TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh · Dec 6, 2005

ScottyG said:
Gary, it seems like you would often be DMing for parties with a wide range in levels. with Joe Newbie coming in and playing with Ernie and Rob, who have been playing daily for a year. Did you run different sessions for different level ranges, or did you mix the new PCs in with the existing group?
Scott

Scotty, just so!

Whenever possible I ran the less-experienced players alone or with lower-level "flunkie" PCs of the veterans of the group, giving them a chance to get full XPs instead of the half limit if played in addition to their "masters."

The newbies actually often preferred to be along as assistants to the high-level PCs, even though I had by then developed the "XP shares by level" method, where all levels of the party were added and the total XPs for the adventure divided by that number and then shared up accordingly--multi-class levels counting as half-levels added to the main one (for instance a F/MU/T of 4-4-5 would have 9 share levels [2+2+5]). Then Robilar and Tenser were involved, the kills and loot were usually great.

Christmas Cheer,
Gary

Steel_Wind · Dec 8, 2005

Hey Gary,

Can you have a look at this thread and do you recall anything about this from 1983?

I have my doubts as to any truth to this... http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=159173

Col_Pladoh · Dec 8, 2005

Yuletide Greetings!

I responded on the thread.

Frankly, I believe it is possible that there was such an expenditure, but I was not there. It might well have been buried in the books and slipped by when outside investors audited TSR before making an offer to buy out the Blumes.

Christmas cheer,
Gary

dcollins · Dec 8, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
About all I can add is that a computer can run regular A/D&D combat rules for an army and have the results done in real time. Care would be needed to manage morale rules, for those would be critical to outcomes. A programmer with good knowledge of military miniatures could do it without much trouble--aside from the time needed to enter all the data.

Gary, it was interesting to see your comments on this page because I've recently been working on a program of just that sort. Of course you're correct that there's a lot of leeway for how the morale rules get instituted.

Another key aspect is exactly what the assumed "formation inside a figure" is. For example, if a single figure in 1:10 scale represents a line of 10 men, or 5x2 rows (my preference), or a 1-man wide column -- since it determines how many can attack an opposing formation in one turn. What's your expectation for this?

Col_Pladoh · Dec 8, 2005

dcollins said:
Gary, it was interesting to see your comments on this page because I've recently been working on a program of just that sort. Of course you're correct that there's a lot of leeway for how the morale rules get instituted.

Another key aspect is exactly what the assumed "formation inside a figure" is. For example, if a single figure in 1:10 scale represents a line of 10 men, or 5x2 rows (my preference), or a 1-man wide column -- since it determines how many can attack an opposing formation in one turn. What's your expectation for this?

Christmas Salutations!

Having written a fair number of military miniatures rules for tabletop play, the form that a figure takes depends on the figure to troops represented ratio--1:10, 1:20, etc. and the class/stand mounting of the figures. Skirmisher-types are likely in a single rank or at most a double one with a broad fron assumed. The same is true of cavalry, although the front varies by class of horseman, while infantry can vary according to their class and fighting style/training. A pike figure would be four ranks of five men in 1:20 scale surely, with mounting of figures close in blocks of at last four for Swiss or Landsknecht pikemen, larger stands for less well-trained ones.

Yuletide cheer,
Gary

dcollins · Dec 8, 2005

Gary, thanks for your insights.

Mighty Veil · Dec 8, 2005

Col_Pladoh said:
Erik Mona has asked me for a Gord the Rogue short story, Yes, even I get the fabled "writer's block" now and then

Is Gord a "charming thief" who likes to steal (I never read any Gord stories before)?

He could be stealing something of great worth from a highly political family. Gets caught. Charms his way out from being tossed to the dungeon. The daughter falls for his charms, and convinces her family she should wed him. And the father needs a charming figurehead to run as Lord Mayor of the city. Gord finds himself in quite the mess. He needs to get out of this marriage. Survive the messy and dangerous politics he's gotten himself thrown into. And steal the thing he came for in the first place.

Col_Pladoh · Dec 8, 2005

Yuletide Greetings

Happy to discuss military miniatures anytime...same for military history.

As for Gord, he isn't at all like you suppose :lol:

Christmas cheer,
Gary

Gentlegamer · Dec 11, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Gary, you've mentioned before that you might like an avatar of your appearance on Futurama. Here's a couple for you, sized for this forum:

haakon1 · Dec 11, 2005

Gentlegamer said:
Merry Christmas!

Gary, you've mentioned before that you might like an avatar of your appearance on Futurama. Here's a couple for you, sized for this forum:

So, were Uhura, Gary, and Al Gore all recorded by the actual people? I never can tell on cartoons when the guests are "real" or not.

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Steel_Wind

Legend

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

dcollins

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Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

dcollins

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Mighty Veil

First Post

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

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Adventurer

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haakon1

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