. . .the thing that stands out most to me about Gygax’s discussion of a new edition is that there is no mention of playtesting, player surveys, or design philosophy. The whole piece gives the sense that AD&D does not need much more than a “cleaning up,” with Uncle Gary smoothing over a few of the contradictions that emerged between and among the countless subsystems used to run the game at that time. We all know that it takes many people, not just one man, to create something like a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but at this time Gygax banked on his name being synonymous with the game, something he worked to establish as part of his strategy to write Dave Arneson out of the game’s origins. But it would not be enough to keep the game’s fate tied to his.
Personally, I think in terms of both the game and
the folk culture, Gygax’s exile was for the better.