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.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Prolly depends on Gary's mood; he'll relish the gruesome details if he's irritable. But the angst is all the sweeter 'cause the cleric can't fix it in time. ;>

As to the last... I think it's still June...

F

Hey Frank!



Heh,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

OK, so experience is 1 per gold piece worth of goods, I got that. But what about monsters? If you're still using just the three original booklets to game with OD&D, do you award 100 XP per monster level defeated (as insinuated in said booklets), or do you use a more traditional table from the Greyhawk Supplement or AD&D's DMG?

Well...

Usually I make up what I think is the right XP award for the defeat of opponents based on the difficulty of the contest and the level of the critters fighting the PCs. that can be 10 points per for ist level ones of maybe 50 per. As a guideline, the numbers in the PGB are fine, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[WyzardWhately]

Cosmology.

Che true neutral sees all of the cosmos as a whole mechanism, the opposing forces necessary to keep the "mechabnism" running as it should. Daek balances light, death life, evil good, suffering pleasure, etc. that help?

Cheers,
Gary

That's a good clarification. The defense I was preparing was based more on the cosmology. That is, if these forces are not merely abstractions (as they seem to be in our world...I'm not denying the existence of evil, I've seen too much of it, but I don't have an evil-detector available at the university), but cosmological forces, it makes sense that any of them would generate a following. That is, the very existence of the Plane of Concordant Opposition (that was the TN one, right?) indicates a cosmological principle that one could serve.

I'm forced to compare alignment, and it's attendant bodies of mystical servitors and home planes, to the wildly diverse cliques and subcultures of the real world. No matter how drastic or silly something is, *someone* will devote themselves to it. Dedicating oneself to cosmic balance (especially when Angels can be nearly as obnoxious as devils ) makes at least as much sense as the culture of School Spirit those of us who attended midwestern American high schools were put through. I don't know if the same phenomena exists in other areas.

Uhh, sorry for the long post. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

(Incidentally, this does inspire me to create a campaign setting where all the alignments are fairly equally represented, and in fact people have bumper stickers, logos, spokespersons, & etc. for them. "Coyote News on Channel four has a Lawful Evil bias!" I can see it now...)

 

[Col_Pladoh]

WyzardWhately,

Not much to add to your exposition, other than to say that Concordant Opposition is Balance. The Oriental concept of Yang and Yin is good example of the True Neutral concept.

How I would love ID political parties with the D&D alignments, but that's a no-no

Cheers,
Gary

 

[dcas]

How I would love ID political parties with the D&D alignments, but that's a no-no

I was just reading a comment from Steve Jackson (of GURPS fame) this morning in which he noted that most adventuring parties think of themselves as lawful good but are in fact chaotic neutral. I wonder if this can be applied to political parties as well. . . .

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I was just reading a comment from Steve Jackson (of GURPS fame) this morning in which he noted that most adventuring parties think of themselves as lawful good but are in fact chaotic neutral. I wonder if this can be applied to political parties as well. . . .

Noppers!

Both of the major political parties are lawful. They want more laws and bigger government, more control over the citizens.

Ruefully,
Gary

 

[WyzardWhately]

WyzardWhately,

Not much to add to your exposition, other than to say that Concordant Opposition is Balance. The Oriental concept of Yang and Yin is good example of the True Neutral concept.

How I would love ID political parties with the D&D alignments, but that's a no-no

Cheers,
Gary

I assume you're referring to the 'no politics' rules here?

Hmm. If you really want to, and it sounds like you do, just email it to me. I'll post it on my 'blog and put up a link in this thread. If people want to argue about it, they can do it there.

Sound acceptable?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I assume you're referring to the 'no politics' rules here?

Hmm. If you really want to, and it sounds like you do, just email it to me. I'll post it on my 'blog and put up a link in this thread. If people want to argue about it, they can do it there.

Sound acceptable?

Indeed I am, and a fine rule it is too

As for political comments, I'll confine those to my two talk lists--there's enough heated exchanges there for me to avoid causing more anywhere else

Cheers,
Gary

 

[DM-Rocco]

Thanks for the generous offer of hospitality!


Cheers,
Gary

You should have my e-mail address still if you are interested in coming to play, if not, here it is:
c.e.rocco@comcast.net

Now that I think of it, I may have given you my old address last time, oh well, cheers

 

[Zudrak]

Do real gamers still go to RPGnet? I'll be...

ROFLOL