D&D Review circa 1974

[TechnoViking]

Thought this was funny.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/timeline/1972-1979/dd.gif

Mike

[Hermit]

I like the "much more work and refinement" bit at the end :)

[keithcurtis]

I like the price complaint. I wish I had only spent $10 on my gaming supplies...

Keith "Yes, I still have those books in mint condition" Curtis

[CourtFool]

Change the date and dollar amounts and it still fits. :)

[zornwil]

That was pretty neat. The most interesting thing to me was how certain conventions of RPGing have become familiar enough that the complaint about "play in person" being "impossible" seems ridiculous now even though the gaming methodology in that respect really hasn't changed much at all. Along wtih that is the notion that "too much" is attempted in the D&D RPG, when in fact that "too much" pretty much defined the RPG scope and is accepted. Of course in other regards the review was correct even from a contemporary perspective in regard to simple oversights and lack of clarity in the rules writing. But overall it's impressive how many of those review comments now don't really make sense, signaling the success of what D&D wrought. And it's also interesting how the reviewer missed a key point when he writes "I do not suggest these to the average wargamer" when in fact arguably D&D was not aimed at the "average" wargamer really. It may be that the majority of wargamers became attracted to RPGs, I don't know (I was a wargamer who was and I know many others as well), but the attraction of D&D and subsequently other RPGs was for different forms of gratification in gaming, even if many of the elements were shared (attempt at some sort of environmental simulation, luck-vs-control, fantasy).