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]

Yes, and if there were an LA version of Yggsburgh that would be just ducky.

As a matter of fact I am now using the CZY setting for my LA game campaigm, converting on the fly, and it is pretty easy. I agree, though, a formal conversion would serve a lot better. Sadly, I haven't the time to undertake suich a task for the foreseeable future.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[dcas]

As a matter of fact I am now using the CZY setting for my LA game campaigm, converting on the fly, and it is pretty easy. I agree, though, a formal conversion would serve a lot better. Sadly, I haven't the time to undertake suich a task for the foreseeable future.

Ah, well, perhaps some kind soul will take it upon himself to stat out the NPCs and monsters and such for CZY. After all, it is a great setting even if one never delves into the Castle's dungeons.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ah, well, perhaps some kind soul will take it upon himself to stat out the NPCs and monsters and such for CZY. After all, it is a great setting even if one never delves into the Castle's dungeons.

Indeed, and if that is done likely the results will be posted on www.lejendary.com

Dungeon delving works fine using the LA agme system, but the GM can not arrange the levels as easily as is possible with a character-class-level-based one. so in that resp[ect there is more planning and thought necessary to develop a progressively more dangerous and demanding series of dungeon levels.

Maybe one of these days I'll find time to work up an essay on how to accomplish that. In part creature selection is a factor, but other considerations are necessary.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Edena_of_Neith here. Hey there, Gary. Another frivolous question from Yours Truly!

I never played the super-module T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil.
But I finally obtained a copy (long ago) and had a look at it.
I saw, therein, a super-dungeon with 10 or so levels.

And I thought ...

One mage with a Rock to Mud could take out the whole place.
How?
He, being 10th level, casts Rock to Mud. This liquifies an area of 20 feet by 20 feet by 20 feet per level. So a 10th level mage could liquify 10 of these 20x20x20 foot cubes. He could thus liquify an area of rock equal to 60 feet x 60 feet x 20 feet with the spell.
He throws the spell on level 1 of the Temple of Elemental Evil, liquifying the 60x60x20 foot parcel of rock.
Most everyone and everything (except undead and the like) on level 2 drowns as a good part of level 1 melts onto them.
The mud then roars down the stairs into level 3 and wrecks the place, drowning half the monsters there. It flows down further stairways to become a real annoyance on level 4, a slight annoyance on level 5, and everything below level 5 is probably wondering what in Iuz's name just happened?
It is possible that some of the major structural support of the place goes, creating cave-ins that bury more of the Temple, and perhaps causing a cascading effect.

The mage then departs via Teleport, and (cautiously) returns the next day to continue the procedure, until the entire Temple is destroyed.

If there are two or more mages of 10th level or higher present, the destruction of the Temple of Elemental Evil via Rock to Mud is accelerated.
Of course, the 10th level mage probably took the time beforehand (having long planned his attack on the Temple of Elemental Evil) to prepare Scrolls with Rock to Mud written many times on them. Thus, his initial attack involves many Rock to Mud spells, most of level 1 of the Temple is destroyed, and the mudflow drowns most everything below level 1 right off the bat (assuming, the entire Temple down to level 10+ doesn't collapse from the sheer weight of the mud!)

This form of attack could also be used against Castle Greyhawk and other dungeons, it seems to me.
And it seems to me this tactic - although bad as far as retrieving treasure goes - is quite good for destroying an enemy target with minimal risk to the mage and his party.

-

My questions are:

Would this tactic work?
If yes, how would Mordenkainen (when he was 10th level) pull it off?
If no, then why wouldn't it work?
If yes, have you ever used this tactic or a variant of it?
If yes, have your players ever used this tactic or a variant of it?

Yours Sincerely
Edena_of_Neith

 

[Nathal]

As a matter of fact I am now using the CZY setting for my LA game campaigm, converting on the fly, and it is pretty easy. I agree, though, a formal conversion would serve a lot better. Sadly, I haven't the time to undertake suich a task for the foreseeable future.

Cheers,
Gary

Why didn't you drop CZY right into Lejendary Earth and keep going from there? Are you taking a temporary break from Lerthe?

 

[haakon1]

Flatlanders are as you describe them...and they talk funny too. Betcha you talk funny

Actually, Flatlanders consider the locals as slack jawed villagers, while the locals think of the FLatlanders as stupid outsiders whose only saving grace is that they are spending money.

There is merit in both views.

That bit is the same as Vermont. As for talking funny, I find a lot of similarity between upstate NY, western MA, southern Vermont, southern Wisconsin, and western Washington State in the accent. Southern Wisconsin is probably the most different, but it's still in the "Standard American" accent zone between the central-southern Illinois butternut/copperhead stuff ("we have to 'may-zure' the damage to the 'ruff' after the tornado, to get the 'INsurance' to pay out") and the northern Wisconsin accent (like the movie "Fargo")

That's probably because so many New Yorkers historically spread westward at more or less the same latitude.

Incidentally. my maternal family came to Wisconsin from Upstate NY, after landing in Rhode Island c. 1642. The terrain is rather similar, although Upstate NY has more rygged hills than is common in much of Wisconsin.

Terrain is a factor in RPGs, of course

Cheers,
Gary

It's debatable whether I'm from upstate NY. My hometown is only about 40 miles from NY, and 10 miles from the Atlantic. So, the City is sure we're upstate (and the accent is), but upstate thinks everything south of Albany is the city. And since we border on Connecticut and have close links to them, I think we're New England.

But rugged hills, we've sure got those. Terrain-wise, it's definitely Appalachia, from the Green Mountains, the Berkshires, the Taconic mountains, and even on the other side of the Hudson in the Catskills and the 'Gunks. But somehow, without the country music, it's just the Appalachian Trail that's officially Appalachian about it.

As for RPG tie-in . . . in the late 80's an illegal animal collector who was nearly caught once let a komodo dragon loose in our town . . . we got some weirdness overflow from NYC that day. The experts said it would die over the winter if it wasn't caught, but nobody should approach it. So, my two D&D friends and I grabbed some sturdy quarterstaves and went on a dragon hunt, sadly with no success. And if we had been bitten -- you probably would have gotten the blame!

 

[haakon1]

Dumb Question

Every weekend, I go to my FLGS -- the one that said anything Gygax makes, they will get -- and look around to see if the "new stuff" ever shows up. They've got Gaxmoor, Canting Crew, etc. But nothing newer.

So my stupid question: what's name of the book(s) I'm waiting for, and who makes it for what game? I think it's Castle Zagyg and Yggsburgh, and will be from Troll Lords, for Castles & Crusades. Are they in print yet? Do I have the names right?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Edena_of_Neith here. Hey there, Gary. Another frivolous question from Yours Truly!

And you have come to the right person for a frivolous answer

I never played the super-module T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil.
But I finally obtained a copy (long ago) and had a look at it.
I saw, therein, a super-dungeon with 10 or so levels.

And I thought ...

One mage with a Rock to Mud could take out the whole place.
How?
He, being 10th level, casts Rock to Mud. This liquifies an area of 20 feet by 20 feet by 20 feet per level. So a 10th level mage could liquify 10 of these 20x20x20 foot cubes. He could thus liquify an area of rock equal to 60 feet x 60 feet x 20 feet with the spell.
He throws the spell on level 1 of the Temple of Elemental Evil, liquifying the 60x60x20 foot parcel of rock.
Most everyone and everything (except undead and the like) on level 2 drowns as a good part of level 1 melts onto them.
The mud then roars down the stairs into level 3 and wrecks the place, drowning half the monsters there. It flows down further stairways to become a real annoyance on level 4, a slight annoyance on level 5, and everything below level 5 is probably wondering what in Iuz's name just happened?
It is possible that some of the major structural support of the place goes, creating cave-ins that bury more of the Temple, and perhaps causing a cascading effect.

The mage then departs via Teleport, and (cautiously) returns the next day to continue the procedure, until the entire Temple is destroyed.

If there are two or more mages of 10th level or higher present, the destruction of the Temple of Elemental Evil via Rock to Mud is accelerated.
Of course, the 10th level mage probably took the time beforehand (having long planned his attack on the Temple of Elemental Evil) to prepare Scrolls with Rock to Mud written many times on them. Thus, his initial attack involves many Rock to Mud spells, most of level 1 of the Temple is destroyed, and the mudflow drowns most everything below level 1 right off the bat (assuming, the entire Temple down to level 10+ doesn't collapse from the sheer weight of the mud!)

This form of attack could also be used against Castle Greyhawk and other dungeons, it seems to me.
And it seems to me this tactic - although bad as far as retrieving treasure goes - is quite good for destroying an enemy target with minimal risk to the mage and his party.

-

My questions are:

Would this tactic work?
If yes, how would Mordenkainen (when he was 10th level) pull it off?
If no, then why wouldn't it work?
If yes, have you ever used this tactic or a variant of it?
If yes, have your players ever used this tactic or a variant of it?

Yours Sincerely
Edena_of_Neith

My players know better than to try something sure to incur wrath

Such tactics are a matter for the DM to manage, and as one here is how I would handle an attempt of this sort.

"Sorry, Flubspell, but your Rock to Mud casting seems to fizzle out when it contacts the stonework of the temple. golly, I guess the builders must have imbued it with some fort of protection from this sort of assault on its integrity..."

"Oh, by the by, it seems that you are now turning a ghastly gray color. It seems as if yout attempt has invoked a curse of some sort, as you feel quite weak and not at all well..."

I'd use the same sort of response if someone tried that with any important campaign setting. To stop the rules lawyers from their shrill protests I's write up a few spells to cover constructions--anti-disintigration, anti-rock to mud, etc. Also a few retributive spells to be activated and aimed unerringly at any spell caster attempting to bring down a stricture by that sort or obvious and predicatble tactic. Just because such spells are not included in the standard roster doesn't mean they don't exist.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Why didn't you drop CZY right into Lejendary Earth and keep going from there? Are you taking a temporary break from Lerthe?

Me abandon Learth? Never!

The objective is produce a version of my original campaign that is as close to what was used then as is possible now. The LA game isn't built to facilitate progressively more demanding dungeon levels according to PCV level, because there are no levels in the LA game system

Dungeon crawls work fine with the new system, but they are not the same as in the class-based, PC-level sort of game.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

That bit is the same as Vermont. As for talking funny, I find a lot of similarity between upstate NY, western MA, southern Vermont, southern Wisconsin, and western Washington State in the accent. Southern Wisconsin is probably the most different, but it's still in the "Standard American" accent zone between the central-southern Illinois butternut/copperhead stuff ("we have to 'may-zure' the damage to the 'ruff' after the tornado, to get the 'INsurance' to pay out") and the northern Wisconsin accent (like the movie "Fargo")

Accurate, and Chicagoans say "the-ay-ter" for theater.

Most Wis-can-sinites north of Madison have the near-Canadian accent, don'tcha know.

That's probably because so many New Yorkers historically spread westward at more or less the same latitude.

Yes, although a fair number did end up in California...

It's debatable whether I'm from upstate NY. My hometown is only about 40 miles from NY, and 10 miles from the Atlantic. So, the City is sure we're upstate (and the accent is), but upstate thinks everything south of Albany is the city. And since we border on Connecticut and have close links to them, I think we're New England.

So you are one of THEM...

But rugged hills, we've sure got those. Terrain-wise, it's definitely Appalachia, from the Green Mountains, the Berkshires, the Taconic mountains, and even on the other side of the Hudson in the Catskills and the 'Gunks. But somehow, without the country music, it's just the Appalachian Trail that's officially Appalachian about it.

Right pretty for viewing, no fun at all to have to tramp over. about all we have hereabouts are the gravel hills left as terminal moraine desposit. Some of those knobs are relatovelt steep, though, and most difficult to clamber up. Thankfully, I haven't been moved to do such things for some years now

As for RPG tie-in . . . in the late 80's an illegal animal collector who was nearly caught once let a komodo dragon loose in our town . . . we got some weirdness overflow from NYC that day. The experts said it would die over the winter if it wasn't caught, but nobody should approach it. So, my two D&D friends and I grabbed some sturdy quarterstaves and went on a dragon hunt, sadly with no success. And if we had been bitten -- you probably would have gotten the blame!

hunting a komodo dragon armed only with a staff is brave to the point of foolheartiness. My friends and I would have dared it only with our bows...or maybe out rifles and shotguns.

As for blame for injury, likely D&D, and I as well, swould have been fingered

Cheers,
Gary