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]

hey, there's an idea... free labor! actually, my dad came from a town in upstate new york where that was standard practice. the tradition was broken during his father's generation though, as most of the farms got sold off to developers.

Indeed, Boz!

The same was true hereabouts in Wisconsin. Nowadays the small family farms are mostly sold off to large corporate operations, while those near to the Milwaukee-Lake Geneva corridor are indeed meat for developers. Land in this area is really booming, and urban sprawl is everywhere around

Cheers,
Gary

 

[solomanii]

Ok after 2 weeks of reading the first 2 threads I finally finished .. and then realised there were 2 more! Anyway I decided to ask my questions before finishing the last two threads (probably another 2 weeks). Here are my questions;

What is the ancestry of your name? I always thought it was an odd name (no offence, mine is even stranger) from the first day my parents gave me the red box as a b'day present.

I loved the D&D cartoon as a kid, any idea if this is available in any form? Was it ever released on VHS? or some other format?

Why do you list product names in UPPER CASE?

How is your relationship with WOTC?

I noticed you like wargames, in particular WWII. Have you every played World in Flames?

Did you ever get a chance to see the Alternity rules from TSR/WOTC? They are fairly rules light/skill package system with options to make them heavier if the players wanted. They continuously reinforced the fact through the GM guide that the game is in the hands of the GM to do what they want in terms of game mechanics.

Did you ever get to read over the Planescape setting? What did you think of it? Personally it is one of my favourites.

As mentioned I stopped buying Dragon a while back but would like to read your "Up on a Soapbox" columns people have mentioned. Are these available on the web somewhere? Or if they are not too old to back-order, what were the Dragon issues they appeared in?

I will be living a childhood dream next year (2004) and finally going to GenCon. Any chance of seeing you there?

Finally, I cant seem to find the Hall of Many Panes you have mentioned a few times at Amazon.com. Not even as a pre-order. What is the ETA for this game?

The Dungeonland and Vault of the Drow adventures are two of my all time favourite modules.
Because of the Vault module I DM'd way back when (mid 80's?) my players (all over 30 now) still shudder when they confront any sort of Drow. I remember colouring in the various pictures of Eclvarda (sp?) to spice up the pictures to show my players. I still have a scan of it somewhere.

So even thou I disagree with a lot of the stuff you say (non-RPG related) I thank you for the main hobby that has occupied and enriched a chunk of my life.

Thanks for your time

Michael

 

[JohnRTroy]

A Message from Gary Below...please take note:

It seems that the server for this website has again decided that Col_Pladoh does not exist. I san not log on with the new password Morrus supplied when the first incident of rejection occurred. Not only can't I not log on, but I can't register a new name, as the computer says the email address is not correct, and gives me notice I have to try to register again later.

Anyway, I reported the recurrance of the problem to Morrus a couple of days ago, and I am now awaiting some assistance. Sorry, and I'll respond to questions as soon as I am able to post here again.

 

[solomanii]

I had the same problem. Delete all your temporary files and cookies. Its a pain, but it worked for me.

 

[solomanii]

Also, I always thought that the Red Box D&D (Basic, and then Expert, Companion etc) predated the 1e AD&D. But looking at the copywrights of my Red Box (1983) and the PHB 1e (1978) it seems AD&D 1e predates basic AD&D.

So which came first? Is my box just a re-print of the original D&D released pre-1978?

 

[Clangador]

Also, I always thought that the Red Box D&D (Basic, and then Expert, Companion etc) predated the 1e AD&D. But looking at the copywrights of my Red Box (1983) and the PHB 1e (1978) it seems AD&D 1e predates basic AD&D.

So which came first? Is my box just a re-print of the original D&D released pre-1978?

No. The original Basic D&D was a blue soft-cover book with a Dragon on the front w/ a wizard and warrior facing it. You can go here
"http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/SetPages/Basic.html" for more information on the basic sets.

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

No. The original Basic D&D was a blue soft-cover book with a Dragon on the front w/ a wizard and warrior facing it. You can go here
"http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/SetPages/Basic.html" for more information on the basic sets.

Damn my boxed set of little books that I had gary sign, seems they aren't the basic D&D. though I always enjoy the wood grain with the white paper stuck on for a cover.

ken

 

[solomanii]

No. The original Basic D&D was a blue soft-cover book with a Dragon on the front w/ a wizard and warrior facing it. You can go here
"http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/SetPages/Basic.html" for more information on the basic sets.

Ahh I see. So I have the 13th reprinting. But the actual content was originally done by GG and it predates AD&D?

Essentially is D&D (Basic) 1st printing the game that started it all?

 

[ScottGLXIX]

Ahh I see. So I have the 13th reprinting. But the actual content was originally done by GG and it predates AD&D?

Essentially is D&D (Basic) 1st printing the game that started it all?

No, first there was just Dungeons & Dragons. It was a box set with three booklets. Five supplements were released to support it. When AD&D was released, D&D became Basic D&D. AD&D added a lot more detail to the rules. Basic D&D was then redone several times, but it has stayed closer to the original, rules-light box set than AD&D.
Scott

 

[solomanii]

"http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/SetPages/Basic.html"

What a great website, that cleared up a lot of misunderstanding. Thanks. To get back on topic a two more questions for Garry.

1) Did you roll random hit points for all your players from level 1? I tended to either give max hp every level or max first level plus an average hitpoint at every other level on bad rolls. Just curious how you ran your games in this.

2) The Fighter, where did the name come from? Seems strange since a fighter implies a ring (boxer) in my mind. I wonder why you didnt go with Warrior or Hero or some such.