4E & Gygax

[Stormonu]

Over the Easter weekend, the subject of 4E came up in a conversation with one of my cousins. According to the sources he normally gets his information from, he was adamant in stating that the manuscript for 4E had been penned by Gary Gygax himself.

I'm very skeptical of this; from my understanding, Gygax was working on his own line through lejendary journeys and though initially praising 3E at its release, had turned his back on D&D's development, washing his hands of anything to do with the system.

Can anyone confirm or deny my cousin's claim that 4E (at least initially) was penned by Gygax?

 

[Dausuul]

Over the Easter weekend, the subject of 4E came up in a conversation with one of my cousins. According to the sources he normally gets his information from, he was adamant in stating that the manuscript for 4E had been penned by Gary Gygax himself.

I'm very skeptical of this; from my understanding, Gygax was working on his own line through lejendary journeys and though initially praising 3E at its release, had turned his back on D&D's development, washing his hands of anything to do with the system.

Can anyone confirm or deny my cousin's claim that 4E (at least initially) was penned by Gygax?

I have no insider information of any kind, but I'll go out on a limb and say that your cousin is totally one hundred percent dead wrong. Gygax left TSR before its collapse and never worked for WotC. He certainly is not listed as an author in 4th Edition. The only place his name appears in the 4E books is in the dedication; the 4E Player's Handbook was dedicated to him as a tribute after his death.

(That said, Wikipedia credits him with some involvement in the development of Castles and Crusades, so he didn't wash his hands of D&D entirely.)

 

[Morrus]

Over the Easter weekend, the subject of 4E came up in a conversation with one of my cousins. According to the sources he normally gets his information from, he was adamant in stating that the manuscript for 4E had been penned by Gary Gygax himself.

It was not.

Who is your friend's source?

 

[Doug McCrae]

So when people say 4e killed Gary Gygax, what they mean is the strain of writing it killed him? Makes a certain amount of sense.

 

[TerraDave]

April Fools is over.

 

[malraux]

Over the Easter weekend, the subject of 4E came up in a conversation with one of my cousins. According to the sources he normally gets his information from, he was adamant in stating that the manuscript for 4E had been penned by Gary Gygax himself.

I'm very skeptical of this; from my understanding, Gygax was working on his own line through lejendary journeys and though initially praising 3E at its release, had turned his back on D&D's development, washing his hands of anything to do with the system.

Can anyone confirm or deny my cousin's claim that 4E (at least initially) was penned by Gygax?

If he did, he did it in an uncredited fashion. And certainly 4e looks very distinct from anything Gygax himself designed or wrote, even in his later years.

 

[JohnRTroy]

I have no insider information of any kind, but I'll go out on a limb and say that your cousin is totally one hundred percent dead wrong.

Having been in communication and working with Gary for several years, I can say the following.

He did nothing for 3e for WoTC outside of the following.

1) He was consulted to review the 3e rules by Peter Adkison.
2) He and Arneson were at GenCon to talk about the 3e ruleset.
3) He did some reminiscing articles for Dragon Magazine.

The only reason he did anything for WoTC was because of Peter Adkison involvement--Gary trusted him and Peter went to great pains to try to mend fences as best as he could. Once Peter left, Gary had no incentive to strengthen any relationship. He considered doing some Greyhawk stuff but no deals could be made. He also publically disliked 3e as he got to see it in action.

He really had little or no contact with WoTC, and certainly had no hand in anything involving 4e.

(That said, Wikipedia credits him with some involvement in the development of Castles and Crusades, so he didn't wash his hands of D&D entirely.)

Outside of some general guidelines, Gary did no rules creation for that system--he didn't seem interested in writing new rules for C&C or any rules system other than Lejendary Adventures. (And to be fair, after his stroke in 2004, he went from doing 60 hour weeks writing to very little--he was still lucid and capable but he said he was in "semi-retirement" afterwards). Most of the stuff penned by Gary by himself was submitted some years before his stroke.

Gary still played his own house-ruled D&D, especially for Castle Greyhawk/Zagyg, and his preference was his newest game system.

 

[Obryn]

I lol'd.

-O

 

[Windjammer]

Over the Easter weekend, the subject of 4E came up in a conversation with one of my cousins. According to the sources he normally gets his information from, he was adamant in stating that the manuscript for 4E had been penned by Gary Gygax himself.

The only written source which details the very first "manuscript" circulated in 4E's design stage is Wizards presents: Races and Classes, which credits Dave Noonan as the author of that manuscript. You gotta be careful here though, as Noonan basically penned down a couple of design goals that 4E, whatever else it would contain, had to fulfil. I'd reserve the label "manuscript" for the first attempt by the (other) 4E designers (Heinsoo and Mearls e.g.) to deliver a short write-up of a game system that delivered some of Noonan's goals.

About the only official involvement of Gygax with 4E is limited to the core rulebooks being dedicated to his memory.

I'm very skeptical of this; from my understanding, Gygax was working on his own line through lejendary journeys and though initially praising 3E at its release, had turned his back on D&D's development, washing his hands of anything to do with the system.

That's not quite accurate. Gygax heavily disliked 3E for, among other things, doing away with the "archetypes" and rendering alignment into something "meaningless" (there's a famous quote which you find easily). The first and only time Gygax appreciated 3E was when Monte Cook wrote up Unearthed Arcana, a d20 spin off using lion folk and ritual warriors among other things. Gygax appreciated that Cook showcased the flexibility of d20 and used d20 to create something of his own, as opposed to (perhaps) creating a fantasy heartbreaker.

Can anyone confirm or deny my cousin's claim that 4E (at least initially) was penned by Gygax?

Apart from WotC sources - which we've all learned to never trust! - there's only the man himself. Unfortunately it's still debated which plane he departed to.

 

[Stormonu]

It was not.

Who is your friend's source?

I couldn't get him to state a specific source, which was another reason I was highly skeptical. I suspect it arose from shop talk with the other gamers in his group, one of which I know is prone to "flights of fancy" and claims of inside knowledge from a "company source" - in whatever game they may be playing.

He also made a claim that Wizards had sold the rights for D&D back to Paizo (along with some other wild claims about Paizo), which from the "If you were the CEO of Paizo" and their own site I was blatantly able to prove to be untrue at this time. I just couldn't locate any evidence to refute his other claim about Gygax.