TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Frank Mentzer · Mar 18, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
sometimes plans gang aglay.

That's 'agley', you dog. Yur tipoes is getin wurse. -- yer formur editter

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,

O, what panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murd'ring pattle!

[snip]

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Sir Elton · Mar 19, 2005

TerraDave said:
Good Trade Sir Elton! Though I don't find the Loth association so ironic as I find the Forgotten Realms association unfortunate

I know what you mean. I prefer my dark elves to be unseelie folks, rather than bad mutha dominatrixes. That's why I was considering replacing Lolth, or changing Lolth's role, with an unseelie deity that would be Corellon's Opposite. After I ran it with the original story, first.

twofalls · Mar 19, 2005

Touching Lives

Hello Gary.

I'm 36 years old, and have been playing your game now for 26 of them. I've met my best friend over my game table, and nearly all of my longest lasting freindships have been with people whom I've met the same way. I run two game groups, one which I've been running for eight years now, and some of the players in that game have been gaming with me for that entire quarter century. In short, D&D in its various forms has deeply touched my life in very dramatic and positive ways.

I'm very pleased to be able to thank you for putting the wheels into motion that spawned this amazing industry. Perhaps some day I'll have the fortune to be able to thank Dave as well.

What an incredible thing for a man to have been part of, the creation of something that has touched so many so wonderfully.

Bright Blessings.

James Beadle

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

Gentlegamer said:
This is exactly the reason that the early modules, such as Keep on the Borderlands, and the G and D series, stand up even today. They are not tied into a "story" that makes it difficult for the Dungeon Master to adapt to his campaign.

Truly, those modules should be packaged together as a textbook on "Dungeon Designing 101." Ecologies, organization of opponents, treasure placement, general "dungeon weirdness" are all perfectly presented and would be very instructive for new Dungeon
Masters of any of the "versions" of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, including d20.

Well Gentlegamer,

Thanks for the good words

There is a bit of discussion over on the Dragonsfoot boards about teaching the art of Game Mastering, GMs being the key to the vitality of the RPG hobby. I declined to discuss a course plan due to the time and effort needed to create one of serious sort, including the reading list for students. Perhaps your suggestion above is the first step towards creating the latter

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

TerraDave said:
Esteemed Col.

I have a question which I think you may have addressed, but am not sure.

Recently, the issue of "Mind Flayers from Outer Space" arose in a corespondance. Was it your intent that these where aliens of that sort. Has it been alluded to in Expedition to the Barier Peaks (my copy is in storage) or elsewhere?

And I always face high psychic start up costs on any writting project. The amount of time I can spend in the office and not write (at least on that big project) is amazing: though not so amazing when EnWorld is factored in

No sir!

The Illithids were not meant to be extra-terrestrial in origination, rather marine and subterranean.

The best way to get a writing project started is to sit down and set to work without ado :uhoh:

Oops! I just blew the writers' best excuse for goofng off... :\

Heh,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

oldschooler said:
OD&D again!

I changed my stance on "attacks per round equal Hit Dice" to mean "only when fighting against creatures with 1 HD or less". Less dice rolling and it actually seems to have been the norm on more carefully reading the old '75 FAQ.
Anywho, I was just diving into a game of OD&D using just the 3 lil' booklets when I got confused. In Men & Magic it says your encumbrance affects movement with an example (6"/turn). That's easy to understand. Then, in The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures it says two moves constitute one turn, so a fully armored man can move 12" per turn. Huh? Which statment should be true and how far can one move in a combat round?

Break the turn into two parts, and that gives you a base move of 6", right? So what's difficult about that

An armoored footman moves at 6", an unarmored one at 12", and partially armored ones at 9". That translates pretty well as above ground movement as 1" = 10 yards and 1 movement turn as 1 minute of time. I reduced the rate to one-third for underground action because of darkness and cramped conditions.

In all do not treat the RPG as a combat simulation game

I've received my Lejendary Adventure Essentials set, but my head's so stuck in old-fashioned class rules that I'm having a hard time of it. Don't worry, once I've gotten your first game out of my system for a bit, I'll give your latest one a better try

The LA gasme system is skill-bundle based and rules light, so it is the antithesis of any class-based system, but in regards rules it is more like OD&D than AD&D or new D&D (for sure!)

If you want archetypes in the LA game system create an Avatar that is Ordered, but if you want free-form character creation, just choose Abilities (skill-bundles) that are what you want the Avatar to be able to do. The system enables virtually unlimited character variation.

cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

Frank Mentzer said:
That's 'agley', you dog. Yur tipoes is getin wurse. -- yer formur editter

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

[snip]

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

See All!

He, as is typical of editors everywhere, flaunts his nit-picking in the face of all

Just look at the verses he quotes full of dialectic and anachronistic words and spellings. Not even a Scotsman could edit them these days--better chance for them to play tennis

Heh,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

Sir Elton said:
I know what you mean. I prefer my dark elves to be unseelie folks, rather than bad mutha dominatrixes. That's why I was considering replacing Lolth, or changing Lolth's role, with an unseelie deity that would be Corellon's Opposite. After I ran it with the original story, first.

Your call as the DM, but...

The drow are an evil and malign race as originally conceived, and their temper is thus correctly spider-like

Cheerio,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Mar 19, 2005

twofalls said:
Hello Gary.

...

What an incredible thing for a man to have been part of, the creation of something that has touched so many so wonderfully.

Bright Blessings.

James Beadle

Hail James!

My thanks for the good words, and indeed the best part of having created as I did is that the work had so positive an effect on so many people.

Cheerio,
Gary

Sir Elton · Mar 19, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
Your call as the DM, but...

The drow are an evil and malign race as originally conceived, and their temper is thus correctly spider-like

OR they have the same temperament as some vipers. Spider or snake. Although both kinds use different tactics, the base strategy is the same. Lie in wait, and then ambush. I'd like my drow to be different. The Dominatrix culture provides a contrast to normal patriarchial culture, but I'd rather be happy and not follow in Forgotten Realms' wake.

You really did very good work, Gary. You'd have a right to be angry, but anything: module or sourcebook or otherwise; that falls into my hands is mine to do with as I please.

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Frank Mentzer

First Post

Sir Elton

First Post

twofalls

DM Beadle

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Sir Elton

First Post

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