Me and the DMG

Beoric

8, 8, I forget what is for
Re-posting something stumbling tiger posted over at K&KA that cracked me up---a rant against Gygax and AD&D by a 13-year old OD&D-er.

Weird how most of the commenters seem to seriously think the kid had anger management issues or was a sociopath. I just think he knew how funny he was.

But maybe the crazy comes out in the scans that were deleted.
 
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squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
I don't know about "today's crowd", but for me it was nostolgic --- a distillation of youthful anger at change. Been there, done that.
 

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
Oh yeah! I've come a long way...

At least I don't call people "fart face" (anymore). ;P

I also love:

EGG: "[Chaotics] are prone to be troublesome and hurtful to the party, should be shunned, and disposed of."
The Response: "Let's face it shmucko, a well run chaotic can kill the party and end up with all the loot. CHAOTICS RULE, bimbo!"

Err, I guess that proves 'ol Gary wrong(?) then...

Although, we all have to admit---at 13 years old and a die-hard OD&Der reacting to the changes in the new AD&D Player Handbook in the year it was published---he was dead right about at least one thing at least:

"...psionics have sucked since their birth...".

Even Gygax had to eventually acknowledge that. So many things he calls out in unbridled teen angst have stuck in folks' craws over the decades (demihuman level limits, high level spells, WvAC,...)!

Also we get:

"I've seen better heads on a zit! In my world gods can be hurt, humiliated, tortured, etc., but NEVER killed, and my source for that is the ILIAD by Homer."

Which I think @PrinceofNothing wrote a similar article about that last month on his blog...possibly leveraging the very same literary reference! (Although, I shouldn't pick on him...sounds like he's had a rough week. Sorry bud.)

Also, based on the zeitgeist of the late 70's midwest USA, I could have told you that this kid (Jim Perelman) was 90% likely to worship on the altar of Elric. That was ground-zero for chaotic-leaning/power-players, back in the day. It was Tolkien vs. Moorcock in terms of who you'd want to play D&D with (or avoid if you didn't want your party back-stabbed every other session). Law vs. Chaos instantiated! To this day, I still haven't been able to finish a single Elric book.

From the mouth of babes. Hilarious.
 
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The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Which I think @PrinceofNothing wrote a similar article about that last month on his blog...possibly leveraging the very same literary reference! (Although, I shouldn't pick on him...sounds like he's had a rough week. Sorry bud.)
fucksakes. he just begged forgiveness for doing the same shit he ran @DangerousPuhson off this forum for doing. And now all his fans are like "don't apologize for calling people on their bullshit!" and I totally agree! Man, I read Prince's reviews and love them. I love the voice used to deliver them. I greatly enjoy the stuff he's written with @Malrex. I even had a good laugh at some of those old YDIS posts. It just sticks in my craw that he gets to do this and then turn around and persecute a guy for doing the same thing here. He's still provoking the long-absent DP with his forum sig for crying out loud.

Prince man, I'm a big fan which makes it that much shittier to watch you bully people and edit their posts here (myself included). Absolutely a forum should be policed and people who believe they have the right to free speech on a platform owned by somebody else are fucking delusional but ... bro ... come on.

Yeah, I'm jumping on the pigpile which is maybe a little weak but it seems like a solid opportunity to work out this festering resentment and go back to liking everyone here.
 

TerribleSorcery

Should be playing D&D instead
So you're saying DP is gone? And you actually miss him?

Although it's quieter around here, go re-read the first dozen pages of "The State of Post-OSR Content" and see if you still feel the same way.
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Holy belated clap-back batman! Are you seriously dusting this one off? Because I'm game to dig into it this if you are... 🤷‍♂️
 

TerribleSorcery

Should be playing D&D instead
I mean, I don't want to debate, if that's what you're asking. I'm not even really sure what you are upset about. But DP is the only person on any forum I ever went to the trouble of googling "ASCII middle finger" in order to communicate with.
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Absolutely not upset. Nor am I looking for a debate, I will roll over and show my furry tummy at the first sign of trouble. I come here for the good D&D vibes. I'm just saying if you're looking for clarification, by all means we can do this:

There are (or at this point maybe I should say were?) quite a few opinionated people who frequented this forum. One was more unpopular than the rest. Was his behaviour objectionable? Frequently. Was that balanced by many and constructive contributions to the discussions here? For the most part, I believe so. Was he baited into behaving objectionably as much as he baited others? Yes, yes he was dudes. Did he respond poorly to overbearing moderation. Definitely.

Dude kept things lively here and called out bullshit when he saw it (in an admittedly abrasive manner). The BlowSR very much needs that. Like him or hate him, things got TOO peaceful after his departure.

That came off like a eulogy. Thanks for the closure? :p
 

TerribleSorcery

Should be playing D&D instead
*tips 40 oz.*

It definitely has been quieter here recently. I didn't notice because all the edition fights had tired me out and I wasn't checking back that often this year. Hmmm... I certainly don't have the energy to debate people online more than 1 post a year, but it's worth thinking about. Maybe another contest in 2022?
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Prince's contest was a resounding success, but he hosted it over on his blog. I would imagine if there's a repeat, he will continue to do so. Agree with him or not, you know you're subjecting yourself to a steady standard of judgment if you submit your work to such a contest.

I'd love to see more of peoples' dream-project heart-breakers here! Also, people were asking for writing advice for a while and getting responses from a whole range of well known OSR guest cameos. That was pretty cool.
 

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
I hope to start posting more after the New Year. Work exhaustion is part of it, but also my players are at college so it's more D&D art lessons and less D&D prose recently. In general, there never was much interest in art side here (except from Malrex)---which is fine. It's too much sausage-making fiddly details yadda-yadda-yadda if you aren't trying to do it yourself.

In all honesty, I think I'm all caught up on the other editions and have pretty solidly decided that there's nothing there for me. Having given up on Smorgasboard or a la carte homebrew rules in favor of something more traditional (AD&D), I find I'm not on the same wavelength with most of the folks outside of K&KA. Any shock or outrage I ever felt over "WTF did they do to D&D in the last 30 years?" is pretty much spent. When I first played D&D it was an unpopular niche hobby --- and now the D&D I like is an even less popular niche hobby (with a bunch of mutant cousins). Que Sera. EOTB has repeatedly cautioned me on the futility of trying to sway folks to your way of thinking. Tilting at windmills no more! I'll save telling people what I think about the "new crap" for those foolish enough to specifically asked for my outdated opinion. (Total takers so far + future number expected = ZERO.)

What is left to post about is the great lessons Bryce teaches us about writing --- I used to think he was talking about D&D, but I've come to realize it's really far more universal than that. Really the next big effort for me will be polishing up an Adventure and getting it out the door, i.e. trying to apply all of the Brycian lessons in the concrete. With work still in high gear, that's too much for me to handle for now...so it sits on the back burner. Hopefully the stars align and I can finally engage in the next contest.

I was surprised when DP left, but I don't miss him. I think that after he realized his style of D&D (5e and improvisational) was not in vogue here, his contributions became fewer and increasingly negative. Provoked? Well...@T1T, we'll just have to continue to disagree about that...but storming off after getting rebuked was entirely inline with his unfettered personality. You (T1T) loved his wild side. I get that. Sounds like you like that in your RPGs too. :)

Another future adventure for me might be to try and run an on-line campaign (with adults!). Fall/Winter 2022? Also, finishing up my mass combat simulator.

But (provocatively?) on the topic of this thread: I still firmly believe the 1e DMG appears to be impenetrably arcane because it's next-level magic. ;)
 
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Osrnoob

Should be playing D&D instead
I hope to start posting more after the New Year. Work exhaustion is part of it, but also my players are at college so it's more D&D art lessons and less D&D prose recently. In general, there never was much interest in art side here (except from Malrex)---which is fine. It's too much sausage-making fiddly details yadda-yadda-yadda if you aren't trying to do it yourself.

In all honesty, I think I'm all caught up on the other editions and have pretty solidly decided that there's nothing there for me. Having given up on Smorgasboard or a la carte homebrew rules in favor of something more traditional (AD&D), I find I'm not on the same wavelength with most of the folks outside of K&KA. Any shock or outrage I ever felt over "WTF did they do to D&D in the last 30 years?" is pretty much spent. When I first played D&D it was an unpopular niche hobby --- and now the D&D I like is an even less popular niche hobby (with a bunch of mutant cousins). Que Sera. EOTB has repeatedly cautioned me on the futility of trying to sway folks to your way of thinking. Tilting at windmills no more! I'll save telling people what I think about the "new crap" for those foolish enough to specifically asked for my outdated opinion. (Total takers so far + future number expected = ZERO.)

What is left to post about is the great lessons Bryce teaches us about writing --- I used to think he was talking about D&D, but I've come to realize it's really far more universal than that. Really the next big effort for me will be polishing up an Adventure and getting it out the door, i.e. trying to apply all of the Brycian lessons in the concrete. With work still in high gear, that's too much for me to handle for now...so it sits on the back burner. Hopefully the stars align and I can finally engage in the next contest.

I was surprised when DP left, but I don't miss him. I think that after he realized his style of D&D (5e and improvisational) was not in vogue here, his contributions became slowly and increasingly negative. Provoked? Well...@T1T, we'll just have to continue to disagree about that...but storming off after getting rebuked was entirely inline with his unfettered personality. You (T1T) loved his wild side. I get that. Sounds like you like that in your RPGs too. :)

Another future adventure for me might be to try and run an on-line campaign (with adults!). Fall/Winter 2022? Also, finishing up my mass combat simulator.

But (provocatively?) on the topic of this thread: I still firmly believe the 1e DMG appears to be impenetrably arcane because it's next-level magic. ;)
Role-playing isn't storytelling. If the dungeon master is directing it, it's not a game.

- Gary Gygax

"Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax" March 10, 2008.
 

EOTB

So ... slow work day? Every day?
I've been feeling a great deal of D&D discussion exhaustion myself. After having been on forums for 15+ years now, I add the six basic forum conversations to the six basic plots as archetypes.

One day you realize that D&D was even better before online discussion. That is not to say other parts of D&D online aren't an improvement on the pre-internet D&D experience, but I'm not sure the discussion is one of those.

So I spend more time now on my projects.
 

TerribleSorcery

Should be playing D&D instead
It seems like the useful locus of energy of good gaming discussions is a perpetually moving target.

Prince has a good thing going on his blog, but he's cultivated it for years, and his writing and mannerisms have changed a lot in that time. Lots of great talks over there (and some shitposting of course). His contest was a good example. These things take a lot of work - and it is easy for some area of discussion to fall into the same old fights about editions, rule 0 or weapon vs. AC. I'd rather play Russian Roulette, thanks!! If you wanna talk gaming *usefully*, it takes work to do it well - and some times people just run out of new things to say to each other. The balance between 'we need new blood' and fighting the same old battles every fucking time is... a task left up to those more socially ept than myself.

C'mon EOTB... let's see a blog post about the Six Basic Forum Conversations.
 
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