TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh · Jun 3, 2006

Larcen said:
Hi Gary. I am so happy to see you still here chatting and answering questions.

Rest assured I am happy to be able to do so! :lol:

I would consider it a pleasure and an honor if you pop over this to thread and cast your vote:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=164316

...and then come back here and tell me what you voted for.

Okay, although none seemed great, as they did not convey what the game was about, I voted for Mythic, assuming there would be some magic and myth involved. As I once raised Rouen ducks, they look like big mallards, I just couldn't get into that name for a title, although with the right artwork it could be very interesting.

P.S. You ever going to return to Higgins Armory in MA, or anywhere else in New England? We really enjoyed your visit and speak of it fondly to this day.

Well, no, I have no plans for such a trip. Were Hector Diaz of Jumpgate still with us I would certainly be easily persuaded to hear east again, and my wife has a sister that lives in New Jersey. I enjoyed the Higgins Armory gig, was imnpressed with their collection and with Jeff Forgeng's accumen, but that was a one-time show...

Come on to the next Lake Geneva Gaming Convention, or make the one that starts in a few days--June 9-11

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 3, 2006

KaosDevice said:
Thanks for the response Cap'n G, you da man. The article I was talking about can be found here.

Take care and all the best.

Found it before you posted the link, read and commented

The commercial future is certainly in electronic, not paper, gaming.

Cheers,
Gary

jokamachi · Jun 4, 2006

Hey, Gary,

Good to see you on the boards these days. Hope everything is well in your corner. Anyway, I've got a burning question for you:

Should I play a thief or a ranger?

Best Wishes,

Jokamachi

P.S. Have you seen Chimes at Midnight yet?

John Drake · Jun 4, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
I read quite eclectically--mainly history, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. Jack Vance is my favorite author, but I can happily read the stories of Robert E. Howard's "Conan," Robert van Gulik's "Judge Dee", Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe," C.S. Forrester's "Hornblower", Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe", and so on.

Those are all fantastic books, btw. Haven't read Vance yetr, but ordered a couple from Amazon. Hey, Gary, have you ever read Ian Flemming's James Bond books? If you have, I'd be interested to hear your opinion on 'em. Also, if you like 24, you've gotta check out the 1st two seasons, truly masterpieces. While I'm on the topic of TV shows, um...you ever watch The Prisoner?

I rather like it. Be curious as to your opinion. Thanks Gary & Be Seeing You!

Orius · Jun 4, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
As a matter of fact I have no solid idea as to why Rary was even mentioned by TSR. That PC was one that Brian Blume created early in the D&D cycle, a magic-user that Brian wanted to work up to 3rd level so as to introduce him as "Medium Rary."

"Medium Rary"? It's amusing to see that bad pun names go all the way back to the earliest days of the game.

I wonder if maybe he was in the Rogue's Gallery or something, and as such the character became part of the published material?

Perhaps having Rary betray the Circle of Eight was a sort of ironic reflection of reality. Though that doesn't explain why they decided to make Robliar his underling (or whatever).

For those who aren't familiar with the early Greyhawk material, well, this is how I sort of view the matter as a more or less neutral bystander looking at it from the outside:

First, there is the original campaign as run by Gary, Rob and others. This is where the world itself was first developed, and some of the material found its way into the game in the days of 1e.

Then there's the official setting as published. The official setting isn't really the same thing as Gary's setting, the way I understand, the published setting started off when he presented elements of his own campaign for DMs to use as their own, though there was also stuff like the Rogue's Gallery that did not accurately reflect the original Greyhawk, but still became the basis for official material. After Gary left TSR, other people wrote material for the setting of varying quality.

Col_Pladoh · Jun 4, 2006

jokamachi said:
Hey, Gary,

Good to see you on the boards these days. Hope everything is well in your corner. Anyway, I've got a burning question for you:

Should I play a thief or a ranger?

Best Wishes,

Jokamachi

P.S. Have you seen Chimes at Midnight yet?

Which PC you plat depends on what you want to have your character do in the adventures, scout and fight mainly outdoors or skulk mainly indors and perform what it rakes to purloin valuables.

As for Chimes at Midnight, which I assume is a film, no. What genre is it?

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 4, 2006

John Drake said:
Those are all fantastic books, btw. Haven't read Vance yetr, but ordered a couple from Amazon. Hey, Gary, have you ever read Ian Flemming's James Bond books? If you have, I'd be interested to hear your opinion on 'em. Also, if you like 24, you've gotta check out the 1st two seasons, truly masterpieces. While I'm on the topic of TV shows, um...you ever watch The Prisoner? I rather like it. Be curious as to your opinion. Thanks Gary & Be Seeing You!

Bur of course I rad all the "Bond" novels written by Ian FLeming, enjoyed them a good deal. If I had mentioned that I read both Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" and Rhomer's "Fu MAnchu" tales you would likely have assumed I'd read Gleming's books.

As for The Prisoner, indeed I watched it back when my telly;s screen was black & white. I also was a fan of The Avengers.

I seldom watch video tapes or CDs as there is usually something on being broadcast that I want to see.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 4, 2006

Orius said:
...

For those who aren't familiar with the early Greyhawk material, well, this is how I sort of view the matter as a more or less neutral bystander looking at it from the outside:

First, there is the original campaign as run by Gary, Rob and others. This is where the world itself was first developed, and some of the material found its way into the game in the days of 1e.

I began the campaign world, had Rob join as co-Dm when the adventuring group size was generally over 12 and rather overwhealming. Thus the dungeons were an an amalgamation of his and mine, but all the rest of Greyhawk was my sole creaation...with inspirational input from many players, of course

Then there's the official setting as published. The official setting isn't really the same thing as Gary's setting, the way I understand, the published setting started off when he presented elements of his own campaign for DMs to use as their own, though there was also stuff like the Rogue's Gallery that did not accurately reflect the original Greyhawk, but still became the basis for official material. After Gary left TSR, other people wrote material for the setting of varying quality.

As I have related elsewhere, my original setting for Greyhawk was basicaly the earth, and the City of Greyhawk was about where Chicago is, Dyvers on the shore northwards where Milwaukee stands. Of course as my campaign world was active, had many players, I did not wish to detail it, so I created Aerth, the continent of Oerick, and all that went with it for general use by other DMs. I found I liked it so well that I switched my group's play to the World of Greyhawk soon after I had finished the maps and manuscript.

Cheers,
Gary

John Drake · Jun 4, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
As I have related elsewhere, my original setting for Greyhawk was basicaly the earth, and the City of Greyhawk was about where Chicago is, Dyvers on the shore northwards where Milwaukee stands.
Cheers,
Gary

Hi there, Gary
I have a question: I've never been sure as to how to pronounce the word bolded above, is the 'y' pronounced as an 'i' like 'diver' or as a soft sound as in 'sieve' ?
And just one other query, which as per my usual

most likely you've been asked before but I've never been fortunate enough to hear you view/answer/opinion. The great module "Tomb of Horrors": how did it originate, and was it really used by you to teach arrogant player's with "powerful" characters, (who would show up a various cons), a lesson in humility, and to prove skill in play over that of "big" stats? As I've said, I've heard this before, but only as heresay. I would appreciate hearing the truth in this matter, from the master himself!

Thanks Gary, as always, your time is greatly appreciated.

Col_Pladoh · Jun 4, 2006

John Drake said:
Hi there, Gary
...

Okay, the city's name is pronounced DYE-vers.

The Tomb of Horrors was inspired by material sent to me by Alan Lucien, and I believe I have credited him in this regard, but it has been so many years I can not recall where and how. Anyway...

The place was designed to test the mettle of the best players, stretch their ability to the maximum. That it did, while nor a few PCs belonging to very capable players bit the proverbial dust. Those players with real cran came back and kept trying until their PCs suceeded or else the DM grew weary of running the module. As I have mentioned, in my group only Rob Kuntz managed to get to the end of the advbenture, Robilar losing all of his orc flunkies at the onset, in the initial passage. When he found the tomb of the demi-lich Robilar scooped all the magical treasures he could into his bag of holding and ran off leaving the demi-lich hanginf, as it were. Tenser retreated from the perilous place, as did Terik.

Of course Mordenkainen never entered the place, but had he, the wily wizard would surely have come with his most potent associates, and brought plenty of powerful magic along. As with most other dedicated players, I too am averse to losing my favirite and long-luved PC.

Cheers,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

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