TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Hey Colonel, I was just wondering given the recent talk of JRRT and the extent of his (non)emphasis on you and A/D&D have you ever read LeGuin's The Wizard of Earthsea series? I just picked up the first book to reread last night and find them an interesting read. I always thought Earthsea would make a cool campaign setting, too!

Gray Mouser

Treebore said:

One thing I can definitely thank the influence of D&D, especially your 1st edition, is for making me realize how thinking outside the box is a very good skill to have, and in turn is why I own this stuff: Collection/business and Homes

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those are impressive websites.

A few quick general comments:

I see you like the wide open spaces, out where the cactus grow...

I envy you the shooting range. Used to be able to plink a few blocks from town back when I was a ladm and in hunting season the sound of shotguns and rifles could be heard all over Lake Geneva. the squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, and deer are still here but no hunters.

My youngest son is is iterested in attending metalsmithing school, likes making jewelry. My second son is a captain in the army, plans to get his master's degree and make major in a few years.

Plus what your game taught me helped me to help a lot of people in this world. Pehaps the most dramatic being getting a bunch of joint replacement parts to doctors and patients over in Russia about 6 years ago (Apatite/Murmanske region). It is a warm fuzzy feeling to know people are walking again.

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Absolutely! Good work.

So those are a couple of the indirect effects your work has had on the world. Not to mention my family and I.

So you are definitely right about the continued indirect effect your D&D is having on this world, whether those people realize it came from them playing D&D or not. I know it is from D&D, but I also know I am much more "self aware" than many.

I also see how playing is helping me to help my children to prepare for the world at large with the moral dilemma's I throw at them during the course of our games. I bet you did the same when you DMed your kids.

So yes, the creation you made available to the world is doing a lot of good. Not to mention a whole bunch of confessions I have heard about it keeping people from getting too deep into drugs and suicidal thoughts and just helping out enough that their lives aren't as bad as they otherwise would have been.

You definitely have a creation to be immensely proud of. Very few people have that "honor". Must be tough to put in a perspective you can comfortably deal with.

I will try to make the L. Geneva Convention next year. In fact I will be there if a certain power is willing to let me make it happen. Considering how good he has been to me so far, I'm confident. I'll hopefully be able to bring my whole family. Its hard to say. The Army really messed up my wifes health a couple of years ago. I'll bring who I can.

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I do appreciate your comments regarding the positive contributions made by the D&D game. As I mentioned, it is only because it helped players realize their own potential, though, not by some inate quality of the game per se.

A number of gamers brought their families here this year for the LGGC, so that's a good plan. I hope it works out for you. The convention is small, informal, intimate, and a good deal of fun. Despite this place being a tourist trap, there are still places where lodging can be had at a reasonable price, and the same can be said for finding meals that are good and relatively inexpensive.

Cheerio,
Gary

Gray Mouser said:

Huh, much like the Pech I assumed that Wild Elves (Grugach) were also creaitons of your own out of whole clothe! You learn something new every day.

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Yuppers, I lifted the Grugach from folklore.

BUt wait, does this mean that you did not gain your inspiration for these Elves from JRRT? Say it isn't so!

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I determined to have elvish PCs play a regular role in the D&D game because of JRRT's writing, that's a fact. As to the inspiration for D&D elves, no, it didn't really come from his version of elves. although I did make them foes of orcs, and shoot bows well so as to not disapoint the fans of the rings Trilogy too much. After all, in D&D elves are inferior to humans in all respects save longevity.

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but where did you get the idea for Valley Elves? Were they also based in mythology? I rather like them and have a small community of them in my campaign.

Gray Mouser

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Neigh! don;t thwack me further

Actually, I made them up out of the elvish template and my vision of the Valley of the Mage. It seemed a good idea to have the elvesthere a good deal different from the rest...as were the Drow

Cheers,
Gary

Gray Mouser said:

Hey Colonel, I was just wondering given the recent talk of JRRT and the extent of his (non)emphasis on you and A/D&D have you ever read LeGuin's The Wizard of Earthsea series? I just picked up the first book to reread last night and find them an interesting read. I always thought Earthsea would make a cool campaign setting, too!

Gray Mouser

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Hmmm...

As near as I can recollect, I read the initial "Earthsea" book a long time ago, when it was a recent release...maybe around 1970. I suppose I wasn't much moved by the work, as I can't remember it at all. As with the "Perm" books, different strokes for different folks.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

Interesting origin of the name, and something I had not read before. thanks.

Happy for you that the spasms have ceased. I injured by back when I was working as a mover in my late teens, and had many a chiropractic treatment before a kinesiologist one cured the proble,

Cheers,
Gary

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In my case my two-year-old nephew got a running start, jumped and landed with full force on the center of my back while I lay on my stomach on the floor helping his older brother with a coloring book. There was a terrible crunch the rest of the family heard all the way in the dining room. But a few days later my spasms were mostly gone and in a few weeks, gone for good. My doctor said the little squirt must have knocked the slipped disk back into place.

The bit about the elf shots comes from The Year 1000, a book I recommend to anyone -not just gamers. It gives a detailed look at what like was like over a thousand years ago in England. It's a very informative and entertaining read.

As for the grugach, gruagach, grogan, it's a faerie/ elfin/ goblin from Gaelic folklore, usually depicted as either looking like a youth (Col Pladoh's version), a maiden or a hairy dwarf -all about 4' tall. They are like brownies in that they often act as guardians and servants around farms, though the grugach look after herds of cattle rather than the barns and farmhouses. This is from The Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katherine Briggs, another book I can't recommend enough for any DM. It's great for throwing ringers at players who know the Monster Manuals front-to-back. Sometimes it's just a matter of taking a regular monster like goblins, giving them one of the alternate names and letting the players' imaginations get the better of them as you tell them the local peasants don't dare go near such-and-such because of the dreaded Fuath. The best is the Baobhan Sith (Bavanshee), a gaelic vampire that can only be repelled by iron. The PCs hear the name and think of the Banshee, then they might see the victims and think Vampire only to panic when the garlic and crucifix doesn't hold them at bay.

As you're being so kind as to answer these questions, may I present one a little bit from left field, in hopes it hasn't been asked and answered a hundred times before:

It regards a rumour I've heard about the inspiration behind the Bulette, from MMI. Back in the day when we were all kids, there was a series of small plastic toy dinosaurs etc., some of which didn't entirely look like dinosaurs at all...and one of which, rumour has it, was the inspiration behind the Bulette. True, or not true?

Lanefan

Lanefan said:

Back in the day when we were all kids, there was a series of small plastic toy dinosaurs etc., some of which didn't entirely look like dinosaurs at all...and one of which, rumour has it, was the inspiration behind the Bulette.

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While not commenting on the inspiration or not (I'll leave that to Gary), I can confirm that the plastic toy did exist -- I had one. One that looked like a rust monster came in the same bag. They're probably in my parents' attic.

Col_Pladoh said:

those are impressive websites.

A few quick general comments:

I see you like the wide open spaces, out where the cactus grow...

I envy you the shooting range. Used to be able to plink a few blocks from town back when I was a ladm and in hunting season the sound of shotguns and rifles could be heard all over Lake Geneva. the squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, and deer are still here but no hunters.

My youngest son is is iterested in attending metalsmithing school, likes making jewelry. My second son is a captain in the army, plans to get his master's degree and make major in a few years.


Absolutely! Good work.


I do appreciate your comments regarding the positive contributions made by the D&D game. As I mentioned, it is only because it helped players realize their own potential, though, not by some inate quality of the game per se.

A number of gamers brought their families here this year for the LGGC, so that's a good plan. I hope it works out for you. The convention is small, informal, intimate, and a good deal of fun. Despite this place being a tourist trap, there are still places where lodging can be had at a reasonable price, and the same can be said for finding meals that are good and relatively inexpensive.

Cheerio,
Gary

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I realize you had absolutely no idea what kind of "box" you were opening when you opened the D&D boxed set to the world (the first ones you sold were boxes, right?). Which probably makes it hard for you when all these people give you all this credit you don't feel you deserve.

Would it really be any better for you if you actually knew, or even strongly suspected, the wide range of impact the game would have on the world?

You may have unwittingly released the proverbial plague upon the world, but at least it is one to be proud of, whether or not you had a clue to all the fun and happiness it was going to give to so many.

As for where i live, I am surprised at how much I love it here. It "feels" so completely right for me to live here. I can't explain it any better than that. Its awesome watching those lightning and thunder storms crossing the mountains onto the plains, kicking up that big rolling cloud of dust in front of it. Then to be able to see the rainbows from one end to the other. Many times there are two or three side by side. Then the sunsets, clear sky or filled with thunder clouds. Absolutely beautiful.

Plus I never thought I would like owning horses and goats as much as I do. Being a "rock hound" has its advantages out here as well.

Yes, I do love it here.

As for the LGGC I am a regular on the Troll boards for C&C, so I'll just keep my eye on it (the LGGC forum) for when the next time rolls around. Plus I have looked at the pictures that have been posted. Hopefully I will get to participate in the LA games on your porch next year.

Col_Pladoh said:

I don't believe I am working on anything with TRS at this time.

What prompted the inquiry?

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After Lejends went under, I contacted Lady Amanda, and commiserrated with her, and she mentioned something upcoming (with Troll Lords, IIRC). I haven't seen anything but C&C/Castle Xagyg out of the lot of you, since, so I thought I'd ask. Must be another long-dead, forgotten project!

Treebore said:

One thing I can definitely thank the influence of D&D, especially your 1st edition, is for making me realize how thinking outside the box is a very good skill to have, and in turn is why I own this stuff: Collection/business and Homes

Plus what your game taught me helped me to help a lot of people in this world. ...

...
So yes, the creation you made available to the world is doing a lot of good. Not to mention a whole bunch of confessions I have heard about it keeping people from getting too deep into drugs and suicidal thoughts and just helping out enough that their lives aren't as bad as they otherwise would have been.

You definitely have a creation to be immensely proud of. Very few people have that "honor". Must be tough to put in a perspective you can comfortably deal with.

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Treebore, the pictures of your house seem to be missing today. I can see the site with the gemstones,though: those are some amazing stones. The AD&D DMG inspired me to take a geology class, but I stopped there.

I'll also second the sentiment that role-playing is a healthier form of escapism than television, drugs, or various other modern diversions.

As for a perspective that can comfortably deal with how much D&D changed the world, I'd suggest this one: Nothing can resist the power of an idea whose time has come, and D&D happened to be the idea that opened the floodgates for a new form of culture.

So the moral of the story is: look around, find the ideas whose time is coming, and work to bring them into reality.