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.

 

[Krieg]

All worked well, though, and things are in fine shape now--save for the 100-200 SPAM emails I get daily. My Delete action is well exercised and very quick these days

Cheers,
Gary

All you had to do was click on the link....but would you do that simple task?

Nooo...Mr. High & Mighty thinks he is too good for free adult entertainment.

You wound me sirree.

*sniff*

 

[Col_Pladoh]

All you had to do was click on the link....but would you do that simple task?

Nooo...Mr. High & Mighty thinks he is too good for free adult entertainment.

You wound me sirree.

*sniff*

And what about lower mortgage rates, prescription drugs sales, chances to get thousands for helping to free-up a foreign bank account, and winning national lotteries? Those are opportunities I pass up daily too

Heh,
Gary

 

[DeadlyUematsu]

From what I've read, a lot of (the more preferable) material written by Francois Macela Froideval for the 1st Edition Oriental Adventures was discarded by co-author David Cook. Could you render us a picture of what this material would have been like?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

From what I've read, a lot of (the more preferable) material written by Francois Macela Froideval for the 1st Edition Oriental Adventures was discarded by co-author David Cook. Could you render us a picture of what this material would have been like?

Correct, Francois material was much better IMO. I don't know if it was professional jealousy or simply that Zeb actually thought his ideas and work were superior, but he ignored a virtually complete ms. from Francois. It would have needed polish because of Francois' being a native French speaker. After seeing what Zeb did to AD&D, I just think his design judgement is low.

Sorry, I can't recall the details after more than 20 years, and I returned the large three-ring binder that held his ms. to him about a decade ago.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[jester47]

Hi Gary,

I was wondering about how much creative input you had in the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon? What were your ideas in that?

The number of fantasy/scifi referenvces in that show are truely astounding. I recognised things from Dune, the Heavy Metal movie, and numerous other items. Just wondering how much of it came from your greymatter.

What did you like about the end product? What did you dislike? Was your vision for the cartoon what actually came to be?

Its odd, when I was a kid running around with the AD&D PHB and DMG with the new Easley covers, I always imagined you with a beard. The odd part was that part of what went into that image was the DM from the cartoon. So I imagined this short (but not that short) guy with a beard and long hair and maybe balding a little on the top.

Imagine my surprise when I finally saw a picture of you! Was the DM character in any way inspired by you?

If you have answered this already, just direct me to the appropriate thread.

Aaron.

 

[Ourph]

Hey Gary!

I'd like to start by thanking you for including the suggested reading lists in the DMG and Basic set books. Not only has the game you created led me to countless hours of fun and fellowship, it also helped me discover a lot of great fiction I might otherwise have missed.

One of the authors listed, John Bellairs, mentions The Collected Lectures of John L. Stoddard in his book The House With A Clock In Its Walls. Having recently acquired a set of this lecture series, it occurs to me that (while not the most gripping read) they would likely provide a DM with countless ideas and descriptions with which to inspire his own games (Stoddard's description of the fjords of Norway, in particular, was outstanding and really drives home how much geography shaped the Viking culture). I was wondering if you have ever read any of the Stoddard Lectures and if so, what you thought of them? On another related note, if you could go back and re-write your suggested reading list today, are there any new authors or works you would add?

Let me just add that I'm praying that God blesses you with many more years of happy and healthy living. Stay well.

 

[BOZ]

And what about lower mortgage rates, prescription drugs sales, chances to get thousands for helping to free-up a foreign bank account, and winning national lotteries? Those are opportunities I pass up daily too

LOL no different from the rest of us i'm sure. that, and "natural male enhancment", video dating, and casinos.

 

[Krieg]

And what about lower mortgage rates, prescription drugs sales, chances to get thousands for helping to free-up a foreign bank account, and winning national lotteries? Those are opportunities I pass up daily too

Heh,
Gary

All quality products from fine upstanding companies I am sure.

Sorry, I can't recall the details after more than 20 years, and I returned the large three-ring binder that held his ms. to him about a decade ago.

I would pay dearly to see the contents of that binder!

 

[ptolemy18]

Hello,

Wow, this is amazing. Well, let me throw my coin in the wishing well...

When I was really young and playing AD&D for the first time, one of the things I appreciated was the suggested reading list of fantasy authors. Anyhow, I was wondering, would you say there was any Clark Ashton Smith influence on D&D?

I always thought of Smith as sort of an enjoyable cross between Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft... there's a somewhat Howard-ish element of swords and sorcery, but the stories always degenerate into everyone being killed by horrible alien monsters...

Thanks for your time, and much more,

Jason

 

[Gray Mouser]

Hey Colonel, it's good to see you back on the Q&A thread!

I was just perusing the other threads of the forum and there's a "Write in the style of Gygax" contest going on. If you want to try your hand at rewriting a couple of 3e feats in the style of the originator of the game you might want to give it a look see And this brings me to my question: Is it true that when you first posted here no one believed it was really you???

(OK, that's not a great question but it'll have to do until I have time to peruse my stuff and think of something to ask! It's good to see you back, Colonel!)

Gray Mouser