New information has come to light which might require a retraction of some of this information. This page will be updated as soon as more is known and a decision made. -- Dirk
Hi again Mr. Rancourt,
Re: Your web page erroneously titled "Daniel Lawrence's DND" ( http://members.tripod.com/~rancourt/default.htm )
Perhaps you remember me: I'm one of the authors of dnd. We spoke a few years ago about the information on your 'tribute to dnd' web page which is verifiably false, and I thought we had reached the conclusion that you, as an avid fan of dnd, out of appreciation for the creativity that had brought such a great game into existance so that you could play it, would correct your page and thereby give the credit where it was due -- to the actual creators of the game. We are once again being forced to defend ourselves and our game, and your page is being cited as one of the references being used against us. I looked on your page, and there's not even one single word about the real authors of the game you claim to love so much. This is naturally extremely disappointing, and the more so because I already spoke with you at length about it.
Daniel Lawrence, whom you praise so highly on your web page, made an unauthorized copy of our game, as I am sure I pointed out to you the last time we spoke. I don't mind you praising him for any innovations he may have added after his act of unauthorized copying, but it sure as hell shouldn't say "DND came into being as the brainchild of Daniel Lawrence" -- that is just plain unmitigated bullshit, no matter where you heard it from.
I find it amazing that you have information about orthanc, oubliette, and avatar, all written on PLATO, but not about dnd (the very topic of the whole page!), which was written on PLATO before any of those games, and co-existed with them for the rest of the life of PLATO, despite me telling you about it a year ago, and (I thought) you saying you would fix your site to reflect the facts.
Would you like to play dnd again? The link you have to NovaNet, under the avatar section, should have allowed you to locate NovaNet, create a signon, and play the real version of dnd as created by the real authors -- Gary Whisenhunt, Ray Wood, Dirk and Flint Pellett. It is, in fact, the first game listed when you sign on as an "npt" signon on NovaNet, so it shouldn't be all that hard to find. Amazing, that for each of orthanc, oubliette, and avatar, your page says "orthanc can be found on NovaNet!" etc, but, for some inexplicable reason, you don't seem to have noticed, despite your devotion to dnd, that dnd can be found on NovaNet!?? What the hell? It's as obvious as any of the others; perhaps you are deliberately ignoring it? I hope you enjoy playing it; after all, we (the four of us) created it for people to enjoy. (But not for people to copy and claim as their own.)
If you need any help to remove the falsehoods and add correct information to your web site, please feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Dirk Pellett
original dnd author
Note to the public: this email to Mr. Rancourt bounced as undeliverable.