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From: kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: {Game Developer] Obituary: Jim Ward, Dungeons & Dragons designer,
 died at age 72
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 18:34:31 +0100
Organization: Campaign Wiki
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On 3/22/2024 4:17 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 10:29:03 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Source:
>> https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/obituary-jim-ward-dungeons-dragons-designer-died-at-age-72
> 
>> Obituary: Jim Ward, Dungeons & Dragons designer, died at age 72
> 
>> Ward joined TSR during Dungeons & Dragons' first boom, and worked on
>> several add-ons for the TTRPG, plus his own science-fantasy game,
>> Metamorphosis Alpha.
> 
> Aww, not Jim Ward. He was involved in a lot of gaming projects that
> brought much joy into our campaigns. Even if his name wasn't directly
> associated with all that many products, he was an major character at
> TSR who influenced how a lot of their products turned out
> 
> (not least of which was his controversial decision to remove demons,
> assassins and half-orcs from 2nd Edition to assuage the "angry
> mothers" of the world... which probably was the right decision to make
> at the time).

I mean, on the one hand it removed the bad D-words, on the other it gave 
fiends actual character and plasticity they didn't have before.
I don't think it ever worked in getting the heat off the game though. 
It's not like any of the angry mothers ever touched the game in the 
first place. (except to toss it on the burning pile together with the 
heavy metal CDs and whatever else they thought was the devil's work)
> 
> "Ruins of Adventure" was a fantastic campaign-module. I encountered it
> only after playing the computer game that was based upon it (in fact,
> I bought the module as a 'strategy guide' to help me cheat through the
> video-game ;-) and was surprised at how full of content it was. It was
> a go-to book for whenever I needed to quickly steal an encounter or
> mini-adventure into my main campaign.

Totally am not aware of that one. I guess I should look into it?

> 
> His "Greyhawk Adventures" hardbound was interesting, but sadly lacked
> the charm and accessibility of other D&D product lines. It was a
> product I really wanted to get behind, but never could. But I think
> that has more to do with the generally unappealing nature of Greyhawk
> than any fault of Ward's writing.

I do actually have Greyhawk Adventures. It's... kind of pointless. Sorry 
to say.
Greyhawk in my opinion is not a bad setting, but it only makes sense in 
the original folio/boxed set form. Once all kinds of people got their 
hands on it and tried to fill it with stuff it just didn't work anymore.
This is a setting that delights in minimalism, both in the setting, and 
the material produced for it.

> 
> On the other hand, Mr. Ward was also the guiding hand behind the
> "Spellfire" collectible trading card game TSR produced. He also
> apparently wrote episodes for the GI Joe (Action Force) cartoon too.
> 
> I was completely unaware that he was the man behind Fast Forward
> Entertainment. I've a few of their d20 books but didn't notice the
> "James M. Ward" name associated with them.
> 
>