B: “When you look back at Dungeons and Dragons as a whole, back in those early days did you think to yourself “This is going to have a huge impact,” that is, did you think that Dungeons and Dragons would become synonymous not only with Role Playing Games in general but synonymous with the Fantasy/Science Fiction subculture as a whole?
G: Not exactly. Matter of fact, nobody was thinking of role-playing as the emerging, soon-to-be dominant form of hobby gaming. I looked at the D&D game with my partner, Don Kaye, as likely to be the most popular of the various “hobby games”; the military, you know, board games and so forth played with military miniatures. We were pretty sure that this would sweep through the whole of the wargaming community, and expand then in to science fiction and fantasy fans and the reading audience, too. And in fact, early ads by TSR did hit many science fiction magazines, and, you know, fanzines.
So, we expected that. Did we have any idea the first couple of years that it was going to become the sort of phenomenon it became? Not until the end of about 1975 did that really strike us. We knew it was getting bigger but we had no idea it would reach millions of players.
B: I kind of have to make a confession here – when I was younger and first started playing Dungeons and Dragons, I myself was a little bit confused by the matter of “Basic” Dungeons and Dragons versus “Advanced” Dungeons and Dragons and indeed I kind of labored under the idea that one played “Basic” until your character reached a certain level, then you went out and bought the “Advanced” rules and went from there…
G: Well you could do that! <chuckles> Nothing wrong with that!
B: Well, what threw me was the “level recommendation” on the modules – most Basic modules I saw were for characters from levels 1-3 and most Advanced modules I saw indicated 4th and higher levels. But for some of my readers who may have picked up Dungeons and Dragons in Second Edition or even Third Edition, what was the division there, what was the split between the two systems?
G: The Dungeons and Dragons game was less quantified, it was more rules-light and it was a more freeform and Advanced was more rules-heavier and more restrictive in new character development. Both could be played, depending on the Dungeon Master. Either way of course. But there was more written substance to the AD&D game. It was more “meaty.”
B: Oh yes…a quick perusal through the Dungeon Master’s Guide proves that out. A book which, by the way, is a phenomenal work…
G: <chuckles>