Chapter Three: System—The Rules of the Game

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Here he starts out with some generalizations about games as a whole and then delves into the history of wargames.

The claim is made that all board games and miniature wargaming descend from chess. Seemingly forgetting to mention other ancient games that predate chess.

History of Games

THE OLDEST GAMES IN THE WORLD

A lot of games, even ones we immediately recognize predate chess.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Here early in the chapter he states:

Upon its initial publication, Dungeons & Dragons took its place among the most complicated games ever marketed to the public. Its was not the sublime complexity of a game like chess, which might be learned in an afternoon but not mastered in a lifetime—the complexity of Dungeons & Dragons came from the sheer size and inscrutability of its rules, spread across three booklets and littered with errors, omissions and ambiguities. One must stare hard and read between the lines to discover how the authors intended the game to be played—and one must set aside familiarity with later editions, as many signature features of the system arose as clarifications or amendments to the imperfect first edition.

I find this to be an extremely offensive statement just dripping with contempt and disdain for the subject he is writing about. One wonders if he has ever played the game at all, one could almost ask, "Show us on the doll (rulebooks) where D&D hurt you."

One wonders what he thinks the "signature features" are, since nothing "signature" is missing from OD&D.