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.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Oh, there are - obviously - a host of spells to protect structures. A certain spell from the old Tome of Magic 2nd Edition comes to mind here (it reflects spells right back at the caster.)

But I am asking now about the old 1st Edition/2nd Edition Wall of Force.
That spell has been a Question Mark for 20 years.

Nothing like asking the Creator of the Game for his take on Wall of Force.

Yours Sincerely
Edena_of_Neith

 

[Col_Pladoh]

(considers Gary's post above)

Rats. Another evil plan by my characters to take over the D&D worlds foiled.
I don't get to wipe out $60 spent by the DM and 10 to 20 hours (or more) of preparation on his part with a single spell. Nuts. It's totally unfair. It's unfair, I tell you! Unfair!

Clearly you understand why I opined as I did

Anyways ...

The tactic I suggested (using the Rock to Mud) caused me to ask: what could I do, if my characters had a castle, to protect against it (assuming a DM used such tactics as the Rock to Mud tactic.)

The first thought that came to mind was Wall of Force.

So ...

Just how powerful is Wall of Force? How much damage will it take before it collapses? I have had to make a lot of arbitrary rulings on this, since the spell is not invincible but it is very powerful.
Now, I'm curious on your take.

For example, let's say a Wall of Force cast by a 10th level wizard has 1,000 hit points? An 11th level wizard would create a Wall of Force with 1,210 hit points? A 12th level wizard would create a Wall of Force with 1,440 hit points?

- Perhaps a 6 dice fireball removes 6 points, and a 30 hit dice fireball 30 points from the Wall (plus the level of the spell in points, plus the level of the caster, in points) ?
- Spells and items that fire other spells that inflict dice of damage (Cone of Cold, Lightning Bolt, etc.) would inflict 1 hit point per hit dice of damage on the Wall (plus the level of the spell and the level of the caster, or the level required to create the item plus the level of it's spell plus the level of it's user) ?
- Other types of spells (enchantment, illusion, wild magic, etc.) successfully deflected by the Wall cause it to sustain hit points of damage equal to the level of the spell (plus the level of the spell and the level of the caster) ?
- Innate spell-like attacks cause 1 point of damage to the Wall per spell level equivalent, plus the a number of points of damage equal to the hit dice of the monster?
- A weapon hit, does no damage, except for it's magical bonus, counted in points of damage (a + 3 sword does 3 points.) ?
- A stick of dynamite would do 1 point per hit dice of blast damage? (So, your typical stick of dynamite would do 6 points of damage.)
- A firearm would do 1 point per hit dice of damage caused (including the area effect attacks of weapons like gatling guns, mini-guns, etc.) ?
- An energy weapon attack (such as a lightsabre, plasma cannon, phaser, whatever) would do 1 point of damage per hit dice of damage caused?
- Disintegration attacks would down the Wall, without harming what was behind it?
- The Wall would lose, say, 1 point per ton of impact (that is, a 100 ton locomotive running into it would cause 100 hit points of damage. A 100 ton dragon flying into it would do likewise) ?
- The Wall could hold up 1 ton of weight per hit point? Doubling the weight beyond that would inflict 1 hit point per round on the Wall? Doubling the weight beyond that would inflict 10 hit points per round? Doubling the weight beyond that would inflict 100 hit points per round on the Wall? Any weight beyond that would cause the Wall to instantly collapse?

What is your take?

I've been wanting to ask THIS question for many, many years!

Edena_of_Neith

What you posted seems sound and logical for the game system, so it should fit in your campaign if you do not wish to employ the more cavalier method of foiling such attemopts as I suggested

In short, I have no problem with such rules as you post above. You went to a good deal of effort to set them forth, and it shows.

Considering the weight of solid stone, though, the one-ton weight limit is likely too low. A cubic foot of stone weight around 170 pounds...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I think possibly WotC is using their miniatures game as a way of recruiting newer players. At least that seems to be part of their strategy. I do give them crdit for one thing though: they actively conduct market research. That's something that wasn't seen in the past and ended up hurting the hobby. From what I understand though, the majority of their customers tend to be in their mid 20s or so and have more disposable income to buy gaming products than teens, so they tend to market to those customers.

Teens have plenty of disposable income, as proven by clothing, entertainment, and music sales to that age segment They don't have $100s a month to expend, but they have enough to buy $50 games for sure.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[ghul]

Teens have plenty of disposable income, as proven by clothing, entertainment, and music sales to that age segment They don't have $100s a month to expend, but they have enough to buy $50 games for sure.

Cheers,
Gary

Quite true. Look at Hollywood for example. They save their quality written projects for the last two months of the year, so as to capture the attention of all the awards ceremonies; however, they produce drivel for the other ten months that is aimed largely at a teen-age audience. These days it's remakes of old horror flicks, and the rating is always PG-13, followed by a dvd release that is unrated. Point is, the executives of Hollywood know their target market, and they know these kids have cash in their pockets.

--Ghul

 

[haakon1]

So you are one of THEM...

Flatland born, but woods-reared, that's the best I can claim.

Right pretty for viewing, no fun at all to have to tramp over. about all we have hereabouts are the gravel hills left as terminal moraine desposit. Some of those knobs are relatovelt steep, though, and most difficult to clamber up. Thankfully, I haven't been moved to do such things for some years now

Our "mountains" are actually not all that tall, which makes it fun to hike around. My hometown's terrain is ancient mountains ground down by glaciers, marshland in between the rocky hills and rock outcroppings, and randomly left-behind glacial boulders. Throw in the old abandoned fire tower and CCC stone lean-tos in the reservation, Spy Rocks where the colonials spotted the Red Coats and ambushed them on Stone Hill Road, and you've got some "inspiring" terrain for gamers. And we've got some fun history that I've ripped off for "medieval" authenticity in my games with people from other places. The Leatherman, for instance, makes a good background NPC.

http://www.townofpoundridge.com/

So, has much of Lake Geneva made it into your writings? I assume a whole of it has, not just the old abandoned looney bin of Zagyg the Mad.

hunting a komodo dragon armed only with a staff is brave to the point of foolheartiness. My friends and I would have dared it only with our bows...or maybe out rifles and shotguns.

See, that's where you caught me in being a Flatlander. We were "hunting", but we didn't expect to find anything. Our "fieldcraft" skills were limited to being able to tell the scat of a few different animals, knowing when a trail was used by deer (pretty much if it existed, it was, but we knew signs like when they rubbed themselves on trees), spotting where deer sleep, knowing what some of the plants were. None of us actually had weapons better than our DM's BB rifle, which he left home. Considering our town is about 30 square miles with 4000 people, and we started in our DM's backyard and "hunted" along the deer trails for about 2 hours, we would have been almost as shocked as the media if we'd found it.

Plus, carrying around fallen 5' long tree branches wouldn't be considered unusual or disturbing if somebody saw us . . . perfectly normal behavior, as Gandalf convinced the guards at Edoras. Who's to know if it's for defense against dragons or for scrambling up rocky outcroppings? I suppose we could have brought axes, but who wants to carry an axe around in the woods? It's not like we come from Wisconsin and we work in a lumber mill there.

As for blame for injury, likely D&D, and I as well, swould have been fingered

You know it. If we found it and directed the proper authorities to rescue it (which was the plan), the local news story would have emphasized the Boy Scout (later Eagle Scout) background of one of the guys (the DM). If we found it and somebody got bitten, it would probably have made national news (the Enquirer or the Darwin Awards, perhaps!) but it would be all about the crazy D&D players!

See -- D&D isn't just a doorway to worshipping Satan -- it's also a gateway to getting horribly infected bites from huge tropical lizards with bad dental hygene! The teens of small town America need to be protected!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Howdy Haakon1,

That sounds like me, born in Flatland, summered in Wisconsin and removed there when I was age 8.

Not much of Lake Geneva has made it into mt fantasy writing, but nearby Elkhorn made in into Gamma World, and I have a horror campaign written up in part that's based in LG and the surrounding area.

While none of us were woodsmen, save Phil Gray who became a forest ranger, we did a lot of, hiking, hunting, and camping. Deer are the largest game animals hereabouts, and only a few coyotes slink unseen through the night.

Back to the World Series game now

Cheers,
Gary

 

[BOZ]

woohoo, go sox!

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Thanks Gary for the reply.

I always thought of Lake Geneva as having a special aura (a magical aura, as it were.) After all, this is the home town of TSR, and had a lot of other nice things about it as well (such as the dashing, leaping mail carriers for the boat.)

 

[haakon1]

Thanks Gary for the reply.

I always thought of Lake Geneva as having a special aura (a magical aura, as it were.)

Nod, my thoughts exactly.

 

[MerricB]

WotC (cum Hasbro) is not actively recruiting new young players through a basic game offering and advertising for such customers.

D&D Basic Game:

It has been selling quite well at my FLGS.

A new edition of the Basic Game seems to be due out in June next year.

Wizards are giving away a copy of the Basic Game as part of a History Channel promotion with the Crusades: Crescents and the Cross program on Nov 6. (see here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/news/20051021a)

They also provide D&D Basic Games to libraries as part another promotion. I know there's been more discussion of this on ENworld, but I can't remember where.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/library

Cheers!