Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
What issue was this? Is it the "Angry Mothers from Heck" piece from #154?
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The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread
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payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I was that Target employee at one point. Now I just manage the building automation.
eyeheartawk
#1 Enworld Jerk™
Yeah.
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
I don't know that I read it as bragging, but the tone does come across as a bit off.
"Ever since the Monster Manual came out in 1977, TSR has gotten a letter or two of complaint each week. All too often, such letters were from people who objected to the mention of demons and devils in that game book. One letter each week since the late 1970s adds up to a lot of letters, and I thought a lot about those angry moms. When the AD&D® 2nd Edition rules came out, I had the designers and editors delete all mention of demons and devils." Hmm.
I appreciate him explaining their rationale and editorial approach of the day, but he does seem to take it for granted that the trade off of minimizing angry mothers of young players by removing options adult players enjoy is naturally worth it. And we certainly know that not everyone agreed at the time.
"I know there are many of you out there who are saying to yourselves, Well, I am going to use demons and devils in my game no matter what TSR does! That's fine with us. Free choice is one of the positive aspects of role-playing."
This passage seems to show that odd blind spot that TSR sometimes had, of assuming that players were familiar with and had access to the old rules. Like how in retrospect some really core useful stuff was left out of the 1E DMG because Gary and Tim apparently assumed that everyone buying it already owned OD&D. Here is Jim in 1990 assuming that the only adult players who would like rules for demons and devils will obviously already own the 1977 Monster Manual. And disregarding that the stats in it are badly outdated and poorly written, and could really use the cleaning up that 2nd Ed provided.
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
I could go either way on that. But the re-introduction of demons and devils under those new names seemed to largely represent a course reversal from what Jim was talking about in that 1990 editorial. TSR realized that gamers really wanted their demons and devils back, so they just filed off the serial numbers and hoped the angry moms wouldn't look at the art, I guess?
eyeheartawk
#1 Enworld Jerk™
That's valid. Though to me, it just made up word-salad. Reminds me of this I found yesterday:
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
I think the main question is - does filing off the serial numbers and using a different name enable them to fly under the radar? If so, then I'll happily bring word salad to the company pot luck.
eyeheartawk
#1 Enworld Jerk™
Word salad is like that one salad your aunt brings that's got like, Jell-O and a fruit and ham in it.
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