TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

This is the multi-year Q&A sessions held by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax here at EN World, beginning in 2002 and running up until his sad pasing in 2008. Gary's username in the thread below is Col_Pladoh, and his first post in this long thread is Post #39.

 

[S'mon]

S'mon's geometric evil falling damage table:
Damage per 10' fallen increases up to 100', then declines again as the rate of acceleration is slowed, reaching terminal velocity at 200'.

Falling Damage

10’ 1d6
20’ 3d6
30’ 6d6
40’ 10d6
50’ 15d6
60’ 21d6
70’ 28d6
80’ 36d6
90’ 45d6
100’ 55d6
110’ 65d6
120’ 74d6
130’ 82d6
140’ 89d6
150’ 95d6
160’ 100d6
170’ 104d6
180’ 107d6
190’ 109d6
200’ 110d6

 

[Col_Pladoh]

S'mon,

You have the matter well in hand, I see

When players would have their PCs leap off a 200' cliff to avoid a confrontation with a monster, survive the fall, it came to me that I had erred...badly. Thus the UA falling damage.

In the LA game I have a similar system, exponential, duing a d20 for Harm delivered if falling onto a hard surface such as stone. A 20 is no damage, though, and 19 indicates a broken bone or sprain, but no other damage, and all the rest of the numbers are points taken from Health. Long falls are pretty much the end for an Avatar, even if the surface is relatively yielding so as to call for d10--again a 0 is no Harm, 9 a broken bone or sprain, and the rest points taken from Health. As you note, a 30-foot fall is 1dX plus 3dX plus 6 dX, and so on.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Geoffrey]

Gary, what is your opinion on using the "real world" of the Middle Ages as a campaign setting for A/D&D or for Lejendary Adventure? Of course, the setting wouldn't be completely real since there would be monsters, spells, and magic items. But there would be Catholicism, England, the Crusades, and all the rest.

Do you think this would be a fun and/or a workable setting for A/D&D or LA?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary, what is your opinion on using the "real world" of the Middle Ages as a campaign setting for A/D&D or for Lejendary Adventure? Of course, the setting wouldn't be completely real since there would be monsters, spells, and magic items. But there would be Catholicism, England, the Crusades, and all the rest.

Do you think this would be a fun and/or a workable setting for A/D&D or LA?

Hi Geoffrey

My considered opinion is that such a setting would require a special set of rules, and neither A/D&D nor the LA game are designed to fit something that is based on actual history.

Using such a setting also treads close to the edge in regards religion as practiced today--mainly Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. Most magic would then perforce be Satanic in nature, or at best theurgy in the true sense of the term--forced from the divine.

the setting would certainly make for some interesting campaign play, but in general I doubt the commercial viability.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[boschdevil]

Mr. Gygax,

Let me just say that it is a pleasure to just be able to post to you. I've been a fan of D&D since 1980, and if you told that teenage kid then that he would be able to some day communicate to the person who brought his favorite game to fruition, I think he would have thought that you were nuts.

At any rate, this is my question. (I'm not sure if it has been posted before, so forgive me for asking a repeat). When you go about designing rules and campaigns for LA, how do you balance the aspect of "Vile" material in you campaign?

To one side, I can understand the argument that a sizable portion of the gaming population is mature and may be able to handle mature subject matter. Part of the game is killing creatures, which in itself is a pretty rough act.

However, there is a population of gamers that either (a) has been gaming for a long time but now has kids and thus doesn't want to expose them to "Vile" content or (b) are kids themselves and thus is concerned that their own parents may ban them from playing such a gaming system.

To one side you have the gamer who wants to explore the new frontier of "Vile" campaigns, and on the other you have people who would becomre alienated from your system due to the "Vile" material. How do you as a game designer go about this balancing act and where do you draw the line?

Once again, thanks in advance for answering my question.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

LAST POST FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS

Hi Boschdevil,

As I am about to depart for a trip to the East Coast--about an hour from now--this will be my last post here for the noted period.

You asked about how I managed "Vile" content in my game designs. The answer is I don't include it per se. As far as I am concerned the FRPG is a heroic game form, and thus the base assumption is that the players will be of non-vile stamp. If the GM desires the exploration of malign behavior in the campaign there is no need for printed guidelines in the game.

As you note, the combat with and slaying of creatures is considered by many a bad thing, even when it is a case of good fighting evil. While I don't agree with them, I do think it is unwise to add more ammunition for critics to use against the RPG by including the vile in printed material.

About as far as I go is to include malign abilities such as Necrourgy, Sorcery (in its mythical meaning as using demons to work magic), and Witchery (mainly as a non-avatar character ability) in the LA game system. this serves to enable the development of "vile" material for the campaign by the GM so desiring.

Hope that covers it. If not, I'll revisit the subject when I return

Cheers,
Gary

 

[mystraschosen]

Have a great trip gary!

 

[BOZ]

gary, when you get back...

my fiancee and i are considering a weekend trip to lake geneva. any hangouts and fun places you can suggest?

also, our honeymoon is going to be in wisconsin dells

 

[boschdevil]

"Golden" Age of Modules

Gary,

I hope you had fun on your trip. (I'm figuring by the time you get my message you would have returned)

Thank you for answering my previous question with the limited time which you had. I really do appreciate it, especially when I figure that it is the time of the most prominent person in the gaming industry. (I know that you have regarded yourself as just another gamer, but frankly I would still be playing chess and the wargame "1776" if D&D never came to being. In fact, my father once gave me heck for getting my brother into D&D, but thanked me for it years later. For my father to switch positions, that it an impressive task.)

And you did answer the question in the manner that I meant to ask it. Yes, D&D has the slaying of evil monsters and demons and devils running through the games. This practice goes back to the 1st edition rules. However, there is a difference between having witchcraft, demon, devil, and devil in a game and actually bringing in rules for sadism, rape, self-mutilation, and demonic worship. I agree we have had evil clerics in our campaigns (like Keep on the Borderlands) that have grotesque images and bizarre rituals, but we never went into steps and rules for the demonic worship. As you said, we gamers already have an unearned reputation to try to correct outside the gaming community.

As a follow-up to the unearned reputation of "being agents of Satan promoting suicide" (none of which is even close to the truth), how did you handle keeping your cool when these people were going through the witchhunts of the early 1980's? If I remember right, you and D&D were up there with Heavy Metal for the eventual downfall of our civilization. I remember thinking at the time that the accusors were insane, and I would have strangled them on sight because they were saying thing that even a teenager (me) knew were lies.

I do have another question. It has to do with the early modules that were released for D&D. To me, these modules were such fantastic adventures that more recent modules just are not in the same league as them. Do you have a reason for why these modules are so much better than the more recent modules? Sometimes I wonder about this, but I have not put my finger on it yet.

Take care.

 

[boschdevil]

Moderators: Sticking this to the top of the Page?

Moderators: I'm not sure if this has been asked, but is there any possibility of getting this thread stuck to the top of the boards? I know that you don't want o stick every thread that may get a request from posters, but we're talking about a guy here that without his contributions, there would not be a D&D/d20 subject matter to discuss in the first place. Just a thought.