Dave Arneson's True Genius - First impressions

In celebration of Blackmoor week and Dave Arneson day tomorrow I have occupied myself with the book Dave Arneson's True Genius by Robert Kuntz.

I only received the book quite recently, since I had put it off for a while due to the shipping and import tax in Europe. The book is only available from USA and our postal service have some steep fees for their service. For an item that is only $15, the shipping+VAT+fee can easily triple or quadruple the cost. Luckily, I was offered the book as a private gift (no VAT on those) and for that I am thankful! Now that I read the book, I am so glad I finally have it.

I wanted to do a full review of the book. I did not think this would take much time since it is only 69 pages. Boy was I wrong. The book is so densely written that there is easily enough review material for a whole series of blog posts. Additionally, I have been hard at work recently on another Blackmoor project of mine of which I will have exciting news to share tomorrow. All things considered, this post will end up being a "first impressions" and the rest of the review will have to wait a bit until I have some more time.

First impressions: What a wonderful and thought-provoking little book. The intricate writing, grand concepts, systems, and scientific approach to a subject such as the invention of role playing games makes this a really unique read. The subject and ideas are fantastic and I eagerly look forward to the expansion of this subject that hopefully will be published in the form of Kuntz' A New Ethos in Game Design.

The writing is passionate, quirky and relevant, though the book certainly doesn't do much to communicate the message in an easily consumable way. The first time I read it, some passages were almost incomprehensible. I have seen people call it unreadable, but that is really not the case. I can imagine that my engineering textbooks on continuum mechanics would be unintelligible to anyone other than engineers (Even as a student they were close to I will tell you!). The point is that the book treats advanced subjects such as Systems Science and Game Theory and it does not make any effort to explain the majority of the terms and concepts that it uses.

In connection with this post, I have started reading the book again and I must say, the second time through is a much easier read. A read that is worth it. The task that Kuntz has set himself is admirable, not to say genius in itself and I can imagine I will read the book many times more -- at least until A New Ethos in Game Design is released.

I don't have a foundation in either Systems Science or Game Theory so that is where I will start. I have compiled the references from the citations in the book and will read each of them before I return to the book again. I have now read The Architecture of Complexity and about half of The Sciences of the Artificial. Not only does some of Kuntz' concepts make a lot more sense already but the material is riveting -- The Architecture of Complexity was downright mind blowing! 

I feel like the indirect push into reading the references of the book has genuinely done me a bigger favor than if Kuntz had spent a lot of time explaining every concept in the book itself.

Bibliography of DATG:

• Felder W N (2013) Interactions Among Components in Complex Systems,
  
• Simon H (1962) The Architecture of Complexity
• Simon H (1969) The Sciences of the Artificial
• Koestler A (1967) The Ghost in the Machine
• CalResCo (2004) Self-Organizing Systems FAQ. See also http://www.calresco.org/