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.

 

[Derulbaskul]

EDIT: One more question! Where in the world did you come up with the title "Grand Master of Flowers"?

I think a mah-jong set might give some clues to this.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Dang, you just beat me to the answer....

I fondly remember being introduced to a mah-jong set only a few months after I started AD&D (around 1982). I seem to recall there being four types of flowers... so naturally I wanted to boost the monk to a 22 level class, and then 23 levels with Xan Yae's "Supreme Mistress of Petals" title.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Dang, you just beat me to the answer....

I fondly remember being introduced to a mah-jong set only a few months after I started AD&D (around 1982). I seem to recall there being four types of flowers... so naturally I wanted to boost the monk to a 22 level class, and then 23 levels with Xan Yae's "Supreme Mistress of Petals" title.

LOL!

I can relate to the desire to work up from #4 Flower to #1 Flower, but taking that into the realms of supernatural entities is a tile too far

Heh,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Deletion of a multiple post.

Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Deletion of a multiple post.

Gary

 

[BOZ]

Hey Gary,

Don’t know if you’ve heard this one before or not.

JRR Tolkien died not long before D&D first came out. If he had still been alive, do you think he personally would have objected to the use of the term “hobbits” and other things resembling his works that you had to remove from D&D?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hey Gary,

Don’t know if you’ve heard this one before or not.

JRR Tolkien died not long before D&D first came out. If he had still been alive, do you think he personally would have objected to the use of the term “hobbits” and other things resembling his works that you had to remove from D&D?

Hoi Boz!

Speaking of pure speculation...

After some thoughtful considreation, I believe that the Good Prpfessor probably would not have raised an objection. after all, he allowed the copyrights on the trilogy to expire, and thus the Ace Books release that caused such a furor.

In another scenario, that of asking permission for use, I again believe he would have given permission. Why I can't say, other that that what is written about him characterises him as a generous man not much concerned with business.

FWIW,
Gary

 

[BOZ]

i found myself drawn to the same conclusion. purely hypothetical though, of course...

i was just looking at the back cover to FotR on my way to work (i have about 30 pages left, first time i've read it), and realized that he died in 1973 and how awfully close that was to the release of the original D&D.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Right Boz,

What a trip to have had Tolkien play D&D, using it as the base of a rules system for adventures on his own Middle Earth world as Phil Barker did in regards to his Tekumel world setting!

Thinking of being able to exchange ideas with the Good Professor T. blows me away. Ah well...

Cheers,
gary

 

[Agback]

After some thoughtful considreation, I believe that the Good Prpfessor probably would not have raised an objection. after all, he allowed the copyrights on the trilogy to expire, and thus the Ace Books release that caused such a furor.

I'm not sure that that argument is such a dunker, because in the UK copyrights don't need to be renewed, and Professor Tolkien might simply not have been aware of the (then) peculiarities of US copyright law.

On the other hand, if you read his 'Essay on Fairy Stories', and think about the comments about historical figures, myths, and literary inventions 'going into the pot' from which subsequent tellers draw the material for their tales, I think you come to the same conclusion. I think he would have felt honoured that his inventions had become such a prominent component of the flavour of storytelling in English.

Besides, he was a philologist, and knew enough about the history of words that he must have realised that it was absurd for someone to think of owning one.

Anyway, now that I am provoked to write, I have a question:

I have read that you did a lot of experimental play before the first release of D&D, tinkering with game features until you got things right. My question is, how systematic was this experiementation? Did you map out a possibility space and try the combinations systematically to discover what worked best? Or was it more of an incremmental approach, in which you started with a design that seemed intuitively right, tested it, and changed the things that seemed to work?

Regards,


Agback