Subplot Kudzu

on the Motie hand, Chainmail and early D&D were hardly "Role Playing in the sense that we now understand it" themselves. Remember, these were games where the players were expected to submit their actions to a Caller to minimize table chatter... I'm not quite sure how this meshes with the (colorful) characters of legend, unless all the examples of play provided in the books weren't how the founders actually did it.