TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh · Feb 7, 2004

Alzrius said:
Hi Gary!

An off-the-wall question here. A friend of mine just told me about an episode of Futurama where there was a superhero team of five people: Al Gore was the leader, with Nichelle Nichols, Stephen Hawking, you, and computer program Deep Blue, all operating out of a rental van.

My question is, did you do the voice of, well, you, in that episode?

Hi Alzrius,

Yes indeed, that is my voice and cartoon likeness too in the episode. I had a lot of fun recording my lines...twice The original team leader was David Duchovney, but when he left Fox, they lined up Al Gore. thus my lines were changed, and I got to re-record them. As I've mentioned before, Davic X. Cohen is a former D&D player and DM, a nice chap that I had a good time chatting with.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Feb 7, 2004

Well, Dogbrain,

As someone who did cobbling work for a time, I can assure you that hobnails means not "tough" but "small". were they regular, the one whose soles they were attached to would be walking on a permenant bed of nails.

In short, "hob" is a prefix indicating small, short, little, much as in "hob"-bit

And, being a Midwesterner myself, we all know that South Bend refers to a river, not the State of Indiana.

Heh,
Gary

Gray Mouser · Feb 7, 2004

Col_Pladoh said:
Happy to have been of service, Gray mouser

While I can't berate DMs who play differently, the DMG does set forth the basic guidelines in regard to acquisition of new spells. In retrospect I should have added the details of how the new spell added when increasing in level was gained, and that would have served well. Hindsight is so accurate...

Cheers,
Gary

Hey Gary. No worries about clearing things up in the DMG. I'm sure that it's something that can easily be clarified in the second edition of AD&D....

WHAT? I can dream can't I? (Besides, I'm still waiting for a worthy update of my favorite game.)

Heh, heh.

Actually, I'm looking forward to the upcoming "Zagyg's Castle" module. I plan on killing several PC's therein if I get the chance to DM a party or two through it. Just make sure you chain Rob Kuntz to his desk/lap top/whatever. Faster! Faster, I say!

Gray Mouser

Gray Mouser · Feb 7, 2004

Gary,

Speaking of hobbits, hobgoblins, etc. I was wondering how Orcs made it into the D&D family of games (and every other fantasy RPG I can think of off hand). After all, the Tolkien estate didn't want you to use the term "hobbit" (although JRRT used "halfling" as well, although to a lesser extent). Any idea why "orc" made the cut but "hobbit" did not?

Gray Mouser

Col_Pladoh · Feb 7, 2004

Gray Mouser said:
[snip]

Actually, I'm looking forward to the upcoming "Zagyg's Castle" module. I plan on killing several PC's therein if I get the chance to DM a party or two through it. Just make sure you chain Rob Kuntz to his desk/lap top/whatever. Faster! Faster, I say!

Gray Mouser

I have about 90% of the large introductory campaign module that acquaints the players with the locale and allows the participants to adenture around the place where the castle ruins and dungeons are located. the GM can place the relatively small area into whatever campaign world is being used, as it's at most about 3,000 square miles. With the walled town, suburban community, various hamlets, and all manner of outdoor places to explore, the opportunities to bite off more than a PC party can chew are manifold. I've l;oaded a large number of adventure hooks into the work, and when the five dungeon-like areas are finished, the Gm should have sufficient material to keep the players busy for months without resorting to Rob's Dark Chateau addition, let alone the perts to come thereafter that detail the ruins above ground, and the many dungeon levels thereunder.

Because I know many GMs will play the initial part a good deal, have PC parties well above "low-level" status, we'll add notes on how to beef up encounters so as to challenge more powerful characters than are usual in upper level dungeon settings

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Feb 7, 2004

Gray Mouser said:
Gary,

Speaking of hobbits, hobgoblins, etc. I was wondering how Orcs made it into the D&D family of games (and every other fantasy RPG I can think of off hand). After all, the Tolkien estate didn't want you to use the term "hobbit" (although JRRT used "halfling" as well, although to a lesser extent). Any idea why "orc" made the cut but "hobbit" did not?

Gray Mouser

Heh, Gray Mouser

That's an easy one. Saul Zaents division of Elan Merchandising, representing the Tokien Estate, didn't want TSR to use dwarf, elf, goblin, orc, troll, or wraith, etc. besides objecting to our use of balrog, ent, and hobbit. Because all the rest were in the dictionary (orc as "an ogre"), and the D&D depiction of those creatures was not the same as JRRT's they were happy to settle for TSR dropping balrog, ent, and hobbit.

FWIW, balrog was the only name of the whole bunch unique to Tolkien; "ent" is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning "giant." JRRT's depiction of them as tree-like was very unique and most compelling IMO.

Cheers,
Gary

S'mon · Feb 8, 2004

Col_Pladoh said:
What about elves? The D&D elf has little of JRRT's elf in it. they are shorter and not at all special as he had therace.

Anyway, I have cleared up all such confusion in the LA RPG. Kobolds are tough and smart and good-looking in a devilish way. Hobgoblins are small and dangerous, goblins are bigger and more dangerous. Trolls are more like medieval trolls, turn to stone daylight. There are allsorts of elf-like races--alfs, lyfs, elfs, ilfs, and wylfs. Orgre are the baddest of regular giants--those of deital sorts not included, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

Hi Gary - indeed there are many differences between D&D humanoids and Tolkien's humanoids, and many creatures created from whole cloth as well as some inspired by other sources. I like the wide variety of creatures seen in the Monster Manual & Monster Manual II - it's notable that IMO these actually show more variation than the Fiend Folio, even though that had a multiciplicity of different authors there's much more duplication therein.

Col_Pladoh · Feb 8, 2004

S'mon said:
Hi Gary - indeed there are many differences between D&D humanoids and Tolkien's humanoids, and many creatures created from whole cloth as well as some inspired by other sources. I like the wide variety of creatures seen in the Monster Manual & Monster Manual II - it's notable that IMO these actually show more variation than the Fiend Folio, even though that had a multiciplicity of different authors there's much more duplication therein.

G'day S'mon)

The variety of monster choices, even those in the FF, should be appreciated by all DMs who are populating dungeons and similar settings. For other environments, about 10 normal animals, 20 ordinary monsters and 10 special ones should serve pretty well. Almost all of the additions I made to the base roster used in D&D were for dungeon crawls and special encounters in modules so as to keep the players guessing or to challenge the powerful PCs.

I have to laugh at myself in that regard. About three years back I was playing in an OAD&D game and a wind walker was encountered. Damned if I could remember just how to attack the critter effectively, so my PC ran away, managed to escape while it was busy attacking others.

Cheers,
Gary

mistere29 · Feb 9, 2004

I would like your thoughts on posion and level drain in OAD&D.

Do you agree when some gamers say they are too deadly. If not, why, and did those dangers see frequent use in you campaign?

Thanks

Col_Pladoh · Feb 9, 2004

mistere29 said:
I would like your thoughts on posion and level drain in OAD&D.

Do you agree when some gamers say they are too deadly. If not, why, and did those dangers see frequent use in you campaign?

Thanks

No I don't agree with those wimpy whiners who are afraid of a few living dead

There were always plenty of them in the adventures I ran, and likewise in those that I was playing in. For example, in one Jim Ward scenario, the first monsters we encountered were liches attacking us with rods of cancellation. This was likely in revenge for some of the perils Jim had to face with me as DM, such as when a vampire had his PC trapped. Darned if Jim didn't roll well enough to force the vampire to dust-mote form while I couldn't hit his PC no matter what.

To answer specifically:

First, a cleric or two with a party means the threat is lessened dramatically. Second, m-us have plenty of long-range spells to deal with undead. Third, most other PC types have enough armor to make hitting them pretty difficlt. In general the alert and wary party will not be surprised by undead, be able to stay at a distance to make touch by the undead difficult. Wise players know when to have their PCs run away. In extremis, le=ost levels can be restored by use of wishes and clerical spells,

Next those cry babies will be moaning about being turned to stone.

Tell the complainers they should be playing a CRPG where they can save and thus avoid all real danger--ues cheat codes too

Cheers,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

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Gary Gygax

Gray Mouser

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Gray Mouser

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Gary Gygax

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Gary Gygax

S'mon

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Gary Gygax

mistere29

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Gary Gygax

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