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.

 

[Burlappen]

What I was expounding on was a cosmology of parallel worlds to Earth, each with varying magical activity. I did not mention the technology level of those worlds or other parallel worlds in the series, but they too exist in that multiverse.

Aerth was detailed for the Dangerous Journeys game system, but not that envisioned in 1984 as a direct connection to Oerth was no longer possible. Since then I have designed the Learth, the world setting for the Lejendary Adventure FRPG. It too is separate as the Aerth is no longer my IP either. At least the baseling, Earth, remains available to all designers seeking to devise a connected series of parallel worlds

So many game projects, so little time...

Cheerio,
Gary

I'm really lots more interested in the idea of taking Greyhawk back to its roots, back to what it was -supposed- to be than I am in trying to figure out what it's current IP holders' ideas are. I mean really all I need do to find that out is buy the latest iteration of D&D. For another thing, IP ownership or no they are, after all, your ideas. I would tend to be more interested in how you wanted your setting to be, than the opinion of some guy whose lap they happened to fall into. I'm much more intrigued by what you'd originally intended.

I know (or at least have been led to believe) that the Great Wheel of planes was originally yours--the one radiating out from the great spire with the planes like Limbo, Mechanus, The Nine Hells, etc. How did you see that relating to places like Yarth or Learth? I mean I know how it works in third edition--with portals through the demiplanes or the plane of shadow, but how did you see everything hooking together when you designed it?

Oh, and I would really be interested to hear more about the other parallel worlds. Different technology levels you say? I heard you guys mentioning something about an alternate London setting where the PCs were after the original Mace of St. Cuthbert. Was that one of them? What are the other worlds like? I assume from your interview that Oerth was to be the most magically powerful of the settings. Is earth the most modern? Are the others closer tech-wise to Earth or Oerth? The intriguing idea with this is that if Oerth is the parallel of midieval Earth, it would suggest that there's a modern day Oerth parallel to our modern day. Glass and steel skyscrapers? Dwarves on motorcycles? Magic permanent image billboards? Then again, since it would seem Oerth ports into 1800's "London" on one world that maybe the chronologies don't overlap at all.

What about gods? Are they the same for every world, or does each world have its own gods? Does the amount of magic in a particular world determine the amount of divine presence?

Sorry. I don't want to overload you with questions. I do think though that my personal druthers would be to run any future 2nd edition games I do in YOUR original Greyhawk setting rather than the "official" stuff offered by WotC or whoever. Certainly I think it would make a more interesting game. Especially with 4th edition around the corner.

 

[haakon1]

And to think the Brits gave up their proper system of measurement for a French kickshaw. Only the USA won't give an inch in that regard!

If you give the inch, they'll take the mile.

When I last lived in the UK, it seemed the old systems of measurement were still used for:
-- fevers in F degrees (but weather in C degrees)
-- beer in pints
-- car speed in mph, highway distances in miles and yards
The important stuff changes last, it would seem.

I remember having a very confusing conversation with a supermarket butcher when I asked him for a pound of ground beef. He wanted to know if that was money or weight, and when I said weight, made me do the translation, because his scale wouldn't do it. In the local butcher shop, though, they didn't have to ask any questions.

 

[haakon1]

As the AD&D rakshasa is not a potent demon, I did indeed have a couple of them as the head of a group of nasties bent on wreaking havoc. As some nagas were opposing them the PCs could get assistance to defeat the tiger-demons.

Nod, where there's rakshasa, there's nagas, at least according to something I saw from a Cambodian temple.

Also, in Hinduism, there are some kind of monkey folks that helped the gods defeated the rakshasa, I think. (This is mostly coming from an Indian co-worker, and I'm not sure I've got it right!) The Indian festival about the defeat of Ravana, the rakshasa lord, was a few weeks ago. Apparently, the festival is a fairly important Hindu holiday and involves a lot of dancing.

 

[haakon1]

Ironically, I just watched that very episode the other day. As a child, it was one of my favorites and certainly colored the way I used rakshasas in my old AD&D campaign. Nice to hear you obviously derived as much inspiration from it as I did.

So what did you do with this interesting monster?

I loved the illustration in the MM, of the rakshasa with a pipe.

 

[haakon1]

Actually, decimalisation (the first of the Great Dumbing-Downs) was started in 1969 and completed in Febuary of '71 - long before punk rockers which were long after horse-drawn carrages. This, along with what was said about The Borribles pretty well confirms that the adventure was not set on Earth at all.

I think I confused decimalisation with the elimination of medieval counties and the creation of places like the "West Midlands Conurbation". I'm pretty sure that was 1974. It seems OK for Wales (which was messy), but a tragedy for England. Poor Rutland!

I can't remember if Northern Ireland got changed or not . . .

 

[Nagora]

I think I confused decimalisation with the elimination of medieval counties and the creation of places like the "West Midlands Conurbation". I'm pretty sure that was 1974. It seems OK for Wales (which was messy), but a tragedy for England. Poor Rutland!

Yes, I think everyone misses Rutland and it made a surprise reappearance in the floods this summer when the BBC suddenly started talking about the situation "in Rutland".

I can't remember if Northern Ireland got changed or not . . .

No. We're still the same six counties out of the ancient nine Ulster counties.

 

[rossik]

Grain measurements are something that are hard for me to internalize. I'm sure if I could actually see what a bushel's worth of whatever looks like I'd have a better idea.

I'm running into the same issue with the koku measurement. I mean, I know it means enough rice to support one man for one year in theory, but no idea how much rice that even looks like.

dont know if this is right, but, from wikipedia:

A koku (石, koku?) is a unit of volume in Japan, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, or 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year (one masu is enough rice to feed a person for one day). A koku of rice weighs about 150 kilograms (23.6 stone or 330 pounds).

 

[rossik]

Heh...

I mentioned "pig-like faces" to Dave Sutherland, and he took me far too literally as far as I was concerned.

same thing for the pumpkin bugbears, right?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Jolt, sorry but the only ear that can hear is that belonging to WotC. It seems to me that they have absolutely no interest in the existing WoG, let alone any expansion.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Burlappen, see my comments to Jolt above.

If anyone supposes I am going to creatively contribute to the IP of WotC gratis, they are sadly mistaken.


Gary