🎲🐉The Moment D&D Became More Than Dungeon Crawls

Comments · 280

• DA

  @daddyrolleda1 · 3 months ago · pinned

  While working on this video and after reading the articles in these three issues, one of the questions I kept thinking about was: <br> <br>If you had walked into a game store in 1979, did you <b>know</b> what D&amp;D really was all about? <br> <br>A dungeon crawl? <br> <br>A fantasy world simulator? <br> <br>A roleplaying game? <br> <br>A competitive game? <br> <br>Something else entirely? <br> <br>I&apos;d love to hear how you would answer that after watching the video. <br> <br>And, if you&apos;re exploring how early D&amp;D actually worked, these videos connect directly to this one: <br><br>➡ Gary Gygax Once Explained What D&amp;D Is Really About: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cipMmun90c">https://youtu.be/1cipMmun90c</a><br> <br>➡ Why Early D&amp;D Didn&apos;t Try to Be Fair: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3xCKeei-iA">https://youtu.be/k3xCKeei-iA </a><br> <br>➡ Why Early D&amp;D Feels So Strange to Modern Players: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMkraXjErcg">https://youtu.be/WMkraXjErcg</a>

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• TL

  @tljscrewjob6397 · 3 months ago

  Ah. Yet another movie-length video about D&amp;D History with Martin while I play games... ☺

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• DO

  @doctorlolchicken7478 · 3 months ago

  OMG YouTube actually recommended a Daddy Rolls a 1 video within 24 hours of it being released. &nbsp;That&apos;s a first for me.

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• ZE

  @zenmaster6780 · 3 months ago

  A lot of the time I can’t finish your vids but last time I caught drinks and jazz topics. I am a musician and I really enjoyed that so I’ll make sure I finish them from now on

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• SA

  @saltytbone · 3 months ago

  I started playing AD&amp;D around 1982 at a very young age. I didn&apos;t know any of the history until much later and I never realized the Monster Manual and Player&apos;s Handbook came out before the Dungeon Master&apos;s Guide. That era must&apos;ve been a wild time between the competing systems.

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• TE

  @tedskullhammer · 3 months ago

  D&amp;D was so influential to early CRPGs. &nbsp;Richard Garriott based his Ultima series on his D&amp;D game with his friends (whose characters were named Iolo, Shamino, Dupre, etc...). &nbsp;Robert Woodhead and Andrew Greenberg used their D&amp;D game to inspire their Wizardry series.

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• DO

  @DoctorJohnSmith9 · 3 months ago

  It&apos;s TTRPG TUESDAY! Time for some of the most valuable gaming content on Youtube! Martin again hosts another deep-dive into classic D&amp;D content! Let&apos;s GO!

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• MI

  @MikeCBaker · 3 months ago (edited)

  The whole debate of fantasy vs. realism in gameplay during the timeframe covered by these issues is STILL important at tables (and online / in-screen) today. &nbsp;<br>In &apos;79 and &apos;80 my group was still expanding our joint collection of published materials, choosing what we were and we&apos;re not able to use at our sessions, AND filling in the gaps from our own knowledge or research. &nbsp;As one example, we had one or two copies of Chivalry&amp;Sorcery we perused with some interest before concluding that it was not going to work at our games &quot;as written&quot; due to the time-per-combatrequirements needed to achieve the greater realism offered. &nbsp;We did adopt some of the third-party magazine articles we found that we felt gave a better presentation of specialty-mage options than we found in TSR-published materials ... not more realistic, granted, but more &quot;rational&quot; in our minds when stacked beside the Great Wheel cosmology &amp; our readings from SF&amp;F sources.<br><br>Those were heady times in several meanings of the phrase!!!

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• JL

  @JLMcFarlin · 3 months ago (edited)

  I remember at the time Gary being concerned that D&amp;D was spiraling out into the cloud of house rules. &nbsp;He wanted one set of unifying rules so that tournament play could be fairly adjudicated. &nbsp;So, 1E AD&amp;D is tournament or convention D&amp;D. &nbsp;But in practice, we all just house ruled it as we liked. &nbsp;Which Gary <b>also</b> comprehended, because he was a proponent of DM fiat as well. &nbsp;EDIT: Tapped that out before watching, and it seems like my memory is still reliable! &nbsp;; ) &nbsp;Great walk down of the history!<br><br>EDIT: As I watch, some interesting things. &nbsp;Gary was very firm that AD&amp;D was such a completely different game that there were more differences between D&amp;D (and therefore Basic D&amp;D) and AD&amp;D than between D&amp;D and its imitators. &nbsp;Here, I&apos;ll scoff gently at the old master. &nbsp;If a bunch of tweens and teens could bridge these systems, then what was needful was neuroplasticity. &nbsp;Sometimes, Gary let his marketing and desire for sales corrupt his rhetoric, is what I have come to conclude. &nbsp;He also wanted what he considered his fair share of the money to be made and certainly his due. &nbsp;Man&apos;s gotta eat and make the nut, so I am not judging <b>harshly</b> but it&apos;s my assessment.<br><br>EDIT: I also remember now--my recollections and experiences having been sparked by watching--feeling very much like this guy from Wisconsin was grasping for control of <b>my</b> table. &nbsp;His pronouncements that I was either playing AD&amp;D or not AD&amp;D contributed to this. &nbsp;This sort of attempt to exert discipline over what is and always will be an essentially creative process really stuck in my rebellious craw. &nbsp;Countervailing against this, his unifying message that some rigor would prevent the hobby from dissipating into undefinable nothing was palatable and balancing.<br><br>EDIT: My <b>impression</b> of the Judges Guild materials was that I found them...not as satisfying as the TSR offerings. &nbsp;Now, my exposure to this was from 1982 onward, and by then TSR had refined their product standards. &nbsp;It&apos;s an interesting &quot;what if?&quot; to consider how it would have worked out had Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen been brought into TSR and if all of the Judges Guild material was incorporated into the 1E AD&amp;D books and 1978-1985 product line. &nbsp;Ultimately, however, I think I placed more credence in my own creativity and found the flavor and art direction of the materials not to my taste.<br><br>EDIT: As regards the &quot;denser&quot; flavor of AD&amp;D--that much I remember very clearly. &nbsp;Coming from Basic D&amp;D to Advanced D&amp;D was like &quot;Oh. &nbsp;This is some serious business.&quot; &nbsp;The sheer volume of material and the mellifluous and erudite character of Gary&apos;s writing indicated a serious shift. &nbsp;And Gary fairly warned anyone who would listen. &nbsp;Probably the biggest impact I felt was the effect it had on my record keeping. &nbsp;Time, resources, experience, treasure, training--all of these became parts of my approach. &nbsp;And in this Gary was right. &nbsp;By keeping track of these things, decisions had effect, and multiple campaigns could be cross-coordinated.<br><br>EDIT: I am a bearded female dwarf guy. Or, I will stand on a table and argue that female dwarves do not have beards. &nbsp;Or, that either can be the case. &nbsp;Of course, my position will be finely calculated to stir the shit most effectively, because anyone who takes this matter too seriously deserves it richly.<br><br>EDIT: A lot has been said about Gary&apos;s approach to alignment. &nbsp;I&apos;ll simply say that I integrated his thoughts into a sort of synthesis of how to understand psychological motivation and character expression. &nbsp;The discussion of cosmic side-picking was theoretical at lower levels where those cosmic forces could safely ignore worm-like lower level characters. &nbsp;Most of the time it was about moderating player behavior for the DM&apos;s benefit. &nbsp;It was helpful to know that you as the DM were not going to hear &quot;I spit this merchant upon my sword because he does not offer me top price for these gems&quot; from the Paladin running player. &nbsp;Sometimes, it was used by the DM as a crowbar to herd player behavior, though on one occasion a cruder or less friendly attempt at this resulted in consequences at the next pickup football game for that DM. Overall I appreciated the thoughtfulness of Gary&apos;s considerations of moral and ethical motivation as expressed in the alignment system. &nbsp;I no longer assign or force players to choose alignment at character generation. &nbsp;I now allow player action to generate character alignment and just keep note of it. &nbsp;One day, it might have consequences, but maybe not.<br><br>EDIT: Charles Sagui&apos;s approach to hirelings is simultaneously sage and foolish. &nbsp;The idea that a first level character is going to have say 72GP laying around to pay a two year advance is wild. &nbsp;But the recommendation to think about hireling motivations is great. &nbsp;In my campaigns, hirelings and henchmen--provided they survive--have become beloved side-characters. &nbsp;At the end of my run of Keep on the Borderlands, the main henchman became entrepreneurial and cleaned out all of the bulk weapons and commodities, becoming relatively wealthy. &nbsp;Henchmen and hirelings also tended to moderate player behavior toward more...humane expression. &nbsp;When you need the loyalty and reliability of an NPC henchman or hireling, it tends to smooth out the rougher edges.<br><br>EDIT: The way the Thief became the camel&apos;s nose in the tent for dice rolls replacing rulings has been well discussed. &nbsp;Like you said, Thief player characters tended to add interesting flavor to the extent that the player was ambiguous, mostly reliable, but rarely avaricious and shifty. And like you said, sometimes it could lead to some drama at the table. &nbsp;The way it eventually evolved in the group I played with was that the Thief was a technical expert who while they were larcenous, they cooperated with the party for the purpose of maximizing gain and they used their powers on external targets. &nbsp;This didn&apos;t mean that sometimes the Thief wouldn&apos;t try and pocket the most valuable looking gem when they picked the lock of a chest, though.<br><br>EDIT: Agreed about the infrequency of adversarial DMs. &nbsp;I had the good fortune of playing with fair DMs. &nbsp;Not easy DMs, but they weren&apos;t looking to take scalps. &nbsp;How a DM runs their game is an expression of their personality and who has time for jerks?<br><br>EDIT: The Six Guns and Sorcery and Mutants and Magic rules were a great curiosity. &nbsp;I can definitely imagine some DMs using them when needful of a diversion. &nbsp;I never did though. &nbsp;I was too boring. &nbsp;And in the end, I saw them as a bit of an advertisement for these alternate TSR products.<br><br>EDIT: Computers were definitely used. &nbsp;I personally used them as an NPC generator, a city key generator, or even a character generator. &nbsp;I suppose the entire random dungeon generation system in the DMG could have been made into a program. &nbsp;I remember a discussion around the table about where computers might lead. &nbsp;Basically what we visualized was something like networked laptops linked to the DM&apos;s machine, and a central map on a flatscreen laid on the table. &nbsp;The game would be facilitated and sped up by these systems. &nbsp;Heady stuff for 1984.<br><br>EDIT: You mentioned the intellectual ferment of the relatively early days of D&amp;D. &nbsp;This, I remember quite well. &nbsp;The guys I gamed with played all kinds of games and the concepts and rules of various games found expression in interesting ways.<br><br>EDIT: That article by Dan Bromberg captures a nice episode in the golden age of role playing games. &nbsp;It&apos;s an interesting window into D&amp;D&apos;s impact on culture. &nbsp;However, it paints a rosy picture of what it was like to be a gamer, in a fine private school setting that these days costs $44K a year in tuition. &nbsp;Where I grew up, D&amp;D was a fine way to get your ass kicked, enjoy the moist pleasures of a swirly or two, and learn to fight while not having a girlfriend until you learned to mask and conceal and compartmentalize. &nbsp;Great for character. &nbsp;Going to the library during lunch hour to work on your game prep or campaign development instead of playing smear the [REDACTED because I have no idea what YouTube will do] was NOT cool. &nbsp;While we who loved and lived D&amp;D and gaming in those days can now look back with nostalgia, the in the moment experience was frequently difficult or awkward. &nbsp;What is mainstream now was often scorned and a pretext for the most callous bullying. &nbsp;Unless you were at a progressive prep school.<br><br>Overall this was a great overview of a hobby in its formative era. &nbsp;&quot;Back when rocks were still soft&quot; so to speak. &nbsp;Thanks for the memories!

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• AN

  @AnvilHammer-YT · 1 month ago

  Daddy Rolled a 1 is my new, favorite &quot; Explainer-of-all-things-Old-School &quot;. &nbsp; 💐💐 Well thought out, digestible ... educational. &nbsp;Well done sir, Well Done. &nbsp;💐💐

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• CA

  @cammybaby01 · 3 months ago

  😊 here&apos;s my weekly message for the algorithm

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• RI

  @rickglass415 · 3 months ago

  The absolute best information and history behind old school TSR gaming

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