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.

 

[Jdvn1]

Luke listened to the radio program version of the HGttG, read the books, and watched the TV series. He still thought the movie fell out of the rear end of a horse.

IMO the radio version was far and away the best presentation, albeit I have not seen the motion picture.

Wow. That's the first I've heard of that. I heard some of the radio version and liked it. The TV series was pretty good, too. Do you know why he didn't like it? I mean, it wasn't the books, but it definitely the same style. Also, the screenplay was at least partially written by Adams.

 

[Elfdart]

Heh, showing "the better part of valor" to be sure!

It always amazes me the number of gamers who haven't learned one of the most basic rules of survival when faced with a tougher opponent: Run away!!!

Gray Mouser

Or my favorite: "Play dead -THEN RUN AWAY!"

 

[Gentlegamer]

Not much of anything.

Tougher stuff my PCs run away from in utmost haste

Instead of crying that the Encounter Level wasn't balanced! Imagine that!

From what I remember of accounts gleaned over the years, this was a reliable tactic for escaping "super-tough" encounters in your campaigns. Two I remember best:

1. Tenser, when he declined to fight Acererack by snatching as much loot as he could and teleporting away

2. The Greyhawk regulars that fled from the Isle of the Ape, rather than face Oonga, even though it meant loosing ALL of their magical gear in the process.

I used to recount these anecdotes to players to remind them to not to expect to be able to "defeat" every encounter and that running was a viable option in almost every case.

 

[BOZ]

hey gary, obscure question that i've been looking to get an answer for awhile... might as well go to the source. did the verbeeg giantkin appear anywhere before the Monster Manual II? i've been looking and asking but noone knows. i know a good percentage of MM2 monsters had previous appearances.

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

didn't they show up in the forgotten temple of theruzdun?
ken

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Wow. That's the first I've heard of that. I heard some of the radio version and liked it. The TV series was pretty good, too. Do you know why he didn't like it? I mean, it wasn't the books, but it definitely the same style. Also, the screenplay was at least partially written by Adams.

All Luke told me was that the film was a dog-log and that he fell asleep attempting to watch it. I'll take his word for the quality of the production...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

hey gary, obscure question that i've been looking to get an answer for awhile... might as well go to the source. did the verbeeg giantkin appear anywhere before the Monster Manual II? i've been looking and asking but noone knows. i know a good percentage of MM2 monsters had previous appearances.

Sure!

As a matter of fact I made up the Verbeeg and used them in some of my campaign encounters, but they were not in print before MMII as I hadn't the time to do a modulE that included them. I had thought to have a mainly outdoor adventure in a woodland setting with the verbeeg being the lumberjacks, a really big one as their leader, and the lot of them pretty difficult to deal with on a rational basis.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

didn't they show up in the forgotten temple of theruzdun?
ken

Been a long time since I've gne over that work, Ken, but I don't think so...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[BOZ]

Sure!

As a matter of fact I made up the Verbeeg and used them in some of my campaign encounters, but they were not in print before MMII as I hadn't the time to do a modulE that included them. I had thought to have a mainly outdoor adventure in a woodland setting with the verbeeg being the lumberjacks, a really big one as their leader, and the lot of them pretty difficult to deal with on a rational basis.

Cheers,
Gary

LOL nice. that would have been amusing...

how about the Verme - same question as before.

and one last one - there was a flying version of the kobold called an Urd that was found in a few 2E books. a number of people have sworn that they saw it in some 1EAD&D books, and i suspect that it may have been, but no one has been able to find a pre-2E appearance. any knowledge of this creature?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

LOL nice. that would have been amusing...

how about the Verme - same question as before.

and one last one - there was a flying version of the kobold called an Urd that was found in a few 2E books. a number of people have sworn that they saw it in some 1EAD&D books, and i suspect that it may have been, but no one has been able to find a pre-2E appearance. any knowledge of this creature?

I came across the Verme in a book about East Indian folklore, and to the best of my recolection the listing in the MMII was its first appearance, even though i like giant fish in outdoor/underwater adventures.

As for the Urd I can't say, as it isn't a creation of mine and I don't have any idea who created it.

Cheers,
Gary