Well it seems that our 1st freebie issue of the Piper's Corner got overlooked by many as we had it buried in an obscure section of our site and wayyy at the bottom of the page. Though we have corrected this, I am presenting the link here for those who may have missed it: Pipers Corner #1.
This will be an irregularly produced e-newsletter which publication will coincide with releases from us. I am open to creative content suggestions as well, as we will produce a limited number of articles from outside designers and fans, but please query me at rjk@pied-piper-publishing.com on that.
Rob!
ReplyDeleteI think I've resolved my tech-troubles and am able to get into Blogger again. The Piper's Corner - a worthy read that I'd missed.
I wonder, is there scope do you think, for some article or piece, placing the midwifing into being of D&D and the roleplaying phenomenon of the 70s and 80s, within a context of other American consciousness widening waves of the post-60s period? For instance, back in the day as the Lake Geneva campaign blossomed, what were you all listening to? reading? smoking/swallowing? How explicit are the (to me) evident cultural links to the Romantic tradition, visible in roleplaying from the start?
So many questions! And really, I'm just glad to be back on board.
Glad to see you got logged in, Heruka!
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting area you've just put your foot. I just want to address one of the premises implicit in your question.
I would argue there's no correlation between the wine, cheese and crackers being consumed by early filmmakers and the rise of the film industry. Similarly, you're not likely to find one by examining what was being swallowed in Lake Geneva during the rise of D&D.
That is, with the exception of all the dwarf spittle exchanged during combat. There's nothing quite as inspiring and redoubling of one's enduring efforts as swallowing dwarf spittle.
Listening to? Monte Python of course! Firesign Theatre ("Don't Crunch that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers!", etc.--one of EGG's favorites) and Bill Cosby (Why is There Air, etc), George Carlin (Hippy Dippy Weather Man, etc); reading, everything F&SF and historical military (including primary texts from libraries and SH Societies) as possible. The rise of the Society for Creative Anachronism, which I participated in (Thanks Gronan!) and in which Gary was bruised mighty handily while "dueling". Star Trek, Batman, I Spy; Milton Bradley (Dogfight and Battle Cry), Avalon Hill, SPI games. Rock n Roll, Herb Albert and the TB, other (R&B).
ReplyDeleteAs far as imbibing, EGG and I were straight beer
drinkers (Special Export was his favorite), wine (he always maintained a stock in the basement), and other (Southern Comfort, Pimms Cup. Boy did I walk with him a lot to the local liquor store owned by the Jeddas, and it was his family who asked of my mother if I, then at a very tender age of 13, could partake of wine when dining at their house (which was a lot), and which she agreed to (bless her). Anything else "mind altering" is saved, if any, for my biography, of course. :)
Thanks guys - really enlightening and fascinating stuff. I wasn't meaning to get all causal on you, very far from it in fact. I guess the real implicit underwear in my question, underneath the various surfaces, is something around 'how conscious were you of what you were creating? for example, did you see yourselves as part of the various waves of singularly American cultural and imaginal movements swashing and colliding at and around the time of creating what we've come to know as roleplaying? or were you just having fun and being open enough to surf whatever you created and suddenly realising, hey we've made a game here'
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read that autobiography now Rob!
Cheers
K
"or were you just having fun and being open enough to surf whatever you created and suddenly realising, hey we've made a game here'"
ReplyDeleteThat was the ticket and the direction. As for "movements," we were a movement, so to speak, eh? But I have never attached myself to any. We were a bunch of gamers. Grown kids. Some were more serious (Leon Tucker of Tractics fame comes to mind), and there were perhaps others of varying disposition, but overall this was a fun grouping of folks 1968 onward (for me) who designed games and played them with the pure intent of refining the elements so that these would maximize the fun factor.
In fact, I missed a lot of social exchange on other levels because at that time period, at age 13, I was associating on many levels with scores of people in the IFW, C&C Society and the LGTSA who were, on the average, 2-3 times older than myself. I was definitely the disappointment of a lot of teen girls at that time, who wanted me in their "court" rather than in the court of games, books and such. :) I was an anomaly then and frankly thought nothing of it. I soaked up the experiences as only a precocious kid can and grew with it.