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.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Gary, I am happy to say that I purchased my plane tickets for the convention today and can't wait to spend some gaming time with you and the rest in June!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hi Gary,

That's because environmentalism is the new opiate of the masses! With apologies to Karl Marx, of course....

I should not have been discussing politics.

Let us not go further here

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary, I am happy to say that I purchased my plane tickets for the convention today and can't wait to spend some gaming time with you and the rest in June!

That's great!

Milwaikee Mitchell Filed is the closest and best airport, easiest to land, leave, and het to Lake Geneva (about a 45 minute drive when traffic is light, an hour otherwise). As a destination it is likely more expensive than Chicago Ohare, certainly more so than Chicago Midway--a real hassel from which to head north up to Wisconsin.

Anyway, it looks as if there will be a goodly number of GMs and chaps with board annd cardgames in the new and larger facilities of The Cove. I am tempted to bring my shogi ser to see if I can find an opponent. (I am not very adept at the game, as so few people hereabouts play Japanese chess, but I really like the game.)

So see you in just a bit over five weeks, eh?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I would have loved to have landed in Milwaukee since I imagine it's a little less hectic than Chicago, but the price of the ticket was $150-200 more and for a longer flight. I'll go for the cheaper price, and also try to find cheap accomadations (Best Western is over a $100/ night now) or even go camping so that I'll have more money to spend on showcased Troll Lord products. When I was selling the Troll Lord products at the US military base in Germany the Yggsburgh products sold out and I didn't get my hands on a copy for myself. Miraculously I was able to save a Lejendary Adventures boxed set and set of Castles and Crusades rulebooks for future play. Except for my own copy that I retained, I sold all of the rest of those, too.

Anyway, I'll land on early Thursday night and leave Sunday morning, so I'll get to see almost everything at the Convention and hopefully get in on at least one game with the master. Very much looking forward to it!

 

[lkj]

Okay!

If you are close you can join our Thursday evening RPG group here at my place, and/or the boardgaming afternoons at son Ernie's.

Otherwise there are the two Lake Geneva Gaming cons here each year, and a visitor is always welcome

BTW son Luke is living near Monterey Bay, and if you are near there, let me know, and I'll send you his email addy. His wife just had a baby, but soon he will be looking for a gaming group, or for players in his own.

Cheerio
Gary

Thank you very much for the gracious offer, Gary. If I get close enough, I'll definitely take you up on it.

As for Luke-- Aargh. I have to admit I'm sorely tempted. I've not been gettng enough of a gaming fix lately due to the scattering of my trusted gaming buddies, and due to the arrival of my own son (8 months old now and a handful-- though fun beyond belief). However, I'm up in the Bay Area these days, and I think the distance is probably a bit too much for any regular committment.

I do occasionally run an online game using Fantasy Grounds (a poor second cousing to face to face, but better than nothing at all). So if Luke can't find a group and gets desperate, he's definitely welcome.

At any rate, I do appreciate your kindness. And I can't tell you how glad I am that I've had the opportunity to interact with you. It's great.

Cheers,
AD

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I would have loved to have landed in Milwaukee since I imagine it's a little less hectic than Chicago, but the price of the ticket was $150-200 more and for a longer flight. I'll go for the cheaper price, and also try to find cheap accomadations (Best Western is over a $100/ night now) or even go camping so that I'll have more money to spend on showcased Troll Lord products. When I was selling the Troll Lord products at the US military base in Germany the Yggsburgh products sold out and I didn't get my hands on a copy for myself. Miraculously I was able to save a Lejendary Adventures boxed set and set of Castles and Crusades rulebooks for future play. Except for my own copy that I retained, I sold all of the rest of those, too.

Anyway, I'll land on early Thursday night and leave Sunday morning, so I'll get to see almost everything at the Convention and hopefully get in on at least one game with the master. Very much looking forward to it!

So you will rent a car and drive to LG from Chicago. That is the usual way folks get here of they fly

See you soon then,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thank you very much for the gracious offer, Gary. If I get close enough, I'll definitely take you up on it.

As for Luke-- Aargh. I have to admit I'm sorely tempted. I've not been gettng enough of a gaming fix lately due to the scattering of my trusted gaming buddies, and due to the arrival of my own son (8 months old now and a handful-- though fun beyond belief). However, I'm up in the Bay Area these days, and I think the distance is probably a bit too much for any regular committment.

I do occasionally run an online game using Fantasy Grounds (a poor second cousing to face to face, but better than nothing at all). So if Luke can't find a group and gets desperate, he's definitely welcome.

At any rate, I do appreciate your kindness. And I can't tell you how glad I am that I've had the opportunity to interact with you. It's great.

Cheers,
AD

Howdy,

Send me a personal email, and I'll pass along your addy to Luke, send his to you/

ggygax@genevaonline.com

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[haakon1]

In my opinion the best wat for a DM to manage monsters is to know what their type is, generaly what an average one of that sort can do, and then...WING IT!

If you have a group of say, 6 orcs, do you like to roll HP for each orc separately, or just give them all the average?

I like to roll for each monster, to keep the PC's guessing. Also, it helps me with really basic roleplaying -- the orc with 8 hp is an alpha male, an orc's orc, whereas the orc with 1 hp is the runt of the litter, much more likely to run for help, and might even surrender.

 

[haakon1]

He was hoist by his own petard...as will be those espousing the mantra of man-made global warming, right soon too I do believe. Carbon dioxide most assuredly does not cause global warming, although global warming does produce more CO2.

Hey, no politics or religion, and global warming is both.

I have a sneaking inchoate theory that global warming science is bunk. My theory is that the world might very be warming, but that the theory that is caused by human agency is unlikely and I have yet to see any convincing evidence of it.

I think assuming Prius v. Suburban driving will affect the weather is a bit like thinking rain dances affect the weather . . . the ol' agency fallacy.

Sometimes the fault lies not in ourselves, but in our stars. :\

Sorry, catching up on the thread, I didn't realize we were done with this topic, so I was just replying to Gary's original comment. My bad.

 

[haakon1]

How about a discussion of 300?

It's very Third Edition, in that piercings have somehow become a form of armor.

I liked it (the war rhinoceros was fun, and I had one in campaign), but I'd have preferred a movie about the actual battle, instead of a movie about a comic book about the battle.

And it definitely reminded me of the old "Airplane" lines: "So, ever been in a cockpit before, Jimmy? Do you like to watch gladiator movies? Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"