Having spoken with Mr Kuntz, listened to his interview with
@A_DungeonDelver, and used my own eyes to make my own observations about the early years of Dungeons and Dragons, I have but one conclusion.
The people that first created and played D&D were and are utterly normal human beings. Their only crime is not being aware that the future would hold ideology over and above basic decency.
All this archaeology is not necessary as we can still talk to the people there at the founding of the hobby. We can see that they are good, creative, and passionate people. I do not understand this need to defame them.
Hell, I had the pleasure of interacting with
@SapphireKaneq1 on my stream the other night and she has had the opportunity to play with members of the Gygax family. I've started to virtually meet people close to ground zero and, so far, they have all been kind, courteous, and genuinely lovely.
Delver and Mr Kuntz themselves are good men, from my experience of them. They have a fire to them, an actual personality (Unlike the soulless suits of WotC) that I can't help but admire. And so an attack on them like this feels almost like a personal affront to me.
These authors need to remember that TSR is still within living memory.
As ever,
@threelinestudio, you have my sword.
Peterson is a historical hack and a fraud. The initial folks who were sold D&D were wargamers--but by 1 year later the main purchasers were SF/F fans including women, amongst them Lee Gold. Does he believe that we grew in 3 years to 1M$ concern on a small niche wargamer cadre?