Hello Catherine,

I've had smart GMs routinely make use of canonical details very effectively no hands are tied later. On the other hand when they fudge material that does not make match specification is when things get dicey.

Tom Rux
On October 8, 2019 at 11:43 AM Catherine Berry <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

I wasn't saying that canon (of some form) mattered per se. Rather, I was saying that pinning down some attribute of a canonical item -- e.g., zuchai crystals -- might constrain the GM later in unexpected ways. A smart GM avoids needless specification. It often just ends up tying your hands later.

On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 2:45 AM Phil Pugliese (via tml list) < xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
 
I can't really see what difference canon/non-canon makes anymore.

There's so much contradictory material that's piled up over 40+ years that just about anything can be 'found' & once 'found' contradicted.

Even the timeline is sketchy.

Recently a TL was posted here that indicated that the Terran were still at J1 when the 1st Interstellar War began.

Well that was news to me as everything I've ever read about that has indicated that the terrans didn't contact the 1I till they already had J2!

Canon doesn't really mean anything anymore, IMO.
More of an affectation than anything else.
Gives someone a chance to puff-up their chest.

I say, "Just take what you like & dump what you don't".
IMO, that pretty much sums up what a whole lot of writers, esp the later ones, have been doing all along anyway.
Heck, even MM himself, has done it & did so 'way back when'