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]

...
That's good to know. I was struck by the fact that people who praise a game commonly call it "addictive" -- the usage has spread to the computer gaming community.

The whole addiction phenomenon seemed like a good point for analysis ... possibly I need to be able to analyze more concisely.

In point of fact, humans are prone to excess with anything that they especially enjoy

So that recounting of the story, and the group interaction, are factors which are entirely missing from Robin Laws' theory.

Thanks for the insight. Sorry about the post length.

Indeed, the shared experience, its recounting within the group and to other gamers, are very important parts of the overall enjoyment of the RPG, its rewards. Notice that there will be lively discussion of an adventure module between disparate individuals, for they are also sharing a gaming experience,from differing perspectives,of course, as they played with different GMs and players with different PCs.

No need to apologise aout the length of your post. You had something on your mind you wished to note for others

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Been there, done that...

Cheers,
Gary

So I saw. Looks like the perfect birthday. I hope you enjoy the best of life: Fine RPGs, food, and alcohol.

 

[haakon1]

Hehe, you might hate me then, because (though Im not certain) there was a Confederate Irish Brigade. Also, the Fighting epithet was earned by many, many regiments (over 150 IIRC at last count), including the 14th Brooklyn, 6th Wisconsin (IIRC) and a number of others.

Wikipedia for "Irish Brigade" doesn't mention any darn Rebel Irish Brigade, but it does mention them fighting a Reb regiment that was mostly Irish at Fredericksburg, where Lee gave them the name the Fighting 69th. That's totally different.

"The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade that served in the American Civil War, consisting predominantly of Irish immigrants. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the "Fighting 69th", continued in later wars. They were known in part for their famous warcry, the "faugh a ballagh", which is an old Gaelic phrase meaning "clear the way".

They were in every Army of the Potomac battle I can name, earning distinction at First Bull Run, Antietam (Bloody Lane), and Gettysburg (the Wheatfield).

And you gotta like this, consider how little the US military seems to respect its own history:
"Since 1947, the Fighting 69th has been a unit of the New York National Guard. The first members of the Irish Brigade to die in combat since World War II were killed on November 29, 2004, near Baghdad, Iraq. They currently have responsibility for guarding Route Irish."

All I wonder is why a school in Indiana named its teams after a New York regiment.

 

[Jdvn1]

See my response on this thread:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.p...006#post2974006

Cheerio,
Gary

Actually, the link doesn't seem to be working.

 

[Spell]

Good morning, Mr. Gygax. My question for you is a bit weird, but you are the only person I can think of that might have the answer.

I am consulting the first few issues of Dragon magazine, looking for cool rules I could steal for my OD&D game, and I can't help noticing that some of the issues contain fiction by Fritz Leiber, and articles from M.A.R. Barker... this surprises my to no ends.
Given the fame of the two in fantasy circles (especially for Mr. Leiber), I would have thought that a niche magazine like Dragon, published by a relatively small company like TSR simply couldn't afford to pay for these articles and stories.

my question is: how did you do it?
maybe TSR wasn't so small after all, or maybe I have a wrong idea of the inapproachability of relatively famous writers? or maybe there is some inside story that you might want to share with us?

thanks a lot!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

So I saw. Looks like the perfect birthday. I hope you enjoy the best of life: Fine RPGs, food, and alcohol.

You forgot laying in a hammock in the shade reading and snoozing

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Actually, the link doesn't seem to be working.

Hmmm...

So I see :\

I went to the thread and again copied the URL, that being:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=169796&page=2

Maybe it will work now,

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Good morning, Mr. Gygax. My question for you is a bit weird, but you are the only person I can think of that might have the answer.

I am consulting the first few issues of Dragon magazine, looking for cool rules I could steal for my OD&D game, and I can't help noticing that some of the issues contain fiction by Fritz Leiber, and articles from M.A.R. Barker... this surprises my to no ends.
Given the fame of the two in fantasy circles (especially for Mr. Leiber), I would have thought that a niche magazine like Dragon, published by a relatively small company like TSR simply couldn't afford to pay for these articles and stories.

my question is: how did you do it?
maybe TSR wasn't so small after all, or maybe I have a wrong idea of the inapproachability of relatively famous writers? or maybe there is some inside story that you might want to share with us?

thanks a lot!

M.A.R. (Phil) Barker is hardly a renowned author He did publish his Empire of the Petal Throne RPG as well as his War of Wizards game through TSR. It is thus not unusual for articles by the Professor to appear in Dragon magazine.

I was in fairly regular communication with Fritz Leiber, TSR published the Lankhmar game based on his work, and he and his best pal, Harry Fischer were GoH at GenCon X. After the con Fritz stayed a week or so as my houseguest. While we got along famously, I do believe that Fritz was quite taken with my ex-wife, as he sent her a bronze statuette titled "Pirate Queen" after he returned to San Francisco.

At the time that Barker and Leiber were writing for the zine, TSR gross ranged from $500,000 to $2,000,000. That was indeed small potatoes in the business world.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Gray Mouser]

I was in fairly regular communication with Fritz Leiber, TSR published the Lankhmar game based on his work, and he and his best pal, Harry Fischer were GoH at GenCon X.

Colonel, regarding the Lankhmar game you mentioned above, do you mean the City of Lankhmar setting for AD&D that TSR published or was this an actual game (table top, I assume, not RPG)? Can you give any details about the game, who was its primary designer, and how much Fritz Leiber was involved with it and what he thought of the whole project?

And, of course, belated but sincere wishes that you had a happy birthday!

Gray Mouser

 

[MarauderX]

I have been playing a bit of D&D Online, and was floored with glee when I saw that you had done the narration for one of the adventures. Thanks for doing it, and in a way it makes me feel like I have played with the master himself. Any future narrations on the way?