Too many ways to play D&D
Since the inception of the game that would come to be known as D&D, players have sought to uncover how the game is meant to be played. Players close to Gygax and Arneson, both proximally and in terms of game knowledge, had a very solid grasp of what it meant to play D&D. Others, exemplified by the Arduin Grimoires, had no idea what the game was, even after reading the rules. Elsewhere, the incredible looseness of the OD&D ruleset has been showcased through Coins & Scrolls intentional mis-interpretation . The Basic Expert has shown how Chainmail was meant to interface with OD&D, but even then only through un-published material. This illustrates only how confusing the original rules were, moving on: The second era of D&D was the Basic/Advanced split in the 80s (by my observation), and this created even more confusion and headache for the players of the game. Many saw the Advanced system as the 'better' version of the game (when they we...