TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Holiday Cheer, Jayaint!

jayaint said:

Hi Col...

As someone who owned the red-box set, but never really got anything more out of it than waxing in the numbers on the dice (hey, I was 7) and who has only played casually and never been to Cons, fairs, etc... I just wanted to say that I am always glued to these Q & A threads with you.

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Well darn! Why not break on through to the other side, do some RPGing. then you'd have a great time at cons Pleased that you enjoy the Q&A threads, of course.

Two questions today:

1. Can you let us in on any more "secrets" about the origins of different elements of GH? I really enjoyed learning, and have wow'ed some of my friends by pointing out, that the GH map is Northern Ill, Wisc. and Mich just turned like 270 degrees upside down.

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Actually, most of the singular sinister attitude of mind expressed in the original WoG work has been revealed--the names of persons, places, and things drawn from actual persons or puns--although the website dealing with that has a number of erroneous ones.

Maybe if you have specific questions I can supply something, though.

[/QUOTE]and 2. What do you think about stroytelling based games, like interactive fiction, or Rpg's with less number crunching and dice rolling? With your background, I have no idea whether those kinds of games interest you at all.

Thanks for the great thread and the info.[/QUOTE]

"Storytelling" games are not RPGs. Neither are "diceless" games.

An RPG creates a story, does not follow a script. That's a play, possibly improv theater. In a real RPG the GM develops a backstory and plot, sets the scenes, and then the PCs interact with those and by their actions create the actual tale, the events and conclusion of which are indeterminate until that occurs.

As in real life, chance and random occurrances must be a part of an RPG adventure. As a matter of fact you and I do not know what will happen in the next minute. As is oft quoted, "There's many a slip between cup and lip." to ignore random events, not allow chance into play, is to consign the game to predestination. For example, the best golfer might be stung by a bee at the moment he is about to make an easy putt, thus miss it. Who knows when a tire will blow out? Can anyone predict with certainty that a sudden gust of wind won't blow an obstructing object onto a windshield? throw off the course of a missile?

Nuff said

Anyway, I am a gamer who will happily play just about any sort of game given time and opportunity. I run a regular RPG campaign, play cards, board, and table games now and then, but shun computer games as too bloody addictive to me, for I am one who needs to be writing creatively most of each day.

Welcome!
Gary

mistere29 said:

I was wondering about the cavalier class. He's pretty tough. You wrote a good article on why you did what you did when designing the Barbarian Class. I was wondering what your thoughts were when designing the Cavalier sublcass.

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Holiday Greetings, Mistere29,

the short answer is that I consider well-trained, aristocratic warriors such as knights and samurai as having been very beadly fighting machines. The Cavalier class was aimed at depicting a knightly warrior of most able sort...and they were very tough indeed.

Hope that serves, but if not come on back.

Cheerio,
Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

Actually, most of the singular sinister attitude of mind expressed in the original WoG work has been revealed--the names of persons, places, and things drawn from actual persons or puns--although the website dealing with that has a number of erroneous ones.

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Hey, I've offered to fix the errors Gary if you just tell me what they are

Col_Pladoh said:

Holiday Greetings, Mistere29,

the short answer is that I consider well-trained, aristocratic warriors such as knights and samurai as having been very beadly fighting machines. The Cavalier class was aimed at depicting a knightly warrior of most able sort...and they were very tough indeed.

Hope that serves, but if not come on back.

Cheerio,
Gary

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So they where supposed to be tougher, as long as they where role-played according to archtype? Did anyone in your campaign play one?

I was also thinking about weapon specialization. Did you use it in your campaign. I ask because the way it was presented seemed kind of half hearted. It was first presented in mixed topic "from the sorcerror's scroll" in dragon. I always thought you might not have had as much time to work on it before UA hit the printers.

While i'm at it, have you ever played a game of d20. Not dm, mind you, but play in someone elses campaign.

I appolgize if i repeated questions, but i'm new to these boards

Oh, and i'm christian, you can say merry christmas.

grodog said:

Hey, I've offered to fix the errors Gary if you just tell me what they are

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I emailed the fellow who has the website, suggested a couple of additions and corrections, and the response i received was a ho-hum one, so I dropped the matter. After all, I know, and the rest is a matter of no import to me

Yuletide best,
Gary

Gary,

This is Bill Walton from The Escapist (www.theescapist.com) - I've spoken to you a couple of times before.

I've heard tell that you were called as an expert witness in a trial a couple of years ago, and that the trial had some kind of connection with gaming. Is there any truth to this, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?

Thanks, and happy holidays!
- Bill

mistere29 said:

So they where supposed to be tougher, as long as they where role-played according to archtype? Did anyone in your campaign play one?

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Yes, we had a cavalier character in the Greyhawk Campaign, just about every one of the classes in the rules, and the same for demi-human characters. I once played a half-ord cleric-assassin, as a matter of fact.

I was also thinking about weapon specialization. Did you use it in your campaign. I ask because the way it was presented seemed kind of half hearted. It was first presented in mixed topic "from the sorcerror's scroll" in dragon. I always thought you might not have had as much time to work on it before UA hit the printers.

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Indeed, we played weapon specialization even before i wrote it up in Dragon Magazine. By the time that article hit a couple of PCs in the campaign were doubly-specialized...

While i'm at it, have you ever played a game of d20. Not dm, mind you, but play in someone elses campaign.

I appolgize if i repeated questions, but i'm new to these boards

Oh, and i'm christian, you can say merry christmas.

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I was a play-tester in of the working draft of the Lost City of Gaxmoor module written by my sons Ernie and Luke. I played in about a dozen or so sessions that lasted an average of six hours each. I determined then and there that I'd never DM the new D&D system.

As for "can," I think Political corectness is absolute crap, and I freely speak my mind. If someone is offended, ah well... Life is rough, and they'll get over it.

Happy Christmas,
Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

Grodog, you surely do manage to find some oldies. [snip]

So there's a long response to a couple of short questions

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Thanks for the reply Gary. I hadn't seen this book before, and my friend will be quite happy for the info on its provenance, I'm sure

FWIW, it appears as if T-K Graphics is still in business today, doing PR/promotional stickers, among other things. Do you think it would be worth trying to contact them to try to find those maps? Coincidentally, I'll be in NJ for the holidays, which is a short hop and skip down to Baltimore...

Col_Pladoh said:

I emailed the fellow who has the website, suggested a couple of additions and corrections, and the response i received was a ho-hum one, so I dropped the matter. After all, I know, and the rest is a matter of no import to me

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Well, if you're referring to the site at http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_anagrams.html then that page is mine, and I'd be happy to fix any errors you've discovered; if you found another site, I'd be happy to look it over for more ideas for additions, too

Dr Awkward said:

Gary,

This is Bill Walton from The Escapist (www.theescapist.com) - I've spoken to you a couple of times before.

I've heard tell that you were called as an expert witness in a trial a couple of years ago, and that the trial had some kind of connection with gaming. Is there any truth to this, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?

Thanks, and happy holidays!
- Bill

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Yuletide Greetings, Bill!

What you mention is partially correct. I was indeed an expert witness in regards a trial, but it was about the destruction by prison officials of an inmate's property, 2E adventure modules he had written. He was suing the prison for damages.

He won, but... Sadly, the award granted to him was the least the jury could give. They had no respect for his creative efforts because he was a felon.

That's all I can say.

Cheers,
Gary

grodog said:

Thanks for the reply Gary. I hadn't seen this book before, and my friend will be quite happy for the info on its provenance, I'm sure

FWIW, it appears as if T-K Graphics is still in business today, doing PR/promotional stickers, among other things. Do you think it would be worth trying to contact them to try to find those maps? Coincidentally, I'll be in NJ for the holidays, which is a short hop and skip down to Baltimore...

Well, if you're referring to the site at http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_anagrams.html then that page is mine, and I'd be happy to fix any errors you've discovered; if you found another site, I'd be happy to look it over for more ideas for additions, too

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Ho Allen!

Ted Pauls died some years back, so whomever is running TK Grpahics, it isn't him Many years ago Ted told me he had lost the maps. thanks anyway.

That is the website I was referring to, yes, and yes, I guess it was you that gave me the luke-warm response

I'll be glad to check the material over again sometime later...when I have some spare time. For example: Ayelerach is Mark Ratner's Paladin PC. Bilarro is a name I conjured up out of thin air. Blemu Hills are only cooncidently close to Blume, and no connectionwas meant. Bucknard was another name I made up on the spot.

Christmas cheer,
Gary