Cool and interesting reading

[giza]

I've been doing some reading during the past week, and here are some things I'd like to share:

Visits to Makes of Dungeons and Dragons - Many photos from a trip that was made to TSR's headquarters before they were bought up by Wizards of The Coast many years ago.

Visiting TSR - A separate trip, along with some commentary on TSR's politics and how he get involved with the company.

The Gary Gygax FAQ - Gary was one of the people who founded TSR in the early 1970s. the FAQ covers who role in the company, and goes into much more details about politics, greed, and petty bickering.

Enjoy.

Comments

Old school RPGs

[tailen.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which, I'd like to mention to anyone who's interested in real tabletop RPGs, the online magazine Critical Miss.

They have a lot of articles on how to make your roleplaying games better as well as a lot of funny stories about things that have gone very wrong in their own chronicles.

Things to note are the new games they introduce every issue such as CLIQUE: The Uncollectable, Unplayable Card Game, Porno! and Nuke The Crap Out Of Europe.

There's such informative guides as Wolfgang's Guide To Screwing Your Fellow PCs, The Bastard GM's Handbook (no further introduction needed), Beyond Bob (on how to name your character), You Are In Control - Act Like It (a guide on how to blow your players up with bombs in creative ways), Owning Your Own Business (how creating and managing a business actually works) and Traumatic Injury for Gamers (one of my favorites, it describes in forensic detail what actually happens to a body when it is injured in different ways).

And then there's just fun stuff like the deep thoughts of Wasn't The Future Supposed To Be Japanese? and Yeah, But... My Character Doesn't Give A Shit! (a guide on how to motivate your players).

There's just plain weird math stuff in Everything you never wanted to know about point nine recurring (0.99999...) and there's even an article on how to make your players meet in more natural ways than Hi You Guys Must Be The Party!.

And last but not least, there's my own personal favorite The RPG Cliche List, which anyone who has ever played RPGs will be able to laugh at.

Enjoy!

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

Ah, "The Gary Gygax FAQ", written by the master himself...

.... Where Mr. Gygax ignores that from a the period of 1985 to 1997, TSR had levels of growth that totally dwarfed his own leadership.

As for the TSR lawsuit, Gygax leaves out that the original name of the game was actually "Dangerous Dimensions." Yes, that's DD. Gary Gygax's DD. It's also very curious that Gygax now says Dave Newtown wrote Mythus, which at the time was "GARY GYGAX'S MYTHUS" in 48 point type, with a tiny 'with Dave Newton' byline in 12-point at the bottom.

I'd read the original website, and this article. Neither mentions CYBORG COMMANDOS, Gygax's original triumphant return to gaming. Because it was also a commercial failure.

Lots of excuses, and none of it's Gygax's fault. :P

[giza.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhh. I'm not surprised that there was another side to story.

Two links are two different people

[alan-de-smet.livejournal.com]

The "Visit to Makers of D&D" and "Visiting TSR" are two different people. I know because I wrote "Visiting TSR." My visit was in 1997. The guy with the photos visited in 1989. I did link to his photos, but only to illustrate things, as when I visited I didn't have a camera. (It seemed like it might be tacky to show up to a business meeting with a camera.)

Re: Two links are two different people

[giza.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Duly noted. I've updated the entry to list that as a seperate trip.