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.

 

[The_Gneech]

Oh what I would give to have Jeeves in my service!

If you read Kyril Bonfiglioni, his anti-Jeeves "Jock" is also a worthy treasure for the shady character--and Bonfiglioni obviously read Wodehouse

Everyone needs a Jeeves!

Alas, I'm not familiar with Kyril Bonfiglioni or his work ... but for what it's worth I do read quite a bit of Rex Stout, Wodehouse's old pen-pal, and highly recommend it!

-The Gneech

 

[Rakin]

Not to plug a product of mine, but have a squint at the Castle Zagyg, Yggsburgh work when it's released by Troll Lord Games...at Gencon hopefully, although I kept messing around with the maps so it might not make the show It is something I believe will be a great tool for GMs and provide a lot of enjoyment for the players in the bargain.

Cheers,
Gary

Thanks a bunch and i will be looking foward to it.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Any preview you can give regarding the skill system you devised for that work and C&C?

It is a very general and rules-light one sumilar in some ways to the "Abilities" skill bundles in the Lejendary Adventure system. One gains them by expending XPs. the number is fairly small, about a dozen. Maybe the Trolls will post a sample on their webpage. I'll ask them...although they are all headed up here to Lake Geneva for the con that starts here tomorrow, so it will likely be a while

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Everyone needs a Jeeves!

Alas, I'm not familiar with Kyril Bonfiglioni or his work ... but for what it's worth I do read quite a bit of Rex Stout, Wodehouse's old pen-pal, and highly recommend it!

-The Gneech

Heh!

I am a great fan of Nero Wolfe, and I manage a decent impression of him in regards to cuisine. Gail gets cross when I ask "Fritz" to prepare something decent for dinner, and usually say crossly in my Nero Wolfe voice, "Take it away, it's chicken!" when she serves that sort pf poultry.

BTW, you will likely enjoy the Bonfiglioni novels. Have a look at his material.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Thanks a bunch and i will be looking foward to it.

Despite my miserable hand-drawn prototypes and many changesm, the maps for the CZ, Yggsburgh, work by Darlene are just splendid

Cheers,
Gary

 

[The_Gneech]

I am a great fan of Nero Wolfe, and I manage a decent impression of him in regards to cuisine. Gail gets cross when I ask "Fritz" to prepare something decent for dinner, and usually say crossly in my Nero Wolfe voice, "Take it away, it's chicken!" when she serves that sort pf poultry.

Hee! Excellent. "Pfui!" gets a lot of use around here, but I'm closer to Archie myself, right down to the glass of milk.

BTW, you will likely enjoy the Bonfiglioni novels. Have a look at his material.

I shall do so! Thanks for the tip.

-The Gneech

 

[IronMike]

Heh!

I am a great fan of Nero Wolfe, and I manage a decent impression of him in regards to cuisine. Gail gets cross when I ask "Fritz" to prepare something decent for dinner, and usually say crossly in my Nero Wolfe voice, "Take it away, it's chicken!" when she serves that sort pf poultry.

Cheers,
Gary

Oy, I either need to figure out a way to cram more hours into the day, or figure out which time-sinks to get rid of so I can catch up on my reading.....

 

[Melkor]

Hi Gary,

I've got some quick AD&D initiative related questions for you.

After reading through the 20 page PDF regarding AD&D initiative that someone posted up over on Dragonsfoot, I think I'll be houseruling an easier way to handle things in my games.

That said, another posted on Dragonsfoot stated that at one of the recent conventions that you ran a game of AD&D at, you used a simple D10 roll for initiative.

I wanted to ask, do you use a simple roll of 1D10 in most of the AD&D games you play these days, or do you stick with the original system ?

When you do use a 1D10, what kind of modifiers do you apply, and do you still use weapon length to determine first round initiative ?

Thanks!

 

[oldschooler]

Hi Gary,
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and many, many more!!!!!!
Best Wishes
Llaurenela

Ditto, I couldn't get online yesterday, so Llaurenela beat me to it! I hope you have a FANTASTIC time at the convention (wish I could be there...)!

 

[Zudrak]

Lggc

Gary,

Are you all having fun so far? *sniff* Wish I could be there at the LGGC.

Happy gaming,
Zudrak