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.

 

[BOZ]

Noppers!

You were correct initially. The term "GM" was around a long time before T$R decided to TM "DM"...

Cheers,
Gary

my second-guesses are often wrong. i need to learn to start trusting my first instinct.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Here's another Mordy question for ya Gary. Nowadays he is widely considered the greatest mage in the Flanaess. Did you ever envision Mordenkainen becoming such an important figure? Or did you just see him as your PC and only as great as you made him? Were there any characters that Mordenkainen aspired to be like?

Thanks!

Survival and ability to adventure widely were my first concerns for Mordenkainen. When he made 12th level I decided he should have some greater purpose, so I added political concerns, keeping the balance in the Flanaess, growing powerful and influential, and keeping aggressive bad guys at bay. At no time was there a desire to rule more than a minor domain where he and his associates and followers would be secure and properly housed and fed. Of course, he had a lot of followers, so a small demesne was out of the question.

I do believe that Mordenkainen earned his twenty-something levels through cleverness, daring, a bit of luck, and dint of trying...often with the aid of his associates and followers. Nowadays he seldom ventures forth, but when he does it is in disguise and usually alone.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

my second-guesses are often wrong. i need to learn to start trusting my first instinct.

Spot on!

I learned that in test taking, Usually your first guess or hunch is correct, it being based on a subconscious memory of bit of reasoning.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[KRBourgoine]

Greetings Gary,


I hope you are recovering well from the endless entertainment of the weekend. Of course if you ever have to recover from anything this is the best sort.

Thanks again for the abundant hospitality.

KRBourgoine

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Greetings Gary,


I hope you are recovering well from the endless entertainment of the weekend. Of course if you ever have to recover from anything this is the best sort.

Thanks again for the abundant hospitality.

KRBourgoine

Actually, no... :\

That's mainly due to having posts like this to respond to


Gary

 

[KRBourgoine]

Ha!

Well if its any consulation I think I need another week off to recover from my vacation in the land of Gygax!

Cant wait for next year though. Next year, with less beer.

KRBourgoine

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ha!

Well if its any consulation I think I need another week off to recover from my vacation in the land of Gygax!

Cant wait for next year though. Next year, with less beer.

KRBourgoine

Sounds good...

Bring more here, drink less of it!


Gary

 

[KRBourgoine]

Its good to hear Jon got off okay. I had a great time meeting him. I am pretty sure would be hard pressed to find a nicer, calmer, person. I can see why you hooked up with him to make the Lejendary Adventures suppliments and adventures.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Its good to hear Jon got off okay. I had a great time meeting him. I am pretty sure would be hard pressed to find a nicer, calmer, person. I can see why you hooked up with him to make the Lejendary Adventures suppliments and adventures.

Indeed!

Jon is also one very creative chap, as his LA game modules and D20 splat books that we did for Mongoose demonstrate...although the editing on the latter was quite detrimental to content IMO.

For closers he is also the content editor for the vast majority of the 24 Town of Yggsburgh and Suburban Areas m odules now in progress.

After one ot two of the Castle Zagyg modules are in print, that lot will be released

Cheers,
Gary

 

[airwalkrr]

Here's another conundrum for you, Gary. When you and your buddies first starting this whole "roleplaying" thing, how did you approach character names? I've heard you mention Mordenkainen was based on Finnish but on the other end of the spectrum earlier in this thread you related the story of "Medium Rary" to us. Did you see character names as being important elements contributing to the fantasy or more like simple labels to refer to each character? Did people ever groan when someone introduced a character with a hackneyed or pun-originating name or was it all in good fun?