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.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

hi Gary.

I was wondering, do you own any weapons?

knives, swords, flails, etc.

 

[snarfoogle]

Hi, Gary.

I just wanted to know, how'd you come up with the Grell? I've seen a Grell in a CRPG, and I didn't know if they took it from you and D&D or you both got it from the same source.

hi Gary.

I was wondering, do you own any weapons?

knives, swords, flails, etc.

Heh. "Here, take my +1 mace!"

Thanks,
Snarfoogle

 

[fusangite]

Gary,

I'm curious: in your vision of D&D, do all the various species of monsters in the Fiend Folio, Monster Manual, etc. all exist concurrently in the same world or was it expected that most campaign worlds would have a subset of these?

 

[grodog]

1974 TSR product: Warriors of Mars

Hi Gary---

Do you recall how many copies of Warriors of Mars were printed and sold, and whether or not there was a "recall" as a recent eBay seller seemed to imply:

Here is a real rarity for collectors of early D&D or RPG games! While not a true RPG, Warriors of Mars represents the flip side of Dungeons and Dragons. Both rule sets were published in 1974,with Gary Gygax as lead author. The book is a real rarity today. The copyright holders of Edgar Rice Burroughs work forced Tactical Studies Rules to stop publication, so it went out of print very quickly. The book is in near mint condition, probably unused.

To view images for the curious, see
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2545&item=3145950195

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I think somebody needs to help Gary get logged in; check John Troy's message from September 3 above (and solomanii's subsequent reply). It's been a month of Sundays since he's been around, or at least it feels that way.

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

OMG some one paid 199.00 to buy it too.
ken

Hi Gary---

Do you recall how many copies of Warriors of Mars were printed and sold, and whether or not there was a "recall" as a recent eBay seller seemed to imply:



To view images for the curious, see
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2545&item=3145950195

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Finally Back!

Here are my questions;

What is the ancestry of your name? I always thought it was an odd name (no offence, mine is even stranger) from the first day my parents gave me the red box as a b'day present.

Gygax is an "ancient Swiss name," according to geneology books. Family legens says it is grom the Greek word for giant, "gigantas," as we are descendants of Goliath who fled the Near East, ended up in Greece for a time before going on to the Swiss Alps and settling in around Berne.

I loved the D&D cartoon as a kid, any idea if this is available in any form? Was it ever released on VHS? or some other format?

As far as i know, there is no authorized production of the cartoon show episodes. Pirate copies do exist...

Why do you list product names in UPPER CASE?

That's an accepted way to list titles if you don't use Italics to do so

How is your relationship with WOTC?

I have no contact with WotC. I do continue to write a column for DRAGON Magazine, but that's no longer a WotC enterprise.

I noticed you like wargames, in particular WWII. Have you every played World in Flames?

Noppers! I really like tactical and grand tactical miniatures and board wargames, but I don't get much chance to play them, Ny facorite WW Ii board wargame remains OPERATION OVERLORD.

Did you ever get a chance to see the Alternity rules from TSR/WOTC? They are fairly rules light/skill package system with options to make them heavier if the players wanted. They continuously reinforced the fact through the GM guide that the game is in the hands of the GM to do what they want in terms of game mechanics.

Yes, i saw ALTERNITY when it was initially released. Great graphics...

Did you ever get to read over the Planescape setting? What did you think of it? Personally it is one of my favourites.

No, and i remind you that you are addressing the creatir of the WORLD OF GREYHAWK

As mentioned I stopped buying Dragon a while back but would like to read your "Up on a Soapbox" columns people have mentioned. Are these available on the web somewhere? Or if they are not too old to back-order, what were the Dragon issues they appeared in?

There have been about 24 run to date, so whatever back number of number DRAGON that gets you to, look there for the start of the series. A few issues were missed, though. There will be another 12 or so of the current column, more if Rob continues to submit essays--he's done three now. When the series concludes there should be sufficient material to make up a small book, and I will be looking for a publisher then.

I will be living a childhood dream next year (2004) and finally going to GenCon. Any chance of seeing you there?

Very doubtful, but I will be at Milwaukee Gamefest in July next year--9-11 July IIRR.

Finally, I cant seem to find the Hall of Many Panes you have mentioned a few times at Amazon.com. Not even as a pre-order. What is the ETA for this game?

No wonder, because while it's been talked about a good deal, it is just now going into editing, having 3.5E material checked. Troll Lord Games hopes to have it ready for the Christmas market, but I am not sure they'll make it. The module is very large, and it will likely be in two books in a boxed set. My LA game group just finished the adventure after playing about a year and a half, averaging three game sessions every four weeks

The Dungeonland and Vault of the Drow adventures are two of my all time favourite modules.
Because of the Vault module I DM'd way back when (mid 80's?) my players (all over 30 now) still shudder when they confront any sort of Drow. I remember colouring in the various pictures of Eclvarda (sp?) to spice up the pictures to show my players. I still have a scan of it somewhere.

Thanks for the good words! Liking the DUNGEONLAND module indicates to me you don't take your gaming too seriously the evil drow queen is "Eclavdra Eilserve" (I think that's the correct spelling of the surname I created, but it's been a long time since last I read the material, let alone the time passed since I wrote it.) Many a DM and player found much in the way of fantastic enjoyment because of the drow...

So even thou I disagree with a lot of the stuff you say (non-RPG related) I thank you for the main hobby that has occupied and enriched a chunk of my life.

You won't likely ever be left in doubt of my opinions if I am asked. Of course all true gamers totally agree with me on all things

Heh,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

What a great website, that cleared up a lot of misunderstanding. Thanks. To get back on topic a two more questions for Garry.

Right, and the Learned Grognards here know their stuff pretty well, so the answers to your questins about D&D - AD&D were answered correctly. D&D was originally published in January 1974. When I was immersed in writing AD&D in 1976, J. Eric Holmes approached us about doing a revision of the D&D set of three booklets and supplements. I was delighted to have him do that, and when he turned in his initial drafy, that became the Basic Set for D&D, I was far enough along with AD&D rules to add a good bit from the latter to the D&D game so as to keep them as compatible as possible in mechanics. The MONSTER MANUAL was the first AD&D book published, that in 1977.

1) Did you roll random hit points for all your players from level 1? I tended to either give max hp every level or max first level plus an average hitpoint at every other level on bad rolls. Just curious how you ran your games in this.

Yes random rolls were made, but I always allowed a re-roll for a result of 1.

2) The Fighter, where did the name come from? Seems strange since a fighter implies a ring (boxer) in my mind. I wonder why you didnt go with Warrior or Hero or some such.

Always someone second-guessing... the association of "fighter" with a boxer is a relatively recent thing, but let's not get into that sort of discussion, The reason was to have a generic name for those who primarily rely upon weapons when adventuring. Note that each level of that class had a specifin name. A warrior was a lower-lever fighter, a hero was 4th level, and so on. that was done to steal a march from potential competition, and all classes had level names.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

hi Gary.

I was wondering, do you own any weapons?

knives, swords, flails, etc.

Sure, I do own a number of weapons, but most of them are handguns and shoulder arms. About all I have in the way of primitive arms is a Green River and a Bowie knife around somewhere, a couple a cheap sabres. I can't afford to buy original medieval weapons, and I don't want repros, as I am not prone to doing any combat recreational activities any more. I'd be delighted to have a collection of genuine medieval arms and armor dislayed in a large, wood-paneled room in my mansion. Sadly I have no such room, let alone a mansion

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hi, Gary.

I just wanted to know, how'd you come up with the Grell? I've seen a Grell in a CRPG, and I didn't know if they took it from you and D&D or you both got it from the same source.



Heh. "Here, take my +1 mace!"

Thanks,
Snarfoogle

Well Darn!

The grell was not my creation--it's from the FF, as I recall--so I can't supply a useful answer.

The Futurama episode I appeared in is now in syndication, BTW, but they aren't running it much, only once that I know of, so the quote you have is likely to go into obscurity all too soon

Cheers,
Gary