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.

 

[gideon_thorne]

Now watch as the greedy PC runs into the dungeon and rousts out the poor defensless critters, who are minding their own business, and violate all their property rights.

*tongue in cheek*

As a point of order, who says that PCs need be of heroic stamp? that's a matter for the players to determine, they and none other, most assuredly.

Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Now watch as the greedy PC runs into the dungeon and rousts out the poor defensless critters, who are minding their own business, and violate all their property rights.

*tongue in cheek*

Only the most liberal of tree-hugging PETA members play PCs that are not Neutral Greedy

Of course, such persons prefer dicless theartical performances to actual role-playing...if remorseless plunders


Gary

 

[Akrasia]

Fine, but do look it over if possible before purchasing. Don't want any unhappy buyers

Cheers,
Gary

I ordered CZ 'sight unseen' online -- I knew it would be excellent.

It finally arrived today in the mail (albeit with a dinged corner, courtesy of the postal service) and it looks simply amazing! I can hardly wait to spend some hours this weekend reading through it. I even brought it to the pub tonight.

 

[gideon_thorne]

Perfect. A good book is best experienced through a golden burbon glow...

I ordered CZ 'sight unseen' online -- I knew it would be excellent.

It finally arrived today in the mail (albeit with a dinged corner, courtesy of the postal service) and it looks simply amazing! I can hardly wait to spend some hours this weekend reading through it. I even brought it to the pub tonight.

 

[jwright]

Later material

Greetings again!

Sorry to join the forum and then disappear - we are from Louisiana so have been a little preoccupied with making sure family and friends are ok. They are!

What the devil is the "Mistmarsh"?

Indeed the Urt could be the Ery, but again, Mistmarsh? Never heard of it.


Gary

Later influences on Greyhawk material in 2e and 3e gave names to lots of the specific regions that didn't have names on the original folio or box set editions - "Mistmarsh" was the name given, probably by Sargent or Moore, to the wetlands area around these rivers SE of Greyhawk. One of the things I loved about Greyhawk was that as a published setting it wasn't so specific and allowed us to find our own heroes and villains - I'll be honest I never heard the names Mordenkainen (sorry Gary ) till I was much older and so they weren't a part of my teenage Greyhawk campaigns.

Now to my geekdom questions:

1. I was wondering about the S3 Barrier Keeps module - I honestly don't remember who wrote this, but was it meant to be a variation on the "City of the Gods" from the Blackmoor campaign?

2. I am curious about the history of Robilar in your campaigns - I've heard that he actually did turn evil in the real campaigns (I had been under the impression this was a 2e/3e change to Rob's character) and if so if you remember the game and circumstances it happened in?

Thanks alot!

"Maddog" Wright

 

[trollwad]

wizards blurb

the wizards website had the following blurb that helped me form an evolving hypothesis "Twenty-two fulltime R&D staff members share the task of building Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying material. Just over half of them, seven designers and four developers, do the things that we'll talk about in this column."

Gary and Frank, I know that you two are reluctant to criticize wizards, but doesnt that seem like huge overhead for what is really a hobby or craft game? What was the headcount in this area back in the day? I look at the volume of product that wizards releases relative to monte's malhavoc, or troll lords or necromancer or goodman and it doesnt seem like it is 4x or 5x what those shops release. Frankly, Erik Mona and James Jacobs in various endeavors and with the support of Rob Kuntz and some other nonemployee contract writers have created as much useful product as Wizards in my view as wizards has, with what seems like far lower 'creative' headcount.

My theory is basically that a lot of wizards strategy is colored by its overstaffing. As all of us who work for major corporations know, overstaffing in a business can as easily lead to dubious projects and expansions as it does to anything else. For example, why are modules 'unprofitable' for wizards yet profitable for goodman games? Is it because goodman seems to have two to four creative people supplemented by project writers, not 22 full-time employees? Does the need to support this huge staff contribute to the need to reissue the 3-book rules every few years, whereas basic, 1e, and unearthed arcana had much longer and more stable print runs before they were superceded?

Thoughts?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I ordered CZ 'sight unseen' online -- I knew it would be excellent.

It finally arrived today in the mail (albeit with a dinged corner, courtesy of the postal service) and it looks simply amazing! I can hardly wait to spend some hours this weekend reading through it. I even brought it to the pub tonight.

Dude!

The material should prove worth the price (and then some, hopefully), but to read whilse enjoying a libation or two?


Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Greetings again!

Sorry to join the forum and then disappear - we are from Louisiana so have been a little preoccupied with making sure family and friends are ok. They are!

Surely that's understandablem and great to learn your family and friends are well. I have kinfolk of a sort in Hammond, and I have not yet been able to learn how they are doing. We'll house them up here in Wisconsin if they need a place.

Later influences on Greyhawk material in 2e and 3e gave names to lots of the specific regions that didn't have names on the original folio or box set editions - "Mistmarsh" was the name given, probably by Sargent or Moore, to the wetlands area around these rivers SE of Greyhawk. One of the things I loved about Greyhawk was that as a published setting it wasn't so specific and allowed us to find our own heroes and villains - I'll be honest I never heard the names Mordenkainen (sorry Gary ) till I was much older and so they weren't a part of my teenage Greyhawk campaigns.

As I suspected...nothing of the actual world I devised for DMs

Now to my geekdom questions:

1. I was wondering about the S3 Barrier Keeps module - I honestly don't remember who wrote this, but was it meant to be a variation on the "City of the Gods" from the Blackmoor campaign?

I authored the Expedition to the barrier peaks, and it was a downed space vessel as noted, nothing based on any other work.

2. I am curious about the history of Robilar in your campaigns - I've heard that he actually did turn evil in the real campaigns (I had been under the impression this was a 2e/3e change to Rob's character) and if so if you remember the game and circumstances it happened in?

Thanks alot!

"Maddog" Wright

Robilar did become Lawful Evil around 1976 or 77 for some reason that was unfathomable to me as the DM. Erac's Cousin (played by my son Ernie) was also LE, so those two were quite a fearsome combination in the campaign.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

...

Gary and Frank, ...

...

Thoughts?

This is hardly the place to dis the new system. That said, have you ever heard that the camel is a horse designed by a committee?


Gary

 

[Anson Caralya]

My relatively veteran group of players had their Avatars do precisely that in The Hermit module. The only exception was a n Ecclesiastic who stayed true to his ethical values and so escaped doom Needless to say, I was most disconcerted, for I was liberal in hints against listening to the fiend. The concensus was that all of us, palyers and me as the Lejend Master, were not up to par that night.

That sounds like an interesting bit of roleplaying!

I've seen adventures that balance short-cuts open to evil/greedy PC's and rewards for valorous actions of good PC's for single encounters - e.g. the opportunity to steal an item (and benefit from its use) while its owner is unaware, versus later being in good standing with that owner and able to ask for a useful favor - but usually they don't span the overall adventure. I think writing "alternative victory conditions" gets complicated quickly if each (or even several) encounter along the way have the potential for significantly different outcomes. Trying to do much more than leave that type of balance in the DM's hands might be more trouble than it's worth.