How WotC Sabotaged The Making of Original D&D 1970-77, out of Hate for the Original Creators

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How WotC Sabotaged The Making of Original D&D 1970-77, out of Hate for the Original Creators
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[@kevinoneill376]

I "love" how he says it's the fan creations that have driven D&D forward but he's from the company that wanted to take exclusive rights of ANY 3rd party material created. With the "happy" coincidence that WotC could get new material without having to pay for it... #things_that_make_you_go_Hmmm

[@DM_Bluddworth]

They (WotC) think we don’t have a memory or a better understanding of the hobby and its legacy than we do.

[@n.ludemann9199]

@@DM_Bluddworth Do we? We have a different understanding and different memories. If they are actually better... I cannot say. What I can say is that EVERYTIME since the 80s, outrages and tantrums occurred when something new was announced (I fell for that myself actually...) and I played with (and DMed for) people who played the game even earlier than me. It was like that in the 70s too. Nothing new on earth... Hate, sabotage, asumptions, all those massive attacks on publishers are not new. I am from Germany btw, we got a translation of BECMI and later AD&D 1e in the 80s. Because the first printing of AD&D 1e's translation was a mess, even today people continue saying "don't buy the translations, they are crap". Because a thing that happened 38 years before. When not even their parents had started playing! Kids, 16 year old still mention how bad this translation was and apply this to ALL translations. No matter what game... At cons, there are people who refuse to play if the german rules are used. I think we may have to rethink sometimes... Many people accuse others of virtue signalling etc. 5e/neo-trad/OC influencers suggest Classic and OSR style players hate the game and them as players. This culture war is becoming highly toxic. I do not buy 5e-stuff, but if I get the chance to play it, I will play. I have pre-ordered the book btw. I also have the 1e and 2e premium books from 2013 (announcing I'd NEVER ever buy anything from WotC after them introducing 4e and its new license, going over to Pathfinder. I was such a douchbag back then, or simply inconsequent) and bought the wooden 1e boxed set. I think we should start rethinking and reviewing our opinions from time to time. For my time, I stopped calling myself an OSR player or DM for example because I play classic style with a bit of of Trad and Nordic Larp-Style...

[@matt9591]

a simpler time, when creatives were creatives and not vapid ideologues

[@calvanoni5443]

Well I'm Vapid & Spitting Venom

[@DoctorPhobos]

@@calvanoni5443That's not venom, Cal . . . ;)

[@griffithmorgan4966]

Vapid is such useful word when talking about people who are vapid. ;)

[@thiatasashadarawesh4171]

At 9min, the game was always inclusive and many of us were always just wanting to find more players, did not care from where.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

The notion that it wasn’t inclusive in the early and mid years of the hobby, is a lie created by WotC so that they can virtue signal and claim that “today we are doing better”. This comes from a place of jealousy and the realization that they are less creative, less innovative and less talented than the legacy creators of D&D and the TTRPG hobby as a whole. We don’t call the fry cook at McDonalds a master chef for creating the highest selling hamburger in the world. Nor is the highest selling hamburger in the world the best tasting burger that has the highest quality of ingredients. However what is happening lately is that like McDonalds, WotC is starting to over price their mediocre product. The consumer base won’t support this, and both Hasbro and WotC are losing money and market share as a result.

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

We let everyone play in the old days. But the weirder they were the more we liked them joining us! @@DM_Bluddworth

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@sebbonxxsebbon6824 my gaming table from 1978 - 1989 was far more diverse than the current staff of WotC.

[@TheOGGMsAdventures]

Wotc has to prove how it was not inclusive until they fixed it in 2019.

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

They have to slap themselves on the back for made up reasons because 5e is a trash game.@@elliotvernon7971

[@toddzilla1236]

this $100.00 book will be $4.99 at Ollies in six months.

[@coldstream11]

If you look for two seconds in ebay at every collector book released you’ll realize how silly what you’re saying is. This book will be double in a year. Just mark my words.

[@toddzilla1236]

I do hope your investment strategy pays off! You should buy as many of these as you possibly can. Cheers! @@coldstream11

[@mcdoogle_robotman]

​@@coldstream11 it's $77 on Ebay right now

[@kellerglee]

@@coldstream11unfortunately have to agree with you, these books don’t really ever drop in price, regardless of its content

[@georgelaiacona111]

Sigh. This hobby is the most diverse activity I have ever witnessed, bar none! More diverse and inclusive than school. More diverse and inclusive than my military service. More diverse and inclusive than any job I've ever held. More diverse and inclusive than any sport I participated in or watched on TV. More diverse and inclusive than chess club or church. This is NO exaggeration. It was never a bad thing, never bigoted, never excluding, except now I'm being told it was and I'm supposed to believe it because somebody claimed themselves an expert and this person says so. And they say the old grognards are the gatekeepers of this hobby!

[@TheInformalGame]

They will hold up the cherry picked example of someone who everyone can agree is a jerk and claim that is how it is and that it is pervasive. To which I reply, show me in any edition of rules where it says only white male gamers are allowed to play the game.

[@VioletDeliriums]

Certainly more diverse and inclusive than a large-scale capitalist bully that uses heavy handed means to dominate others.

[@kevinlamb2129]

Great video, thanks for calling out those other books. I was the exact target audience for this book but they went out of their way to ensure that they'll never see another dime from me.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I’m glad to have saved you a lot of money. I’m almost certain Jon Peterson simply reprinted his book Game Wizards and then WotC added a page of Content Warnings, a chapter on “How WotC is so much better”, and then copies of White Box booklets. As I pointed out, you can get Peterson’s book for $13.99 and the free PDF of OD&D is pretty easy to find.

[@griffithmorgan4966]

We're going to release some new blackmoor material soon. It's really good stuff.

[@kevinlamb2129]

Can't wait!@@griffithmorgan4966

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@@griffithmorgan4966 I reached out on FB, I'd like to have you on this channel to talk about your new projects.

[@griffithmorgan4966]

@@DM_Bluddworth Yeah. I need to check my schedule. I can probably do a recording tomorrow if you are free.

[@cmdrjaycemacleod8198]

WotC is a terrible company, and has been for a long time now.

[@Wachtier]

WotC has been slowly burning D&D to the ground since 3.5, and the damage has only accelerated. The bright side, I suppose, is whoever inherits the brand ten years down the road will tar and feather these buffoons just as harshly when their turn arrives.

[@thedocklighter]

Why would I pay $100+ for rules I already have, without being preached at by a bunch of self-righteous, smug, virtue-signaling fill-in-the-blanks for how included I should feel? I have been playing since the Holmes set, and I have never felt excluded for being a not-typical RPG player from that era. No politics, no agendas, just players interested in playing a fun game.

[@donc7664]

Long live Doctor Holmes!

[@coldstream11]

Not everything is for you… could, could that be it? Like personally that book looks great other than the price point.

[@quantus5875]

@@donc7664 Yes, long live Mr. Holmes and Gygax and Arneson and Kask, Mohan, Wells, Cook, Sutherland, Trampier, Otus, Holloway, Kuntz, Mentzer, Moldovay, Cook, Weis, Hickman, Easley, Roslof, Dee, Carr, the list goes on... Thank you!!

[@kevinbrennan-ji1so]

I'm a middle-aged white guy and began playing right around 1980-81. Sadly, our whole group of kids were white. We did have one black kid who wanted to join us and our DM at the time kind of railroaded him into finally not wanting to continue. I was not thrilled with that outcome as I tend to be much more inclusive than most, but I saw it happen. There was definitely some snobbery or bigotry at hand. If your experience was more inclusive, than great, god bless.

[@quantus5875]

@@kevinbrennan-ji1so In the late 70s and early 80s, my best friend in H.S. was Hispanic and he played D&D with us all the time. So yes, I agree with you there were pockets of non-inclusivity, depending on where you lived, but not at my game table. Yes, very definitely different times. D&D was considered a weird game to play back in the 70s and 80s -- you had to be willing to wear a nerd badge if you wanted to play. D&D itself was not accepted by society at large in the 70s and 80s. Pop culture changed over time and it's interesting that D&D has a kind of cool factor now - which is the main reason I think that a lot of women are playing now -- which is fantastic -- yes glad to see that society has become more inclusive over time -- and this cultural change has made every game, activity, sport, that people play more inclusive, to include TTRPGs.

[@chrissimpson1183]

Secrets of Blackmore and Empire of Imagination are very good.

[@FlintFireforge]

Watched it before and these are, to quote Buzz Lightyear "sad little men".

[@tonygonzales726]

I really do miss the wonder, excitement, awe, of older D&D. Going out to hobby and toy shops for the next module ( remember those?) in a series. I miss that yearning to continue a module adventure. To see the great REAL, NOT AI, artwork. I have most of the books you mentioned. You are correct. They are very good, informative books. Thanks for the video.

[@solomonkane1712]

This video was a great service to traditional players. I have a new list of books to read/listen to. WotC can’t help but show their disdain for its own history. WotC is more about agitprop with its political commissars than gaming. The 5e WotC employees are also jealous of the creators. All they can do is destroy what the creators gave us & use the skin to deliver their garbage politics.

[@roadmarch0364]

Why dose Kyle Brink still have a job? About 5 years ago, I got back into the Hobby after 20 years or so. I spent $100's of dollars on the new 5E books. Since last year when that idiot, said "Middle aged white guys can't leave the hobby fast enough"... well I left. and I'll NEVER buy another 5E book. I'll never buy another thing from WotC. I've spent $100's of dollars on the AD&D books I had lost or given away over the years. The truth is that you can play this game w/ just 3 books, the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeons Masters Guide. WotC needs us more than we need them, let them suffer, just like Hasblow, with millions of dollars of merchandise rotting on the retail shelves. And thanks for your review BTW.

[@georgeheingartner6995]

Really good stuff. I go all the way back to Red Book C&S and can speak from 40+ yrs experience in RPGS: Nobody was ever "frozen out" due to color, creed, gender whatever unless they came into the hobby *looking for a fight.* (And there were some of those, even back then.) WOTC is finished, alas. It's occupied territory and there's no D-Day in sight. The only way through is out - abandon it and don't look back.

[@Darkwintre]

Explains a lot about how Hasbro messed up the movie with their actions blaming the movie rather than themselves!

[@calvanoni5443]

Imagine that, ," Fighting Man" is so terrible, ! 😂

[@drunkendelver1966]

No joke, I love the term "Fighting Man". Fighter somehow feels like the character is self conscious or on the fence about their career. Meanwhile, you have the Fighting Man. He knows who he is, he knows what he does, and he's damn good at it. We need to bring back the Fighting Man.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@drunkendelver1966 WotC will be introducing the “Fighting Them”

[@elliotvernon7971]

I think ‘Fighting man’ is a Conan reference - as in King Conan’s lament in The Phoenix and the Sword: ‘When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat, The people scattered gold-dust before my horses feet; But now I am a great king, the people hound my track, With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back’

[@Sanguivore]

@@elliotvernon7971Great point! That’s been my assumption on the origin of the name as well.

[@kevinbrennan-ji1so]

One should have the ability to laugh at oneself. It doesn't mean you should hate or despise or think less of, it just means you can look back and say 'look how much I've evolved from such crude language and behaviors'. The people that mistake and misrepresent this usually have some hidden agenda at play.

[@orinmayer1276]

WOTC are so much worse then the original creators ever were, I cannot wait till future RPGers drag them through the mud.

[@MisterWebb]

They sabotage every D&D project: They didn’t promote the movie, they scrapped the Dragonlance TV series, they messed up the Deck of Many Things … It seems deliberate

[@VioletDeliriums]

It's ok...There are better alternatives now. My favorite is Dolmenwood. But even using the old Moldvay B/X would be awesome! I learned everything I needed to know about being a DM from those books!

[@SteveKavadas]

I was promised strong language sir. But I’m in complete agreement that the KZbinr you mentioned is as usual way off base and completely wrong about any Grognard running out to buy this book, or that the OSR will collapse overnight from this release. Great video as always!

[@Decado1628]

That KZbinr is well known for being completely delusional.

[@SteveKavadas]

@@Decado1628 Oh yeah, many times he’s said things so outlandish and incendiary I’ve not been able to resist commenting on his videos. He will also twist what’s said to him into tangents so skewed from the original points made to him that all I can do is shake my head and give up.

[@Decado1628]

@@SteveKavadas I used to comment on his channel a lot but finally realized it was a waste of time. On top of his obvious mental conditions, that he does not seek help for, he is condescending, a habitual liar and all-around douche canoe who, despite his shitty behavior thinks he is saved because of his religion.

[@Decado1628]

@@SteveKavadas He cannot even keep up with his own BS. He has been posting videos of how great the Crown & Skull rpg is, and it very well may be great. However, by the definition of 100's of his videos it should be considered scrub, garage band energy because it has B&W art.

[@SteveKavadas]

@@Decado1628 That’s true too, he’ll praise OSR games for being innovative then turn around and shame people to go back to D&D. If 5E destroys all competition, he should just be content and leave us be. He’s realized without admitting that Hasbro and WotC are in dire straits and we Grognards are needed to prop up the sales, not that it will save WotC from mismanagement.

[@cyberglum]

Secrets of Blackmoor is well worth a watch. It's amazing to see the original guys sort of stumbling their way towards something they didn't actually realize they were creating. Literally emergent game play.

[@septimus64]

Don't give a penny to Weirdos of the Coast

[@elliotvernon7971]

You can also get a good second hand copy of Outdoor Survival for about 15 bucks - so WotC including that is little incentive

[@PeterLeban]

So yeah, it's not dungeons and dragons anymore but dillusions and diversities.

[@anon-yw4wd]

I am Jacks complete lack of surprise.

[@quantus5875]

Great video!! I think it's interesting that we all remember who the greats are: Gygax and Arneson!! I for one will never forget how much we all owe to these two. They created the game we love. Have no idea who these fools are that were doing this interview and nor do I care. No one will remember their names, but we will always remember Gygax and Arneson. Playing at the World is another awesome book by Jon Peterson. Read it cover to cover once, it's a giant book - serious page count.. Yes, its out of print but the PDF version is still available and I think they are going to do a 2nd Edition of it this year. Will pick up the 2nd Ed if it comes out. Another fantastic series is Shannon Applecline's Designer and Dragons series. I've read the entire series. and read the section in the first book on TSR about 5 times -- it's another great read if you want to know the history of these different RPG companies. The PDFs of OD&D are worth a pickup if you're curious about what the rules look like. I for one don't mind giving WotC some of my money. I'm actually really glad that WotC makes PDFs of most of the old stuff readily available for low prices -- let's people enjoy copies of the old stuff without paying crazy eBay prices.

[@kurgon1976]

Secrets of Blackmoor educated me on history of D&D more than anything. Great documentary. D&D is dead, I'm a Dungeon crawl classics guy myself.

[@DaveTheGM]

Hearing that they did several inclusivity reviews on the book really turned me off of it, no matter how respected the author is. I worry about the handling of the subject matter when i see that. On the only white men point, Gail Gaylord was there from the start and played in Blackmoor. If this guy had watched The Secrets of Blackmoor maybe he'd know that. Also saying that people need to see themselves in the game sounds like a lack of imagination on the new player base's part. Edit: I bought the OD&D PDFs a while back, removed the passwords and fixed the pdfs. I added the missing stronghold table and Tolkien naming back in. Finding matching fonts was the worst part.

[@effindave6909]

As an older fan of dnd ( I started with first edition advanced) and the setting was already plenty diverse. I've since switched over to 40k and I'll never look back. WotC disgusts me.

[@AuthoritativeNewsNetwork]

[Our Inclusivity Board Reviewed this] 🤮🤮

[@Nobleshield]

Says it all, really. The fact they even have that shows that they want to push an agenda.

[@VengerSatanis]

What would we ever do without a slapdash, one-page, storygame version of DEI "5e" by an autonomous, patriarchy-free individual of the cake-gender persuasion? If you want this nonsense to end, support Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer and Cha'alt!

[@DM_Bluddworth]

We NEED Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer in PoD Softcover! Cha’alt

[@VengerSatanis]

@@DM_Bluddworth Yes. Soon...

[@Darkwintre]

Good he pointed out about the fighting-man! Hey wotc, hasbro how are the sales? Not good aren’t they! Bin the agenda and focus on good writing instead!

[@SnowWolf9999]

I did chuckle at that one, after he talked about all the horrible stuff that was in there that wouldn't fly today "Fighting Man" was his example, something that was changed to Fighter before the 70s were even over.

[@quantus5875]

@@SnowWolf9999 I actually read somewhere that fighting-man is actually a Conan reference, i.e. why the term was used by Gygax. Yeah, silly example, I saw the whole interview and it was actually pretty good except for the end when he started criticizing Gygax and Anderson -- so yes -- the video took a weird turn, ruined the whole video for me.

[@quantus5875]

Yes, it's a Conan reference - I looked it up -- it comes from the Conan novel: "Hour of the Dragon", where Conan is called a fighting man. There may be other references, but that's where some believe Gygax got the term from.

[@parttimed.m.1111]

I utterly hate Jay Scott Garibay

[@TheOGGMsAdventures]

Preach

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I don’t hate him, I just think he is a tool for WIZBRO, and not a real fan of D&D or Gary Gygax as he claims. He is also a liar at worse or delusional if he seriously believes the nonsense he spews. He is as hate filled as the WotC employees (I don’t honor them with the title “creators” or “designers”).

[@TheOGGMsAdventures]

@@DM_Bluddworth he is a sick sad troll who will never change. People need to stop engaging with him

[@parttimed.m.1111]

@@DM_Bluddworth you are a better man than i.

[@calvanoni5443]

Did Scott do a new vid on this?

[@sirellyn]

Giving the ALTERVATIVES to those woke products has been fantastic!! I'd give you 20 likes if I could. Thank you!

[@VioletDeliriums]

It's not necessarily bad to be "woke" if it means you agree that human beings should have equal rights...but preaching coming from a large-scaled capitalist venture such as Hasbro/WoTC that tries to dominate and shut down voices with a heavy hand, there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy.

[@ScottBaker_]

The Dreams In Gary's Basement is a documentary coming out (soon?) Its on KS and continues to move towards fulfillment.

[@SapphireRidge900]

Entirely agree, only truly dedicated "grognards" would be willing to pay $100 for a version of this that respects Gygax and Arneson. Your recommended alternatives are superior in every way. "Slaying the dragon", "Playing at the world" and "the elusive shift" could also perhaps be relevant.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Ya that's WotC I won't buy their crappy books anymore

[@osrknight3395]

i don't need to buy a book to read about the history of D&D. I lived it.

[@paulbigbee]

In another channel where this product was mentioned, I commented that I found this fatuous piece of virtue signaling extremely tedious and unnecessary, as history doesn't need "inclusivity reviews" unless you assume the consumer is a child. My comment received the now all too familiar refrain of, "I'm sorry you feel that way but inclusivity is important." This reply speaks to the shibboleths that are uncritically parroted and result in more dumb, bland products. Worse, they chill _civil_ criticisms and zone off a hobby that is fundamentally about expression more than it is anything else. Insanity.

[@losthwy]

TSR included a harlot's random encounter table for crissakes! I am a Black woman who played DnD from 4th grade on, a neighbor kid at my dining room table called the Drow n*****r elves! My parents were life wtf! I still have nearly all my books and even bought some more in the early 2000s out of sentimental attachment. DnD affected my life in only positive ways but I as a Black woman had to FIGHT for the respect I deserved in that world of entitled white males. I personally feel that anything after TSR is not true D&D, and it isn't, I however support 100% wotc cleansing DnD of its racist and misogynist past and making it a healthy place for EVERYONE.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

But the rule books themselves didn’t have a racist or misogynistic past. You, unfortunately, encountered an asshole and that really is a shame. You wouldn’t have had that same experience, certainly not at my table, nor any of the tables I’ve played at for over 40 years. Tables will never be healthy for “Everyone”, there are quite a few people who shouldn’t be in the hobby at all because they don’t have the emotional or mental stability to separate fiction from real life.

[@retrodmray]

Unfortunately, sir, I think they actually very much do understand exactly what they're saying & doing. Incredibly sad 😔 for them all, and all of us who have to live to see and hear this in these days! Thanks for bringing this tragedy, but also much-needed, news. 👊 And Secrets of Blackmoor is actually gold and should be one thing we celebrate in regards to the 50th Anniversary!

[@patricianorwood1075]

I absolutely loved the original D and D, and we made our own campaigns based on it, aside from the modules. I can't believe there was so much animosity towards the original creators of the game. There was never any racial exclusivity anout who could play the game. Or even gender excluvity. WotC couldn't stop remaking the game. Now its completely broken at 5e etc. I have 5e but don't like it much at all and generally play other systems now that are more old school in approach.

[@theldun1]

Wow, they are some petty POS!!!!! It was a fantasy game. It should not represent the real world in any way shape or form!!!

[@thehappyheretic2136]

I think we all make one hero-type character who embodies ourselves It is normally a king, wizard, etc, somewhere in his own land who may get pulled out for a one-off night play with a friendly DM for some destroying monsters every year or so the rest of the time we talk big about the character and we play characters who are not us in any way. we are part of a team trying to survive and make memories with loved ones and newcomers alike. memories that truly last a lifetime. old school D&D players have always been the most inclusive. we never left anyone out and begged people to play. Nerd geeks special ed stoners jocks could all sit together around D&D which made it harder to bully at school the next day the kid you liked to play D&D with the night before and end up becoming lifelong friends. bye, the way I was the bullied special ed kid .D&D not only gave a lonely 8-year-old a social life but I was able to learn math, reasoning skills, teamwork, social skills, maps, charts, graphs, reading, high-level comprehension college-level thinking, and older friends. I was put in regular classes at school and went on to get a degree all because my older cousins and their friends let a little kid play one Christmas night at a family gathering and they continued to not only teach me D&D but became like a big family raising me teaching me baseball, and basketball. helping with homework, taught me about girls and then later women and marriage taught me about different cultures movies comics the list is endless. I was also privy to all the big people talk in the family and sat at the big kid table. that comes in handy lol D&D welcomed me in from being the dumb bunny my hated nickname to an accepted part of a huge gaming family many of us still talk today. I owe D&D a lot including keeping me sane and giving me a healthy outlet as a teen and geeks always got the good stuff from the stoners. lol. I'm sure my life would not have had the quality and sense of adventure if not for D&D who said D&D never had happy endings!

[@KenFletcher-ut5us]

I agree with pretty much all of your commentary on that Hasbro/WotC video that was promoting the soon-to-arrive $99 "Making of Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977 book. Your suggestions for alternative sources of text & art are clear & brilliant. I like the idea that there are reasonable alternatives for researching players to build their own history collection. Yet I also like the idea that there can be a $99 printed version that will be safe in public & private libraries. 50 (or a 100) years from now, those copies will be also good to have around. Perhaps there might even be thrilling serialized streaming "movies" about the courageous corporate employees that risked their jobs (and publication credits) to make sure the book (and its promotional video) were actually published back in ancient 2024. A person can look at the snarky parts of the video's closing, and maybe see that those words (and facial expressions) may have been also addressed to the corporate officers assigned to OK the book publication and the promo video. Getting a library-quality collection of papers (a key sample of the RPG-History treasure) may have been worth the risk to some courageous corporate dungeon explorers.

[@Darkwintre]

How far they’ve fallen he means! They’re clearly not fans!

[@Darkwintre]

It’s that bad? So 4e was a cakewalk compared to what they’re doing now?!

[@Squirrel-Hermit]

I'm lucky enough to own vol. 1 of Strategos original copy...1880...in good condition...

[@kathrineici9811]

Scan it or take pictures of each page so new copies can be made, just in case!

[@guapounggoy]

Even if WOTC put this together and marketed it perfectly, I still couldn't justify the purchase due to the price point. Will I have any FOMO? Maybe a little, but not enough to motivate me to spend the money. Our wants will never be satisfied, and my KS backings prove this, but there is a fine line between collecting and hording. If we support these expensive items, the price will continue to rise as "whatever the market will bear". We have to take into account with our wallets the price we are willing to pay. I'm thinking more like $50.00 for this kind of product and even then, it's not exactly an instant buy. Additionally, if you take into account all the things WOTC has done and the attitude of "don't give money to people who hate you", then the choice is clear. I've watched 'Secrets of Blackmoor'. It's really good. I streamed it which is even cheaper than buying.

[@chrissimpson1183]

I do remember a favorite article article in Dragon magazine about how to run a game that takes place in India.

[@Xpun-oi2zz]

The Secrets of Blackmoor was simply amazing. I've never seen a documentary set like that. So so detailed. Love it & cant wait for pt.2

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@@Xpun-oi2zz and no hate directed at anyone, not even Gary Gygax, even though it is presented more in praise of Dave Arneson. Plus it really highlights the contributions of others like Dave Wesley, and many, many others.

[@Xpun-oi2zz]

@@DM_Bluddworth I think including all those other people was a really really big plus to it.

[@martinbowman1993]

The reality is they are alienating themselves from their base of support thinking it will garner them a new base of support, but in reality they will have no base of support and the game will go bankrupt.

[@VioletDeliriums]

PS...I like Playing at The World better than all of the other books on your list (I have read all except Strategos). I used it as a guide for designing my own game at one point, because it shows you all the kinds of problems that a D&D game designer would have to solve. When I saw Dolmenwood, it had a way to solve all the problems that I was solving in my own game design. (There is only one problem...The one thing I think Gygax got wrong was to put all the spells in the Player's Handbook so the players know all the magic, yet magic is the source of mystery in fantasy lit! So there has to be a better magic system where the spells are unknown to the players every timd a new campaign starts.) It also more thoroughly relates game rules/mechanics/fluff to the Appendix N fantasy lit than the others do.

[@jean-michelgilbert8136]

About the price point. Absolutely right. I might have picked it up at half that price and if my shelves weren't already overflowing with books but 100$ for a book in this economy? Forget about it.

[@calvanoni5443]

In fairness, I think Wotc has a few written communications between Gary & Dave, no one else has had access to. But I doubt that changes much.

[@quantus5875]

I think the media tries to make this big deal between the bad relationship between Gygax and Arneson for sales. Yeah, we all get it they had a falling out, but who cares Gygax and Arneson are giants! Have a huge respect for both and appreciation for what they both did for the hobby. Also, Gygax's and Arneson's relationship - and how they thought of each other has nothing to do with inclusivity. I get so tired of the - ok we changed the word "race" to "ancestry" or whatever and call that inclusivity -- or doing inclusivity reviews (and like its a better game because we do inclusivity reviews), what a joke. Inclusivity is just letting everyone play -- and D&D has always been open to anyone that wanted to play.

[@squirekev]

Everyone gets a participation ribbon for playing now. Hooray! Indeed, It was a different time. If Peterson is getting royalties for his work, he just got shafted by these donuts' inane ramblings.

[@steambub]

There is also The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg and the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I backed / purchased The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg and need to get around to having Griff on the channel to talk about it.

[@Lepidoptera666]

​​@@DM_Bluddworth Griff is a raging lefty that believes in cancel culture. Be warned.

[@steambub]

Just found out about The Elusive Shift by Jon Peterson, the same author of Game Wizards. That would be another one for the list.

[@kyrnsword72]

For me it will always be: D100 Dungeon Mapping game with either Scarlet Heroes or Shadowdark.

[@glen20rainman56]

Just downloaded the PDF from the National Archives...wow thank you

[@brianchadwick3804]

Love your video. Just as a note, unfortunately the pdf is a late printing of the originals, after removing Balrog, etc.

[@pentegarn1]

I just got the 2024 Dungeons and Dragons year book. Although I really liked the art and some of the articles....when you stray into the "Meet the Staff" parts scattered around the book it really gets hip deep. lol

[@dungeondumbo]

Wizbro are making trash and talking trash. It’s disgusting that they can’t just let Gygax and the old crew have their day and take a bow on the anniversary of a product they have been making millions off the back of. Shame.

[@kellyjeaularson5786]

I learned Dungeon & Dragons from E. Gary Gygax himself (and run my RPG his home version way). The implications Jon Peterson is stating is that "fighting men" is politically incorrect? D&D was a historically based wargame, turned into a role-playing game. No one has the right to change history and call it "fighting persons". That is if it based on a historical platform. If using Blackmoor or Greyhawk, than we have a fantasy campaign world, and you follow what those creators (Arneson or Gygax). But again, they had it based on history (future history if you spoke with Gygax as HE told me Greyhawk was the far, far future past Boothill, Gangbuster, Top Sercret, Gamma World. Then Greyhawk, with Star Frontiers the future of that world. But there was no discrimination, race or sex, in any of Dungeon & Dragons. Just what was in history. No different than what race or sexism is in H.P. Lovecraft works used by Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu.

[@quantus5875]

I don't think it was Jon Peterson the book author that made the weird fighting-man comment. It was the two WotC blokes on the video that made those strange comments. I doubt the book make any of these strange inclusivity comments. Plus I read somewhere that fighting-man is a Conan reference.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@quantus5875 you are correct, which is why I said it was unfortunate for Peterson that Tondro and Kendrick (WotC employees) sabotaged this book with their stupid comments. I have no doubt that there will be trigger warnings and or a disclaimer in this book, inserted by WotC. I also have no doubt that their inclusivity readers edited Peterson’s writing to ensure he didn’t write anything they found to be problematic. Any time you hear that a company has sensitivity or inclusivity readers you can expect to see “old white man bad” comments, disclaimers, and warnings.

[@quantus5875]

@@DM_Bluddworth Agreed. I hear you. I don't mind inclusivity -- but taken to the extreme, yeah, it's bad stuff. In the end it not inclusivity at all. Yeah, these WoTC non-namers really took an odd turn in the end on that video. Thanks so much for calling them out. I'm so glad you posted this video, putting down Gygax and Arneson for no reason was just wrong. Not sure why they did that. And thank for showing that book on Dave Arneson -- was not aware of that book. So, thanks - have a new book to read!! I have all the others you showed and have read all of them, to include the entire Designers and Dragons (4 book series) by Shannon Applecline (that was not in your video). That's a series you didn't mention but absolutely fantastic!!

[@jules-pierremalartre7800]

When I wanted to read a history of TSR or D&D, I picked up Game Wizards by Jon Peterson and Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs.

[@pilleater]

Fantastic point.

[@robertthompson3077]

Can't wait to see the book on Ollie's shelves for $10. Maybe I'll buy it then and try to slog past all the hate and garbage to see if there's something interesting somewhere in it.

[@docnecrotic]

I hope they keep screwing up. The more people they alienate, the better.

[@joecoo4615]

I was torn over this but W.o.t.C deserve FECK ALL. Going to get round to buying Tonnisborg. But this books amazing I would love this. Regardless of W.o.t.C.. But can't warant spending a $100 on corps.

[@thehappyheretic2136]

I do not play nor buy anything but basic D&D I have been playing for over 42 yrs I don't need to spend another penny in my lifetime and still not run out of material our imagination is our only limitation!

[@Minodrec]

I hate the idea that if a writer team doesn't include someone with your skin colour teh game sin't for player opf this skin color. As if Mike Pondsmith didn't exist. He published Mekton in 1986. He didn't wait for Hasbro to hire sensibility readers.

[@thefiendishdm9976]

The only reason I can see getting this $100 book, and it is indeed a weak reason, is that the version of original D&D in this book is of the very first draft of the game... Not the one available at Drivethru/DMsguild and not even the version in the original woodgrain boxes of 1974. So, no, not worth the price tag, but it is a point worth mentioning IMHO. YMMV.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

The very first draft can be found as part of released court records that was just released by the Gygax / Arneson estates and that draft was not part of TSR properties and don’t belong to Wizards of the Coast because it was never published.

[@markcampbell4080]

I'll pick it up at Olie's.

[@Darkwintre]

Literally their efforts to exclude the very audience responsible for the success those 50 years they’re trying to claim credit for highlights their ignorance!

[@n.ludemann9199]

Yes, the book IS overpriced, thank you for pointing out alternatives. One can (legally) get the original 1972 draft of the game, at the web archive btw, it was published there because it is in the procedural documents All right, and now some rant. As an old gamer who went through much of it, but has played with people who who experienced it all, I think I know what I am talking about... Let us go through this... 1974 - Alternative combat system... "OH NO! Never ever! We use Chainmail! (or Braunstein...)" 1975 - Greyhawk: "The Thief destroyed the game!11elven!"-outrage and "nobody needs those ability tables - I will never buy anything TSR anymore!" - Buys Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry and Holmes... 1977 - 1979 - AD&D... "Gary is becoming autoritarian like hell, nobody needs unified rules, I use the MM for my D&D game, but I will not by anything TSR ever again" ... buys PHB and DMG anyway and keeps the Dragon (and Dungeon) Magazine subscription anyway forever... Still waiting for T1 anyway - ah, there it is... 1986 - "Oh no, the Dragon Lady bullied Gary out of TSR, I will never ever buy anything TSR again... and the Survival Guides and Unearthed Arcana are crap anyway." yes, Lorraine did do that. No question. But I know SO many oldschool people of the Classic and Traditional style who say so... they continued buying I-series and started appreciating Forgotten Realms anyway (and the Rules Cyclopedia and Challenger Series too...) 1989 - 15th Anniversary, introducing 2e: "ThIS iS nO lOnGeR d&D aNyMoRe" - "wait, wasn't your last game about Times and Troubles and didn't you have speciality priests and spheres in it?" - "ehem, yes, err, this ehem is from Dragonlance Adventures - and this is 1e strictly speaking" - "I see..." 1994 - 20th Anniversary - Revised 2e "They revised it - AGAIN! The game is broken now... - take a guess, right... buys Player- and DM Options anyway, and the revised Dark Sun setting too. And the Post-FtA Greyhawk stuff too "At last, Greyhawk is playable again" 1997 - 25th Anniversary, check. "Oh no, WotC bought TSR, I'll never buy anything D&D again, their M:TG destroyed the hobby" - and where have all the Silver Anniversary boxedsets gone (so much on overpriced products, whatever...) 2000 - Third Edition: *Sees ascending AC and THaC0 gone: TIILT* - "no more, no more" - but still has the first day edition with a mint Character Creator CD and Monsters in the back... ALL PRAISE the OGL! 2003 - Threeandahalf: "ehem, yeah right, they - err - fixed combat and - ehem - the skills ... Sanctification of the OGL continues, Apotheosis prepared... 2006/2007: Osric and Lablord: "What is that for??? I only play according to originals!!" - Blue Box landing next to the Grognard: "Hey guy, listen, this is a recording of you, from 17 years ago..." - "Ehm, Errrr...." 2008 - FOUR: "What a crappy design" - well yes, but it is actually the only balanced D&D ever... nowadays praising its superiority to 5e because... revoking OGL, Pathfinder, Paizo, Dragon Magazin ... remember the outrages? "Never again"... Now... we could continue this forever... 2014 and 5e, its additions and revisions, extras and Neo-Trad/OC-Style vs OSR Style (which is a modernist invention and NOT the Classic and Trad Style of Gygax/Arneson/Holmes/Hickman. Not even Finch, Marshall and and Proctor intended the development...) Many people from todays OSR-movement are heavily attacking WotC (and Hasbro foremost...) for whatever they have been doing, now the tantrum is about what is "inclusivity". The Culture War has become worse and escalated massively. WTF has become of the player base? Nobody was excluded back in the days, RIGHT! If I kept my mouth shut about being trans and liking all Genders (oh no - I used the word, slay me on sight...). Being called a pervert and groomer was the least offensive, one of the more "uninclusive" things was being threatened by a father - whom I know since the 1990- like "don't you touch my children", grapping my shirt. Whatever, WTF! I never did, why should I - but one has to be careful whom one comes out to. Those books REALLY would not pass a test about inclusion... One could be happy if people did not beat you up, if you kept your mouth shut about being trans, gay, bi, whatever. But this is not "inclusion" or "tolerance", it was forcing people into invisibility. Seen someone kissing a boy/girl (or both boy and girl), or crossdressing? NO way, out you were, and you were out of the game. BHAM. Being out in public was a NoGo, it was NOT just keep it out of the Game. At least this is what happened to ME and friends of mine. I hope you experienced otherwise or realy were as inclusive as you say you are. But this was not what I experienced. Instead of assumptions and insinuations ("HATE", "SABOTAGE" etc), we should question our own bigotry and stop complaning about "virtue signaling", SJWs etc. but we were oh-so-tolerant back in the days. Many were not. Many are not today.

[@opaqued2039]

Great video as always. I'm late to this party. Lots of good points in the video and comments. Great alternatives that were recommended. Shocking that WotC would overcharge and insult their target demographic for a product. Shocking. Not to worry. I'm sure that the 2% of the population they're targeting, you know, the D&D "community" that doesn't actually play D&D, will make up for the immense financial losses they're experiencing.

[@theyawningowlbear6758]

I'm glad i stopped giving wizards of the woke my money.

[@anon-yw4wd]

There is no D&D past 2E. New D&D died when TSR died. 3E, 4E and 5E are all new seperate games with the D&D name slapped on. They are not descended from what Arenson and Gygax created. OD&D, 1E and 2E are it.

[@daves6220]

Castles and Crusades has been the true D&D torch bearer.

[@quantus5875]

@@daves6220 Right on! Agreed C&C is fantastic!!

[@martinbowman1993]

I watched an interesting interview with Sandy Peterson yesterday and he was saying that in Japan Call of Cthulhu is most popular with Japanese women. The game sells more copies in Japan to Japanese women then all sales in North America. Now does Chaosium gas all the Japanese women in order to support diversity? or do they cater to their audience?

[@jean-michelgilbert8136]

Just thinking about some ideas of things to play that are spiteful to WotC in addition to OD&D : Dark Sun (AD&D 2nd ed), Spelljammer (AD&D 2nd ed)

[@DM_Bluddworth]

The best IMHO is Castles & Crusades, which was the last system he consulted on. Troll Lord Games has been carrying the legacy of Gary Gygax forward, whereas WotC shits on it.

[@the_beast_among_sheep]

4th & 5th Editions are NOT Dungeons & Dragons.

[@Lepidoptera666]

Neither is 1e, 2e, or 3e. 1e and 2e are ADND. 3e is WotC trash wearing DND as a costume. 😉

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@Lepidoptera666 AD&D 1E is definitely D&D, and on par with OD&D, D&D BX & BECMI.

[@wanderinghistorian]

After the OGL debacle in early 2023, I decided to never buy another WotC product. That said, this product made me second guess that and maybe buy one more book from them to get this piece of history. Now, of course, there's no chance of me buying it. Nice job Hasbro.

[@willmistretta]

I dunno. I can't help but feel like you're missing the big picture here. You're absolutely correct that people should go out and read Jon Peterson's books on roleplaying history. His track record in unimpeachable in that respect. Thing is, this will be one of them! I'm not about to let one wormy little interviewer (who's a literal nobody in the RPG sphere, as far as I can tell) put me off owning a high quality reproduction of first printing D&D with historical notes by Jon Peterson. I trust him to deliver quality work, so it only makes sense for me to not shun that work just because some clown in a promotional video got on my nerves. Of course, there's definitely no need to pay a $100 MSRP, either. I'll look for deals.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I’ll wait until it hits Ollie’s bargain bin for $10.00 in perhaps early 2025.

[@Lepidoptera666]

​@@DM_Bluddworth Books like this do not go to Ollies. They get returned and destroyed, the same as comic books. Books are not like all other retail. I wish people would try to learn this. When books are at discouny locations it is because the printer went broke or they were found past the return date.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

@@Lepidoptera666 bargain bin at BJs or Sam’s club then.

[@Lepidoptera666]

​@@DM_Bluddworth BJs? No wonder there is a shift in DND design if it is being sold at a place called BJs. I bet Target has to buy this book in bulk due to the tight partnership with WotC. 🤔

[@theeyewizard8288]

People interested in Jon Peterson's books might grab it. His books are interesting and well done. Interesting just for the original documents inside either. Commentary from WoTC? I can produce my own critical thinking, so it's useless to me. If it can trick WoTC audience so 5E fans grab it, cool. If the 5E fan wanting to have the confirmation his Hogwarts Cantina or such is better then realize that the proto-D&D campaign was WAY MORE deep and rich, made and run by people WAY MORE intelligent, smart, and literate, kudos. Smart move.

[@MajanDyabe]

I was a 2nd ed and 3rd ed player, but as young black kids (boys and girls) we had to search out African history (yes, the continent is rich in history) to homebrew stuff until Nyambe came along. I knew such content wasn't intentionally left out, but still, it didn't exist for a long time. We knew the original creators didn't have us in mind, but that was ok. What does concern me is the pushback on inclusion I've been seeing since inclusion became a thing.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I don’t have a problem with inclusion, I have a problem with the assertion that old school D&D was intentionally exclusionary, there’s a difference.

[@MajanDyabe]

​@@DM_Bluddworth I truly don't believe it was intentional. It took years of library research to homebrew Africanized content in the 80s. There just wasn't much written outside of Egypt. I didn't learn about the West African empires until I was in my 20s. I can only imagine the O.G.s trying to find anything in 70s. I don't fault them at all. Add to that what is considered offensive today wasn't so much back then. Take the movie the Last Dragon. It would be offensive today, but I loved (and still love) that movie as a kid (Bruce Leroy was the first Super Saiyan, prove me wrong!)

[@madpixie02]

Well said.

[@VioletDeliriums]

the purpose of D&D was to allow people to play out the kind of characters and settings they found in fantasy literature that they read and loved....In the 1980s, when i played AD&D, it was mostly boys but girls played too! ... there were boys playing female characters and girls playing male characters...the WoTC versions of the game, with all the rules crunch and none of the processes (aka mechanics for hex crawl, dungeon crawl, and town), and too many player options and too few DM tools, and that tired Forgotten Realms setting, my god make it stop!!!. The best thing WoTC did was streamline the core mechanics like getting rid of THAC0 and those awful combat tables from the older games...... I saw the interview before i saw your vid, and my first impression of Mr. Tondro was, "oh he's full of himself, isn't he?" (the John Peterson is a great historian, and "he came to us..." bullshit he throws around, leaching off Peterson's accomplishments to establish credibility)... .Today, I think the best game is Dolmenwood, and there is no diversity problem in it even if it has a modernized Moldvay BX as the core.

[@AbyssalEros]

I was so annoyed about this unimportant dude and the vileness he spit out with every word and expression. WotC can not die fast enough.

[@damionk3258]

So when did WotC decide that they would become the moral guardians of the gaming hobby? I'm also lost by the recent obsession of being able to 'see' yourself in the game/movie/comic, personally, I want to experience a story from a different viewpoint, learn about different cultures and customs and overall, just be entertained.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

The shortest explanation of why a small, but vocal minority, want to see themselves in the game is for the purpose of control. If you don’t allow them to play the character that they want and or how they want you are a bigot, misogynist, trans or homophobe and a literal Nazi and you must be driven out of the hobby.

[@kryss187]

If the book is not preachy, is smyth sewen, and acid free paper, it would be worth the $100. Otherwise, I will pass.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

The historian’s (Jon Peterson) portion of the book won’t be preachy but there is no way WotC will not insert trigger warnings and disclaimers in before the OD&D content. Also remember they admitted that the book was put through their sensitivity / inclusivity readers for review which implies that even the historian’s work will be subject to editing. I don’t know about you, but I find the improper use of plural pronouns (They / Them) in the singular as distracting in the flow of reading as a terribly misspelled word where I can’t decipher its intended word. I have to reread to make sure the author is not writing about more than one person, an unknown number of persons or an individual person. That is an unnecessary distraction bordering on making the entire piece unreadable to me.

[@kryss187]

@@DM_Bluddworth It is strange that a game designed around storytelling, which normally improves a person's use of grammar, seems to be making its players more ignorant of grammar.

[@Lepidoptera666]

Too tired right now to watch, so in case I dont wake up, here is what I posted on the original video on the DND channel... In the first 20 seconds they mention Gygax, not to thank him, as the ommittedi the THANK YOU video, but to insult him. "Gygax was so cheap, he put a post card stamp on an index card." There is no such thing as a post card stamp. Stamps could be used for anything. Postmarks used to cancel stamps would say post card rate so postal sorters in the 70s knew it was just a single piece and they had not damaged the mail losing the envelope or other parts of the post. 🤬 Then near the end, they make sure to insult Dave and Gary again. Remember, Jason Tondro was one of the leaders of unionizing Paizo, then quit Paizo to go work at WotC. He wad a medieval literature professor before working at Paizo. So he has spent his life saying historical things are racist, as most history teachers have done for 50+ years. Acting like an archeaologist digging up the past looking at it through a modern lense to say how wrong the past was. Not even trying to hear from living people today about things. 800k people are still alive that are veterans of WWII. Do historians seek them out to ask first hand knowledge? No. 3 million+ veterans are still alive from Korean war. Again, never asking living people about it, just repeating what they saw in M.A.S.H. 🙄 History teachers are the worse people to write about history, because they blindly believe what is written in text books they teach from, never able to do research or ask questions. Nor do they allow anyone to question what is presented in a text book or "docunentary". Jason Tondro proves why the education system was ruined half a century ago, and all "historians" can do is rewrite history for their own agenda. ...Of course, I am blocked on the official DND channel, so you wont see that post there because I have the OGL icon on my KZbin logo thing. 🙄

[@DM_Bluddworth]

As a retired History teacher of 26+ years (BA & MA in U.S. History) I wrote on that same original video that Tondro was committing Chronocentrism (a term I coined while teaching college classes) that is essentially using a modern lens to judge historical norms and understandings in a negative light in that comparison. It is equally biased as Eurocentrism. I will also note, in my defense, I never used Howard Zinn's books in my class room as they are pure Marxist revisionism.

[@Lepidoptera666]

Another comment I just made here to you disappeared just now. 🤔

[@quantus5875]

Great post Lepidoperta666!! btw: Is Jason Tondro one of the no-namers in that video? Actually, I don't really want to know -- they're no-namers to me. They'll never accomplish even the tiniest fraction of what Gygax and Arneson did for the TTRPG industry.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

Only reply to comments but also tag the person you are talking to. That way it won’t disappear

[@Lepidoptera666]

​@@quantus5875 Yes, Tomdro is in the video Bloodworth watched here. He is the former teacher. Sitting left, facing right. Todd Kenrek is sitting right, facing left.

[@osrknight3395]

People like him are just full of hate.

[@Darkwintre]

Shame honestly thought that book could be good!

[@quantus5875]

It probably is, but way too expensive!! The options mentioned in this video are much better, and much less expensive. Yeah $100 bucks? Don't think it will do well on price alone.

[@GrognardPiper]

These Bozos would be nothing if it weren’t for Gygax and Arneson.

[@Lepidoptera666]

7:27 I must have missed this part on the original video. How are they legally making their own versions of DND? They should be making other games. Is Jason saying WotC is claiming all the OSR as DND, and may intend legal action aganst the OSR publishers? 🤔 Nobody ever called the Vampire game as DND. I think Jason thinks DND means TRPG. 🤔 Hasbro, WotC, nor Jason get to call all TRPGs as DND. Sounds like more OGL shlnanigans are on the horizon. 🤔

[@quantus5875]

I think he was just saying that people create their own D&D campaigns -- I don't think he meant that people are creating their own versions of D&D. At least that's how I interpreted what he said.

[@jean-michelgilbert8136]

Ouch. People who've never played other editions than 5th missed out on the glory days of D&D, the TSR days. I had sworn off all D&De the day WotC bought TSR up until I worked on Baldur's Gate 3 and, as many people remarked, BG 3 is a very much improved version of 5th because 5th sucks and so do all WotC versions of D&D.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I’ve only read portions of 3E, 3.5, and 4E. I’ve only played 5E for a couple of months before I realized that is wasn’t Dungeons & Dragons for me, and not even the same kind of fantasy TTRPG I enjoy playing.

[@joecoo4615]

The virtue signalling is strong here, these folks are just pedalling an agenda "inclusivity" is a lie. They have made the game stale. dull and lifeless.By reprinting early products this is the best thing W.o.tC have done. The older editions and 'OSR.

[@Jeff-ne1lh]

Only the Critters will end up buying this trash and most of them are un/under-employed and won't be able to afford it.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

Critters aren’t buying this, CR has moved on from 5E and the critters will follow them. Most 5E players won’t buy this, they have little money and no interest in the history of D&D. Grognards won’t buy it because we despise WotC, and we don’t need them to tell us the history of D&D, we LIVED IT!

[@rodchanas461]

They should feel inferior, they are.

[@LoudApeNation]

Don’t worry you will be able to get this for $9.99 in December when Hasbro clears their warehouse out to discounters…

[@Lepidoptera666]

No, books are not like toys and games. Books can be returned and are then destroyed.

[@quantus5875]

@@Lepidoptera666 Yes, agreed it will be a while before it is discounted. Maybe? be able to get a copy of it for $75 a few months after it is released. They really are alienating a big part of their audience though -- the people that played D&D in the late 70s and 80s are the best audience for the book.

[@YouTubdotCub]

"Why has it not been a problem for 45 years" I mean, it really HAS been a problem for 45 years and the 90s seeing TSR getting beaten bloody by little upstart indies was part of the scene drift away from the implicit and backgrounded biases of D&D that WotC tried to reverse course on. I am not personally a WotC fan, and think the WotC editions of D&D are the worst editions of the game by far compared to the TSR editions (and prefer OD&D/0e myself over and above any subsequent edition, tho I like B/X and BECMI and 1e quite a lot as well, 2e more lukewarm on but even 2e is miles better than 3 to 5 and "OneD&D" lol) so I'm not saying this from the perspective of some WotC fangirl or anything, I was there for the 90s ttrpg scene as a kid and got to see how people gravitated towards games they "saw themselves in" (which doesn't mean the "self-inserts only" thing you seem to think it means, though I don't begrudge you thinking that since a lot of WotC edition players do genuinely seem to think that way despite that not being what critiques of TSR D&D by women, people of colour and LGBT folks in the 90s was about). As someone who played with exactly the folks who sought less white guy power fantasy ttrpg experiences in the 90s and early 00s before WotC fully established their dominance, seeing oneself in the game was about narrative perspectives, framing, tone, themes, etc, etc and not just "artwork shows a pink haired character with darker skin" or whatever. These were substantive critiques in the 90s, and they remain substantive today even if WotC executes on those critiques extremely poorly lol Not saying I disagree with some of your critiques of WotC and this product here, but it is a bit blinders-on and narrow-minded to either ignore the substantive critiques or misread them so badly.

[@FJuettner]

Dude, stop hating. D&I is a big topic today, so they had to think about how to address it. And even though I haven’t looked at the book yet, the way they say they address it sounds totally reasonable. I watched the video before I watched this one and found nothing hateful or disingenuous about it. It’s like you’re trying to get offended.

[@DM_Bluddworth]

I’m assuming you meant DEI and not D&I. DEI is a big topic, one that has been destroying virtually every hobby and industry it has touched. Want proof, look at the sales of WotC hardcovers focuses on DEI (ie Candle Keep, Strixhaven and Radiant Citadel) are three of the lowest sales performing books since 2021. Look at what DEI has done to Disney, Bud Light, and a slew of other brands all losing BILLIONS $ is sales and stock value. Now it is once again taking another swipe at video games with Sweet Baby Inc. Nope, I won’t stop hating the infiltration of tourists in the hobby who are nothing more than virtue signaling grifters or clout chasers.

[@FJuettner]

@@DM_Bluddworth I'm really not a friend of virtue signaling and I'm also a bit tired of more and more media being more about the finger-wagging than about content. So I hate to disappoint you, but if you were hoping to have found your nemesis in this polarized (esp. social media) world we live in, you're wrong. That being said, I really think there is worse stuff happening in the world than an editor acknowledging DEI and making a comment on how it was handled in a book. And believe it or not, there are people out there (and not only the coo coo ones) to whom DEI is important. Now, this whole tirade about how all things DEI are the downfall of civilization seems a bit exaggerated and paints you into a corner that I assume you don't even really belong to (hopefully). I recommend focusing on positive things, and focusing the outrage on where it really matters. Some things you can just smile at and assume they will self-regulate (see e.g. Bud Light). The hobby is more resilient than you think. The hobby is whatever happens at your table. Let's all celebrate 50years of a great game that keeps bringing people together!