Brutkey

Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis
@Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis@dice.camp

thread 1/? This and the previous article made me think of the “real” grandfather to Dungeoncrawling. #Warcrawling or the #Warcrawl. Predating DND as mentioned previously. Wargames, especially a campaign format could become a crawl. This would become more interesting with either computerization (several Warhammer computer games spring to mind) or the L5R random war encounter/charts. I think I’ll think about and write more about this.
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/15151/roleplaying-games/game-structures-part-5-mysteries

Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis
@Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis@dice.camp

Thread 2/? I think that Gygax didn't write about two kinds of things: things he was uninterested in and things he was really good at. We know that Gygax in later years had conflicts with others over whether or not to include social mechanics and from many sidebars among people at his table it seems that he was skilled at Social interactions so felt no need for social based mechanics. At best he had randomizers for interactions to let the dice effectively surprise him. #Dnd

Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis
@Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis@dice.camp

Thread 3/? Obviously he was interested in Wargaming and he was reasonably skilled at them. Why would he reinvent the wheel when he could simply grab a game from his library of games tell others that X game repersented y conflict and resolve it if he needed a way to solve a war beyond narrative dictation. Sadly i don't know if he did this but this easily explains why nothing before the 2E Battlesystem really covers solving a war as a problem. Wars were 'crawled' through in Chainmail, not DND.

Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis
@Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis@dice.camp

the sources for Warcarwling inspiration are expansive, as are the rules in 1E where you can accquire almost armies if you have the correct class. Bless was a benefit to the aspiring warlord in 1E, so is the 4th level spell Massmorph. If armies weren't important why create the spell and create benefits for so many?