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.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Did I just see a reference to a halfling magic-user/thief? Played by a Gygax? Please don't tell my gaming group you're allowed to do that, otherwise we'll end up with a party full of hobbits again...

Actually, reading various accounts of early D&D games, I have the impression that the "rules" on which classes could be played by which races, and how high level they could achieve, were fairly frequently ignored and might be better described as guidelines than rules.

 

[Anabstercorian]

Gary, you frequently refer to 3e as 'superheroic' in scale. I'm not about to disagree with you - in fact, I whole-heartedly agree. The rate of power increase, and the dramatic increases in power available to a character ("I power attack Sunder the hydra, for sixty points of damage. I cleave to the next head repeatedly until I miss." "You chop off every head in a single brutal swipe." "Score!") make high level characters more akin to demi-gods in status, like that of Hercules of Orpheus, than merely experienced, skilled warriors such as Conan or Fafhrd.

Now, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing - I believe that power increase should never be ruled out for a DnD character - greater strength should always be possible through some fashion or another. But I do believe you may be right that power increases too quickly.

Simply put, what line divides heroic from superheroic power?


Also, I would like to ask your opinion about a house rule of mine. It is directly inspired by the OD&D rules Cyclopedia: Purify Food and Water is raised to a 1st level clerical spell, Create Water to 4th level, and Create Food to fifth. By doing this, and requiring a certain degree of overland travel, I hope to make simple survival more noteworthy - not a matter of constant accounting, surely, but a matter worthy of forethought even at the highest levels of play, because resorting to magic prevents you from using such dramatic spells as Divine Power or Flame Strike!

 

[Orius]

Quoted from previous thread:

For about six months the typical number of players in an adventure session in my basement was 18-22 persons packed in. That was when I asked Rob Kuntz to serve as my co-DM. Getting marching order was very important. Of course most activity was dungeon crawling, so actions were just done in order around the table. Be ready or lose your chance! Stick with the party or else something very nasty is likely to befall your character away from the group. The sessions were fun but somewhat chaotic, lacked most roleplay, and surely didn't allow for a lot of one-on-one time player and DM.

That must have been kind of crazy. The most people I've ever see play at once was 11. This was nearly 12 years ago, back when I first started playing; I asked the DM if I could sit in on a game and watch to get an idea of what it was like. And I've been hooked ever since. Still, not much happened during the session, and I could certainly see how playing with 20 would be chaotic and have little role-playing at all. The most I've ever DMed for was eight people at once, and I know from experience that I wouldn't want to handle much more than that.

Edit: Ugh, I mean to post this in Part VIII.

 

[BOZ]

18-22 players, egads! i'd have a hard time concentrating just as a player, and can't imagine taking on a task like that as a DM... anything more than 5 or 6 players as a DM is a bit much for me!

 

[BOZ]

After considerable experience, the number of magic-items given to monsters for regular use was sharply reduced in my campaign, as such things ended up in PC hands far too often :\

potions and scrolls, my man, potions and scrolls. and pre-cast spells are nice, too. i'm sure every DM goes through this experience after a time...

 

[BOZ]

I had heard that at one time you were planning to make a second edition of Advanced D&D by throwing together (with a re-edit) all three monster books into one Monster Manual, and folding Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures into a new Players Handbook & Dungeon Masters Guide. Is this close to the truth? I'm wondering what kinds of editing you had been thinking of. Did you personally use UA & OA a lot in your games?

i have the feeling that such a "second edition" AD&D would have gone over a lot better than the one that actually happened.

 

[mythusmage]

Part 8 is now running, isn't about time this beast got retired?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Quoted from previous thread:



That must have been kind of crazy. The most people I've ever see play at once was 11. This was nearly 12 years ago, back when I first started playing; I asked the DM if I could sit in on a game and watch to get an idea of what it was like. And I've been hooked ever since. Still, not much happened during the session, and I could certainly see how playing with 20 would be chaotic and have little role-playing at all. The most I've ever DMed for was eight people at once, and I know from experience that I wouldn't want to handle much more than that.

Edit: Ugh, I mean to post this in Part VIII.

When my sons Ernie and Luke were play-testing the Lost City of Gaxmoor module, the player group rasnged from as few as 12 to as many as 25

My regular group used to number nine, and that's about the top of the optimum spread--3-9 in my view.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

18-22 players, egads! i'd have a hard time concentrating just as a player, and can't imagine taking on a task like that as a DM... anything more than 5 or 6 players as a DM is a bit much for me!

Well...

Forget role-playing when you have a big group of players to manage--or else organize the majority to serve as a Greek chorus

Cheers,
Gary

ADMIN'S NOTE:
This thread has now been Archived and will continue with Part VIII:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=121380

-Henry

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Actually, come to think of it, I DO have a question... in your years of gaming have you ever "converted" people to gaming who otherwise wouldn't have, or have you simply been fortunate enough to always be around gamer types? You see, back in Vancouver, I didn't have a gaming group, so I corrupte... I mean converted my girlfriend, and then her girlfriends so that I ended up GMing a group of 5 university girls (yeah, I know, gamer's fantasy come true ) But the truth is, they ALL had a standoffish, "I dunno" attitude towards gaming.

It took some time to convert them, but now they're hooked... only problem is they love their characters so much I can't convince them to start a new campaign with new characters!

Sigh... women.

Hi Noah

My work has made untold converts to the gaming hobby, but I assume you mean have I personally made a direct convert by persuasion and the like. The answer is, but of course!

The most notable is James M. Ward. I was in a local newspaper, magazine, and paperback book shop when I noticed a chap browsing the SF and fantasy titles. I brazenly spoke to him, suggesting that if he enjoyed such adventure reading he should visit out gaming club that featured swords & sorcery. He did, and the rest is history.

I have never personally succeeded in converting a female to the hobby, including all three of my daughters. They played and enjoyed it for some weeks or months, but lost interest thereafter.

Cheers,
Gary