TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

gideon_thorne said:

Two pages of most interesting information that would make one hell of a basis for an adventure for a group, or even a published module. ^_^

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Shades of Howard's Hyborean Age, eh?


Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

Shades of Howard's Hyborean Age, eh?


Gary

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*smiles* Aside from the intended spoof, there are many unintended inspirarional plot hooks scattered throughout the pages. ^_^

Oh-Oh!



I have just been alerted to the fact that this might be an April Fool's joke...and if so a very clever one!

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

The Magyars settled into the Hungarian plain, pretty much as did the Bulgars. I suspect those peoples that came and then left were forced out by competing folk.

As an aside, check out this website regarding very early Rhine river civilizations: http://www.xenite.org/features/rhine-canyon/

Cheers,
Gary

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Great find, Gary! It makes me wonder how technologically advanced previous cultures were without us giving them just recognition for their abilities.

You've talked about fallen civilizations that we don't study much about today. One day, I would like to do a map of Eurasia that changes every generation and goes from ancient Greek times to the present, to better visualize how much borders have been radically adjusted; maybe with a change of every 20-50 years years or so a map. I went to the anti-Communism museum in Budapest, and their presentation on how much the borders of countries like Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslavakia (now Czech and Slovak) have changed in just the last 100 years was amazing. It goes year by year, and also uses arrows to show invasions from both the Germans and Russians.

And the Hungarians, I found, still call themselves Magyar. I met a nice, older gentleman who told me tales of dropping Molotov cocktails into Russian tanks during the failed Budapest Revolution of 1956 when he was a teenager.

Here is a site you may like:
http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/history-10thAD.htm

Also, there are a lot of castles along the Moselle (Mosel in Deutch) River in eastern France and Germany. I took a motorcycle trip along it once, and would stop to tour the castles and towers, most of which are still in great condition.

My favorite locale for castles though is on the Rhine near a certain cliff that I had the pleasure to take a train ride along on my first day in Germany. This is one location along the river where the water turns sharply by a cliff called the Lorelei. This area claimed the lives of quite a few sailors during the day, and legends had it that a siren-like woman named Lorelei would stand on the top of the cliffs and enchant the men so that they would run aground and drown. I wonder if the Germans picked this up from the old Greek legends or if this kind of tale is universal to sailors throughout the world.

Here is the site that discusses that: http://www.loreley-rhine.com/

Well, if it's any consolation, Ace Publishing is currently publishing a series of novels of new Hyborean heroes called The Age of Conan. I have seen the books, but have not picked them up since I'm a little leery. Also, a new on-line video game is supposed to be coming out soon where you can play a character in Conan's world. I wasn't sure if I was sold on it or not, until they mentioned that when you visit a tavern you can start a bar brawl. During this drunken brawl mode, supposedly characters can pull off the legs of tables or pick up chairs and use them as clubs. I'm not into MMORPGs, but that one little point might just draw me into it.

So at least Hyborea is still alive and well in some ways. I picked up the old 2nd edition Conan modules from TSR and also the ones from from Steve Jackson games last year... not much I can say about the TSR ones that would be positive, but as a big Conan fan I felt compelled to add them to my collection. The Steve Jackson GURPS modules were more to the flavor of the old books, but I didn't like the gameplay.

Deuce Traveler said:

Well, if it's any consolation, Ace Publishing is currently publishing a series of novels of new Hyborean heroes called The Age of Conan. I have seen the books, but have not picked them up since I'm a little leery.

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The ones I read, the "Kern" trilogy set in Cimmeria, were decent enough. They're solid swords & sorcery, and don't really try to emulate Howard's style, which is a good thing. Howard's prose is inimitable.

Hyboria is a great setting, and it's nice to see it utilized. Certainly nothing can replace Howard, but these books are good for those who like the setting. The "Kern" books (and I assume the rest of the various series) are set during the time Conan is king of Aquilonia, so he is, essentially, offstage. Amusingly, he is referenced quite often, as the exploits of the main character, Kern, are attributed to Conan by various Cimmerian villagers, even though there is no logical way he could have done any of them. Anyway, the books are fun potboilers.

Col_Pladoh said:

Try skipping the ice and adding only a few drops of springwater

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Tried a glass like this last night and I must say, Good advice!

Cheers!

ColonelHardisson said:

The "Kern" books (and I assume the rest of the various series) are set during the time Conan is king of Aquilonia, so he is, essentially, offstage. Amusingly, he is referenced quite often, as the exploits of the main character, Kern, are attributed to Conan by various Cimmerian villagers, even though there is no logical way he could have done any of them.

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Heh. Now that does sound funny. I remember reading about all the supposed adventures that Conan has gone through from the books to the graphic novels and wondered where he had found the time.

That URL I posted was to an April Fool's page, and it surely got me. that will teach me to read hurriedly and without due skepicism

I have actually ridden the Loreli Express from Amsterdam to Basel, seen the many castles along the Rhine. A few years back one could pick up a castle in Normandy for around $200K, likely the place needing at least that much more to make it habitable.

I am slowly working my way through three volumes of Howard's original Conan yarns. When I finish I believe I'll see about the new S&S tales set in the Hyborean world. Meanwhile I am also reading and enjoying the Peshwar Lancers alternate history novel.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh said:

Meanwhile I am also reading and enjoying the Peshwar Lancers alternate history novel.

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It's a fun book, and the appendix contains a rundown of the history of the world from about 1878 to the early 21st century, which would make for a great campaign background resource.

If you like that book quite a bit, check out Stirling's recent "The Sky People." It's another alternate history. In this one, it's 1988, but a decidedly different one than the one we lived through. Sometime in the 1940s/50s, Venus and Mars were discovered to harbor life. Not just any kind of life, but life remarkably similar to the ecosystems found in the old pulp magazines, and almost specifically E.R. Burroughs' writing. Venus is a place riotous with life, much of it prehistoric in nature, at least from Earth's perspective. Dinosaurs co-exist with large sabertooths, and Neanderthals come into conflict with primitive "true humans." The arms race on Earth was mostly cast aside as both sides of the Iron Curtain scrambled to get into space and establish colonies. "The Sky People" concentrates on Venus, and how it came to contain life so similar to Earth's. Very fun, action-packed, fast paced stuff.