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]

A Freudian slip?

-Hyp.

Actually, I am a Columbus Method typist, and the keyboard os so worn that some of the letters are basically illegible unlrss the light is really bright.

My wife keeps promising me a new one, but...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Thulcondar]

Actually, I am a Columbus Method typist, and the keyboard os so worn that some of the letters are basically illegible unlrss the light is really bright.

My wife keeps promising me a new one, but...

Cheers,
Gary

Good lord... I have a dozen pristine keyboards in my closet. Contact me in PM and I would be honored to ship one out to you post-haste.

Well worth not making the mistakes between "not" and "hot" when talking about the Amazons of Hardby. Such ambiguities we don't need!!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Good lord... I have a dozen pristine keyboards in my closet. Contact me in PM and I would be honored to ship one out to you post-haste.

Well worth not making the mistakes between "not" and "hot" when talking about the Amazons of Hardby. Such ambiguities we don't need!!

Actually a computer repair tech exclaimed that he had never seen a keyboard as worn as this one. I got a wireless one to replace this, but it quit functioning after just a few months. The Dell keyboard works fine, but it remains with that computer :\

I must say that the Despotrix of Hardby is not hot

Many thanks for your kind and generous offer of a keyboard. Sadly, I have switched off PMing, as I dislike communicating thus. My email addy is: ggygax@genevaonline.com

Cheers,
Gary

 

[CRGreathouse]

I saw something posted on a rather old (2002) thread and thought I'd bring it up here to see if you could shed some light on it.

Ok, I hate to admit it because I don't recall the fellows name, but years ago I worked in a gaming store in Monterey CA and there was a fellow who claimed that he was one of the first DnDers, a personal friend of EGG, now in CA because he was in the Coast Guard.

We were skeptical of his claim, but he was never pushy about it, nor boastful, and as time went by we came to feel he was telling the truth. ( His name *was* in the group credits in the 1st ed PHB for whatever that meant)

Anyhow, his one claim to DnD "fame" was that he invented the Lich. Where or how he came up with the name he never said, but he was running an adventure and needed a powerful magic using undead for the final encounter. He did a little mythological research and came up with the lich.

Supposedly, when they were getting ready to copyright the very first DnD game EGG offered this fellow $25 for the "rights" to "his" Lich, which he accepted.

How true is the story? I've always more or less believed it, mostly because I believed him. I mean, if someone was going to fake being one of the original DnDers, don't you think they'd come up with someting more grandiose then one monster? Besides, if he was telling the truth about that, then all his stories about the early days of DnD and TSR were true, and there were some doosies!

I'd also like to know if there's any kernel of truth to this story.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I saw something posted on a rather old (2002) thread and thought I'd bring it up here to see if you could shed some light on it.

I'd also like to know if there's any kernel of truth to this story.

If the chap's name was in the player-group name list, then he was one of the early ones playing the AD&D game back c. 1977.

The business about the lich is not accurate. Lich is listed in the dictionary. I never offered payment to anyone for an idea for a monster. If they wished to not have it published, fine. Monsters are fairly easy to devise on your own.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Sir Elton]

Hardby isn't in any of my Greyhawk materials (The Adventure Begins, Player's Guide, Living Greyhawk Gazzateer). In what product can I find Harby?

Elton.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I must say that the Despotrix of Hardby is not hot

The same cannot be said, of course, of all Hardbyites...

-Hyp.

 

[dcas]

Hardby isn't in any of my Greyhawk materials (The Adventure Begins, Player's Guide, Living Greyhawk Gazzateer). In what product can I find Harby?

Try the GH boxed set from 1983, or perhaps a recent issue of Dungeon?

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

Mr Gygax

What would you be able to tell us about the inspiration and role of troglodytes and lizardmen?

 

[Sir Elton]

The same cannot be said, of course, of all Hardbyites...

-Hyp.

Actually, Hypatia hotter than that hottie.