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It was an extremely insightful post, Jsalsb, and one I appreciated reading.
We owe Mr. Gygax a lot for the development of the modern FRPG, but one thing I have learned from reading and talking with others, that he has significant biases and prejudices in the fantasy realm, almost bigoted to say the least, which, unfortunately, has also biased the development of these games.
For example, his disdain for non-human races is apparent, from the beginning set of the rules of his game, not allowing non-human races to advance to the same levels as humans and placing severe restrictions on what classes they could be. Later versions have amended or softened these harsh rules, but Mr. Gygax was the one who first established them. The whole bit about "evil Dark Elves" was pretty well perpetrated by him and his prejudice, and, unfortunately, it poisoned the well of RPG's for many years. It took others to "win back" the idea that A) no one race is inherently "good" or "evil", and B) that races other than humans can advance to as high rankings as humans and perform well in the same professions (roles).
It is up to those who continue to develop these games and gaming systems to evolve the races and classes to provide for a well-rounded system of development for all fantasy races, not just a select few at the arbitrary whims of one or two people.
Just an opinion.
-Sazerac
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