A clarification and harsh realities

In my last post I made a statement in passing that I want to clarify:

Since Gary died, there have been many changes in the gaming world. His death led to a disentanglement with Troll Lord Games of the properties Gary built. This has angered many people, I think partly because there are many people out there who believe that TLG is the "legitimate" heir to the Throne of Old-School, seeing Gary's involvement in their company as an exclusive endorsement of Castles & Crusades as the true successor to AD&D. But that is a topic for another day.

I don't mean this to say I think all fans of C&C are this way, or that the Troll Lords themselves think this. I've seen this sentiment around, though, and I think it is not just unfounded, but selfish. Old-school gaming belongs to everyone. We are all heirs to this legacy, and no one game or publisher should be viewed as the most "legitimate" one to carry on any sort of legacy. That's just my opinion, and I won't make too fine of a point of it, or specifically point any fingers at anyone. I'll leave it at that.

Except of course for D&D 4e, which is the sum of all evil. Just kidding ;-)

As to harsh realities. In my last blog post I made a very fine point of emphasizing Gary Gygax's passing. It may have seemed harsh, but I created that tone for a specific reason. It can be too easy in fandom for people to forget that underlying the objects of fandom are real people. I am probably preaching to the choir, because most people who read this blog are not the people I am talking about, but we should be careful to remember this. I too have been guilty from time to time of getting too involved in fandom and forgetting that real people, real feelings, and real lives are involved. So making a fine point of Gary's mortality was only done to try to ground the discussion of his properties and what will happen to them. No matter how badly people want to see Gary's work published, this desire should never be placed ahead of Gail Gygax's needs. As fans who loved Gary's work and respected the man, we should honor that. Anyway, that is one of the reasons I phrased my argument the way I did, for better or worse.