DMGs Don't Work / More On Mindsets

 Just as a follow up to yesterday's post:

Once you understand the playstyle of the creators of D&D, you begin also to understand the mindset.

I do not know for certain, but my impression is that, if you were to ask Gygax in the 70s how to run the game, any answer more in-depth than, "You referee between the players and the world," would not be forthcoming.

My reasoning for this is that all of those individuals who were involved at its very conception were people who had grown up playing wargames, an d developing wargames.  To such people, there could be nothing more natural than the relatively easy task of refereeing.  Perhaps a complex task, but not impossible.

It was only when people with different mindsets started to approach the game that misunderstandings started to crop up, that is, at least, in my mind.

Different Mindsets

Two new types of individuals, the first are those I would label as Powergamers, the second I would call Storygamers.

Powergamers want to know the rules, have the rules written down, that is, so that they can go about breaking these rules, and making the most over-powered characters possible.  Strictly NOT the point of D&D, I would say.

 When a powergamer asks how to run the game, and is met with the answer given above, the answer will likely be "Okay, yeah, but what are the rules [of running the game]."  This should be astounding, here the powergamer has been given the only rule, that of refereeing, and asks for more?!?  It is because this first rule is not seen as such, because the powergamer wants to play an altogether different game than is offered by D&D.

 Storygamers want to ignore all rules, for the sake of an interesting story, often disregarding realism, historical accuracy, and pre-established conventions of the setting to reach this goal.  Equally not what D&D is meant to be.

When the storygamer, in turn, is given the same solitary rule, it is equally ignored, though for a different reason.  Whereas the powergamer wants different rules, the storygamer has an utter disregard for rules, and accordingly, most likely, sees this as advice rather than a hard and fast basis of the game.

I should note that here I am describing the worst of both Powergamers and Storygamers, and of course whether these statements are true (as I believe them to be) or false depends solely on if they align with reality.


DMGs Do Not Work

It is also because of this mindset that the various DMGs (Dungeon Master's Guide(s)) released across the years have never done what people want them to do: teach people how to play the game.

For Wargamers the DMG, say of 1e, is exactly that, a guide.  Not an instructional manual, but an aid to running the game.

For Powergamers, the 1e DMG is an instructional manual, though for a different kind of game entirely.

For Storygamers, the DMG is a pretty mantelpiece.

To answer why is relatively simple.  The 1e AD&D DMG was a collection of write-ups done for all of the various processes which happened at the table in Gary Gygax's home game. (As far as I can tell.)

The 2e AD&D DMG was a re-collation of the rules found in 1e, with many changes implemented in an attempt to make the game smoother.

The 3e/3.5e DMG did basically the same, though translating the rules to the D20 system.

The 5e DMG simplified many of the rules of 3e/3.5e, removed others, and added in the minimum effort to be considered modular.

The 5.5e DMG, from what I've seen, seems to be more of the same vapid nonsense.

None of them have ever accurately instructed the reader on how to run the game.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An unhinged review of Baptism of Fire

Image
 For quick reference: when it comes to setting material I would set Oriental adventures at a 5 and most modern shlock as 1. [1] BoF comes in at a 3 for setting material Is this an attack on the author? No.   A ridiculous idea to any sane man, I know, but this will be important later. In point of fact, I happen to like it.   The overall quality I would put at a 5, with the layout being a 4.   In Specific When I read through setting material, I like to find those pieces which scream flavor. The introduction could have been half the length and gotten across the same information, this is due in part to the introduction being repeated, it appears in the first page of the actual book, and again in the introduction section, a minor annoyance.  In Character Creation 3d6 standard is respectable, but a piece of real interest, in the form of social class presents itself immediately afterward.  Though I like the system provided, I still found it lacking, at l...
Read more

There are only three gaming cultures

 Those who joined the hobby from playing board games, those who joined the hobby from playing video games and those who joined the hobby having played no games. Some establishing information Wargaming, as it existed before D&D (excluding Braunstein-like material) could be considered a subset of the board game hobby.  That is, from at least one key viewpoint: the players involved read the rules, and followed those rules.  As well, the boardgame hobby tends towards trying out new games, often every week (this from observation), and the wargaming hobby, again of the late 60s/early 70s seems, also from observation, to have been similar in this aspect as well. The thesis 1. Those who played the game at its inception were those individuals drawn from the war-game hobby. 2. Due to the advancing popularity of video games, at or around the 1990s and culminating during the 3rd edition of the game, those who joined the hobby came from the background of playing video games. 3....
Read more

The W40k Rant

 I don't like the lore, I don't like the gameplay, I don't like the company who makes it.  My seething fury towards this terrible game was started by three separate incidents, relating directly to the three issues above, but which do not encompass the whole of my distaste for this game.  The three events would be: A frankly off-putting lore video, the first and last I can remember attempting to watch, before being quickly deterred.  The fact that the official rules require actual physical miniatures, all of which are purposely and prohibitively expensive.  And finally, an event which occurred long before I was aware of it: that the company had copyrighted the term "space marine" a horribly generic term which they had the gall to claim.   Now, I do not know the current situation regarding the copyright, but the rest still stands. Furthermore The lore. The video which I found, this was years ago by now, and I believe I have thoroughly forgotten which cha...
Read more