TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

oldschooler · Jul 11, 2005

Wrong

I wrote the initial draft in 1972, a revised and expanded one in 1973, and the game was published at the end of January 1974. All of that is a matter of record, and any serious researcher should know those facts.

Gary

Heh, I was born in 1972!

haakon1 · Jul 11, 2005

ColonelHardisson said:
Hey, it gives giants some mighty sore hands when they grab a PC!

Makes it really hard to sit down in a tavern, though . . .

I want PC's in real ancient & medieval armor, for that suspension of disbelief, like the Star Wars equipment having "carbon scoring", or the Holy Grail line about how to tell a king from a peasant: 'cause he hasn't got (ahem) all over him.

A lorica segmenta (AKA, "banded armor"), chainshirt, or real plate mail, those are cool to the historian in me and some of my players, and to the Tolkien-players too.

Spikey bondage armor, that doesn't, um, fit the ambience I'm going for . . .

haakon1 · Jul 11, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
Spiked armor...bah!

Actually, the Romans did actually use spiked armor when fighting the Carthiginians at Zama. They armed light footmen with axes, clad them in spiked armor, so that the elephants they were to hamstring would not use theit trunks to grab them. This battle is as well the only one I know of in which the Romans used chariots as a war weapon, having lancers in them to attack the enemy elephants.

Cheers,
Gary

Ah, that does make sense. Thus the chariots on the Roman side in the "Gladiator" reenactment of a battle between the Romans and Carthage? That Gygax dude, he knows a lot of stuff.

Theatrical gladiators might have tried spiked armor at one point or another (I mean, there was a whole class of gladiators with fish-shaped helmets, tridents, and nets!), but for most purposes, the armor illustrations in 3.0 and 3.5 just don't seem "informative".

haakon1 · Jul 11, 2005

Steverooo said:
3) Spiked Bracers/Dastana. Bracers covering the arm from wrists to elbows, with the spikes attached to the rears of the elbows, where they are out of the way, when the arms are straight, but make an elbow smash even more (puncture) damaging.

6) Spiked Gauntlets. If you're going to wear gauntlets, there's no reason not to wear these. They can't be disarmed, easily, and are better than an Improved Unarmed Strike (in most cases).

Those I wouldn't object to -- but as a weapon, not armor. Spiked bracers/gauntlets appear and seem "real" in Conan's gladiatorial combat. Plus "Batman Begins".

IIRC, the Romans used something like that in gladiatorial combat and boxing . . . not big goofy spikes, but cloth hand wrappings dipped in pitch, then rolled in broken glass, so as to have shards of broken glass embedded in them. Nasty, but not practical if you want to pick up a weapon or open a door, etc. I forget the Latin word for the that, but I remember thinking "hard corps, dude!" when I read about it in Latin class.

haakon1 · Jul 11, 2005

Sanguinemetaldawn said:
Clearly, this historic use lends itself to somewhat fantastic use in AD&D as a special defense against grapplers, constrictors, and the like, but the wearer of such armor would have to worry about accidental injury both to himself, and his fellows.

The 3.5 rules let you use spikey armor to do 1d6 damage (as good as a short sword or light mace, huh?) on a successful grapple. Or can use them for regular light-weapon melee attacks. No defensive use . . . I'm pretty sure they are "decorative" in nature.

Revising the Airplane scene in my head: "So, Jimmy, have you ever been in a cockpit before? Do you like to watch gladiator movies? Ever been in a Turkish prison? Do you like spikey armor? . . . "

Dannyalcatraz · Jul 11, 2005

If I may ask a BIZ related question...

Did you/do you find that big retailers pay less per unit for game product than do the little guys? That is, if I find GAME: BOOK 1 at Mom & Pop's Fun Shop for $40, and the same product being sold for $30 at big company Booksonline.com, are they both basing their prices on the same per unit cost from GAME's publisher, or is Booksonline.com usually getting some kind of bulk purchase discount?

If so, what do you find is the usual discount?

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2005

oldschooler said:
Heh, I was born in 1972!

then your nickname should be Youngschooler

Heh,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2005

Dannyalcatraz said:
If I may ask a BIZ related question...

Did you/do you find that big retailers pay less per unit for game product than do the little guys? That is, if I find GAME: BOOK 1 at Mom & Pop's Fun Shop for $40, and the same product being sold for $30 at big company Booksonline.com, are they both basing their prices on the same per unit cost from GAME's publisher, or is Booksonline.com usually getting some kind of bulk purchase discount?

If so, what do you find is the usual discount?

As I am not privy to the sales policies of WotC/Hasbro I am not able to answer your question. I can comment on discounts in general, of course: Anyone that buys in great volumE generally gets the highest discount, as they accept a vast order, warehouse it, or have it shipped to multiple locations simultaneously. In printing, high volume of a run lowers the cost per unit dramaticaly, so big customers mean lower prices for all concerned.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler · Jul 11, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
then your nickname should be Youngschooler

Heh,
Gary

It's true, I'm physically still a pup; but my screen name is an idication of my soul, not my heart. The best game I've ever played (and ever will) is your Dungeons & Dragons (c. 1974)!

That reminds me, in Monsters & Treasure, magic swords are indicated as the only items with intelligence. Is that to say they are all intelligent? If not, how often should swords with this intellect come up?

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2005

oldschooler said:
It's true, I'm physically still a pup; but my screen name is an idication of my soul, not my heart. The best game I've ever played (and ever will) is your Dungeons & Dragons (c. 1974)!

That reminds me, in Monsters & Treasure, magic swords are indicated as the only items with intelligence. Is that to say they are all intelligent? If not, how often should swords with this intellect come up?

Thanks kindly

Most swords are not impued with a spirit intelligence. You can use the table in the M&T booklet, or figure that one in 10 has some form of intellect, and that one in 10 of those can communicate by empathy, speech, or telepathy. Whatever suits your DMing style and campaign will do!

Cheers,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

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Gary Gygax

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