TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Agback · Jun 1, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
Winston Churchill prevented the loss of WWII back in May 1940 by refusing to negotiate with the Nazis as some in the UK wished, the French did in fact.

Did you know that Hitler had a plan to restore the Duke of Windsor as king of England? There is even reason to believe that the Duke was not entirely averse to the idea. In 1940, as the French were collapsing, he refused to leave Paris. Churchill sent an 'aide de camp' and a 'bodyguard' and orders that said in effect "General the Duke of Windsor, you are an officer in the British Army, and your post is as governor of Bermuda. Go there now with this escort, or come to England under arrest and spend the war in Pontefract Castle (if you know what I mean)".

<edit>

CORRECTION

I had the details wrong there. The Duke of Windsor fled to Biarritz and then to Lisbon as France fell. It was from Lisbon that he refused to go where ordered, and it was in Lisbon that he was given the choice of walking aboard teh ship that would take him to Bermuda and being arrested for desertion. And he was governor of the Bahamas, not of Bermuda, during the war.

Col_Pladoh · Jun 1, 2006

Barak said:
As a french-canadian, I do have to quote that. As many english people, if not more, wished to make peace with Hitler as french citizens resisted, under De Gaulle. In fact, Lord
Halifax came very close of being PM of England, in which case he would have most likely made some sort of peace.

Absolutely!

What a great thing it was for the world that winston Churchill was as he was.

cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 1, 2006

Agback said:
Gary, I guess that like me you will be saddened by the fact that Jack Vance is ill and no longer writing.

I just wondered what you make of his more recent work. The Lyonesse trilogy, the Cadwal Chronicles, Nightlamp, Lurulu, etc. are very different from the work that went into the inspirtion of D&D, but I like them better than The Dying Earth, Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, Rhialto the Marvellous, The Dragon Masters, The Last Castle and so forth.

I enjoy almost all of Jack's writing very much, and indeed i am most sorry that age has caught up with him. I loved Nightlamp, but the last novel he wrote was not amongst my favorites. I just finished re-reading the Demon Princes and Planet of Adventure

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 1, 2006

Agback said:
Did you know that Hitler had a plan to restore the Duke of Windsor as king of England? There is even reason to believe that the Duke was not entirely averse to the idea. In 1940, as the French were collapsing, he refused to leave Paris. Churchill sent an 'aide de camp' and a 'bodyguard' and orders that said in effect "General the Duke of Windsor, you are an officer in the British Army, and your post is as governor of Bermuda. Go there now with this escort, or come to England under arrest and spend the war in Pontefract Castle (if you know what I mean)".

I have read a bit about that. There were a fair number of Nazi sympathizers amongst the British nobility as well. Of course hitler was most charismatic...

cheers,
Gary

Nathan P. Mahney · Jun 1, 2006

Nightlamp was my first encounter with Vance's writing, and I enjoyed it. I'm currently reading the Dying Earth books, and enjoying those even more.

Gentlegamer · Jun 1, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
I Of course hitler was most charismatic...

And clearly a prime example of 18 Charisma, in AD&D terms!

haakon1 · Jun 1, 2006

Nellisir said:
I quite like FTA, but I did't think this is the place to get into it. Rather like walking into an Apple store and extolling the virtues of a PC.

Fair enough, Nellisir. I've known you for about 10 years now from AOL Greyhawk boards. I'm not Nitescreed, so I shouldn't be spreading gasoline around. If you can't say anything good about FTA, say nothing.

That said, in my Greyhawk, some stuff has happened since the 1980s material:
1) There's a war in the West. Ket invaded Bissel because the PC's took Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn. Ket wanted to finally conquer Bissel, with demon-worshipping allies from Ull, mercenaries from Perrenland, and secret help from Iuz. Iuz also subverted the Horned Society, and together they are messing with Furyondy-Veluna-- a loose feudal state -- and the Vesve/Highfolk region. Keoland and its vassals, especially my made up "Brotherhood of the Sword" in Gran March (based on the northern crusaders of our world), are helping Bissel. The bad guys did not triumph in "Against the Giants" or "Temple of Elemental Evil", so the good guys get the benefits of those modules going right, which means Keoland is not distracted, and F-V is a country.
2) The Great Kingdom has fallen, and turned into the Thirty Years War. The Four Horsemen of Plague, Famine, Pestilence, and War have had their way . . . but not so much the demons. I liked parts of the unpublished "Ivid the Undying", but I think demons and undead everywhere is cheesy.

haakon1 · Jun 1, 2006

Gentlegamer said:
Using material drawn from FTA, I had King Belvor of Furyondy and the Archcleric of Veluna declare a crusade against Iuz the Evil. The Crusade Campaign included political manueverings to persuade Keoland and Nyrond to join the war, as well as a quest for the Crook of Rao.

That's cool.

Col_Pladoh · Jun 1, 2006

Nathan P. Mahney said:
Nightlamp was my first encounter with Vance's writing, and I enjoyed it. I'm currently reading the Dying Earth books, and enjoying those even more.

When I first encountered the writing of Jack Vace I preferred his fantasy. After long acquaintance with his work I believe that I enjoy his science fiction more. Whatever the genre, though, I do love reading Jack Vance prose.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jun 1, 2006

Gentlegamer said:
And clearly a prime example of 18 Charisma, in AD&D terms!

In reading about Hitler it is evident that he could influence almost anyone that spoke with him, even if that individual was quite opposed to the ideas being proposed by Hitler. He was also a master showman and manipulator.

Cheers,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Agback

Explorer

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Nathan P. Mahney

First Post

Gentlegamer

Adventurer

haakon1

Hero

haakon1

Hero

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

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