This is the multi-year Q&A sessions held by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax here at EN World, beginning in 2002 and running up until his sad pasing in 2008. Gary's username in the thread below is Col_Pladoh, and his first post in this long thread is Post #39.
TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax
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This is the multi-year Q&A sessions held by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax here at EN World, beginning in 2002 and running up until his sad pasing in 2008. Gary's username in the thread below is Col_Pladoh, and his first post in this long thread is Post #39.
Col_Pladoh said:
Do you consider the original Greyhawk/Lake Geneva/whatever you call it campaign still "active"? If so, is it on a particular date?
My campaigns (3 of them, all very slow moving, over e-mail, in Vermont once every few years, and in Seattle a few times a year) are all in spring 588 CY. Two groups are in Bissel, one in the wilderness headed for Dantredun, Blackmoor.
Another bit of curiosity: did you and Arneson ever play in each others' campaigns?
PapersAndPaychecks
First Post
Col_Pladoh said:
Oh, that's interesting too.
My experience has been that experienced players can get through S1 without too many losses. Perhaps I DM it incorrectly, but my players have a habit (in heavily-trapped areas) of using summoned monsters, or the zombies of summoned monsters, or unseen servants or whatever, to open every door, walk down every corridor, explore every room and pick everything up... and learning what they face by watching to see how the summoned monsters die.
This tactic seemed infallibly successful in S1.Equally, my experience has been that G3 is the most challenging module I've ever run. Groups that made it through S1 without seeming to have a difficult time get stomped in Snurre's throne room... the geography of the dungeon seems to mean that the fire giant reinforcements are able to cut off the players' escape route, and once the rakshasas arrive, it's basically all over. Again, perhaps I DM it incorrectly.
Col_Pladoh
Gary Gygax
Gaijin or gwalo (spelling) in the Chin Empire's protocols, only Imperial favor can make such persons acceptable...haakon1 said:Remembering back to the late 1980s . . . I don't think we used the NWP's for much, but they were good for atmosphere, which I found important in OA. It would be neat to do something like a diplomatic dinner party at the cherry blossom festival, where the PC's have to use NWP's in poetry to compete to gain influence. Very difficult for a gaijin, though.
BTW, you've seen "Ran", right? Akira Kurosawa doing "MacBeth" in medieval Japan.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
I have seen Ran and most of Kurosawa's other films. I got hooked on them when I was a young chap living in Chicage and sas Seven Samurai soon after I learned to play Shogi.
Cheers,
Gary
Col_Pladoh
Gary Gygax
Actually, getting precise numbers of players is difficult, as it is impossible to survey a meaningful cross section of the game audience. About all one can do is take the sales of the GM's book, discount a percentage, then multiply by a number that represents the average gaming group size. Of course, for the D&D boxed game one had to do the same, discounting a percentage as never played, byt without multiplying for group size.haakon1 said:You are a gentleman and a scholar, Mr. Gygax. But we all knew that already.
Thanks for the info. I've been curious about this for decades.
It didn't hurt that sales of Dragon magazine were over 100K per issue with a pass-around factor of 4.5 persons per issue, so we know that there were over .5 million hardcore readers of that journal.
Cheers,
Gary
Col_Pladoh
Gary Gygax
No.haakon1 said:
As a matter of fact I ceased the campaign in 1985 when I severed all times with TSR.
I have used it on occasion since, of course, but nor for regular, ongoing play.
Cheers,
Gary
thedungeondelver
Adventurer
Col_Pladoh said:
Have you seen Kadokawa's HEAVEN AND EARTH, Gary? It's a bit more recent (1990 or 1991, IIRC). It is however very pretty. Lacks a lot of the subtext of a Kurosawa film but if you want to watch Samurai armies go at it you can't go wrong with that one.
Col_Pladoh
Gary Gygax
I never allow summoning of monsters in the ToH, so the party that enters can not be reinforced along the way.PapersAndPaychecks said:Oh, that's interesting too.
My experience has been that experienced players can get through S1 without too many losses. Perhaps I DM it incorrectly, but my players have a habit (in heavily-trapped areas) of using summoned monsters, or the zombies of summoned monsters, or unseen servants or whatever, to open every door, walk down every corridor, explore every room and pick everything up... and learning what they face by watching to see how the summoned monsters die.
Equally, my experience has been that G3 is the most challenging module I've ever run. Groups that made it through S1 without seeming to have a difficult time get stomped in Snurre's throne room... the geography of the dungeon seems to mean that the fire giant reinforcements are able to cut off the players' escape route, and once the rakshasas arrive, it's basically all over. Again, perhaps I DM it incorrectly.
As for the G3 challenges, after the party has adventures through G1 and G2, the PCs should be powerful enough to manage the fire giants et al.
Cheers,
Gary
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