Yet apparently a bunch of people need to learn that, because according to the author when they brought up his flaws in a book, people were falling over themselves to say he was besmirching his good name or slandering Gygax and stuff like that. People need to learn their heroes aren’t perfect, even now, and that’s why I think it’s good this article is spread and read. Not everyone knows to separate the author and their work.

I would blame social media for encouraging parasocial relations, but this is the kind of stuff that existed before the internet, with other musicians and artists and authors, and it’s brought up in academic courses on similar work, so I guess it’s just a human thing that people need to be aware of.

Good point, and I think that was main thesis of the article. There were sexist parts of the game, but nothing easily fixable. Gygax and Arneson created something greater than themselves, that could live beyond any flaws they had (well, Gygax, so far nothing on Arneson luckily).

I mean there’s a pretty blatant quote in there, too.

I’d like to get more tabletop rpg content back on ttrpg.network if possible. So in that spirit, just want to remind people that

!dndnext@ttrpg.network !rpg@ttrpg.network

Both exist

Great movie. Almost up there with the Princess Bride for me in terms of nice, romantic, feel-good fantasy movies I can watch to always feel better.

I remember those! Wow, I haven’t thought about one of those in forever.

I agree. It doesn’t mean we ignore all the good they did, but it does give us a more well-rounded view of our heroes, which I think is useful to humanize them. We can take the good and evolve from the bad. This blog post isn’t asking anyone to quit D&D, it’s asking people to recognize the flaws of our forefathers of the hobby, recognize that the hobby has changed from that time, and to look forward to further change, growth, and inclusion for all of us. They created a game that will live beyond them, which is kind of awesome. At least that’s how I read it.

Hell maybe one day I’ll have kids and grandkids and they’ll think I’m backwards in some way, and I’ll be worried or skeptical because I think they’re too radical or weird in some way. But in the end, I’ll hope they’re right despite my misgivings, because the world is better that way - if the world’s next generation is able to carry things on and improve the state of affairs at the same time. We should want that and cheer it on. And looking back at things like this, including acknowledging the flaws of our progenitors and ourselves in addition to their great works, it let’s us see all that and celebrate it, the path we’ve taken from there to here.

I’d agree with that, and I think that’s what makes it acceptable to play the game nowadays and not be ashamed. If we didn’t move past that as a hobby, it would be bad and we should boycott it. But because we have, it means we can instead acknowledge the past and learn from it. So there’s no need to ignore it or hide from it.

That makes it even better lol

I listened to Chapo on and off, but I’m glad I was there for that moment him and I think Virgil talked to those two liberal podcasters completely unprepared and still schooled them. That was hilarious.