I think I found the gazebo...

[Derulbaskul]

Many, if not most, are familiar with the "I attack the gazebo" story that can be found in several places on the internet (although it's not as funny as the head of Vecna story, but I digress...).

I have been re-reading my old Dungeon magazines and, in issue 16, I found that there is a gazebo in the reasonably well-known adventure Vesicant.

I wonder is this is the legendary gazebo of that story?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I think the Dread Gazebo predates that version; it was likely a younger cousin.

Remember, the Dread Gazebo had a gaze attack which could incite madness and reckless violence in adventures who looked in its direction.

 

[Wycen]

A dread gazebo would make an awesome thorphy!

 

[Steel_Wind]

Many, if not most, are familiar with the "I attack the gazebo" story that can be found in several places on the internet (although it's not as funny as the head of Vecna story, but I digress...).

I have been re-reading my old Dungeon magazines and, in issue 16, I found that there is a gazebo in the reasonably well-known adventure Vesicant.

I wonder is this is the legendary gazebo of that story?

No, the story as presented generally on the Net is a true one, originating from a session held at a game store in So Cal. The gazebo tale is accurate, more or less as stated on the Net. It was not a monster -- it was a gazebo. The player in question (Andrew was his name) was a computer programmer who was, generally speaking, a superior player. He simply didn't know what a gazebo was. If you are unfamiliar with a word -- you are unfamiliar. It's not a word that intuitively means anything. In this case, he believed it was the name of a monster that he was unfamiliar with.

The original DM in question was Richard Aronson whom I worked with a few years ago at roXidy Games. Richard was a software developer for 30 years, worked at Sierra-On-Line and most recently, Left-Field. He's currently teaching computer game design in Phoenix. He told me the tale on a couple of occasions. Not a vessicant or anything else. It was just a 10' wide gazebo.

 

[Kzach]

It was not a monster -- it was a gazebo.

Which is, of course, what makes the story such a classic

 

[Derulbaskul]

No, the story as presented generally on the Net is a true one, originating from a session held at a game store in So Cal. The gazebo tale is accurate, more or less as stated on the Net. It was not a monster -- it was a gazebo. The player in question (Andrew was his name) was a computer programmer who was, generally speaking, a superior player. He simply didn't know what a gazebo was. If you are unfamiliar with a word -- you are unfamiliar. It's not a word that intiotively means anything. In this case, he believed it was the name of a monster that he was unfamiliar with.

The original DM in question was Richard Aronson whom I worked with a few years ago at roXidy Games. Richard was a software developer for 30 years, worked at Sierra-On-Line and most recently, Left-Field. He's currently teaching computer game design in Phoenix. He told me the tale on a couple of occasions. Not a vessicant or anything else. It was just a 10' wide gazebo.

I think you were in too much of a hurry to tell your story.

In my post I refer to finding a gazebo in the adventure. The adventure is called Vesicant. There is a gazebo on the roof of a palace but the gazebo is not called Vesicant nor does it have a name because it is a gazebo. However, there is a green dragon is called Vesicant.

I was simply wondering if this was the adventure containing the gazebo which started the story so many of us have read. I will now re-read the adventure to see if there were any thorphies stored in the gazebo.

 

[Stormonu]

I'd always figured it was a metagame mistake; the character(s) in the story confused a gazebo with the type III demon - the glabrezu.

 

[Orius]

I thought that story took place waaay back in the early days of D&D, mid-late 70s, and this guy thought the gazebo was some monster he'd never heard of before. I don't get the impression that it was confusion with a glabrezu, and it certainly preceeded anything in Dungeon.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I thought that story took place waaay back in the early days of D&D, mid-late 70s, and this guy thought the gazebo was some monster he'd never heard of before. I don't get the impression that it was confusion with a glabrezu, and it certainly preceeded anything in Dungeon.

You could be right. I was just surprised to see a gazebo in an early edition of Dungeon (issue 16; 1E rules in use) so was wondering if it had been early enough to be the inspiration for this particular story.