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.

 

[haakon1]

Too bad for me I guess! If not for weddings and such, I'd be there in a shot.

Nod, me too. June 2008, that I might be able to make it for.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

So did anyone ever actually catch Obmi and gain vengeance, or is he still out there somewhere?

Obmi got caught in the Hall of the Fire Giant King, laid low, but of course I had his remains recovered by a hidden henchman, a wish used to restore life to the valiant fighter against PC tyranny and depridations. Thta is how I could have him appear in the Gord series without a qualm. His fate therein is another matter, but assuredly there is a parallel world Obmi around to assist the malign...I mean magnificent opposition.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Ah, there's nothing like bringing a most-hated (by the PCs, anyway!) NPC back to life after your players have done him in. Gets the old hatred flowing, and makes normally level-headed and cagey players really easy to lure into the simplest of traps!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ah, there's nothing like bringing a most-hated (by the PCs, anyway!) NPC back to life after your players have done him in. Gets the old hatred flowing, and makes normally level-headed and cagey players really easy to lure into the simplest of traps!

How true...

...and how straight-forwardly devious

Cheers,
Gary

 

[zakon]

Hmm...what to ask...


Did you ever plan to have "specialized" classes like the assassin or acrobat, or did they just crop up?

Also, why did you cap the levels on every race except human?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hmm...what to ask...


Did you ever plan to have "specialized" classes like the assassin or acrobat, or did they just crop up?

Also, why did you cap the levels on every race except human?

Howdy!

The assassin is an archetype, not any more specialized than most of the other classes. The thief-acrobat was an attempt to make the nimble swashbuckler of many a motion picture the same. So to the point, I did indeed plan those types of characters.

Your statement regarding level limits is not wholly correct. There is usually no level limit on non-human thief class characters. As the fantasy worlds for RPGs are ruled by humans, not other races, of course humans must be superior. Campaign worlds are humanocentric because all GMs are human, of course, and actually developing a milieu in which some other race was predominant is a poser, a creative task I would not care to undertake, as it would necessarily take decades, if it could be properly depicted at all, IMO.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Hey Gary,

I was wondering about the various named spells (Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound, the Bigby's Hand spells, etc.). Were these spells that were actually researched by the respective characters during the course of play, or did you just assign them to the characters on a whim?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hey Gary,

I was wondering about the various named spells (Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound, the Bigby's Hand spells, etc.). Were these spells that were actually researched by the respective characters during the course of play, or did you just assign them to the characters on a whim?

Heh...

Rather a moot question. As the author of the AD&D game, the arbiter of the Greyhawk campaign from which much in the underlying game sprang, and the player whose PCs they were, or for whom some of the name spells PCs I was DM of, you are essentially asking what hat I was wearing. All of that came from one source

Indeed, Mordenkainen has a few magic items that are non-suches, as do some of the old Greyhawk PCs of other persons.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[zakon]

Why was Rary called Rary the Traitor? I remeber reading something that referred to him as that. On a similar note, do you know of anywhere on the 'net or some other place I could get a hold of what went on in those games? From what I've pieced together, it seems like a very...interesting game (Trail of displacer cloak rags and elven tears, Lol)

 

[Barak]

I had a young female editor from a major NY publisher that was on the same panel as I at a con ask me how I could steal dwarves from Tolkien. I said:

"Young lady, I'll have you know that I stole my dwarves from the same source the professor did, Norse mythology!"

Tha audience laughed heartily, and she was basically silent thereafter.

Cheers,
Gary

Heh. While still dumb, she would have been better off asking why halflings were so close to hobbits.