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]

No question in my mind that a well-written script with a good plot and devloped characters was the first step needed for a successful D&D movie.

Considering the property, the D&D mark, a really fine script would be sufficient to get the ball rolling. that would have been lining up a name actor or two committed to the project. Thereafter the rest should fall into line. The problem was the director, of course...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[optimizer]

Howdy!

Well, not necessarily. I have an "Olde Time Dungeopn Crawl" scenario amongst the adventures found in the HALL OF MANY PANES module. It is set up for experienced Avatars, mainly, say with at least a year of adventuring credits, but it can handle beginners or veteran Avatars with three or more years of play. the key is the judgement of the Lejend Master on adjusting the number of creatures or NACs encounterd, their Health and chance to hit and inflict Harm. Of course, I packed the normal-sised dungeon level quite full of interesting places, and made it difficult to move around and map, and it must be mapped in order to find the keys to escaping the place, cause the return pane portal to appear



Your second assumption is correct. the LA game does offer, not to say demand, the LM to spend as much time developing adventures not set in dungeons, and the players' Avatars gain as much from such activity therein as they do from subterranean delving. Outside dungeons the focus can be on role-play, intregue, politics, or just about anything else including exploration and combat.

Cheers,
Gary

I think that I understand - thanks!

I enjoy reading your posts about HoMP -- that is one adventure I am waiting for!

I like how you designed LA to handle more than just dungeon exploration. It seems like an LM can create a world to explore and players can create Avatars to attempt almost anything in that world.

Mike

 

[BOZ]

another good idea would be combining elements from more than one classic module or series... no need to constrain yourself to the limitations of one story.

 

[blackshirt5]

Dear Gary,

Wouldn't just about ANY summer movie be made cooler by converting it into a D&D movie? I can see it now;

Charlie's Angels 2-They're all Trumpet Archons, they all work for the Great God Charlie. Bosley, of course, is an Avatar or a high-level cleric of Charlie.

Pirates of the Caribbean-Admittedly, I can't make this much cooler than it already looks.

Tomb Raider 2-Admittedly, making it a RIFTs movie would make it cooler than it looks.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

It seems that the Trolls are still trying to hammer our how they are going to package a module of 500 page length, so the release date for HALL OF MANY PANES is not yet set. It will probably be a boxed set with two books and who knows what else, but it will provide a year of adventuring fun--all sorts of different scenarios, plenty of combat nonetheless, as I like it in adventures

As for making most films fantasy bases, I'll take a pass. No sense in wearing out the genre thus, eh? The LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN coming next month is fantasy, but not medieval-type, and one that should prove well worth seeing!

Cheers,
Gary

 

[dcollins]

Gary, I was leafing through the AD&D Descent into the Depths of the Earth modules, recently, and it occured to me to ask about the "Large Scale Map" included inside which briefly portrays maybe 4 times as many areas as actually are encountered in the adventure yourself.

I'm wondering: Did you draw this layout yourself, or was this content an addition by some other person (as I understand occasionally happened with some projects)? If you ever used this map, how much of the surrounding areas did you ever detail for your own purposes?

 

[Hadit]

The LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN coming next month is fantasy, but not medieval-type, and one that should prove well worth seeing!

The LoEG movie does look like it will be pretty good, but I am still leery that it will not come close to the excellence of the comic.
Hollywood tends to err on the side of excess (and simplification).

I read an interview with Alan Moore in which he was questioned about how he would feel if Hollywood destroyed his 'baby'... he said he couldn't care less! He was just happy to get paid the large dollars! He felt that if it drew attention to his comic, then all the better.

 

[MerricB]

It seems that the Trolls are still trying to hammer our how they are going to package a module of 500 page length, so the release date for HALL OF MANY PANES is not yet set. It will probably be a boxed set with two books and who knows what else, but it will provide a year of adventuring fun--all sorts of different scenarios, plenty of combat nonetheless, as I like it in adventures

Thanks for the update, Gary.

Time for a (somewhat silly) question: how many dice do you have?



Cheers!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary, I was leafing through the AD&D Descent into the Depths of the Earth modules, recently, and it occured to me to ask about the "Large Scale Map" included inside which briefly portrays maybe 4 times as many areas as actually are encountered in the adventure yourself.

I'm wondering: Did you draw this layout yourself, or was this content an addition by some other person (as I understand occasionally happened with some projects)? If you ever used this map, how much of the surrounding areas did you ever detail for your own purposes?

howdy!

All the material in the D series was done exclusively by me, illustrations aside, of course. The additional areas of the underworld were sketchily detailed, but I have no idea where those notes have ended up

My players were not much delighted with the thought of continuing adventures there, so my efforts came to no useful end. My next plan was to detail the city or Erelheicindlu, but the lads absolutely refused to take their characters into the place

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

The LoEG movie does look like it will be pretty good, but I am still leery that it will not come close to the excellence of the comic.
Hollywood tends to err on the side of excess (and simplification).

I read an interview with Alan Moore in which he was questioned about how he would feel if Hollywood destroyed his 'baby'... he said he couldn't care less! He was just happy to get paid the large dollars! He felt that if it drew attention to his comic, then all the better.

Hope springs eternal in my breast

I do really enjoy the writing style of Alan Moore--perfect blend of the late Victorian horror/Oriental mystery novel and the pulp zines of the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

As for his statement about the film not being true to his work, I can relate to the salve of receiving large amounts of cash to compensate for that. However, I hope his agent took all that up front, and his payments are not based on preoducer's net receipts...

Fingers crrosed,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thanks for the update, Gary.

Time for a (somewhat silly) question: how many dice do you have?



Cheers!

The HOMP module is back on the active project list according to Steve Chenault, so Troll Lord Games might have it as a Christmas release, it being a boxed set and all

Actually, Merric, I am not much of a collector, and I don't care about fancy dice. I have about 50 that I use regularly, and various others scattered all over, so I can't give you a real answer. I do have about 200 or so blue and white 10-siders in a box in the basement. there were a lot more but I have given many pairs away.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[dcollins]

All the material in the D series was done exclusively by me...

Thanks, Gary, very interesting.

 

[mythusmage]

Okay, going to a rather obscure topic (and there is a purpose for asking this), what was the original original name for Dangerous Journeys?

 

[Hadit]

My next plan was to detail the city or Erelheicindlu, but the lads absolutely refused to take their characters into the place

Bah! Boo to that!
Definately NOT my crew!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thanks, Gary, very interesting.

You are certainly welcome

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Okay, going to a rather obscure topic (and there is a purpose for asking this), what was the original original name for Dangerous Journeys?

The name I favored for the system was Infinite Adventures. We made a lsit of possible names and consulted with NEC and JVC. Their choice was Dangerous Dimensions, so that was the what the system was originally called.

Because T$R immediately filed a lawsuit, the name was changed to Dangerous Journies at my suggestion, this being agreeable to NEC and JVC. That cut the rug out from under the demand for a temporary injunction upon the release of the game.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Bah! Boo to that!
Definately NOT my crew!

That's god. The adventuring in the Vault, especially the city, will demand a lot of roleplay, involve plenty of tension, intregue, and incredible danger, but it should be absolutely unlike adventuring just about anywhere else.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Hi Gary!

Long time fan, first time poster, yadda, yadda ...

Thanks for bringing so much to this game, which I've been enjoying since 1981. My earliest and fondest D&D memories are of various hijinks around the village of Hommlett and in the Caves of Chaos.

I know you've been involved to some extent with the soon-to-be-released Temple of Elemental Evil CRPG. Had you been king for a day and able to direct the adventure for the first Greyhawk-based CRPG (AFAIK), what would you have selected to best capture the classic Greyhawk feel? ToEE, another AD&D adventure, or something original/unpublished?

There has been a lot of discussion, too, from the ToEE developers and fans about a potential sequel -- most often the Giants-Drow series is mentioned. If that were to come to pass, what changes, updates, additions, or more fully developed areas would you recommend for those adventures, now with 25 years of hindsight?

Thanks!

 

[Alzrius]

Howdily hey Gary!

I'm a huge fan of Orcus (the biggest one I know, though Nightfall and the Necromancer Games people could contest that), and I was wondering if you could share any thoughts/opinions/anecdotes about him from back in the day. I know this isn't really a question, but anything at all would be really great. Thanks!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hi Gary!

...

I know you've been involved to some extent with the soon-to-be-released Temple of Elemental Evil CRPG. Had you been king for a day and able to direct the adventure for the first Greyhawk-based CRPG (AFAIK), what would you have selected to best capture the classic Greyhawk feel? ToEE, another AD&D adventure, or something original/unpublished?

There has been a lot of discussion, too, from the ToEE developers and fans about a potential sequel -- most often the Giants-Drow series is mentioned. If that were to come to pass, what changes, updates, additions, or more fully developed areas would you recommend for those adventures, now with 25 years of hindsight?

Thanks!

Troika is 100% responsible for the content of the ToEE CRPG. All I did was answer some questions from their head developer in regards to the direction and interpretaions he had taken and made. Fact is they are spot on in my estimation, although I have not seen any of the actual game.

As for choice of a beginning point, the VoH-ToEE one seems solid to me. I know after that Troika wants to do the G series and the D one also. That makes sense to me also.

As for changes, if I were writing the G and D series today, I'd put in some detailed backstory and include more adventure hooks, but most of the encounter material would remain just as it is--with additional ways to manage some areas, more dialog, and possibly some expansion of each separate area so as to make each module about the same length.

General question for any reader who DMed or played in G1: Has any party ever disguised themselves as the hill giant "kids," so as to roam around the steading that way? I set it up as a possibility, but as far as I know the disguise potential has never been used.

Cheers,
Gary