TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

ColonelHardisson · Jul 10, 2006

Gary, there is a clip of Stephen Colbert (of Comedy Central's very funny Colbert Report) on a website called You Tube. There is a viewer comment there about Colbert mentioning Gen Con X and his meeting of Len Lakofka made by someone purporting to be you, and I was curious if that commenter was, indeed, you.

Deuce Traveler · Jul 10, 2006

Col_Pladoh said:
Ah, and Deuce Traveler...

My crew doesn't find my puns and shaggy dog stories amusing. They keep demanding that I get back to game mastering

Gary

Of course they do! There's gold in them hills and times-a-wastin'! I have a smart group playing my latest campaign. They avoid much bloodshed by going for the main objective and for as much treasure as they can scrounge up along the way before fleeing. However, the greedy curs also get restless if I get side-tracked.

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2006

grodog said:
...

Is there any chance that you'd consider publishing the original maps and keys, one day, to give us all insight into the earliest origins of the game?

All I can say is that is highly doubtful

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2006

John Drake said:
Hello Gary!
Now, just to harken back to a couple of posts reagarding the creation a second edition for AD&D, back when you were still with TSR: so, when you were thinking about this at the the time, was it because you really felt the game needed it or was there some sort of demand from the gaming public at the time? Now, while I did play the 2e that did come out, I personally felt it was not a great improvement upon your original work, in fact, I always thought that a diluting occured (ranger class being a prime example) and one I never fully understood.
Also, I'd like to contribute my comments in regards to the TSR module Castle Greyhawk: what a load of rubbish.
And in regards to good modules, I really enjoyed Isle of the Ape. Great setting and just tons of fun. Thanks!

Indeed, I wanted make the revised AD&D system more akin to the material in UA, to ass a few new character classes, and put in some skills ala those I added in the C&C game so as to make the characters, particularly the NPCs, less cookie-cuter.

As for the Isle of the Ape, most of my guys hared it, but I loved that module, as I love the original King King motion picture

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2006

ColonelHardisson said:
Gary, there is a clip of Stephen Colbert (of Comedy Central's very funny Colbert Report) on a website called You Tube. There is a viewer comment there about Colbert mentioning Gen Con X and his meeting of Len Lakofka made by someone purporting to be you, and I was curious if that commenter was, indeed, you.

Yes, that was me, as I set up the con at the Playboy Club. was responsible for Fritz and Harry Fisher being guests there, and of course knowing Len Lakofka well.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2006

Deuce Traveler said:
Of course they do! There's gold in them hills and times-a-wastin'! ...

Hot dog!

You are playing my PCs' tune :lol:

Cheers,
Gary

Elfdart · Jul 11, 2006

haakon1 said:
Indeed. And you can go either way with the attacking/defending fortification stuff.

The best fun I ever had with D&D was having the players (plus lots of 0-level NPCs and a few better ones) defend the Keep on the Borderlands from an army of undead, bandits, and goblinoids. Lots of time and work to run it all, but very rewarding for me and the players. "The dungeon comes to you" is a neat concept to try.

The point of this scenario is to turn the tables on my players. Now they will have to defend against adventurers, and with the typical goblinoid weapons at their disposal. They have the whole "storming the enemy stronghold" thing down pat. Now they get a taste of their own medicine. All the tricks they used as PCs will be used by the adventurers coming after their scalps.

That's the way our group is. If you come up with some kind of "razzle dazzle" play that sticks it to the enemy, you can bet an enemy will try it on you in the future!

For example, when I was playing, after the seventh or eighth time the dwarf fighter (who was always in front of my human fighter with a longbow) charged into the enemy and ruined my shot, I just decided "Screw it, I'm shooting anyway." and did. I ended up doing this several times and only hit the dwarf once. It was pretty much worth the risk. The next time we played, our party was attacked by a bunch of hobgoblins. Several charged and engaged the party in hand-to-hand while their comrades unleashed dozens of arrows into the melee. They killed and wounded several of their own, but also took down three party members out of eight.

Payback's a b!tch!

Col_Pladoh · Jul 11, 2006

As General Patton said, that sort of tactic is grabbing the enemy by the nose as you kick his tail.

Cheers,
Gary

francisca · Jul 11, 2006

Erekose said:
which would include new classes like the Mountbank (and others which I'm afraid my aging brain can't remember).

Mmmmm.... That's today's Word of the Day on dictionary.com:

mountebank \MOUN-tuh-bank\, noun:
1. A peddler of quack medicine, who stands on a platform to appeal to the audience.
2. A charlatan; a boastful pretender to knowledge or a skill.

Yeah. That has some possibilities.

<gets to work on an OSRIC compatible version>

grodog · Jul 11, 2006

Hi again Gary---

Col_Pladoh said:
I hope Rob isn't too slow in getting the parts of Castle Zagyg to me for development. He has a full outline with all the special encounters I think should be in the work keyed to dungeon level.

Does that include the Black Reservoir, by chance?

I also got a copy of your "Magician's Ring" story from Wargamer's Digest in 1975 recently, which has several other juicy tidbits about the Castle. I'd be happy to scan and provide to you and Rob if it would be useful (and you don't already have the content)?

Col_Pladoh said:
Of curse he has the headache of making the new maps based on the old ones, and this time actually having all the the stairs and other means of moving to other levels actually match up...

If he needs any help, I'm sure we can dig up some volunteers to assist with matching up the stairwells, chutes, ladders, et al

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

ColonelHardisson

What? Me Worry?

Deuce Traveler

Adventurer

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Elfdart

Banned

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

francisca

I got dice older than you.

grodog

Hero

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