TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh · Feb 21, 2007

Ron said:
Gary,

I was thinking of running a West meet East campaign, something akin to my Portuguese ancestors exploring the orient in the XV-XVI centuries. As such, I just ordered a replacement copy of Oriental Adventures. I know that you were more a supervisor than a designer to that project. Still, I wonder if I will get in trouble mixing characters from both books and if it would hurt much to take out the Oriental Adventures' Non Weapon Proficiencies system?

Best wishes,
Ron

That sounds like a most interesting campaign.

Indeed I was up to my a** in alligators at the time OA was being written, for TSR was in deep financial tropuble then. I assigned Froideval and Cook to the project, and Zeb dumped what I thought was superior material done by Francois in favor of his own work. As we had to get a product into print, OA came out as it did.

If you allow reasonable non-weapons proficiencies for both Occidental and Oriental PCs, I can foresee no problems being likely. You might want to take a look at the general skills I added to the C&C game system to have an inspirational basis in creating a new approach to such addition.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Feb 21, 2007

Fifth Element said:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

(You need to imagine a fake spanish accent to get the right feel.)

It is of no import to me whatsoever, but I appreciate your light-hearted suggestion.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Feb 21, 2007

To Those It May Concern:

What part of this statement is not understood"

"Now let us drop this subject and move on to something interesting."

Gary

John Drake · Feb 21, 2007

Hi Gary
Just curious, having just read your reply in regards to OA etc. Now, please forgive my ignorance upon this line of questioning upon which I intend to embark, but as has been mentioned previously:

Col_Pladoh said:
Indeed I was up to my a** in alligators at the time OA was being written, for TSR was in deep financial tropuble then. I assigned Froideval and Cook to the project, and Zeb dumped what I thought was superior material done by Francois in favor of his own work. As we had to get a product into print, OA came out as it did.

Did this also apply to then to UA, (one of my favourites, iirc, it came out in close proximity to OA) in that it was put out quickly in order to generate much needed revenue? I'm only going by things I have read /said by others, so if I'm out of line, I apologise wholeheartedly. Again, sorry if this has been asked of you ad nauseum!

Thanks and glad you're feeling better.

Philotomy Jurament · Feb 21, 2007

Col Pladoh said:
You might want to take a look at the general skills I added to the C&C game system to have an inspirational basis in creating a new approach to such addition.

...which can be found here. It's a skill bundle approach, similar to that in Lejendary Adventure. I'd prefer that over the NWP system from AD&D.

Col Pladoh said:
What part of this statement is not understood"

"Now let us drop this subject and move on to something interesting."

Dropping a debate is anathema to lawyers.

T. Foster · Feb 21, 2007

Col_Pladoh said:
Actually there was little contact between TSR staff and the JG pep[;e/They sent prosepective mss. to TSR, and someone at the company suposedly read them and gave an okay or asked for revisions. That operation was generally the purview of Brian Blume.

Cheers,
Gary

I thought Judges Guild's biggest acknowledged contribution to D&D was (inadvertently?) helping TSR to realize that there were people out there who didn't want to create their own adventures and would happily pay good money for "someone else's dungeon" (i.e. modules). This is what Steve Marsh says, at least.

nyrfherdr · Feb 21, 2007

Gary,
I guess I do have a question.

In the kindling pile by the fireplace is hidden a magical wand of fire.
If the characters start a fire and throw the wand in, what happens?

Game ON!

Col_Pladoh · Feb 21, 2007

John Drake said:
...

Did this also apply to then to UA, (one of my favourites, iirc, it came out in close proximity to OA) in that it was put out quickly in order to generate much needed revenue? I'm only going by things I have read /said by others, so if I'm out of line, I apologise wholeheartedly. Again, sorry if this has been asked of you ad nauseum! Thanks and glad you're feeling better.

Howdy,

It does indeed apply to the UA book. I was writing essays for Dragon magazine to both preview my new ideas and prerpare for a revised edition of the AD&D game. I was alerted to a problem, Kevin Blume shopping TSR on the street in NYC, flew back from the West Coast, and discovered:

The corporation was in debt to the bank the tune of c. $1,5 million.

There seemed to be no way to repay the money based on current inventory and sales.

The bank was preparing to perfect its security interests/

So, I had a big fight, and then a Herculean task, before me. To cut to the chase, when I got matters in hand, I saw to the compilation of my magazine material with other work I had that had not been published, so that UA came into being. Of course during that time I was working on company business matters most of the time, so U had a number of very long days before things began to show that the rurn-around I planned was working.

At that point I was stabbed in the back by Lorraine Williams :\

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · Feb 21, 2007

Philotomy Jurament said:
...

Dropping a debate is anathema to lawyers.

Sad but true!

:lol:

Gary

MerricB · Feb 21, 2007

G'day, Gary!

Did you ever play the Talisman board game?

Cheers!

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

John Drake

First Post

Philotomy Jurament

First Post

T. Foster

First Post

nyrfherdr

First Post

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

MerricB

Eternal Optimist

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