TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh · Jun 17, 2003

No question in my mind that a well-written script with a good plot and devloped characters was the first step needed for a successful D&D movie.

Considering the property, the D&D mark, a really fine script would be sufficient to get the ball rolling. that would have been lining up a name actor or two committed to the project. Thereafter the rest should fall into line. The problem was the director, of course...

Cheers,
Gary

optimizer · Jun 17, 2003

Howdy!

Col_Pladoh said:
Well, not necessarily. I have an "Olde Time Dungeopn Crawl" scenario amongst the adventures found in the HALL OF MANY PANES module. It is set up for experienced Avatars, mainly, say with at least a year of adventuring credits, but it can handle beginners or veteran Avatars with three or more years of play. the key is the judgement of the Lejend Master on adjusting the number of creatures or NACs encounterd, their Health and chance to hit and inflict Harm. Of course, I packed the normal-sised dungeon level quite full of interesting places, and made it difficult to move around and map, and it must be mapped in order to find the keys to escaping the place, cause the return pane portal to appear

Your second assumption is correct. the LA game does offer, not to say demand, the LM to spend as much time developing adventures not set in dungeons, and the players' Avatars gain as much from such activity therein as they do from subterranean delving. Outside dungeons the focus can be on role-play, intregue, politics, or just about anything else including exploration and combat.

Cheers,
Gary

I think that I understand - thanks!

I enjoy reading your posts about HoMP -- that is one adventure I am waiting for!

I like how you designed LA to handle more than just dungeon exploration. It seems like an LM can create a world to explore and players can create Avatars to attempt almost anything in that world.

Mike

BOZ · Jun 17, 2003

another good idea would be combining elements from more than one classic module or series... no need to constrain yourself to the limitations of one story.

blackshirt5 · Jun 17, 2003

Dear Gary,

Wouldn't just about ANY summer movie be made cooler by converting it into a D&D movie? I can see it now;

Charlie's Angels 2-They're all Trumpet Archons, they all work for the Great God Charlie. Bosley, of course, is an Avatar or a high-level cleric of Charlie.

Pirates of the Caribbean-Admittedly, I can't make this much cooler than it already looks.

Tomb Raider 2-Admittedly, making it a RIFTs movie would make it cooler than it looks.

Col_Pladoh · Jun 19, 2003

It seems that the Trolls are still trying to hammer our how they are going to package a module of 500 page length, so the release date for HALL OF MANY PANES is not yet set. It will probably be a boxed set with two books and who knows what else, but it will provide a year of adventuring fun--all sorts of different scenarios, plenty of combat nonetheless, as I like it in adventures

As for making most films fantasy bases, I'll take a pass. No sense in wearing out the genre thus, eh? The LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN coming next month is fantasy, but not medieval-type, and one that should prove well worth seeing!

Cheers,
Gary

dcollins · Jun 19, 2003

Gary, I was leafing through the AD&D Descent into the Depths of the Earth modules, recently, and it occured to me to ask about the "Large Scale Map" included inside which briefly portrays maybe 4 times as many areas as actually are encountered in the adventure yourself.

I'm wondering: Did you draw this layout yourself, or was this content an addition by some other person (as I understand occasionally happened with some projects)? If you ever used this map, how much of the surrounding areas did you ever detail for your own purposes?

Hadit · Jun 19, 2003

Col_Pladoh said:
The LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN coming next month is fantasy, but not medieval-type, and one that should prove well worth seeing!

The LoEG movie does look like it will be pretty good, but I am still leery that it will not come close to the excellence of the comic.
Hollywood tends to err on the side of excess (and simplification).

I read an interview with Alan Moore in which he was questioned about how he would feel if Hollywood destroyed his 'baby'... he said he couldn't care less! He was just happy to get paid the large dollars! He felt that if it drew attention to his comic, then all the better.

MerricB · Jun 19, 2003

Col_Pladoh said:
It seems that the Trolls are still trying to hammer our how they are going to package a module of 500 page length, so the release date for HALL OF MANY PANES is not yet set. It will probably be a boxed set with two books and who knows what else, but it will provide a year of adventuring fun--all sorts of different scenarios, plenty of combat nonetheless, as I like it in adventures

Thanks for the update, Gary.

Time for a (somewhat silly) question: how many dice do you have?

Cheers!

Col_Pladoh · Jun 20, 2003

dcollins said:
Gary, I was leafing through the AD&D Descent into the Depths of the Earth modules, recently, and it occured to me to ask about the "Large Scale Map" included inside which briefly portrays maybe 4 times as many areas as actually are encountered in the adventure yourself.

I'm wondering: Did you draw this layout yourself, or was this content an addition by some other person (as I understand occasionally happened with some projects)? If you ever used this map, how much of the surrounding areas did you ever detail for your own purposes?

howdy!

All the material in the D series was done exclusively by me, illustrations aside, of course. The additional areas of the underworld were sketchily detailed, but I have no idea where those notes have ended up

My players were not much delighted with the thought of continuing adventures there, so my efforts came to no useful end. My next plan was to detail the city or Erelheicindlu, but the lads absolutely refused to take their characters into the place

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 20, 2003

Hadit said:
The LoEG movie does look like it will be pretty good, but I am still leery that it will not come close to the excellence of the comic.
Hollywood tends to err on the side of excess (and simplification).

I read an interview with Alan Moore in which he was questioned about how he would feel if Hollywood destroyed his 'baby'... he said he couldn't care less! He was just happy to get paid the large dollars! He felt that if it drew attention to his comic, then all the better.

Hope springs eternal in my breast

I do really enjoy the writing style of Alan Moore--perfect blend of the late Victorian horror/Oriental mystery novel and the pulp zines of the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

As for his statement about the film not being true to his work, I can relate to the salve of receiving large amounts of cash to compensate for that. However, I hope his agent took all that up front, and his payments are not based on preoducer's net receipts...

Fingers crrosed,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

optimizer

First Post

BOZ

Creature Cataloguer

blackshirt5

First Post

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

dcollins

Explorer

Hadit

First Post

MerricB

Eternal Optimist

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

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