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]

Ah, and Deuce Traveler...

My crew doesn't find my puns and shaggy dog stories amusing. They keep demanding that I get back to game mastering


Gary

 

[Mythmere1]

I'd be careful of saying that around the OSRIC loyal. Some of them seem to feel C&C is not a good alternative to AD&D, and only OSRIC will do to satisfy them. Personally, I find the OSRIC project to be quite interesting from the perspective of seeing just how ingenious fans can be when it comes to ensuring something they love survives. I hope it finds success. I also find C&C to be a really nice addition to the spectrum of games with their roots in D&D.

Actually, I think many of the OSRIC loyal are actually C&C players. No one is actually expected to *play* using the OSRIC rules, it's a platform for publishers. What distinguishes OSRIC is its open license, not the rule-set. It frees up writers to publish material for old-style games. Comparisons with C&C aren't on point; the only relevant distinction is that anyone can publish as "compatible with OSRIC" without permission, but you have to get TLG's permission before you can say that about C&C. Comparing the rule sets misses the point.

BTW, Mr. Gygax, I just got Yggsburgh a couple of weeks ago. It's probably the best-crafted environment for a thieving-based group I have ever seen. Really a work of art in that regard. In fact, the law that you're only guilty of thievery if caught in the act, or else it's just possession of stolen goods -- that one law and the elegant way it solves so many GM dilemmas of handling thieves was worth the price of the book in three or so sentences. The imagery of Big Fish Lake, again, alone, was worth the price. Maps by Darlene: worth the whole price. It's full of real creativity-sparks. That's what I like to buy in RPG products, that wild-flung creativity, or the mind-sparking imagery (Big Fish lake isn't so much out-of-the-box, but MAN did it call up a vivid, adventurous feel that's worth paying for - I made seafood for dinner that night). Obviously, not all of it matches my style of gaming - it's not written for the least common denominator like so much that's being done these days. Anyone who hasn't bought it yet ... should buy it, IMO.

 

[haakon1]

I do know that I quit buying TSR's Greyhawk material.

Luckily for me, I stopped playing D&D sometime after 2nd Edition came out.

My gaming resume:
1981-1988: AD&D, Greyhawk player
1986-1989: Oriental AD&D DM
1988-1991: AD&D & 2nd Edition player, homebrew settings
<gave up on D&D>
1996-2002: AD&D DM running Greyhawk. Just because TSR was lame, didn't mean I couldn't play the original game like it was meant to be played.
2002-present: 3e/3.5e DM running Greyhawk

I think 1991-1998 was the nadir for Greyhawk. The revival under Roger Moore in 1998 was pretty good, and WOTC has never intentional "abused" Greyhawk like 2nd Edition TSR seemed to. They are neglecting it now (I'm always peeved when I see WOTC info about where to set adventures in either Faerun or Eberron, but not 'hawk), but they are not tormenting it like the old owners.

 

[haakon1]

I'm about to do just that to my group in a mini-campaign. Part One will be a hobgoblin chieftain, a bugbear, a shaman, a witchdoctor and assorted groups of goblinkind bowmen, slingers, and footmen -all given the goal of taking a tower manned by human men-at-arms.
. . .
Turnabout is fair play, after all.

Indeed. And you can go either way with the attacking/defending fortification stuff.

The best fun I ever had with D&D was having the players (plus lots of 0-level NPCs and a few better ones) defend the Keep on the Borderlands from an army of undead, bandits, and goblinoids. Lots of time and work to run it all, but very rewarding for me and the players. "The dungeon comes to you" is a neat concept to try.

 

[gideon_thorne]

but you have to get TLG's permission before you can say that about C&C.

Indeed. Its a sensable precaution called 'quality content control'.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Whoa Mythmere1

Your glowing praise for the CYZ book is most heartening! I did indeed put a lot into the work, and it is great to find the effort appreciated.

The town detail modules should give Yggsburgh a feel of urban verisimilitude, as many of the districts are designed by different authors. I hope that will give the community the sort of differing aspect from neighborhood to neighborhood that is common in real cities.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Indeed. Its a sensable precaution called 'quality content control'.

Not to mention protection of Intellectual Property

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Mythmere1]

Indeed. Its a sensable precaution called 'quality content control'.

This is true: high quality is important to protect a brand name. Slipshod work really damages a for-profit company's reputation. But OSRIC isn't about profit or protecting intellectual property; it's left to the publishers to develop their IP and release or control it as they see fit, it's up to the publishers to maintain the quality of their OSRIC product lines. The thing about OSRIC is that there will be numerous publishers, and more product means more competition (even if it's mainly for reputation), more competition means higher quality - all within the same umbrella system. There will also, likely, be a lot of mediocre or bad material as well.

Anyway, OSRIC itself isn't really on topic; I just wanted to turn aside any misconception that there are two "camps;" in terms of using Mr. Gygax's Yggsburgh material, there's really no division.

 

[grodog]

That sounds a good deal similar to the C&C game

I'd be careful of saying that around the OSRIC loyal. Some of them seem to feel C&C is not a good alternative to AD&D, and only OSRIC will do to satisfy them. Personally, I find the OSRIC project to be quite interesting from the perspective of seeing just how ingenious fans can be when it comes to ensuring something they love survives. I hope it finds success. I also find C&C to be a really nice addition to the spectrum of games with their roots in D&D.

Hopefully folks will remain civil about the differences between AD&D and OSRIC, C&C and HackMaster and such---these are just games we're talking about, eh?

For reference, in case anyone here's curious about OSRIC, you can download it from http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/ The present version is still being edited, and if you have feedback, feel free to chime in at the discussion thread @ Dragonsfoot @ http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18537

Understood. I must say, though, thet the C&C game is sufficiently suitable in my books to use as the system for a version of the original Greyhawk Campaign as created by me with Rob Kuntz

I'm very excited that this project is finally coming to fruition, Gary. Like Jeff, I vividly remember the days of scouring game stores for news and copies of T2, CG1, etc.

Is there any chance that you'd consider publishing the original maps and keys, one day, to give us all insight into the earliest origins of the game?

 

[John Drake]

Hello Gary!
Now, just to harken back to a couple of posts reagarding the creation a second edition for AD&D, back when you were still with TSR: so, when you were thinking about this at the the time, was it because you really felt the game needed it or was there some sort of demand from the gaming public at the time? Now, while I did play the 2e that did come out, I personally felt it was not a great improvement upon your original work, in fact, I always thought that a diluting occured (ranger class being a prime example) and one I never fully understood.
Also, I'd like to contribute my comments in regards to the TSR module Castle Greyhawk: what a load of rubbish.
And in regards to good modules, I really enjoyed Isle of the Ape. Great setting and just tons of fun. Thanks!