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]

"Would you like fries with that?"

Or making hundreds of dollars a year in the gaming industry.

 

[BOZ]

rakin' in the big bucks now!

 

[rossik]

They would likely persue only dangerous and malign creatures in such manner.

yeah, but...for fun?

or just by need?

do elves take life for fun?

 

[dcas]

yeah, but...for fun?

or just by need?

do elves take life for fun?

If a creature is "dangerous and malign," surely hunting it isn't fun . . . even if the hunters do get some sort of pleasure from the chase.

 

[RFisher]

I was not meaning to attack you. Sorry if I gave that impression.

Not at all. I just have trouble coming up with questions I want to ask you that don't require a lengthy answer. I just wanted you to know that I am trying.

Allow me to try again:

While it isn't the DM's job to provide a story, the DM should provide an enemy, mystery, goal, McGuffin, or other hook. True, false, or other?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hey, what else is a 'liberal arts' education for?

Today a proper institute of higher education would teach Conservative Arts!


Gary

 

[gideon_thorne]

Today a proper institute of higher education would teach Conservative Arts!


Gary

*chuckles* I went to one of those too. They almost got closed down when they tried to repress my craft. ^_~`

 

[Col_Pladoh]

...

While it isn't the DM's job to provide a story, the DM should provide an enemy, mystery, goal, McGuffin, or other hook. True, false, or other?

True and other, so both!

The GM is to provide the environment, the plot (mostly unrevealed initially) and backstory for it, including why the PC team is there. The GM also supplies and acts for all of the NPC, allowing the players to sort out the friends, neutrals, and antagonists. The players' PC then interact with the environment and the characters therein so as to create a story based on what they did or didn't do. The quality of the resulting tale, retold or not, is dependant on the information supplied by the GM and the actions of the player groups' characters interacting with the enviroment.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[rossik]

mr gygax...

atlking about players, dms and stuff...

what do u think about a player that have more than one character?
in case of small groups (lets say 2, or even 1 player!)

have u played/DMed like this?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

mr gygax...

atlking about players, dms and stuff...

what do u think about a player that have more than one character?
in case of small groups (lets say 2, or even 1 player!)

have u played/DMed like this?

I believe it is a splendid idea for players able to manage two or more PCs. I did that a good deal myself...although if I was playing more that three characters it became difficult for me to handle each and every one properly. Two was no problem, and three was passably done.

Cheers,
Gary