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]

At this juncture my money os on 4E succeeding--at least realtve to 3E. the audience for woW-type games inline is huge, and the revenue from subscribers should be much stronger than that from paper game product sales. It seems likely to me that the WotC designers will do their utmost to make an appealing game for those that love playing online, one that is passable to those that enjoy actual RPGing

What I dearly wish is that the powers that be at Hasbro would decide to re-release some of the best of The Avalon Hill Company titles...such as Rail Baron!

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Xyxox]

At this juncture my money os on 4E succeeding--at least realtve to 3E. the audience for woW-type games inline is huge, and the revenue from subscribers should be much stronger than that from paper game product sales. It seems likely to me that the WotC designers will do their utmost to make an appealing game for those that love playing online, one that is passable to those that enjoy actual RPGing

What I dearly wish is that the powers that be at Hasbro would decide to re-release some of the best of The Avalon Hill Company titles...such as Rail Baron!

Cheers,
Gary

It's terrible that they shelve such wonderful IP. If they aren't willing to re-publish such works, they should at least be willing to sell off the IP so that somebody else can. I was into Avalon Hill wargames long before I ever discovered the white box in my local hobby shop back in '77. I'd love to see some titles come back.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

It's terrible that they shelve such wonderful IP. If they aren't willing to re-publish such works, they should at least be willing to sell off the IP so that somebody else can. I was into Avalon Hill wargames long before I ever discovered the white box in my local hobby shop back in '77. I'd love to see some titles come back.

Heh...

Another old timer I see.

No sense in preaching to the choir on the subject, but it is heartening to see that others agree with me.

BTW, another wargame I would love to see come back into pront is Operation Overlord. I also confess to recalling the OBs of the British and German fleets from the Jutland game and the Bismarck whenever I see a TV program recounting the battles of the same name, and also the Midway OBs from TAHC's game of that name ditto. come to think of it that applies to most of their wargames and the OBs therein whenever watching a program dealing with the associated military history.

Best of all, Tom Shaw is a friend

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[John Drake]

Three in a row!

It seems a good bet that 3.5E was a pot boiler edition as sales of its predecessor were insufficient.

Your observation that Hasbro is behind the move to 4E is another likely accurate appraisal. After all, the audience for fantasy MMPs such as WoW is a whole magnitude or more larger than that for paper FRPG, and the online connection to the ned version of D&D guarantees a regular and predictable income stream.

At least the current D&D designers have caught up to the rules-light learning curve that O propounded in 1999 with the initial release of the LA game system

Cheers,
Gary

Thanks Gary! And I gotta tell you, I can't help but smile when I see that the trend they (Wizards and others too) are working towards is one, basically, you have pioneered, yet again! Well, maybe there is hope down the road, eh? I still love your AD&D game though, even though I'm having a great deal of fun with with LA. Ciao!

 

[haakon1]

Question for you sire, from a fellow player I forwarded your GenCon adventures to:

"At the risk of losing geek-cred points, I have a question:

Why does Gygax post under “Col Pladoh”? (Which I am translating as “Colonel Play-Doh” rather than something arcane in Welsh or something…)"

For myself, I always assumed Col as in "Colonel", as in old-school war gamer, and genteel benevolent dictator/aristocrat/chicken magnet, and Pladoh, as in Play-Doh, for reasons my Int is too low to resolved.

Please tells us the anagram, pun, or lack thereof, should such telling amuse you. And if not, fair enough!

 

[gideon_thorne]

Why does Gygax post under “Col Pladoh”? (Which I am translating as “Colonel Play-Doh” rather than something arcane in Welsh or something…)"

Self effacing humor.

The gamer pappy doesn't take himself as seriously as others take him. ^_~`

 

[MerricB]

What I dearly wish is that the powers that be at Hasbro would decide to re-release some of the best of The Avalon Hill Company titles...such as Rail Baron!

G'day, Gary!

From what I understand, Hasbro doesn't actually have the rights to all the old AH games. The situation is a bit... confused. It certainly confuses me. There are a few old AH games that have been republished or soon will be...

ASL is licensed by Hasbro to Multi-Man Publishing

Titan's rights have been picked up by Valley Games; they're doing a reprint later this year or early in 2008. They're also doing a reprint of The Republic of Rome

Dune's rights have been gained by Fantasy Flight Games, along with Cosmic Encounter (the latter not a AH game, but a classic). CE will be reprinted first, then Dune (and later Borderlands). Unfortunately, the actual rights to do a "Dune" game are not available, but the mechanics will be done in a new setting...

Oh, and there's a recent discussion about your variant to Rail Baron on Boardgamegeek...
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/168817



Cheers!

 

[Xyxox]

Why does Gygax post under “Col Pladoh”? (Which I am translating as “Colonel Play-Doh” rather than something arcane in Welsh or something…)"

For myself, I always assumed Col as in "Colonel", as in old-school war gamer, and genteel benevolent dictator/aristocrat/chicken magnet, and Pladoh, as in Play-Doh, for reasons my Int is too low to resolved.

Please tells us the anagram, pun, or lack thereof, should such telling amuse you. And if not, fair enough!

I've seen the answer on more than one message board thread. All I shall say is the answer includes a state and an alteraton of something else.

 

[Xyxox]

G'day, Gary!

From what I understand, Hasbro doesn't actually have the rights to all the old AH games. The situation is a bit... confused. It certainly confuses me. There are a few old AH games that have been republished or soon will be...

ASL is licensed by Hasbro to Multi-Man Publishing

Titan's rights have been picked up by Valley Games; they're doing a reprint later this year or early in 2008. They're also doing a reprint of The Republic of Rome

Dune's rights have been gained by Fantasy Flight Games, along with Cosmic Encounter (the latter not a AH game, but a classic). CE will be reprinted first, then Dune (and later Borderlands). Unfortunately, the actual rights to do a "Dune" game are not available, but the mechanics will be done in a new setting...

Oh, and there's a recent discussion about your variant to Rail Baron on Boardgamegeek...
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/168817



Cheers!

One of the best things I saw was ASL being reprinted. I was very pleased with this because I've had literally hours upon hours of fun with that game.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thanks Gary! And I gotta tell you, I can't help but smile when I see that the trend they (Wizards and others too) are working towards is one, basically, you have pioneered, yet again! Well, maybe there is hope down the road, eh? I still love your AD&D game though, even though I'm having a great deal of fun with with LA. Ciao!

My pleasure.

The one aspect of the LA game I would truly like to be able to add is the measured-step dungeon crawl progression possible with a class & level system. In all other areas I am content that the new game is superior. One can assuredly do great dungeon crawls using the LA system, but having progressively more difficult ones matching the progress of the character in regards to capacity to manage challenges is most unlikely, as progress in the LA game occurs in small incriments, not in level jumps.

Cheers,
Gary