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.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Too Many Yarths!

Just a few more notes about the other worlds.

There are actually three Yarths.

Yarth was a world Gord, Leda, and Gellor went to.

Another Yarth was where Sagard the Barbarian was. It's most likely the Yarth mentioned in that article was Sagard's.

Yarth was the original name for what was released as Epic of Aerth. Yarth was renamed since Steve Jackson's GURPS fantasy world is named Yrth. I thought it was Gord's home but Gary cleared that up.

Actually the Metric system is more mnemonic, since it's base 10, but we US citizens are quite stubborn and nobody mandated conversion, making it "voluntary". We're slowly converting in other ways, such as computer measurements (even though a Gigabyte isn't 1 Billion Bytes exactly, since its binary based). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Speaking of "Big Names", are there many non-spellslingers payed in your games that might be well known? I mean everyone knows Mordenkainen, Bigby, Tenser, etc. For the iconic spells which bear their names. What of the sword and board types? Any that stand out?

On a side note, you've probobly answered this before, but are the characters of Gord, Curley Greenleaf and co. based on PCs or were they created specifically for your novels?

The best known fighters were Robilar and Terek, along with the lesser known with Aylerich, a paladin and Gronan.

Most of the characters in the Gord novels were created for the stories. Curley Greenleaf was a PC of mine, and Melf was my son Luke's principal PC. We actually played out the scene where Keek dupes Melf...for which Luke berates me to this day.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

DarkKestral,

Actually, I was referring to popular usage. when i was a lad grocers used to sell produce by half-peck, peck, and even bushel measure now and then. That is no longer the case as far as I can tell, although they might well still sell potatoes by the peck.

I well know about bushel measures for grain, as I took agriculture in high school, worked on a farm, and had to know the weights of varying soprts of studffs in a bushel measurement.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

...

Actually the Metric system is more mnemonic, since it's base 10, but we US citizens are quite stubborn and nobody mandated conversion, making it "voluntary". We're slowly converting in other ways, such as computer measurements (even though a Gigabyte isn't 1 Billion Bytes exactly, since its binary based). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States

Phooey!

The linear measurement system is based on the human body and is intuitive.

12 is a better base than 1o as it is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 rather than only 1, 2, 5, and 10.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Grain measurements are something that are hard for me to internalize. I'm sure if I could actually see what a bushel's worth of whatever looks like I'd have a better idea.

I'm running into the same issue with the koku measurement. I mean, I know it means enough rice to support one man for one year in theory, but no idea how much rice that even looks like.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Grain measurements are something that are hard for me to internalize. I'm sure if I could actually see what a bushel's worth of whatever looks like I'd have a better idea.

I'm running into the same issue with the koku measurement. I mean, I know it means enough rice to support one man for one year in theory, but no idea how much rice that even looks like.

I am not positive, but I visualize a koku or rice as a container somewhat larger than a peach crate but of the same general shape, wide at the top and tapering towards the base.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[JamesM]

Gary,

Two somewhat related questions, if I may:

1. Early portrayals of orcs in AD&D gave them decidedly porcine physical attributes. Was this done intentionally or was it simply the whim of the illustrators?

2. In Greyhawk, you often used alternate names for the various humanoid races, such as Euroz for orcs and Jebli for goblins. What was the origin of this practice? I always liked it and felt it contributed just enough flavor to the setting without becoming obsessive, so I'd be curious as to your rationale for having introduced these terms.

Thanks.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

Two somewhat related questions, if I may:

1. Early portrayals of orcs in AD&D gave them decidedly porcine physical attributes. Was this done intentionally or was it simply the whim of the illustrators?

2. In Greyhawk, you often used alternate names for the various humanoid races, such as Euroz for orcs and Jebli for goblins. What was the origin of this practice? I always liked it and felt it contributed just enough flavor to the setting without becoming obsessive, so I'd be curious as to your rationale for having introduced these terms.

Thanks.

Heh...

I mentioned "pig-like faces" to Dave Sutherland, and he took me far too literally as far as I was concerned.

I created the names you mention for humanoids so as to make those of the Oerth setting more distinct and unique to the world. less folklorish if you will.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[T. Foster]

Just a few more notes about the other worlds.

There are actually three Yarths.

Yarth was a world Gord, Leda, and Gellor went to.

Another Yarth was where Sagard the Barbarian was. It's most likely the Yarth mentioned in that article was Sagard's.

Yarth was the original name for what was released as Epic of Aerth. Yarth was renamed since Steve Jackson's GURPS fantasy world is named Yrth. I thought it was Gord's home but Gary cleared that up.

Yarth is also the name of the world in Gardner Fox's Kothar series, which clearly isn't the third, but could be the same as the first or second, or could be yet a fourth Yarth...

 

[jolt]

You are most likely correct, but what I said applies to the WoG as well as to the game per se. In truth I had plans to create material detailing the various states and major terrain features of the world setting, as well as completing the world with a second boxed set.
Cheers,
Gary

Emphasis mine. Sorry to quote such an old post but I would have (and still would) pay a lot of money for a complete Greyhawk world. A shame that the IP for Oerth didn't revert to you (especially since WotC clearly has no intention of doing anything with it). Greyhawk is the only published setting I have ever used for D&D. Once they stopped making Greyhawk in the early 2E days. I started on my homebrew which I still use to this day.

Greyhawk was such a big influence on me. I had the packet edition and the shields that decorated the covers are what kindled my interest in heraldry. There are too many influences for me to even mention. It's depressing that I'll never get to see Greyhawk completed. How much of the rest of the world had you fleshed out?

I really enjoy worldbuilding; did you find world creation to be easy, difficult or somewhere in-between? Any particular part that was hardest for you?

Thanks again for Greyhawk (and everything else), I still have all those old materials and I'll never give them up.

jolt