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.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

It's a fun book, and the appendix contains a rundown of the history of the world from about 1878 to the early 21st century, which would make for a great campaign background resource.

If you like that book quite a bit, check out Stirling's recent "The Sky People." It's another alternate history. In this one, it's 1988, but a decidedly different one than the one we lived through. Sometime in the 1940s/50s, Venus and Mars were discovered to harbor life. Not just any kind of life, but life remarkably similar to the ecosystems found in the old pulp magazines, and almost specifically E.R. Burroughs' writing. Venus is a place riotous with life, much of it prehistoric in nature, at least from Earth's perspective. Dinosaurs co-exist with large sabertooths, and Neanderthals come into conflict with primitive "true humans." The arms race on Earth was mostly cast aside as both sides of the Iron Curtain scrambled to get into space and establish colonies. "The Sky People" concentrates on Venus, and how it came to contain life so similar to Earth's. Very fun, action-packed, fast paced stuff.

I wondrr if there are red Martians, giant four-armed green humaniods, thoats, banths, etc. If so, John Carter is likely there, and Tarzan in Pullucidar

Anyway, I saw the book advertised, so I'll order it. Thanks.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Mystaros]

You've talked about fallen civilizations that we don't study much about today. One day, I would like to do a map of Eurasia that changes every generation and goes from ancient Greek times to the present, to better visualize how much borders have been radically adjusted; maybe with a change of every 20-50 years years or so a map. I went to the anti-Communism museum in Budapest, and their presentation on how much the borders of countries like Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslavakia (now Czech and Slovak) have changed in just the last 100 years was amazing. It goes year by year, and also uses arrows to show invasions from both the Germans and Russians.

Here ya go...

Ancient Europe http://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-A...9012835?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175719071&sr=8-3
Medieval Europe: http://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-A...9012835?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175719071&sr=8-1
Africa http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Atlas...9012835?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175719071&sr=8-2

All indispensable resources for history buffs... There are also Modern, Recent, Pacific, North American, and Population volumes, too. McEvedy did awesome work...

There's another series, the "Penguin Historical Atlas of..." series, which is also quite good. So far they've done Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Medieval World, Vikings, Russia, British Empire, North America... even the dinosaurs! Cool stuff, sometimes verging on the "generational" scheme you mention, though the McEvedy books are better for that perspective.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

...

There's another series, the "Penguin Historical Atlas of..." series, which is also quite good. So far they've done Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Medieval World, Vikings, Russia, British Empire, North America... even the dinosaurs! Cool stuff, sometimes verging on the "generational" scheme you mention, though the McEvedy books are better for that perspective.

There goes more of my hard-earned coin.

I have the older Penguin historical atlases but the ancient civs ones I have not seen. I must get several of those you mentioned!

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Deuce Traveler]

There goes more of my hard-earned coin.

I have the older Penguin historical atlases but the ancient civs ones I have not seen. I must get several of those you mentioned!

Cheerio,
Gary

Ditto on what Gary said, Mystaros. :\ I actually do have the Rome book and it does a decent job of talking about the geographic locations of that ancient Empire. Now you have me wanting to check on the others. Thanks for the find!

 

[DreadArchon]

Gary,

I like your suggestion for short solo intro quests for the PC's (Mythus, page 297-299), but my group is a bit... sporadic. Is it worth the effort to have an intro campaign for every new PC introduced throughout the game, or is it really only necessary when there isn't already a coherent party to tack on add-ins?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

I like your suggestion for short solo intro quests for the PC's (Mythus, page 297-299), but my group is a bit... sporadic. Is it worth the effort to have an intro campaign for every new PC introduced throughout the game, or is it really only necessary when there isn't already a coherent party to tack on add-ins?

When there is an existing group, a new player should fit into what is their ongoing situation. Of course, if the new PC can be brought into the campaign at the same time a new adventure scenario is introduced, so much the better.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[ghul]

When there is an existing group, a new player should fit into what is their ongoing situation. Of course, if the new PC can be brought into the campaign at the same time a new adventure scenario is introduced, so much the better.

Cheerio,
Gary

I had an amusing situation this week that somewhat applies to the above. The characters foolishly took into their protection and confidence an assassin (claiming to be a "scout") whose goal it was to spread dissent and cause ruination to the group so as to prevent them from continueing their present quest.

Gullible, they "rescued" the man, brought him from the adventure site back to town, and paid for his room at the local tavern. The assassin was thus sharing a room with the fighter of the party, and during the night, he killed the fighter and then slipped off into the night. Score for the antagonistic DM (me).

So, the player of the fighter rolled up a new character -- a ranger, hired by the party to track the very assassin who'd betrayed them! Within 20 minutes the player was back in the game and having fun! He got his just due with the DM, because he rolled stats of 18, 17, 17, 17, 14, and 14 -- stats that blew away his previous character! The assassin, however, is still at large . . . (to be continued...)

--Jeff T.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

That is indeed the sort of thing that makes palatable the loss of a non-long-played PC.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Piratecat]

Gary, here's a more wide-ranging question; as you look at your gaming career, what product or design are you proudest of? Why?

Similarly, what product would you rewrite differently (or not write at all!) if you had the opportunity of hindsight to do it over?

- Kevin

 

[Retreater]

Players That Do Dumb Things

Hi Gary,

I have a DM etiquette question which I hope you haven't been asked too many times.

My group includes a player who consistently makes unsound tactical decisions. For example in our last session, his 3rd level ranger left his position of cover to walk into a room full of orcs while the rest of the party was fighting another combat. Without the aid of the party's two clerics, raging barbarian, and magic user, he was cut down in a single combat round. After that, the five orcs emptied the room to flank the rest of the party.

His reckless playing style seems to hurt the strategy of the rest of the group. And certainly when he loses a character every session or two, he remains far behind the rest of the players in Experience points and treasure.

I want to improve his tactics and make him a better player. Should I just continue killing his characters with gusto? Or should I perhaps call him out when he makes poor decisions?

Thanks for the advice, and the game,
Retreater