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]

Thank you. That's good, solid advice. I've heard or read pretty much all of that before but that makes it no less useful.

Heh...

See also above.

Anyway, as Soloman said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

Cheers,
Gary

 

[gideon_thorne]

If you have retained any of such gaming sets, by all means bring same to the LGGC, and you, Mick, and I can round up a fourth and have at it!

Cheers,
Gary

I surely wish I did. But that was a long time ago and in a galaxy far away. But hey, there is always tiddlywinks. ^_^

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I surely wish I did. But that was a long time ago and in a galaxy far away. But hey, there is always tiddlywinks. ^_^

Blast!

As one who as lost far too many games and accessories over the years, I can not fault you. For example all of my WW II HO scale US men and vehicles, including a number of conversionsm are lost as are the earlier 54 mm figurines and vehicles--two M4 Shermans, an M5 Stewart, and a White half-track with a quad .50 caliber AA gun mounted in the back. Then there is the 40mm scale medieval peasants cottage and barn I scratch build, adding a commercial coivered well, apple and what looked like an oak tree to the boards to which I had them affixed.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[gideon_thorne]

Blast!

As one who as lost far too many games and accessories over the years, I can not fault you. For example all of my WW II HO scale US men and vehicles, including a number of conversionsm are lost as are the earlier 54 mm figurines and vehicles--two M4 Shermans, an M5 Stewart, and a White half-track with a quad .50 caliber AA gun mounted in the back. Then there is the 40mm scale medieval peasants cottage and barn I scratch build, adding a commercial coivered well, apple and what looked like an oak tree to the boards to which I had them affixed.

Cheers,
Gary

Well, what we used to do was buy those HO scale plastic WW II miniatures and build a diorama. When we got tired of one, we would break that one down, reuse the mesh and various bits and bobs, mix up some new paper mache, sand, et al and build a new set up.

We also used to assemble castles out of old cardboard boxes. Great for those ral partha mini's. ^_^

 

[haakon1]

Zulu

Zulu is what popped for me from this list. Great movie, and great gaming scenario.

I've been told the best scenario I ever DM'd was a counterattack on the Keep on the Borderlands by the denizens of the Caves of Chaos. An epic battle ~160 rounds long, which ended in the great hall of the Keep'd donjon (as I redrew the Keep), with the last few zombies and skeletons pushing back burning tables barricading the bashed down remains of the great doors. Wow, was that fun.

And of course, the Helms Deep battle is my favorite part of the LOTR movies.

I guess the original movie version of such tales might be Gunga Din or Fort Apache in the 1930s, but Zulu did it oh so well.

Hmmm, half the movies listed are great fun, whereas half I've never seen, and some I've never even heard of. Zardoz, eh? I fought alongside a PC with that name once. We got TPK'd.

 

[Kevin Mayle]

Hi Gary, Do you recall what Dave Sutherland based the demon idol statue on the cover of the original Player's Handbook on?

 

[tx7321]

Dear Gary,

Do you recall how you had intended the assassination to work for an assassin? Did you intend the rules to say that the assassin always hits (as long as surprise is won), and that normal damage is taken even if the assassination attempt fails? Or did you mean to say the assassin must hit by rolling before he could attempt to assassinate?

Also, when an assassin wins surprise, does he only get 1 segment of surprise to attempt to assassinate, or all the segments he wins (ex. an assassin wins 3 segs. of surprise on a target, would he get only 1 of those 3 to attempt to assassinate, and attack normally for the other 2, get only 1 attack for that sequence of surprises, or something different).

Also, can an assassination be conducted using a missile attack (as long as the assassin wins surprise)?

I have read some who claim that the assassination attempt was meant to be a "plan" handed to the DM that is rolled for (as long as the plan is sound). A single role that shows if the overall plan worked (ex. the plan to hide above in a tree that overhangs a road, as a passing nobel rides by, drop down from above attacking with a dagger to assassinate. This would be considered a single assassination attempt, rather then a role to climb, a role to HIS, a role to see if the nobel happens to be on the wrong side of the road etc.).

Thanks for taking the time to answer such questions. Keep well!
Tx7321

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Well, what we used to do was buy those HO scale plastic WW II miniatures and build a diorama. When we got tired of one, we would break that one down, reuse the mesh and various bits and bobs, mix up some new paper mache, sand, et al and build a new set up.

We also used to assemble castles out of old cardboard boxes. Great for those ral partha mini's. ^_^

Speaking of scale models...

In the rear garden of the old Gargoyle, Royal Steak House, owned by one Paul Junker, there were three miniature castles built of actual stone blocks. They were perfect, about HO scale, maybe a bit larger, as they stood about three feet high.

When Junker died Leo Bischoff acquired the place, and as the garden was rather neglected, he refurbished it, took out the castles. I was sick when I discovered that, as they were just trashed, I would gladly have taken then down and salvaged these beauties :\

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Zulu is what popped for me from this list. Great movie, and great gaming scenario.

I've been told the best scenario I ever DM'd was a counterattack on the Keep on the Borderlands by the denizens of the Caves of Chaos. An epic battle ~160 rounds long, which ended in the great hall of the Keep'd donjon (as I redrew the Keep), with the last few zombies and skeletons pushing back burning tables barricading the bashed down remains of the great doors. Wow, was that fun.

And of course, the Helms Deep battle is my favorite part of the LOTR movies.

I guess the original movie version of such tales might be Gunga Din or Fort Apache in the 1930s, but Zulu did it oh so well.

Hmmm, half the movies listed are great fun, whereas half I've never seen, and some I've never even heard of. Zardoz, eh? I fought alongside a PC with that name once. We got TPK'd.

Zardoz was not a widely liked film despite it having Sean Connery as the lead. It is a post-apocalyptic SF work.

Add to the list of my favorites:

Seven Samurai
Ten Little Indians (b&w)

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Hi Gary, Do you recall what Dave Sutherland based the demon idol statue on the cover of the original Player's Handbook on?

The illustration to which you refer was done by Dave Trampier, one of my favorite artists.

Tramp had a most fertile imagination, and I suspect the inspiration for the idol was a Baal idol of the Carthaginians or other Phonecians.

Cheers,
Gary