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]

Gary, do you still roleplay? If so -- what games? Do you GM or play?

Heh...

Sure i play, and I've been playing regularly for about 20 years--the hiatus was when i was in the Los Angeles area and traveled so much.

I ran Dangerous Journeys, Unhallowed and Mythus campaigns until the T$R lawsuit. I thereafter switched to testing a couple of systems I was developing for use in CRPG designs. One of them gave rise to the Lejendary Adventure FRPG--the game we played last Thursday, the one I usually run for the group that meets here at my place almost every Thursday to play. Of late I have been running some OD&D dungeon crawls for them, and last Saturday I DMed about six hours of OAD&D for a couple of fellows who were visiting to do a magazine article.

Best of all from my perspective is that Jim Ward has recently joined us, and he will be GMing his new Metamorphosis Alpha game for us on a regular basis, so that means I'll be playing a couple of times a month!

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I had a house rule:

Only humans, gnomes, half-elves, wood elves and half-Euroz (Greyhawk!) were allowed, and only one PC in four was allowed to be demi or semi-human. I got sick of all-elf parties and the stereotypical ways demi-humans (elves, halflings, dwarves) were played. Edmund Wilson was right about LOTR showing "a poverty of invention", and watching players ape that poverty of invention was annoying.

We got back to the humanocentric gaming of the old days. The only thing missing was art by DAT!

No quibbles about that from me

Someone of the female gender once asked why I wrote from the male perspective. Well duh!

In similar vein, I don't know any actaul hobbits, gnomes, elves, dwarfs, or half-breeds of those races, so whatever a human might write about them is going to be from a human standpoint thinly guised, or perhaps fairly well so, as a non-human perspective

As for DAT, we have tried our best to get Tramp back doing artwork, alas to no avail

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So, would you be able to confirm if this is the same DAT?
http://newshound.de.siu.edu/online/stories/storyReader$1382

Also, I've finally decided to pick up Lejendary Adventures, probably Troll Lords' boxed set. Any words of advice or anything that I should be aware of before setting out on this course of action? I've been looking through the official website, so I have a basic iidea of how the system works.

Thanks!
J

As for DAT, we have tried our best to get Tramp back doing artwork, alas to no avail

 

[Col_Pladoh]

So, would you be able to confirm if this is the same DAT?
http://newshound.de.siu.edu/online/stories/storyReader$1382

That sure looks like Tramp, but he isn't in Cairo any longer...

Also, I've finally decided to pick up Lejendary Adventures, probably Troll Lords' boxed set. Any words of advice or anything that I should be aware of before setting out on this course of action? I've been looking through the official website, so I have a basic iidea of how the system works.

Thanks!
J

Don't equate the LA game to any form of D&D, so have a mindset that allows you to think in the new terms used. The feel/spirit of the game is like OAD&D, but it plays differently.
Check out www.lejendary.com once you have the rules

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Jdvn1]

Heh...

Sure i play, and I've been playing regularly for about 20 years--the hiatus was when i was in the Los Angeles area and traveled so much.

I ran Dangerous Journeys, Unhallowed and Mythus campaigns until the T$R lawsuit. I thereafter switched to testing a couple of systems I was developing for use in CRPG designs. One of them gave rise to the Lejendary Adventure FRPG--the game we played last Thursday, the one I usually run for the group that meets here at my place almost every Thursday to play. Of late I have been running some OD&D dungeon crawls for them, and last Saturday I DMed about six hours of OAD&D for a couple of fellows who were visiting to do a magazine article.

Best of all from my perspective is that Jim Ward has recently joined us, and he will be GMing his new Metamorphosis Alpha game for us on a regular basis, so that means I'll be playing a couple of times a month!

Cheers,
Gary

Hey, sounds like fun. I'm guessing it's been a while since you've played in a game rather than GM'ed? How many different systems have you played?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hey, sounds like fun. I'm guessing it's been a while since you've played in a game rather than GM'ed? How many different systems have you played?

I played MA with Jim Ward as the GM last month

Actually, I haven't kept track of the different RPGs I've played, but I suppose it's about 12 or so, not counting a couple of systems I developed for computer game proposals I've done.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[oldschooler]

Of late I have been running some OD&D dungeon crawls for them, and last Saturday I DMed about six hours of OAD&D for a couple of fellows who were visiting to do a magazine article.

I assume the OD&D game is the one written about over at Dragonsfoot. When you DMed that AD&D game, did you go "by the book" or just have the books handy while making it up as you went? I like trying to go by the book, but the details (like age modifiers for starting PCs, weapon type vs. AC, etc.) always trip me up. I can't seem to keep all the rules called for in my head at the same time.

 

[Gray Mouser]

Hey Gary I was recently reading through the Monster Manual and MM II, specifically regarding Demons and Devils. Under the entry for Demons the table lists them as receiving full damage from iron weapons, whereas Devils are immune to such weapons. I've noticed this before, but don't recall having it come into play.

My question is, does this mean that demons are immune to the average sword made from steel? I assume that a magic sword made from steel would affect the demon. Also, would both demons and devils be immune from wooden weapons (such as a club or staff) barring any magical bonuses?

One last question, did you ever have any PC's who faced demons who were armed with iron weapons, or did they simply use magical ones?

Gray Mouser

 

[Jdvn1]

I played MA with Jim Ward as the GM last month

Actually, I haven't kept track of the different RPGs I've played, but I suppose it's about 12 or so, not counting a couple of systems I developed for computer game proposals I've done.

Cheers,
Gary

Maybe you can tell I'm going on a particular train of thought, here.

What sorts of characters do you like to play? Or do you like a wide variety?

What sorts of tricks do you like throwing at your players? Do you ever take ideas from EN World or other people? (If so, tell me about your campaign so I can come up with stuff! )

 

[jokamachi]

Hi, gary,

We haven't chatted for a while so I hope all is well in your realm. In the meantime I have to ask: what's the deal with the Hall of Many Panes? I keep hearing that it's going to be released but then it gets delayed again and again. Are we going to see it anytime soon? I look forward to running it in what I hope will be the near future.

As for other matters, I need to bounce a couple Greyhawk questions off you. First off, what's up with the Egg of Coot? Can you give us the insider's story on that one? No one has provided a satisfactory answer as to who or what it is.

Also, I heard that in your original Greyhawk campaign the island of Japan was located on Oerth. Where exactly was it located? Anywhere near the Flanaess? How about Aquaria?

Anyway, thanks for covering some old ground for me,

jokamachi


P.S. By the way, is Mordenkainen still retired? If not, has he been on any adventures lately?