Dear Unregistered! We notice you don't currently have a silver subscription here on EN World. We'd love to encourage you to give it a try, so we've made this coupon for $5 off your first 4-month Silver Subscription. Simply go to the subscription page and enter coupon code SILVER. With that subscription you get access to TWO adventure paths, which between them cover D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, and D&D 4th Edition - War of the Burning Sky (which has been completed) and ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution (which is currently ongoing). You also get a whole bunch of site perks and features here on EN World, including access to the Search function, images and links in your forum signature, a larger PM box, give out more XP at a time, and more. Please give a try; we're proud of our adventure paths, and we're sure you'll love them both!
All the latest EN World
official reviews, columns, and subscriber articles here.
Don't have your subscription yet? It's only $3 a month and you can grab
it right
here!
I've posted a little story about how the D&D adventure began in our group (link in my sig), and I was wondering, how did it start for you?
Andargor
__________________ It is by will alone I set my die in motion.
It is by gaming that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning.
It is by will alone I set my die in motion.
Ok, I'll step up. please excuse me if this has been asked before.
Where did the idea for the tarrasque come from?
Thanks in advance for any insights you may have.
By the way, thank you for the years of entertainment, and indirectly for my love of reading. If it weren't for discovering roleplaying I would definitely be a different person today.
[tacked on appropriate praise for inventing the hobby, as they pretty much all have been used already, rightfully]
I've seen you refer in passing, favorably so, to Arcana Unhearted, by Malhavoc Press, and have also read your comment on it on montecook.com. Since the product itself introduces quite a few "new" views on D&D, I'd be curious as to your take on the one that impressed or intrigued you the most. And while we're on it, how do you view other products by Mr Cook?
Barak, who'll be sure to look you up next time he's in Lake Geneva.
I've posted a little story about how the D&D adventure began in our group (link in my sig), and I was wondering, how did it start for you?
Andargor
Hi Andargor
Heh, and my experience is from the other end, so to speak. I do relate fully to your mentiuon of chess and board wargames, and I do still love such games.Operation Overlord is my board favorite wargame. I love to play chess, shogi, and many variant chess games. Sadly for me, I get little opportunity to do any of that. I've managed to remain active in RPGs, though, and my current LA game campaign is about seven years old now, with regular weekly meetings here at my house on Thursday evenings.
Now to my first D&D sessionion:
It was in the late fall of 1972 when I completed a map of some castle ruins, noted ways down to the dungeon level (singular), and invited my 11-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to create characters and adventure. This they did, and around 9 PM (sound familiar?) they had to come back from such imaginary derring-do, put their index card character sheets aside, and get ready for bed. They had had a marvelous time and wanted to keep playing.
After they went upstairs I stayed in my study and went to work on a second dungeon level. The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd. After that it was a race for me to get more levels done as the player group grew and got more able in their delving.
Originally posted by SubMensa Ok, I'll step up. please excuse me if this has been asked before.
Where did the idea for the tarrasque come from?
Thanks in advance for any insights you may have.
By the way, thank you for the years of entertainment, and indirectly for my love of reading. If it weren't for discovering roleplaying I would definitely be a different person today.
Howdy!
The question has been asked before, although I am not certain if it was on this multi-part thread. anyway...
The tarrasque is a fablous monster from French legend, and it was French author Francois Marcela Froideval who called the beast to my attention, did up the stats for it. I thought the game needed at least one near-undestructable creature from myth, so it made the book
Originally posted by Joseph Elric Smith
Ok I'll ask, do you mean the legend of the tarrasque, from the France, or the terrasque from the various monster manuals?
Ken
[tacked on appropriate praise for inventing the hobby, as they pretty much all have been used already, rightfully]
I've seen you refer in passing, favorably so, to Arcana Unhearted, by Malhavoc Press, and have also read your comment on it on montecook.com. Since the product itself introduces quite a few "new" views on D&D, I'd be curious as to your take on the one that impressed or intrigued you the most. And while we're on it, how do you view other products by Mr Cook?
Barak, who'll be sure to look you up next time he's in Lake Geneva.
Howdy Barak!
Well, as one who read the draft mss. for the PGB and DMG before they went to print, bot have only played the new system for a few score hours, I was most impressed with Monte's bold departure from the 3E system wherever he thought such variance would produce a more compellig and exciting campaign. From a designer's standpoint the Arcana Unearthed material strick me as innovative in what difference in feel and stule of play it would engender--virtually a whole new game using the same general framework as 3E.
As for the Good Mr. Cook's other work, as I don't play 3E regularly I don't feel qualified to critique it. That so many avid gamers hold his material in esteem speaks sufficiently, no?
Cheers,
Gary
P.S. Added by Edit:
Sorry I forgot to extend an invitation regarding stopping by. Please do Email me, and I can give you directions to my place. We play every Thursday evening from around 6:30 until 10:30. Auditors are fine, and the crew doesn't mind having a casual addition to the party either.
Last edited by Col_Pladoh; 22nd July 2003 at 07:22 PM..
Originally posted by Col_Pladoh Sorry I forgot to extend an invitation regarding stopping by. Please do Email me, and I can give you directions to my place. We play every Thursday evening from around 6:30 until 10:30. Auditors are fine, and the crew doesn't mind having a casual addition to the party either.
Wow! Extending an open invitation for a fan to drop by and play with the legendary master himself?!?
Yet another reason for me to continue to believe - going on 23 years now - that our beloved Gary is the absolute hands-down coolest of the cool.
Some day I too will have to venture over to Lake Geneva. My own personal pilgrimmage to Mecca, if you will.
Wow! Extending an open invitation for a fan to drop by and play with the legendary master himself?!?
Yet another reason for me to continue to believe - going on 23 years now - that our beloved Gary is the absolute hands-down coolest of the cool.
Some day I too will have to venture over to Lake Geneva. My own personal pilgrimmage to Mecca, if you will.
Heh,
Well thanks, but I am just passing things along.
If you can, get ahold of one of Leo Edward's adventure books for boys. the "Jerry Todd" series is the easiest to find copies of. Leo was born in Illinois but lived and wrote in Wisconsin. In his books he extends an invitation to readers to stop by his house, meet him and his wife, and have lemonade and cookies I never made it there, but I surely enjoyed the novels and really liked the spirit of the invitation the author displayed. So I am just passing things along now.
Well now all that is left is to find a reason compelling enough for the wife to agree with having our next family vacation in Lake Geneva. And -then- an excuse to disappear from the vacation itself for four hours on a certain night.
"Are you having an affair or something?"
"No.. No sweetie, honest."
"Tell the truth now!"
"Well, ok. I'm going to Gary Gygax's house to see how he runs his game."
"Of course. Very believable. Just tell me one thing, is she younger then me?"
At least, despite not being a gamer, she knows who you are, Gary. And not from me either.
Last edited by Barak; 23rd July 2003 at 03:22 PM..
Originally posted by Barak Well now all that is left is to find a reason compelling enough for the wife to agree with having our next family vacation in Lake Geneva. And -then- an excuse to disappear from the vacation itself for four hours on a certain night.
"Are you having an affair or something?"
"No.. No sweetie, honest."
"Tell the truth now!"
"Well, ok. I'm going to Gary Gygax's house to see how he runs his game."
"Of course. Very believable. Just tell me one thing, is she younger then me?"
At least, despite not being a gamer, she knows who you are, Gary. And not from me either.
Heh, Barak,
Well done!
That calls to mind my early days of wargaming. My ex-wife was convinced that I was carrying on an affair when I would be away all night. After much disputation, I agreed to have the games played at our place despite the childrens' presence (noisy) and her wanting to talk.
So about eight o'clock my opponent showed up and we begin playing. At around 11 PM my ex-wife said loudly, "Do you know that neither one of you has said a word in over an hour?!" Grunted responses were all that was forthcoming, so she went off to bed, and we finished the game around 7 AM that morning. We all had breakfast together, then my opponent went home to get some sleep. The ex- never did like games, gamers...or me in actuality.
The positive side is that RPGs are quite different from wargames. Lots of conversation going on, so non-gamer onlookers are not quite so bored.
In short, she can come along to see the game if that's desired
I recently read an interview you did with CIRO ALESSANDRO SACCO, a multi parter that covered your history in gaming from the birth of RPG's to your current work with LA.
I'd like to say that it reads like an America tragedy... I can't believe all of the pitfalls they lay before you. Your a strong man to have not let them stop you from continuing your work!
SO, in response to this question:
"In your FAQ you write “1973: Gary and Don Kaye form Tactical Studies Rules, an equal partnership” and then “1974: Brian Blume is admitted as an equal (1/3) partner”. Did both of you admit a new partner to help financing the publication of D&D? "
You responded thusly:
"Don and I wanted to get the D&D game out as soon as possible. If we had waited until sales of our one set of military miniatures rules, “Cavaliers & Roundheads”, generated sufficient funds, it would have been 1975 before we could publish."
Can you talk a bit about how things would have been different if not for the untimely death of your friend Don Kaye? Why did you not purchase Don's shares? Why did you pick Brian (whom per the interview you never seemed to be on the same page with) as your third partner?
That's the past... now the future...
Hasbro has been busy selling off pieces of the old TSR (Dragon/Dungeon magazine, Gen Con, etc.). I don't see it happening for a few years, as Hasbro will surely beat Revised Edition to death first, but if Hasbro were to put D&D up for sale, would you be interested, and motivated to buy back your brand name?
Recent News
Linear Mode
