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]

Hi Gary,

I had a question, which the answer would benefit the members of ENWorld, so I'll ask it here.

With 4e potentially removing the "schools" of magic, I had a question. In 1e you established for spells the "school"--alteration, abjuration, conjuring/summoning, etc. The schools were interesting but in terms of the game, they never really seemed to be more than flavor text--outside of what detect magic would detect. In Unearthed Arcana, you started indicating what auras surrounded the new magic items, and you started mixing the schools a bit. (In the PHB there were 9 schools--mostly 8 and 1 called possession, in UA you started mixing elements of the two for certain spells).

Now, after you left, Wizards decided to do something with this classification--the Illusionist spell list was merged, some spells redefined and a few added, --possession being removed and "universal" being added for critical things like read magic. And then there were 8 "specialist" wizards, 1 for each school, so you had Enchanters and Evokers and Transmutists who were restricted to opposing schools.

But what was your original intent for the schools. Were you planning something in the expansion to deal with these classifications? Maybe something involving spell creation or negation or specialization? Schools in 1e didn't really have that much effect on the game, so I was wondering if you had any master plan for it that never saw the light of day.

Howdy JRT!

Yes, I did intend to have schools of magic based on the types of spells as you note above. The m-u would begin with one specialization, but at verious points along the level progression ladder he could opt to add a new field or intensify his capacity in the original one. This was meant to make m-us interesting beyond the point where they could use 9th level spells, any diversion from specialization delaying the advanced spell level possession but adding new lower level spells of a new school.

No, I never began to work out the tables for such school of magic progression. They would depend in part on how I prolonged the progression of the other classes of characters.

I did employ some of the thinking behind this concept in the DJ Mythus magic system.

Ciao,
Gary

 

[Brace Cormaeril]

Mr. Gygax, I just wanted to say hello. As a kid, playing 1e, my Dm and we players would've never believed that, 20 years later, there would be a place called the Interweb where you could actually say hello to Gary Gygax.

So, hello, Gary Gygax. You rock.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Heh,

The Trolls were planning the release of the Revised Edition of the La game early next year I believe. However, as I have just recently made a pass at converting LA Avatars into Class and Level-type characters for use in a D20 system or in the LA one, there might be a bit of a delay, as I think this will be something that they will want to add to the work.

Here is the URL where you can get a look at my first pass at the conversion: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=210404&page=2

I have revised and expanded the treatment considerably now.

Cheers,
Gary

Thanks for the update Gary!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Mr. Gygax, I just wanted to say hello. As a kid, playing 1e, my Dm and we players would've never believed that, 20 years later, there would be a place called the Interweb where you could actually say hello to Gary Gygax.

So, hello, Gary Gygax. You rock.

Thanks for the good words

It is my pleasure to be here exchanging posts with fellow gamers after nearly 50 years of being a hobby gamer. I started with The Avalon Hill Company game Gettysburgh in the late winter of 1959, so I count from 1960 on as the time I have been a gaming buff. That ignores chess which I played snce 1945, avidly form 1952 on until I discovered board wargames.

Cheers,
gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thanks for the update Gary!

Welcome

Likely in a week or so I'll be posting the final draft of the conversion system on the Trolls' website, at Dragonsfoot, and on www.lejendary.com

Cheers,
Gary

 

[JamesM]

Gary,

This is a rules question related to OD&D, so you may not remember the precise details. Nevertheless, I thought I'd ask. I've come across a couple of mentions recently that assert that, originally, hit dice were not strictly cumulative but were re-rolled each level with that levels appropriate number of dice and the final result taken as the new hit point total for that level only if it exceeded that of the previous level. So, if a 3rd level fighter has 14 hit points, when he reaches 4th level, his player rolls 4d6 (back when all classes had the same hit dice) and, if he rolls 14 or less, he gains no new hit points that level, whereas if he rolls 15 or higher, that's the new hit point total.

Is that correct? I no longer have ready access to my OD&D books, so I can't check to be sure. Does this sound familiar or is it based on a misreading of the original books?

Thanks!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

This is a rules question related to OD&D, so you may not remember the precise details. Nevertheless, I thought I'd ask. I've come across a couple of mentions recently that assert that, originally, hit dice were not strictly cumulative but were re-rolled each level with that levels appropriate number of dice and the final result taken as the new hit point total for that level only if it exceeded that of the previous level. So, if a 3rd level fighter has 14 hit points, when he reaches 4th level, his player rolls 4d6 (back when all classes had the same hit dice) and, if he rolls 14 or less, he gains no new hit points that level, whereas if he rolls 15 or higher, that's the new hit point total.

Is that correct? I no longer have ready access to my OD&D books, so I can't check to be sure. Does this sound familiar or is it based on a misreading of the original books?

Thanks!

Short answer here:

I never used re-rolls in my campaign, nor did I ever play with a Dm that used that device. What is rolled upon gaining a level is what remains ever thus, unless there is magical alteration or divine intyervention.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[JamesM]

I never used re-rolls in my campaign, nor did I ever play with a Dm that used that device. What is rolled upon gaining a level is what remains ever thus, unless there is magical alteration or divine intyervention.

Ah, excellent. Thank you. I asked only because I'd run across several discussions lately where the OD&D rules were interpreted thusly, primarily because it was claimed the original text was unclear and because Phil Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne, whose rules obviously owed a lot to OD&D, handled hit dice in such a fashion.

Thanks.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hello JamesM,

My pleasure to have been of service.

You are correct, Phil Barker based his EPT game rules on those of OD&D.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[grodog]

Likely Sutherland and Mike Carr were the ones that did the layout and editing for the DMG. Mike is still around, so check with him.

I'll do that, and let you know what I find out.

I meant that about your map...oddly enough it resembles many of my hand-drawn ones

*beams*

Gary (ready to kick back after a long day)

I hear you there. Have a great weekend, and don't get snowed/iced in!