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.

 

[dcas]

Kenzer's HM modules look fun and entertaining, and truly herald back to a day when there was a wandering prostitute table in your DMG

Is there such a table in the OAD&D DMG? I don't remember it. (I don't have it on hand.) I know there were a number of such tables in Judges Guild's City-State of the Invincible Overlord.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary, maybe you've been already asked this, but what is your view of Hackmaster?

Kenzer's HM modules look fun and entertaining, and truly herald back to a day when there was a wandering prostitute table in your DMG

From what I have seen HackMaster is very close to OAD&D, a souped-up version with some tongue-in-cheek additions to add slapstick humor. I am all for some frivolity in RPG, and I employ it often when I GM adventures in which it is appropriate. More I can't say because I have not had opportunity to actually play the game. One of the drawbacks of being so busy...and living in a small town where GMs of various RPGs are at a premium.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Re: if you think that's coooool

check out gary's 'buttocks' table in the World Builders Guide. LOL

sorry Gary, had to do it.

Davis

So?

It only goes to prove that my hindsight is 20/20

Heh,
Gary

 

[MerricB]

How big is the town in which you live, Gary?

(I don't live in a town, I live on a mountain. The nearest hamlet only has a few hundred people - if that!)

Ballarat, where I work and play D&D, has a population of about 90,000.

Cheers!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

How big is the town in which you live, Gary?

(I don't live in a town, I live on a mountain. The nearest hamlet only has a few hundred people - if that!)

Ballarat, where I work and play D&D, has a population of about 90,000.

Cheers!

Ya, Hey Dere Merric!

Lake Geneva was about 4K people when I was a boy, but it's up to about 10K now, not coounting all the unincorporated developments surrounding the place that add about 10K.

The lake is seven miles long and a mile plus on average wide. It's spring fed and rock-bottomed, over 120 feet deep at its deepest point, so its attractive.

Tourists coming here, and summer residents make the area population swell by some 20K in the summer. Sadly, most all the big estates of the wealthy who used to have lake shore places around it have been subdivided into clusters of petty places that ruin the beauty of the shoreline. Sadly, soon what everybody comes here to enjoy will be gone--covered by little houses, roads, malls, and parking lots. No foresight in the minds of the City Fathers, and developers of real estate have no soul, only a lust for money

Ciao,
Gary

 

[EvilPheemy]

Mr. Gygax

If it's not too personal a question, what sorts of firearms do you own? Sadly, I can't affoard to collect shooters, I have to sate myself by collecting game volumes describing guns.

I really appreciate the time you spend answering questions from all of us. Thanks for being so candid.

KPP

 

[Napftor]

Re: Re: General Appreciation

Howdy Bret

The good words are appreciated. I have to agree that gaming has muuch to offer, including many great memories and good friends made because of it. I note you do freelance writing, and knowing how tough it is, wish you the best of success...

Thanks for the well wishing. I've been at this for a year now and have met with surprising success. As I said, none of it would have been possible without you. I aspire to be half the writer you are.

And I've got a question now! This may or may not have been asked before, but I'm curious as to exactly how much creative control you possessed up until your association with TSR ended. That would be creative control over product lines, new books, what have you.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Mr. Gygax

If it's not too personal a question, what sorts of firearms do you own? Sadly, I can't affoard to collect shooters, I have to sate myself by collecting game volumes describing guns.

I really appreciate the time you spend answering questions from all of us. Thanks for being so candid.

KPP

Howdy!

When I began wargaming back in 1958 an Avalon hill boardgame was $5, and that seemed so princely a sum that I had so save up to acquire a game. A friend and I pooled out spending money and bought the new games together. When I moved we divided the lot between us, taking turns after a die roll determined who got first pick

I own a 12 gauge pump and a double-barreled shotgun. a 30-30 carbine, a 7.63 mm Argentine Mauser, a 9mm Uzi, and a .22 semi-automatic. I also have several handguns, including a .45 semi-automatic, a .357 revolver, and a 9mm colt semi-automatic.

I used to do a bit of hunting and a lot of target shooting, but not much of that in the past 10 years, and I miss it.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Sniktch]

Wow! Remind me never to try robbing your house I'd have to fall in the category of buying gun books to look at the pictures, but not being able to afford one myself. I mean, one gun = dozens of RPG products

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Re: Re: Re: General Appreciation

Thanks for the well wishing. I've been at this for a year now and have met with surprising success. As I said, none of it would have been possible without you. I aspire to be half the writer you are.

And I've got a question now! This may or may not have been asked before, but I'm curious as to exactly how much creative control you possessed up until your association with TSR ended. That would be creative control over product lines, new books, what have you.

Welcome, and the kind lauds are heartening. It is good to see others able to have the fun I do with gaming and earn some money too

As for my control at TSR, it was pretty much my call up through 1980, but after that it went south. By 1981 Brian Blume was making the major decisions, and I was completely out of creative direction by 1982, other than my own work. Even there I could not stupulate the quality of the product or it's illustration.

Cheers,
Gary