TSR James M Ward: Meeting Gary Gygax and Learning D&D

[isidorus]

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing

 

[Guest 6801328]

All of the other player's on the porch were third and fourth level as they had been playing for months.

Ahh....that's something I miss from the old days.

Brian helped me roll up a character. With a 17 in intelligence and a 16 in wisdom I was told the natural choice was to be a wizard, which was fine by me.

Ok, I miss that part of it less, but it still makes me smile.

Before I could even think about ducking or diving, Gary informed me that two spears pierced by back and killed me. My D&D career was cut brutally short. Others were cut down in the night and each of the other players looked daggers at me as their characters were killed.

Ha! Oh, the memories....

 

[Toriel]

Very fun and cool story. Feels like we're sitting together beside a fireplace in cozy armchairs. Looking forward to the next installment. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

It is funny you mention the d4. The instructions said to read the number on the bottom of the die, so I kept turning it over and looking at the bottom.

Yeah, I recall that problem too. The infamous D4.... The dice that were in the old Red Box (Erol Otus cover, thankyouvermuch) were really crazy super cheap plastic, too. Those would wear down to nubs. At some point I lost all my dice and had to replace them so those are long gone.

 

[M.T. Black]

“The left one has the picture of an island in the middle of the door (it was the Isle of the Ape in playtest). The middle door has the picture of a walrus on a beach. The right one has a picture of an odd looking humanoid with a strange cap and in its hand is a strange crossbow pistol.”

Hmmm... the three doors...

* Isle of the Ape
* Dungeonland?
* Barrier Peaks???

 

[ParanoydStyle]

Mr. Ward (Drawmiji), thank you for sharing your memories with us. I just want to express my profound gratitude for your contributions to Expedition To The Barrier Peaks (which most likely inspired a generation of genre-bending) and for Metamorphosis Alpha in particular. While Gamma World is the more talked about game usually, as someone who has primarily played (and designed, and published) science fiction rather than fantasy RPGs, M.A. holds a very special place in my heart as what I recognize (wearing my amateur game historian hat) as the first real, fully fledged, science-fiction TTRPG ever created. Also, congratulations on getting your party killed.

 

[guachi]

If you aren't confused and terrified on your first time playing D&D, something went wrong.

As we can see here, everything went right for your first time playing.

 

[murquhart72]

I was thinking the right door led to the Wild West myself...

 

[Toriel]

Yeah, I recall that problem too. The infamous D4.... The dice that were in the old Red Box (Erol Otus cover, thankyouvermuch) were really crazy super cheap plastic, too. Those would wear down to nubs. At some point I lost all my dice and had to replace them so those are long gone.

I still have the dice from both the basic and expert set boxes. The D20 from the basic set is almost completely spherical; it rolls for a very long time before settling on a number.

 

[M.T. Black]

I was thinking the right door led to the Wild West myself...

You might be right - Boot Hill crossover, perhaps?