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He didn't cite any authority or rationale (other than saying something to the effect that they were "TSR numbers"), but at that time he was in as good a position as anybody to have whatever numbers there were, and in a better position than most. Remember that even after he left TSR he still...

I don't have the book handy, and don't think he actually provided a definition (monthly, weekly, more than twice ever, etc.), but I'm fairly sure it wasn't "someone who has ever played" because (IIRC) he stated that if you counted people who had played the game at least once that the total was...

In his book Roleplaying Mastery (1987), Gary Gygax cited estimates from TSR of 5 million D&D players in the US, 8 million worldwide.

My take(s) on the "D&D Popularity: Now vs the 80s" issue: 1) Anecdotal story: There was a brief time, when I was in 5th-6th grade (1985-86) when D&D was a huge fad in my school -- tons of kids had dice, and rulebooks, and created characters, and played the game during lunch & recess. In my...

Glad someone else knew the answer because I didn't. The Role Aids stuff is a weak spot in my D&D-knowledge -- I never owned any of them BITD, and while I did pick up a bunch of their stuff a couple years back (when Mayfair Games had a massive liquidation sale and were selling packs of modules...

OD&D, TSR Dungeons & Dragons Chainmail Supplement I: Greyhawk Supplement II: Blackmoor Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry Supplement IV: Gods, Demigods & Heroes Swords & Spells Monster & Treasure Assortment: Levels 1-3 Monster & Treasure Assortment: Levels 4-6 Monster & Treasure Assortment...

The Dragon #28 (Aug. 1979), pp. 5-6: The Dungeon Masters Guide Developers' Notes .... And a Few Words With the Author. A couple of key quotes: Upon re-reading, this doesn't necessarily contradict the earlier claim that about a year of active (weekly or more) play should get a character up to...

Ah, but that article is about OD&D, and in the designer note articles around the development of AD&D one of the stated design goals was to slow down progression a bit, in order to increase the playable lifespan of the game. Gygax (or maybe Lawrence Schick, I don't remember which one actually...

Without having the books at hand to check, I'm fairly sure they explicitly state that a thief cannot move while remaining hidden in shadows. The way we always played this was that the thief attempted to hide, remained still for at least one round, and then if there was other activity (such as...

I think the foot-dragging on Castle Zagyg lies at Gary's feet, and when you think about I think I understand the reason why: for 30+ years people have been building Greyhawk Castle up as "the ultimate dungeon," "Gygax's masterpiece," "the dungeon that defines the game," and so on. But that's not...

1. It's a perspective and immersion thing -- for a 1st level magic-user, think of it as, essentially YOU in the dungeon, with no special skills or talents or equipment (except whatever Boy Scout or MacGyver-ish gear you may have thought to bring along -- rope, tinderbox, etc.) relying purely on...

Ad-hoc DM judgment, taking into account the circumstances of the specific situation, the class/level, stats, and background of the character, and perhaps a die-roll of some kind as a randomizer (if the former two aren't sufficient to make the result obvious) and/or player-level negotiation...

Even leaving aside the terrible editing and production I found Yggsburgh to be very lackluster and bland. There were a ton of plot hooks, sure, but most of them were both completely obvious and not very interesting; very mundane stuff that's not at all what I want to spend my limited rpg-playing...

For a fully fleshed out and (over-)detailed version of the Castle, which is what Gary seemingly wanted and what CZ:UW (from what I gather, still haven't actually seen it) delivered, I think 1E AD&D -- the fully fleshed out and (over-)detailed version of Gygax's D&D -- is the best fit. For a more...

Caveat emptor. I never owned this, but from what I understand several of the adventures have been pretty heavily edited (B1 is missing completely except for the map, The Keep on the Borderlands is missing the keep, The Lost City is missing the lost city, Horror on the Hill is missing the hill)...

Welcome to the club :) It's a little mini-sandbox setting with a home base with some helpful and harmful NPCs, a small wilderness with a handful of encounters, and a "monster hotel" with about a dozen small lairs mostly of various types of humanoids. There's not plot unless you insert one. None...

Your #1 is correct. For #2 you should divide by 8 -- the 6 PCs each get a full share, the 2 classed henchmen get half a share (and the other XP are "lost"), and the unclassed hirelings neither gain XP nor are they counted in the split. Note, though, that before dividing XP you're supposed to...

If Gygax Games does end up releasing Castle Zagyg for 4E, I hope they'll at least take some of the good advice (especially mine ;)) from this thread.

My experience with 4E is extremely limited (about an hour spent reviewing the PHB and DMG before deciding I was happier sticking with OD&D) so I'm probably going to get a lot of terminology and details wrong, but I like to think I have a little more insight on the topic of megadungeons (as one...

What Jhaelen said. However, while the rest of us are declaiming out (likely terrible, but hopefully at least funny) poetry, we've also got the party thief sneaking around behind the giant getting into position for a back stab, just in case...