Gary Gygax, super nerd, all around great guy and hero to a generation of bored collage kids, has died. I weep 2d6 of bitter tears.
|
|||||
|
We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people. Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house] Authors
Arts, Tech & CultureCivil LibertiesCommentary
EconomicsSamizdatistas |
One last failed savings throwMarch 5th, 2008 |
 25 comments to One last failed savings throw |
Who Are We?The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling. We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe. CategoriesArchivesFeed This PageLink Icons   |
|||
All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
|||||
Wow, that’s bad. EGG changed my life – for the better. I don’t think I’d have been half as interested in history if it wasn’t for D&D.
About half my knowledge of history comes from reading about topics of interest to me as a libertarian; but the other half comes from reading things relevant to one or another campaign I wanted to run. I’ve run campaigns set in ancient Rome, the First Crusade, the late 19th century, and (more than once) between WWI and WWII; I’m currently running one set in Paris in 1717. (I must say, royalist France looks more like the present-day United States than I expected, from the popular obsession with gossip about the trashy sexual behavior of rich and powerful aristocrats to the ruinous inflationary economy driven by a need to fund aggressive wars.)
I still own copies of the original three little D&D books; I haven’t followed the later editions—when D&D moved on to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons I moved on to RuneQuest, Champions, GURPS, and other games. But those original three books were the source for a hobby that has given me many hours of enjoyment. They created a new literary genre of participatory fiction, one that I hope will stay with us. Thanks, Gary.
It’s all demonic apparently…
I know that John Law founded his bank in Paris in 1716 and started his Mississippi scheme in 1718 – and that the Regent (for all his other faults a man of peace) did not manage to get a formal peace to 1720. But how war related was the credit expansion?
Certainly it was a wildly different situation to that of the United States. The currency of France (for the vast majority of people the coinage) was soundish and most people were involved in the credit bubble – unlike the Greenspan bubble (which started long before the present wars) which is part of a whole cedit bubble financial system that has most people in its grip.
As for the wars themselves:
There is no “aggressive” intent – on the contrary the situation is more similar to that of the British in the late 17th and early 18th century. Supporting such things as basically liberal Holland against the despotism of Louis XIV (the Saddam of his day).
The wisdom of such a policy can be debated (I opposed the war in Iraq on grounds of likely cost, in lives and money, in 2003) but the intention is a noble one.
Just as the similar desire to support a government of laws in Afghanistan is noble – in no way a “war of aggression”. Islamic radicals carry our suicide bombings in both India and Pakistan (and many other countries) they do not care that there are NO WESTERN TROOPS THERE – they carry out attacks because they like doing stuff like that (it really is as crude as that).
Both governments,of Iraq and Afghanistan, are elected (and the elections were free) and if they asked Western forces to leave they would. This would in no way reduce the number of attacks – indeed attacks would increase.
Saying a policy is unwise and expensive is one thing – calling it a war of aggression is quite another.
Gah! Way too off-topic too soon in the thread!
On historical backgrounds to roleplaying games:
It is best to start with the words “this is NOT such and such a place and time, it is just looks similar – remember the Games Master is, for the purposes of this game, GOD”.
That puts nasty people (people like me) in their place. So no stuff like “that person was not in Paris on this day – he was in his country estate…”
Indeed I must “come out” – I am also a roleplayer (when I get an opportunity to be one).
Rest in peace Gary G.
I used to work for a company that made/printed items for the Dungeons and Dragons games (the game board, final assembly). One day, while moving records into the “archive” (i.e. dusty old attic) I ran across an incarnation by the same people BEFORE the officials D&D, complete and still in original shrink wrap. I often wonder if it was worth anything (not that I’d have purloined it or anything e-cough cough-bay). There was also an old Star Trek TOS role playing game, one complete and several partials.
Poor man simpy ran out of hit points.
As we’ve all heard, there’s meant to be a strong correlation between the ‘libertarianish’ demographic and the ‘Science Fiction’ consuming one; I wonder just how closely roleplayers fit in that grouping.
Not so sure about players, but many DMs/GMs I know are of a classical liberal bent, and some are further out; the ‘Libertarian Fundamentalist’ type. I guess for me it was a huge temptation to build a world that suited me rather than anyone else, although I was surprised just how willingly I’d impose my authority on those puny adventurers.
Ah. Well that explains the meaning of this LOLcat. Thank you for solving the puzzle.
Interesting that a man of Swiss American lineage lived in “Lake Geneva” Wisconsin.
At the risk of upsetting Perry by going off topic, one of my many never-will-get-done wishes is to visit Indianapolis – both to see the various military and other monuments (well lit at night and at special times of the year I am told) and to visit some of the places of the American Conservative movement (such as various publishing enterprises).
A good time to go (and here I get back on topic) would be when the roleplaying “Gen-Con” is on.
Four days solid play might be a bit much – but it would be another thing to see.
Gen Con is three kinds of awesome, even if you’re not playing. Mr. Gygax was the guest of honor last year, actually, as Gen Con celebrated its birthday.
Very sad, Gary Gygax and his games have influenced my life hugely. For the better, I think.
He finally failed his saving throw versus death, and now he’s rolling (d20s probably) in his grave. 🙂
My favorite webcomic, “The Order Of The Stick”, did a great tribute to Gygax yesterday
http://www.giantitp.com
What a gift that man gave to the people of this world.
Zanzar Tem’s dungeon was enthralling for me when I was younger and helped develop a lifelong love of gaming (eventually segueing into a career). Gygax held many of us under his spell.
When I run a game, I am a thoroughgoing auteurist: I define the rules, I define the setting, I may lay down parameters for what sorts of player characters are acceptable, and I insist on reviewing all the character sheets a month before the first session—and if I don’t like a character I send it back. On the other hand, my “authority” is strictly contractual in nature: I hand out a list of possible campaigns, ask people which ones they’re willing to play in, and assign everyone to a campaign they found acceptable (and if possible, to one they rated higher than just “acceptable”). In other words, I secure consent at the outset.
I’ve found that my approach to gaming is alien to a lot of people’s. Many people always game with the same group of players, and either accept that they can only run something the entire group agrees on, or try to impose their will on the group and run into occasional rebellion or sabotage from unhappy players. The game is the property of the collective and faces all the troubles of collective decision making. I prefer to act as an entrepreneur, proposing a campaign, finding out who’s interested, and then recruiting the players from people I’ve sold it to. Of course, this does raise the specter of finding oneself with no players—but as it happens, I current am running three campaigns for a total of sixteen active players, so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anytime soon.
I know that John Law founded his bank in Paris in 1716 and started his Mississippi scheme in 1718 – and that the Regent (for all his other faults a man of peace) did not manage to get a formal peace to 1720. But how war related was the credit expansion?
Warren Lewis’s The Scandalous Regent (which I read while setting up the campaign, and am now rereading) explains the whole thing. When Philippe assumed the Regency, in 1715, the monarchy had spent its tax revenues for several years ahead, issuing notes to obtain funds. Tax revenues were about 50% of expenditures. The overwhelming majority of those expenditures were on wars. The monarchy was in bad financial trouble. Law’s banknotes were issued to redeem the old notes, at a price of about 25% of face value; and those banknotes were not backed by currency, nor by anticipated revenues. So the whole scheme had an inflationary impact, and was an attempt to get France out of the financial hole created by events such as the War of the Spanish Succession.
I don’t see that the motives for which a war is fought make any difference to its fiscal impact. It could be fought for reasons of the most perfect justice and necessity, or for arbitrary pride or hatred; but it’s still a way of throwing large amounts of resources into the garbage dump, and if it exceeds tax revenues, it will be funded by unbalanced budgets, which have certain consequences, definable in as Wertfrei a manner as anyone could wish.
I weep 2d6 of bitter tears.
That’s old school. The new system uses d20 for everything, apparently.
William H. Stoddard, you are *exactly* the kind of GM I like to play for and the kind of player I like to run for. To blazes with munchkin winers & passive-aggressive dweebs. I want to get rid of these people & find a group of people that can make characters for *any* scenario. The tighter & more narrow the focus – the better as far as I’m concerned!
GYGAX!
Interesting that a man of Swiss American lineage lived in “Lake Geneva” Wisconsin.
It is still a coincidence surely, but since his father chose Chicago, IL to settle in, it is very reasonable since Lake Geneva is pretty much FIBsville North (FIB being F**king Illinois Bastards). I grew up, and still live, ten minutes from Lake Geneva and between April and October there are more Illini in the area then natives. It’s not surprising that a Chicagoan would choose to move there whatever the name.
Interestingly, I remember when I learned “Oh, there’s another one in Switzerland too!” It’s all a matter of perspective. It may only be tangentially attached to the original or not at all. Geneva WI (as it was known) was named after Geneva, NY, which some believe was named after Geneva Switzerland while most think it was a bastardization of Seneca. Geneva, WI was renamed Lake Geneva to avoid confusion with Geneva, IL.
Lake Geneva has been, and still is, plastered with Big Money from Chicago and Milwaukee/Kenosha/Racine area (now mostly Illinois). Several of the Chicago elite have, or have had, summer homes on the lake.
some pictures of the grand summer homes.
In the end, Gary’s claw/claw/bite routine was not enough to save him.
William Stoddard:
Thank you for the information.
And you are quite correct – both about games, and the cost of wars.
Brad:
I see your point – and thank you.
Bethany:
Have fun whilst you can.
You’re welcome, Paul. And since I forgot to mention it in that comment, may I recommend The Scandalous Regent as a fine work both of history and of writing? I hadn’t looked at anything by Warren Lewis before, but after reading this book I feel that he’s a better writer than his more famous brother. If you have any inclination to read about the Bourbons, this one is worth a look.
did he drop any good loot?
did he drop any good loot?