TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

I'm doing a 'series' on kobolds over at d20 Magazine Rack. (And my blog, but that has politics, so I shan't link to it. ) I was wondering, what sources did you rely on when creating the D&D® version?

Col_Pladoh said:

As much as I'd like to be able to assist, i fear my copy of Deities & Demigods is sealed away in the attic, and there's no way i can recall the stats and description for those two, Blibdoolpoolp and Lolth.

If you can post the data, or send it to me, I'll be happy to respond.

Cheers,
Gary

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Thank you for your very kind offer! I've posted the data below. Please note that for Lolth I've copied only the additional text in Deities & Demigods that wasn't taken directly from D3: Vault of the Drow. One mistake I noticed while typing this stuff up is Lolth's intelligence. Deities & Demigods lists it as 21, but in D3 her intelligence is listed as "Genius", which would give her a 17 or 18 intelligence.

LOLTH

Lesser goddess

WORSHIPER’S ALIGN: Chaotic evil (Drow)
SYMBOL: Spider
PLANE: Abyss
CLERIC/DRUID: See below
FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: See below
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
S: 21 I: 21 W: 16 D: 21 C: 21 CH: 3 (23)

The dark elves worship demon lords from the Abyss. The best known example is the worship of the Demon Queen Lolth. Drow sacrifice both blood (of others) and riches to her. (For particulars, see ADVANCED D&D DUNGEON MODULES D3, THE VAULT OF THE DROW, and Q1, QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS.) Female Drow with wisdoms of 18 can progress as high as the 14th level of clerical ability.

Lolth is especially susceptible to holy water, taking 6 points of damage from a splash and 6-21 points (3d6 + 3) from a direct hit.

SPHERE OF CONTROL: Drow
ANIMAL: arachnids
CLERICS: non-human only
RAIMENT/HEAD: Drow helm
RAIMENT/BODY: Drow tunic
COLORS: red & black
HOLY DAYS: full moon
FREQUENCY OF SACRIFICE: monthly
FORM OF SACRIFICE: enemies & riches
PLACE OF WORSHIP: underground marble temples


BLIBDOOLPOOLP “Sea Mother”

Lesser goddess

ARMOR CLASS: -1
MOVE: 12”//48”
HIT POINTS: 310
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-24/4-24
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Insanity
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 55%
SIZE: L (20’ tall)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil (chaotic tendencies)
WORSHIPER’S ALIGN: Neutral evil (Kuo-Toa)
SYMBOL: Lobster head or black pearl
PLANE: Elemental Plane of Water
CLERIC/DRUID: 15th level cleric
FIGHTER: 15th level fighter
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 20th level magic-user
THIEF/ASSASSIN: 15th level assassin
MONK/BARD: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: III (i. e., psionic strength of 236-265, 3 minor & 2 major disciplines, all attack and all defense modes)
S: 21 I: 20 W: 10 D: 21 C: 23 CH: 11

Blibdoolpoolp appears as a large nude human female with a lobster’s head and clawed forearms. In general, she hates all humans, demi-humans and humanoids for driving the Kuo-Toa into the underworld. Worshipers regularly sacrifice lobsters to her. If a favor is desired, she must be given great quantities of gems, preferably pearls. There is a 1% chance per every 1,000 gp worth of gems sacrificed that the Sea Mother will look upon her worshiper’s request with favor. (If pearls are contributed, this chance is 1% per 500 gp value.)

Each of Blibdoolpoolp’s claws can snap for 4-24 points of damage. Any creature hit by both claws will be drawn to the Sea Mother’s face to peer into her eyes. At close range, her gaze causes insanity in creatures who fail to save vs. spells at –4. In addition, the Sea Mother can summon up to 3-30 giant lobsters (treat as giant crayfish) and 1-10 16 HD water elementals to her aid per day.

On the most important ceremonial occasions, the clerics of Blibdoolpoolp sacrifice captured humans to her by drowning. Kuo-Toan clerics can attain 12th level maximum. For more information about the worship of the Sea Mother, see ADVANCED D&D DUNGEON MODULE D2, SHRINE OF THE KUO-TOA.

SPHERE OF CONTROL: Kuo-toa
ANIMAL: lobster
CLERICS: non-human only
RAIMENT/HEAD: shell helm
RAIMENT/BODY: nets
COLOR: pearl
HOLY DAYS: new moon
FREQUENCY OF SACRIFICE: monthly
FORM OF SACRIFICE: gems, pearls, humans, lobsters
PLACE OF WORSHIP: underwater shrines

Thanks again, Gary, for everything!

Col_Pladoh said:

There's no chance that Francois will reply to emails, and he threatens to assail me if I happen to reveal his addy. I'd urge him to publish his Orientsl material, but that would be done in French, so precious little help to us here...

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Ah, perhaps you should put him in touch with TLG.

replicant2 said:

Hi Gary, great to see you back on the boards, and I wish continued good health for the man who started it all.

On to my question: Could you attempt to describe your creative process when writing a module or other adventure? Do you picture the events in your head, like the story line of a novel, or do you create encounters and locations and build around these?

For example, when you wrote Against the Giants, did you design the giant strongholds first and develop the drow plotline as you went along, or vice versa?

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I usually begin creation of a module with an underlying idea. i then sketch out a unbrella plot, then do an area od labyrinth map, place encounters, then revise the whole as necessary from what developed as I built from the initial material.

It is a lot of work for me to create adventure material, and it is something that takes me a lot of time. Unlike some of my associates, I can't crank out modules quickly.

Cheers,
Gary

The Shaman said:

No questions here, Gary, just a heartfelt thank you for the many, many years of enjoyment, intellectual stimulation, and comaraderie the game of Dungeons and Dragons has brought my way.

Very best in all things.

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Welcome

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that I surely did have a great time doing the "work."

Heh,
Gary

Virel said:

Indeed Gary, thank you for taking the time to post, share tidbits, answer questions and giving us the wonderful game of AD&D.

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As i have said before, I am honored that so many people are interested in what I have to say. Besides that, I enjoy the virtual conversation with fellow gamers

A friend of mine wanted me to ask about this specific example:

Cias asked:

I understand that, according to Gary's last reply, if a magic-user casts sleep at a group of enemies, the magic-user cannot select specifically to affect (or attempt to affect) some enemies while excluding others.

But how does this affect PCs and other allies of the magic-user if they are near the monsters that the sleep spell is targeting?

For example, There are 5 goblins, 2 bugbears, and 3 1st level PC fighters all in melee together and the PC magic-user casts sleep at the goblins and bugbears. Will the spell also affect the PCs or can the magic-user select groups of creatures, just not individuals within those groups?

Thank You again for your time.

V

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To clarify, as the DM I would allow the spell caster to select one specific target, and by so doing nerrow the scope of a sleep sopell to that individual. If ut were used as an area spell, then all characters in the area would be affected up to the spell's maximum, and that includes PCs associated with the casting magic-user. In the example you give, the sleep spell would get the five goblins first, then the three 1st level PCs, and if more than eight could be affected, then the two bugbears.

Cheers,
Gary

mythusmage said:

I'm doing a 'series' on kobolds over at d20 Magazine Rack. (And my blog, but that has politics, so I shan't link to it. ) I was wondering, what sources did you rely on when creating the D&D® version?

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Howdy Alan

Well, all i worked from was Germanic folklore about the forest "littel people" called kobolds. All the rest of the material in the game I made up to suit what i deemed as the needs of it. In short, the D&D kobolds are mostly the whole cloth of my imagination.

Cheers,
Gary

In short, the D&D kobolds are mostly the whole cloth of my imagination.

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...And to answer my burning question... scaly, or hairy?

Geoffrey said:

Thank you for your very kind offer! I've posted the data below. Please note that for Lolth I've copied only the additional text in Deities & Demigods that wasn't taken directly from D3: Vault of the Drow. One mistake I noticed while typing this stuff up is Lolth's intelligence. Deities & Demigods lists it as 21, but in D3 her intelligence is listed as "Genius", which would give her a 17 or 18 intelligence.

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Okay Geoffrey,

My comments are given below:

LOLTH

Lesser goddess

<what about AC, HP's etc?>
WORSHIPER’S ALIGN: Chaotic evil (Drow) <and others of Evil alignment>
SYMBOL: Spider <in web>
PLANE: Abyss
CLERIC/DRUID: See below <???>
FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: See below <???>
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil <nil/13th>
MONK/BARD: Nil
S: 21 I: 21 W: 16 D: 21 C: 21 CH: 3 (23)

The dark elves worship demon lords from the Abyss. The best known example is the worship of the Demon Queen Lolth. Drow sacrifice both blood (of others) and riches to her. (For particulars, see ADVANCED D&D DUNGEON MODULES D3, THE VAULT OF THE DROW, and Q1, QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS.) Female Drow with wisdoms of 18 can progress as high as the 14th level of clerical ability. <Female drow can progress in clerical level equal to their Wisdom score.>

Lolth is especially susceptible to holy water, taking 6 points of damage from a splash and 6-21 points (3d6 + 3) from a direct hit.

SPHERE OF CONTROL: Drow <and other worshippers>
ANIMAL: arachnids
CLERICS: non-human only <?>
RAIMENT/HEAD: Drow helm
RAIMENT/BODY: Drow tunic
COLORS: red & black
HOLY DAYS: full moon <dark of moon is better>
FREQUENCY OF SACRIFICE: monthly
FORM OF SACRIFICE: enemies & riches
PLACE OF WORSHIP: underground marble temples <marble? I should think onyx caverns>


BLIBDOOLPOOLP “Sea Mother”

Lesser goddess

ARMOR CLASS: -1
MOVE: 12”//48”
HIT POINTS: 310
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-24/4-24
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Insanity
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 55%
SIZE: L (20’ tall)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil (chaotic tendencies)
WORSHIPER’S ALIGN: Neutral evil (Kuo-Toa)
SYMBOL: Lobster head or black pearl
PLANE: Elemental Plane of Water
CLERIC/DRUID: 15th level cleric
FIGHTER: 15th level fighter
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 20th level magic-user
THIEF/ASSASSIN: 15th level assassin <???---nil/nil>
MONK/BARD: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: III (i. e., psionic strength of 236-265, 3 minor & 2 major disciplines, all attack and all defense modes)
S: 21 I: 20 W: 10 D: 21 C: 23 CH: 11

Blibdoolpoolp appears as a large nude human female with a lobster’s head and clawed forearms. In general, she hates all humans, demi-humans and humanoids for driving the Kuo-Toa into the underworld. Worshipers regularly sacrifice lobsters to her. If a favor is desired, she must be given great quantities of gems, preferably pearls <or corals>. There is a 1% chance per every 1,000 gp worth of gems sacrificed that the Sea Mother will look upon her worshiper’s request with favor. (If pearls <or corals> are contributed, this chance is 1% per 500 gp value.)

Each of Blibdoolpoolp’s claws can snap for 4-24 points of damage. Any creature hit by both claws will be drawn to the Sea Mother’s face to peer into her eyes. At close range, her gaze causes insanity in creatures who fail to save vs. spells at –4. In addition, the Sea Mother can summon up to 3-30 giant lobsters (treat as giant crayfish) and 1-10 16 HD water elementals to her aid per day.

On the most important ceremonial occasions, the clerics of Blibdoolpoolp sacrifice captured humans to her by drowning. Kuo-Toan clerics can attain 12th level maximum. For more information about the worship of the Sea Mother, see ADVANCED D&D DUNGEON MODULE D2, SHRINE OF THE KUO-TOA.

SPHERE OF CONTROL: Kuo-toa <and undersea humanoids>
ANIMAL: lobster <and crustaceans)
CLERICS: non-human only
RAIMENT/HEAD: shell helm
RAIMENT/BODY: nets
COLOR: pearl
HOLY DAYS: new moon
FREQUENCY OF SACRIFICE: monthly
FORM OF SACRIFICE: gems, pearls, <corals,> humans, lobsters
PLACE OF WORSHIP: underwater shrines

Thanks again, Gary, for everything!

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Hope my input is of some benefit!

Cheers,
Gary

dcas said:

Ah, perhaps you should put him in touch with TLG.

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Fat lot of good that would do, but I'll give it a try. Getting Francois to do anything other than his graphic novels is a most challenging task, you see. He dislikes working, preferring to spend most of his time gaming

I will email him about this though1

Cheers,
Gary