TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Gentlegamer · May 2, 2007

Col_Pladoh said:
Ah well, I treat that the same as AD&D

The Trolls need to grab this quote to use in their C&C marketing!

MoxieFu · May 2, 2007

Another artist

Gary I noticed above other artists mentioned but not my favorite. Dean Morrissey created many covers for Dragon (and The Dragon) magazine. To me his works were some of the most evocotive ever and I could imagine more words for a story coming from them than any other artist even though they might be artistically better.

Did you ever met Mr. Morrissey personally and did you care for his work?

Oh and thanks for a game that's given me the most happy moments and misspent hours of my life!

haakon1 · May 2, 2007

Col_Pladoh said:
However a good GM wants to present an operation. For the Wild West I favor something akin to the old cowboy movies mixed with spaghetti Westerns.

Tom Mix meets Clint Eastwood?

Col_Pladoh said:
For espionage I do like the settings of the Orient Express or an ocean liner...
As it is a game, I expect the agents to be rather of the super-spy sort. I did not see the new Casino Royale film, but as I know it was nothing at all like the book, and I am an Ian Fleming fan, I do not intend to see it.

I haven't read it, so I can't say how true it is or isn't to the book, but it is a great movie. For me, the only Bond movie that compares is "Dr. No", which is more than a little cheesy, but got the whole thing started. (And has my all time favorite Bond exchange: "You're all wet!" "But my martini's dry.")

Col_Pladoh said:
Fantasy medieval is the most accessable and imaginative miliey for the RPG. There are many others that are enjoyable, but finding players interested in them is more difficult than for the quasi-medieval, which seems to resonate with more people.

Nod, I know it's true, but I'm not sure why. It seems from TV that cops and robbers is currently the most popular action genre. But having tried to run mystery plots in RPG's, I know it just doesn't work about 2/3rds of the time, at least with me as DM.

haakon1 · May 2, 2007

Col_Pladoh said:
No, I never did play the James Bond 007 RPG. No pne O know was Gming it, so... I did my best to get the Blumes to support the Top Secret game with GM information material and more modules, works that lasted longer than a couple of sessions, but alas to no avail. I even had plans for European train cars for an Orient Express adventure. They are stuck away in a file somewhere.

Top Secret was great fun, and in GMing, I never had to look far for material -- just pick up a copy of the New York Times. In the late 1980s, I had Colombian drug cartels, a Panamian general, and Hezbollah connected to Afghan poppy growers as villains. These days . . . hmmm, OK, I would drop Panama. :lol:

Deuce Traveler · May 2, 2007

Gary, two quick questions. I plan to go to the Lake Geneva convention next month, so:

1.) I'm flying in just for the convention, so where is the best hotel within walking distance (if even possible).

2.) I'm going to try to get in on your Front Porch Legends if possible, but will you be running either C & C or OD & D? I plan to generate some characters before I go.

Col_Pladoh · May 2, 2007

Okay John Drake,

I'll rent it on DVD when it is available, watch it on out big screen HD telly

Cheers,
Gary

Mark CMG · May 2, 2007

What is the prize of your gaming collection?

Col_Pladoh · May 2, 2007

ColonelHardisson said:
Virgil Finlay...ah, that shows good taste. Any opinion on Kelly Freas? I recall that you were reading the recent collections of Robert Howard's "Conan" stories; how have you liked the illos in those? The similar collections of Howard's "Kull," "Solomon Kane," and "Bran Mak Morn" have also been profusely illustrated. My favorite of these are the Kull book, illustrated by Justin Sweet. Sweet's art, in my opinion, does for Kull what Frazetta did for Conan - it perfectly captures the mood and feel of Kull's milieu, which is distinct from that of Conan.

Kelly Freas is good, but his work never captured me as Finlay's did. The illos in the three new Conan books are pretty good, but not great IMO. I'll have to have a gander at the Kull art.

BTW, my friend Tom Keogh's father was an illustrator for Disney at one time, also a great SF and murder mystery fan. Tom and I used to swap SF and fantasy books, and he called my attention to the outstanding quality of Chesley Bonstel's cover art. Tom was quite good with an airbrush, and won a proze from the Audobon Society for one of his bird illustrations.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · May 2, 2007

Quasqueton said:
Gary,

Did you have an explanation (open or secret) in your campaigns for the existance of so many magic items in the game? Were they being continuously created by NPC mages, or were they ancient artifacts from prodigious eras, or something else?

Did you consider magic items rare and wondrous treasures, or fun and exciting tools for the PCs in the game? How did the Players in your campaigns treat magic items: amazing finds that filled them with awe, or standard articles with useful abilities, or something else?

Quasqueton

Never a concern of mine. In a magic active world having many enchanted items around is no more remarkable than having many jewels and objects d'art in a wealthy society. Most of the better items in my campaign were assumed to be forged by reclusive or retired mages; the most potent of them being of the relic and artifact sort or placed on the planet by a deity.

Cheers,
Gary

Col_Pladoh · May 2, 2007

Geoffrey said:
Two questions, Gary:

1. Do you ever play Dangerous Journeys anymore?

2. What is your favorite Bond film? (Mine is From Russian with Love)

1. No, when the stand-in for Louhi sued, and we settled by selling the DJ system to TSR, I knew it was time to move on, so I began working of the LA RPG. No sense in playing that game IMO, when the new one is also skill-based and more intuitively done.

2. From Russia with Love is indeed an excellent Bond film. I also rank Dr. No highly, and Goldfinger right after it.

Cheerio,
Gary

TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

Gentlegamer

Adventurer

MoxieFu

First Post

haakon1

Hero

haakon1

Hero

Deuce Traveler

Adventurer

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Mark CMG

Creative Mountain Games

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

Col_Pladoh

Gary Gygax

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