Gygax/Arneson

D&D Love is the default status of this board. It's not really a topic that musters much conversation.

Overall, the major split between Arneson and Gygax is that Arneson's major roots were in a world building game, while Gygax was more war game oriented. Of course, it's not such a clear split, with Gygax's love for fantasy literature to not be undervalued nor Arneson's ability to devise mechanics (he's actually the one responsible for making the game around the d20, since he found the strange die in a store and was determined to use it), but that's the "traditional" way of distinguishing the major contributions towards building D&D.

>>50105233
>so which of these two chaps has made exactly which enduring contribution to our beloved hobby, elegant/tg/ents?
For an answer to this in more detail than you could possibly ever need, check out Playing At The World.

>>50105845
>>50106066
well, this board is ideal for getting an executive brief. what parts of the system did arneson contribute? who invented hitpoints? levels? loot drops? these mechanics have been shaping games (boardgames, vidyas, P&P) ever since.

>>50106910
additional thought: from a history of gaming viewpoint, this is quite relevant. it's kinda like the question: who was the first man on the moon?

>>50106910
Many of those game mechanics preceded D&D. Hitpoints, unit growth, even combat rewards all can be found in earlier war games in one form or another. Likewise, you can trace many of the other ideas that define D&D from other sources, such as theater games and fantasy novels, with the latter being dramatically important in helping the game depart from its war game roots. You can even cite some board games as being precursors to D&D, including board games that Gygax designed before starting Chainmail and D&D..

What D&D did that made it so innovative was that it combined and structured ideas from a wide variety of sources, creating a hybrid product that could do more than merely the sum of its parts.

It was a slow transition, but the basic story goes like this. First Gygax and Jeff Perren built Chainmail, a 2d6 wargame built from a tank skirmish wargame's skeleton, and this introduced levels and other ideas that would later be carried over to D&D. It was originally a strictly medieval game, but Gygax added a fantasy supplement that made it surge in popularity. Arneson wrote the Blackmoor setting for his games of Chainmail, combining a rich narrative world for the wargame that impressed Gygax when Arneson published its details. They decided to work together, and ended up designing Dungeons and Dragons, relying on a combination of their wargame experience and world and setting creation to create what could be initially defined as a fantasy, dungeon-exploring, skirmish wargame, but slowly developed into a robust roleplaying game.

>>50107791
>Many of those game mechanics preceded D&D. Hitpoints, unit growth, even combat rewards all can be found in earlier war games in one form or another. Likewise, you can trace many of the other ideas that define D&D from other sources, such as theater games and fantasy novels,
oh, that's interesting. thanks for the heads-up, anon.

>>50106066
>Playing At The World.
any chance somebody has a pdf uploaded?

>>50105233
Why are they do hideously fugly?

>>50111629
>fugly
You what mate? I wouldn't describe them as fugly, not even particularly ugly

>>50112376
well, they and GRRM are definitely neckbeards

>>50111629
They're two overweight elderly men. If you want to be insulting, I'd go with fat before fugly.

The real question is why you do hideous syntax.