Gygax vs Arneson: Battle Royale

Biggus Geekus

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Episode 178 Streamed Live Tuesday February 13, 2024 Main Topic: Who is the true Dungeon Master…Gary or Dave? A review of two documentaries: 1.) Secrets of Blackmoor: A Tue History of Dungeons & Dragons https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9301886/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl 2.) The Dreams in Gary’s Basement https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10621206/ Both movies painted their respective subjects in a good light Blackmoor for Mr Arneson’s part and Dreams for Mr Gygax. However neither treated the other’s subject in a bad light, letting the ages old schism remain in the past. Both mostly focused on the positive contributions each paid to our hobby. Secrets of Blackmoor went into great detail about how the tabletop RPG hobby sprung from war gaming, largely though Dave Arneson’s efforts. Dreams focused on Gary Gygax’s similar journey detailing the rise and fall of TSR and its eventual purchase by Wizards of The Coast. In light of these two documentaries, it seems the hobby owes it existence to both of these visionaries, though it is uncertain as to who gets top billing. At this point it hardly matters. Modules or Roll Your own? Modules/Pre-packaged Adventures Advantages: all encounters and stats done for you, plot ready to go, read-n-run (???), nice maps & visuals, and can dovetail with your own ideas(can even steal them from modules) and they can be fun to read. Disadvantages: may not fit your group, too railroad-y, costly($?), may need to shoe horn the current campaign/party situation into the adventure( Slavers series??/), politicization of games could creep in and long adventure paths/modules can be a lot to read and prepare even though it is all laid out for you. Rolling Your Own Advantages: easier to prep(theoretically), can react on the fly w/o worry of “messing” up the adventure, do not have to spend time reading, allows you infinite freedom and you can tailor it to your group from the start. Disadvantages: must make your own maps & prep time/write stats( ?), may need to use monster books/charts/random tables and “wing’in it” can result in non-sensical situations ( “ an aboleth, that doesn’t make any sense!”), inspiration can run dry, Big Geek Con 2: get ticket at - https://tabletop.events/conventions/big-geek-con-2024 September 20-22, 2024/$30 for those who are 13+ Parents must be always with their children. We are not babysitters. Four Points by Sheraton Saginaw 4960 Towne Centre Road, Saginaw, MI 48604 +1 989 790 5050 Shameless Plug Time: If you would like to support our show, please like, subscribe, and share us where you are listening or viewing the show. We are on all the socials, video and podcast places as well. Cash Support PayPal: https://paypal.me/biggusgeekus Streamlabs: https://streamlabs.com/biggusgeekus1/tip Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/biggusgeekus Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BiggusGeekus On the Web: Website: www.biggusgeekuspodcast.com Email: [email protected] Big Geek Emporium: https://biggeekemporium.com/

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