stories became the game itself, and there in lies the key. It's about the story, the shared story that everyone creates and lives in together. It's not about the combat, loot, or stats, it's about shared experiences that seem so real in a fictitious environment. Never lose sight of that.
He felt that Third Edition had lost that sense, though I think he would be proud to see the modern crowd has reconnected to it. He felt that a good DnD game has people feeling real emotions for what is going on, and ultimately the players learn from each other and are better people for it. DnD is a playground for the mind, and when done right, touches people and makes solid memories. Life is meant to be lived, in our realities, and in our fantasies. . .
I was adapting to 2E rules, when I took 20-ish years off from the game. I dropped in again at 5E, so I have no opinion on 3E. I also hold no strong opinion on Gygax.
I promise I didn't mean it to sound sad! I was kind of trying to make the point that what D&D has become was really the goal the whole time, and everyone should be proud of that!
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I have been meaning to post this for a while. About twenty years ago I was a young Journalist who had the opportunity to interview Gary Gygax, I was one of the last who had that opportunity before he passed. Third Edition had just come out, and he had some choice words on the matter. I don't recall everything, but what I do remember changed how I play, and how I looked at the world. I would like to share what he said to me in brief summary.
Dungeons and Dragons was born out of making up stories for the civil war miniatures game that he played with his friends, until the stories became the game itself, and there in lies the key. It's about the story, the shared story that everyone creates and lives in together. It's not about the combat, loot, or stats, it's about shared experiences that seem so real in a fictitious environment. Never lose sight of that.
He felt that Third Edition had lost that sense, though I think he would be proud to see the modern crowd has reconnected to it. He felt that a good DnD game has people feeling real emotions for what is going on, and ultimately the players learn from each other and are better people for it. DnD is a playground for the mind, and when done right, touches people and makes solid memories. Life is meant to be lived, in our realities, and in our fantasies.
That's all I can remember at the moment. I will add more if I remember more. Points to anyone who can find my original article, it was published in Lumino Magazine. Again, about twenty years ago.
It's really cool that you had the chance to meet Gary Gayax!
Your recollection on Gary's view of D&D seems so poor and sad to hear. D&D has always been a roleplaying game that is about story, as little or deep as it can be and combat, loots and stats has been present in D&D all the way back to it's begining. 3E could be as story driven as 1E and countless players enjoyed the roleplaying game as much in 2000 when the new edition rolled out than it did all the years before during 2E. I ran plenty Basic D&D, and 1E games in the 80's in which combat, loot and stats was important aspect. In fact, stats, combat and loot is one thing that hasn't change much since 1974!
It reminds me of the roots of the edition war with 4E even though you could roleplay just fine, some people felt it was too video-gamey, sure the esthetic was pushed very far away to what it was known, but the roleplaying aspect never stopped being there. The only time we didnt really roleplay when playing 4E was during D&D Delve, special kit featuring 4 combat encounters with little to no story meant to be played in a short time. Otherwise all the campaings i ran or played in nearly 40 years always had story and combat to some degree, sometimes heavily story-driven with little combat, other times combat-heavy hack and slash with little story and many other times somewhere in between.
Taken 3E was more different to 2E than 2E was to 1E so i can understand Gary finding the new edition to be different mechanically, but i will never agree that story could not be a shared experience at the heart of them as easily as it was before it.
I was adapting to 2E rules, when I took 20-ish years off from the game. I dropped in again at 5E, so I have no opinion on 3E. I also hold no strong opinion on Gygax.
I do like the sentiment written here.
I promise I didn't mean it to sound sad! I was kind of trying to make the point that what D&D has become was really the goal the whole time, and everyone should be proud of that!