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]

I remember Sink the Bismark and Starship Troopers , and later during grad school we really got into Diplomacy

IIRR, the title of the WWII naval search and combat game was simply Bismark. We player it a lot when it first came out, and both sides had near equal win changes. I must say that I never did play Starship Troopers

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[rossik]

Well...

As a general fule for all GMs, it should be assumed that any action that an actual average human can do in real life, an RPG persona can likewise do. As very younf chiuldren have the ability to roll on the ground, a D&D character can assuredly do the same...even if in full plate armor, although there would be a good deal of effort required and theroll would be ponderous save when on a declining surface.

As for skills, that sort of a system is in my critical design view superior to the plain dlass-based game. However, if the skill-based system is very specific, it does tend to end innovation and creative thinking in favor of reliance on a dice roll. Feats are strictly for a comic book superhero game IMO, anthough special abilities of minor sort are a fine addition to the scope of character definition.

All of the above is well set forth in my Lejendary Adventure game, BTW

Cheers,
Gary

well mr gygax, you just made my day a lot happier

tx for the answer

 

[seskis281]

IIRR, the title of the WWII naval search and combat game was simply Bismark. We player it a lot when it first came out, and both sides had near equal win changes. I must say that I never did play Starship Troopers

Cheerio,
Gary

Ah yes - thanks for the memory refresh on Bismark. We got Starship Troopers because my dad was (and is) an enormous Heinlein fan and would read his books to us out loud every Friday night when we were young.

Cheers

 

[Col_Pladoh]

So cases of all's well that end well.

Ciao,
Gary

 

[RFisher]

I love Kingmaker. I think it's the only Avalon Hill game I actually have my own copy of. My favorite AH game, however, might have been Magic Realm.

We got Starship Troopers because my dad was (and is) an enormous Heinlein fan and would read his books to us out loud every Friday night when we were young.

It was kind of the opposite for me. My dad doesn't read fiction, but it was playing his Starship Troopers game with him that got me interested in reading Heinlein.

 

[archibael]

Gary,

Thanks for answering my dreggal/maelvis/cacodemon questions 'bout eighty pages back. I only recently got them; didn't suspect you'd get back to me right away.

Anyway... one magic item which always seemed vastly overpowered was the rope of entanglement. Nowhere was a saving throw or anything else listed for the device, and from the description it looks like it could trap anything from a troop of kobolds to a high-level party of adventurers before they could do a damn thing about it. For this reason in my campaign the Erinyes were absolutely dreaded, as unless the whole party were doused in oil of slipperiness or scattered about the room so they couldn't all be taken at once, they were toast.

Did you mean the rope to be that powerful, and if so, why did you cost it out at less than, say, plate mail +3? Or was there really a savng throw to be had somewhere in there? Or did "tied fast" mean that victims with sword in hand could still attack the rope itself?

Thanks again for your time.

Archibael

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

Thanks for answering my dreggal/maelvis/cacodemon questions 'bout eighty pages back. I only recently got them; didn't suspect you'd get back to me right away.

Anyway... one magic item which always seemed vastly overpowered was the rope of entanglement. Nowhere was a saving throw or anything else listed for the device, and from the description it looks like it could trap anything from a troop of kobolds to a high-level party of adventurers before they could do a damn thing about it. For this reason in my campaign the Erinyes were absolutely dreaded, as unless the whole party were doused in oil of slipperiness or scattered about the room so they couldn't all be taken at once, they were toast.

Did you mean the rope to be that powerful, and if so, why did you cost it out at less than, say, plate mail +3? Or was there really a savng throw to be had somewhere in there? Or did "tied fast" mean that victims with sword in hand could still attack the rope itself?

Thanks again for your time.

Archibael

Short answer:

Said rope could be attacked and severed with a sharp edge by anyone not entangled in it.

While a DM ruling, I never allowed more than threesubjects to be snared by a rope.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[archibael]

Short answer:

Said rope could be attacked and severed with a sharp edge by anyone not entangled in it.

While a DM ruling, I never allowed more than threesubjects to be snared by a rope.

Cheerio,
Gary

Thanks, that makes things a little less scary. I read 8 man-sized folks as "entire party", but I suppose if they were strung out single file as parties tend to be they probably violated the "20 feet" limitation on the rope's ability to entangle.

It wasn't until years later we used miniatures. Could have helped us out a lot in visualizing the problem.

As ever, you rule. Thanks again for the time,
AB

 

[Torm]

Mr. Gygax,

I was just watching Code Monkeys on G4, and in the promo for next week they said you're on! Did you actually contribute voice talent / dialog, and how was that, if so? And how did it compare to doing Futurama? And when you did Futurama, were Nichelle Nichols, Al Gore, and Stephen Hawking actually there at the same time recording, or was it done separately and edited together?

Apologies if that last one has been asked and answered elsewhere and I missed it, and for questions that aren't directly game related.

 

[Geoffrey]

Gary, I have two AD&D monster questions:

1. Why can't clerics turn groaning spirits?

2. You've noted that you did not use psionics in your AD&D games. What did you do, then, with the monsters listed below? Did you just not use them?

brain mole
cerebral parasite
intellect devourer
shedu
su-monster

And with mind flayers, did you consider their tentacles and mind blast enough (while simply not using their psionic abilities and psionic attack/defense modes)?

Thanks!