This important historical record, carefully preserved until it was sent to me last week by a Lake Geneva donor who wished to remain anonymous, sheds important light on Gygax’s thought process during the design of Original D&D.
Sadly, the rest of the journal--with the exception of this single page--appears to be lost to antiquity at this point. Still, I’m pleased I am able to offer you this rare look into our hobby’s fine heritage.
Without further ado, the Gygax Diary:
(click to enlarge)
10 comments:
I always thought that the Starlight Vocal Band was more appropriate for Call of Cthulhu - it certainly never fails to horrify me.
"Summoned an actual demon last night..."
Well I never, Jack Chick was right.
I agree with Gary, Boo-Boos is better than Hitpoints! ;)
Whoah! Gygax was swine! This is going to rip the OSR apart!
NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE!
-clash
Include a 45 of SVB in every boxed set? Sheer marketing genius! Genius, I tell you!
That’s funny.
But an earnest remark on the creative process. How does one do something that did not exist before? It seems old hat today to discuss Hits Vs SDC, or any other system using dice or other random result to determine success or fail. But given it had not been done in this format prior, unlike a choose your own adventure book which has an obvious if then setup; the RPG is totally random, a culmination of a series of people adlibbing a skit with an imaginary setting part drama part math part army man, (looking at you Warhammer). Fans of Lord Tolkien; inspired and uninhibited by “this would be better than that”, an entirely new industry is created. I wonder what his actual notes would look like?
That's it. Hit Points are becoming Boo-boos in my next game. In honor of Gary.
Love the Cyborg Commando reference!
Most amusing!
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