This is not the book for which you are waiting. This is simply the most concentrated, persuasive primer Jeffro could invent. The book, the big one, is still coming down the pike.
When lockdowns isolated millions of people as they sheltered in place in fear of an apocalyptic plague, Jeffro Johnson did the most obvious thing: he started the most notorious D&D campaign since Greyhawk. Following a simple rule heuristic of merely doing everything specified by Gary Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rule books, no matter how outlandish it was, Jeffro's gaming group blundered into one revelation after another. Before long it became evident that not only had everyone been playing a game for decades that was fundamentally distinct from the one that Gygax had attempted to convey to people, but the techniques he outlined in the pages of his game manuals were pretty special. They not only opened up pathways to game scenarios that later RPG designers wouldn't dare dream of, they also gave away the secrets of how to win at RPGs! Now, for the first time the story of the D&D game and how it was intended to be played can finally be told. Why were the Weapon vs. AC tables included in the Players Handbook? Why can't you have a meaningful campaign without strict timekeeping? What weird gaming trick did Dave Arneson share with TSR before getting pushed out of the company forever? Answers to all these questions and more are contained within this tome. It won't just change the way you think about D&D. It will fascinate anyone who has been confounded by role playing previously and enthrall anyone who wants to realize bigger gains at the RPG table.
This is an advance excerpt of Jeffro Johnson's forthcoming book Winning Secrets.
When lockdowns isolated millions of people as they sheltered in place in fear of an apocalyptic plague, Jeffro Johnson did the most obvious thing: he started the most notorious D&D campaign since Greyhawk. Following a simple rule heuristic of merely doing everything specified by Gary Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rule books, no matter how outlandish it was, Jeffro's gaming group blundered into one revelation after another. Before long it became evident that not only had everyone been playing a game for decades that was fundamentally distinct from the one that Gygax had attempted to convey to people, but the techniques he outlined in the pages of his game manuals were pretty special. They not only opened up pathways to game scenarios that later RPG designers wouldn't dare dream of, they also gave away the secrets of how to win at RPGs! Now, for the first time the story of the D&D game and how it was intended to be played can finally be told. Why were the Weapon vs. AC tables included in the Players Handbook? Why can't you have a meaningful campaign without strict timekeeping? What weird gaming trick did Dave Arneson share with TSR before getting pushed out of the company forever? Answers to all these questions and more are contained within this tome. It won't just change the way you think about D&D. It will fascinate anyone who has been confounded by role playing previously and enthrall anyone who wants to realize bigger gains at the RPG table.
This is an advance excerpt of Jeffro Johnson's forthcoming book Winning Secrets.