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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Aug 4, 2021 23:31:01 GMT -5
What on earth?..why didn't the link work for me until now? Well, thanks, PD. ...and maybe I'm not the only person having this problem if someone is paying double for it on ebay? People on eBay overpay all the time, that is why game stuff is out of site. People are paying 5-10 times what things are worth. The pay huge sums for the OD&D 6th print so-called Collector's Edition, which is the least rare printing from the old days and is the censored version with Hobbits, Ents and Balrogs redacted. It should be the cheapest version, but it sells at a higher price than the 5th printing which is relatively much, much more rare and seldom seem. The 1st through the 4th printing are really rare.
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Post by hengest on Aug 8, 2021 19:38:48 GMT -5
Open systems are where the game truly happens. The decisions which aren't in the books, the actions which the DM wasn't prepared for. A closed system is a judge of its own. I do prefer systems which allow the users to pick and alter what closed systems are in play. A player who demands that every rule for any given system be strictly adhered to, this person is probably at the wrong table. Ahem, have an exalt for this concise and insightful post.
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Post by Iucounu on Sept 30, 2021 15:14:50 GMT -5
In time for Dave Arneson day tomorrow, I finally started my commentary on DATG. I put the first post about it on my blog, but will add the text here to add to the discussions on this thread. Hopefully, some of you guys will have read the book by now as well! First impressions: What a wonderful and thought-provoking little book. The intricate writing, grand concepts, systems, and scientific approach to a subject such as the invention of role playing games makes this a really unique read. The subject and ideas are fantastic and I eagerly look forward to the expansion of this subject that hopefully will be published in the form of Kuntz' A New Ethos in Game Design. The writing is passionate, quirky and relevant, though the book certainly doesn't do much to communicate the message in an easily consumable way. The first time I read it, some passages were almost incomprehensible. I have seen people call it unreadable, but that is really not the case. I can imagine that my engineering textbooks on continuum mechanics would be unintelligible to anyone other than engineers (Even as a student they were close to I will tell you!). The point is that the book treats advanced subjects such as Systems Science and Game Theory and it does not make any effort to explain the majority of the terms and concepts that it uses. In connection with this post, I have started reading the book again and I must say, the second time through is a much easier read. A read that is worth it. The task that Kuntz has set himself is admirable, not to say genius in itself and I can imagine I will read the book many times more -- at least until A New Ethos in Game Design is released. I don't have a foundation in either Systems Science or Game Theory so that is where I will start. I have compiled the references from the citations in the book and will read each of them before I return to the book again. I have now read The Architecture of Complexity and about half of The Sciences of the Artificial. Not only does some of Kuntz' concepts make a lot more sense already but the material is riveting -- The Architecture of Complexity was downright mind blowing! I feel like the indirect push into reading the references of the book has genuinely done me a bigger favor than if Kuntz had spent a lot of time explaining every concept in the book itself. Bibliography of DATG:
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Post by hengest on Sept 30, 2021 17:56:46 GMT -5
Iucounu Have an Exalt, thanks for doing this and sharing what looks to be a great review / intro to the book. Really looking forward to the other posts about this.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 30, 2021 19:25:59 GMT -5
BTW in my post on my blog today I linked to Iucounu's blog post and two other posts on another blog, you guys will want to check that out.
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