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]

To be fair, in my campaigns flumphs are known as uphlum and are related to both aboleth and mind flayers.

Flumphs, heh-heh-heh.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

:looks at calendar:

Hey, happy birthday, Gary! Best wishes and many happy returns!

Thankee!

I am right glad to have made this one and am hoping for the next

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Happy Birthday!

Much appreciated.

Going out for dinner with a half-dozen of the family this evening, but meantime just loafing and enjoying the day

Munchkins, BTW, are those so foolish as to cheat in order to attempt excellence of play for their PC in an RPG. Those that seek every opportunity, including honest advantage, to do the same are are superior players.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Happy Birthday Gary.

 

[Etfalti]

Happy Birthday - Top 10 Ways to Celebrate

I hope this is the right place to post this. I was referred to here by someone who was encouraging us to wish Happy Birthday to a man who has brought many a happy birthday present into the lives of others. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I can be shmucky but I'll, uhm, blame my newbieness.

In honour of the Great Zagyg, my Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Gary Gygax's birthday:

10. Go to GenCon and convince the people that, no, really, WotC respects JRR Tolkien more because their Halflings aren't so similar to Hobbits.

9. Gather 500,000 Egyptian army war-gaming miniatures and shape them into the words "Happy Birthday!" in hieroglyphic form.

8. Send Gary 69 +2 Flaming Candles for his birthday cake.

7. Get Brendan Frasier to assist you in taking over your local radio station so you can play songs from Pitcheblend's album, "Gygax!".

6. Broker the Broadway premiere of the Dead Alewives' "Take Down the Grand Master" and then secretly replace the Cheetos with a generic brand and see if anyone notices..

5. Call DC Comics and ask Dan Didio how those little mini-D&D-comic advertisements from the late 70's/early 80's ended (seriously, does anyone know or is that poor band of elf, magician and fighter still stuck in that darned dungeon?).

4. Get Ralph the Mouth and Adam Rich to dress in one of those two-person horses outfits as "Uni" and "bah" the Happy Birthday theme. (You could use Willie Aames but I think he's still stuck in Baldur's Gate).

3. Create documentary called "Bowling for Mazes and Monsters". Use the millions you make to buy Gary a nicer birthday present.

2. Replace Jack-in-the-Box's E. Coli with Arthronema gygaxiana sp nov UTCC393 for the day

1. Call your wife Tipper and ask if you can go over to Gary's house for a quick game of D&D. Pester her by pointing out that Deep Blue and Stephen Hawkings have already gotten permission.

Happy Birthday E.G.G.

 

[cildarith]

Happy Birthday, Gary!

 

[Grithfang]

Happy Brithday

Happy Birthday! For your present please roll from table 1-1:

table 1-1

01-99 Many happy returns
00 Roll twice on table 1-1 and once on table 1-2

table 1-2
01-04 Michael Meyers' unwashed underwear
05-15 Burgess Meredith's book collection & his glasses
16-35 Portable Hole and Bag of Holding (Let me throw them together for convent storage)
36-65 Harlequin Romance: The complete series
66-85 (Something so horrible I don't dare utter it)
86-96 (This is even worse)
97-00 D&D 3.5

 

[ColonelHardisson]

You want a particular magic item PC, you can not buy it ir make it! Go out and quest to find it. That is a part of the RPG form now isn't it?

I agree with this, always have, but I also think that there is room for the buying of magic items. My thoughts on this derive from legends and folktales and more modern "old wives' tales." I see low-level magic items, those with limited use or fairly mild enchantment as being akin to the kind of stuff that even today people buy (or make) in order to provide themselves an edge-up. I'm thinking of stuff like rabbits' feet and other lucky charms, St. Christopher's Medals and other saint-related paraphernalia, "snake oil" (whether the stuff from the 19th century or current stuff like HGH or herbal teas), or any number of charms from pagan or similar traditions.

Sure, some of it will be about as effective as what we find in the real world, but in a world where magic is real, some of it may well be efficacious and fairly readily available or possible to be created by PCs with the skill and resources. For really powerful magical items - my own arbitrary opinion of what these are is stuff the equivalent of +3 or better weapons - should, indeed, be more complex than simply commissioning the manufacturing of such items. I think that in the modern incarnation of D&D, the prices given for making items are looked at as something akin to catalog prices. My own opinion of those prices is that they reflect the equivalent time and effort involved in making an item, not what they cost down at Wal-Mart. I'm hoping that all makes sense.

 

[Odnasept]

Oh dear, it looks like I just missed wishing you a punctual happy birthday (bloody time zones and whatnot), Gary. Well, if it helps make it up, I'll try and remember some of a song I helped write about you years ago:

Sung to the tune of Stan Bush's 'The Touch' from the original Transformers: The Movie:

After all is said and done,
It's you who wrote Edition One;
The creator!

Before the stupid, 3rd-Ed Feat,
You made the rules, and take the heat!
You know how to roll!

And you never get hit with your great Armour Class,
You deliver the crit and keep on kicking aaaa-

Well, you get the idea. Happy Birthday Gary Gygax!

P.S. I believe the chorus went something like this:

You got the touch! You got the power!
When all hell's breaking loose you'll be writing down stats for it all!

etc.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

A belated Happy Birthday to you, sir!

Get any good loot?