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.

 

[Serendipity]

Oh, and to the uninitiated: diaglo is ENworld's resident OD&D curmudgeon.

Since you seem to be in the know, would that be curmudgeon-pundit, or curmudgeon-grognard?

 

[Henry]

First of all, I'd like to welcome Llaurenela to ENWorld; I apologize for missing you as a new member - I always like to welcome new forum members, anyway!

Diaglo is a fellow forum member whose favorite RPG is Original (1974) D&D - all other versions comparatively let him down, even though he's played them all, and owns them all. We kid him about his hard-core love for OD&D, because he proselytizes it wherever he goes. This gent you speak of sounds like he's cut from the same cloth - except Diaglo is a collector of ALL versions. Anybody who owns D&D Beach Towels is a hard act to follow.

 

[oldschooler]

Hi ya,
We have gotten some pretty good deals, I got Outdoor Survival, the three LBB D&D, Greyhawk, Gods, Demi-Gods & Heros, Chainmail and The Arduin Trilogy for just under $100.00. We need Blackmoor & Eldritch Wizardy but have not been able to find either one for an honest price, so I am going to print Blackmoor out from the free pdf and I got the Eldritch Wizardy pdf for $4.95. So we are about good to do. We were all agreed that $30-40 each for Blackmoor & Eldritch Wizardy is not justified when you can get a Greyhawk for $5-$10. After the first game or maybe two, then I will be the ref, so I am designing a new world from scratch.
Cheers,
Llaurenela

I believe you can find both books at Noble Knight Games for less than $30 each. Personally, I wouldn't bother with Blackmoor, I don't anyone who uses monks or assassins a lot, the hit location rules are a miss and the only other feature that's useful are rules, monsters & treasure for underwater adventures. In Eldritch Wizardry you'll find the playable Druid class, rules & monsters for psionics, demons (like Orcus and Demogorgon) and artifacts.

 

[Llaurenela]

First of all, I'd like to welcome Llaurenela to ENWorld; I apologize for missing you as a new member - I always like to welcome new forum members, anyway!

Diaglo is a fellow forum member whose favorite RPG is Original (1974) D&D - all other versions comparatively let him down, even though he's played them all, and owns them all. We kid him about his hard-core love for OD&D, because he proselytizes it wherever he goes. This gent you speak of sounds like he's cut from the same cloth - except Diaglo is a collector of ALL versions. Anybody who owns D&D Beach Towels is a hard act to follow.

Greetings Henry & all,
Thanks for the warm welcome!!

Yes, I believe this gent of whom I speak (he calls himself Old Black Bart) seems to be just like Diaglo, he does have all or most all of the rulebooks for the different versions and his favorite RPG is Original (1974) D&D - nearly all other versions are worthy only of being called resources materials but not to be played. Except 3.0 & 3.5 which after he looked at 3.0 he declared them the foul thing that shall not be mentioned, not worthy of even being a resource. He did get one of the Spartan 300 of C&C, it is the only D20 item of which he will speak. He also has the Mythus books, Lejendary Earth and the Arduin books. He said that if Gygax wrote it, then it will be at the very least an awesome resource and a must have. The Arduin books are a great grab bag of ideas, just choose wisely.

Also if Diaglo is a curmudgeon, that is great, because they make good neighbors!!

Well it seems that I have seriously de-railled Gary's Q&A for which I apologize. I have talked to Gary in several different places. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is his kids and grandkids are blessed IMO.

 

[Odysseus]

Hi Gary,
I'm interested in what you had in mind , when you created the law/chaos aspect of D&D?
Whenever I think of law vs chaos , i think of the Amber series. Was that what you had in mind? Or are there other books that inspired you, with regard to law/chaos?
Also why did you think law/chaos needed to be perpendicular to evil/good aspect?
Cheers,
Odysseus.

 

[Llaurenela]

I believe you can find both books at Noble Knight Games for less than $30 each. Personally, I wouldn't bother with Blackmoor, I don't anyone who uses monks or assassins a lot, the hit location rules are a miss and the only other feature that's useful are rules, monsters & treasure for underwater adventures. In Eldritch Wizardry you'll find the playable Druid class, rules & monsters for psionics, demons (like Orcus and Demogorgon) and artifacts.

Hi ya guy,
Yea, I have looked thru the pdf's and I am just printing them for now. In my 1st Ed AD&D game I don't use very many of the character classes. I don't use thieves for instance. In place of the thief character we use the Archetype of the "Trickster" which we call the "Jack" character class after Jack the Giant Killer aka The Brave Little Tailor. He ends up with the princess and half a kingdom as you may recall.
Cheers,
Llaurenela

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

Have you never heard of Elric, Corum, or Author Michael Moorcock?
Ken

Hi Gary,
I'm interested in what you had in mind , when you created the law/chaos aspect of D&D?
Whenever I think of law vs chaos , i think of the Amber series. Was that what you had in mind? Or are there other books that inspired you, with regard to law/chaos?
Also why did you think law/chaos needed to be perpendicular to evil/good aspect?
Cheers,
Odysseus.

 

[grodog]

Have you never heard of Elric, Corum, or Author Michael Moorcock?
Ken

And if not, you should check out Moorcock's site at www.multiverse.org (I have a few MM items on my site as well).

 

[Serendipity]

We need Blackmoor & Eldritch Wizardy but have not been able to find either one for an honest price, so I am going to print Blackmoor out from the free pdf and I got the Eldritch Wizardy pdf for $4.95. So we are about good to do. We were all agreed that $30-40 each for Blackmoor & Eldritch Wizardy is not justified when you can get a Greyhawk for $5-$10. After the first game or maybe two, then I will be the ref, so I am designing a new world from scratch.

Sweet. Enjoy the game (and best of luck with the Eldritch Wizardry)

 

[francisca]

Llaurenela-

If you are still looking for Blackmoor and Eldritch Wizardry, I'd be glad to sell you mine, certainly for less than $30 each. Since you can't receive PMs here, please PM me either at Dragonsfoot or the Tavern (when it's upgrade is over). I'm francisca at both places, as well.

It's way unlikely I'll ever play more than a pickup game of OD&D, so I'd rather see these go to a table that will use them.

--francisca