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.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Ahah! After months of seeing this thread and being vaguely impressed that I could potentially talk to the guy that started the whole D&D thing...I have a question!

It's not a very good question, though, sorry.

I'm playing in a campaign using the Lost City of Gaxmoor, and yesterday we spent some time having statues described to us. The Wizard is now planning revenge on the DM for reading out all the statue descriptions by planning to use shrink item on the lot of them to sell them in a nearby large city...

So here's my question. Why O why O why did you write such long descriptions?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Merric, thanks for supplying the zine numbers.

Alan, that's a good plot line.

My concept was that Eclavdra was aiming at dominance of the Drow through using the EEG to replace Lolth. she, as the chief priestess of the elemental deity would then be the mistress of all. The final scenario was to have been one in which the adventurers got involved in the battle between the evil entities and made it so that both lost and were tossed back to their own planes, relatively powerless in the Mundane world for some time to come.

The Sunless Sea was indeed meant to serve as a place for further subterranean adventuring, of course. Always leave some room for that sort of thing, obvious or concealed in the setting

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ahah! After months of seeing this thread and being vaguely impressed that I could potentially talk to the guy that started the whole D&D thing...I have a question!

It's not a very good question, though, sorry.

I'm playing in a campaign using the Lost City of Gaxmoor, and yesterday we spent some time having statues described to us. The Wizard is now planning revenge on the DM for reading out all the statue descriptions by planning to use shrink item on the lot of them to sell them in a nearby large city...

So here's my question. Why O why O why did you write such long descriptions?

Heh, happy to have some fun here, and your's is not a bad question at all...only directed at the wrong Gygax

My sons Ernie and Luke write THE LOST CITY OF GAXMOOR, and I did only some suggestions (mainly as to the statues) and play-testing (as Tempros Ganger).

The descriptions of the statues have a purpose. Of course they aren't meant to be read serially, only when a party is near to one so as to be able to "see" all the details. Play will reveal more.

BTW, if I were the DM, I think the Wizard in the party would have his spell rebound, and he'd get minimalized whenever he tried to mess with the statues like that

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

BTW, if I were the DM, I think the Wizard in the party would have his spell rebound, and he'd get minimalized whenever he tried to mess with the statues like that

Cheers,
Gary

The DM in question (S'mon on these boards) has mentioned that some of them radiate magic, but no more yet. I await with interest to see what happens.

There's a SH based on the campaign if you have time to take a peek. http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28405

 

[Col_Pladoh]

The DM in question (S'mon on these boards) has mentioned that some of them radiate magic, but no more yet. I await with interest to see what happens.

There's a SH based on the campaign if you have time to take a peek. http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28405

Talk about long threads!

S'mon seems to have a good turn of phrase; the accounts are interesting. You all must be having some great fun in the adventure. Reading those reports was near enough to get me interested in playing 3E. Shows what a good DM can do Hope you enjoy discovering more about the statues of Gaxmoor...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Ulrick]

Re: Re: Pronunciation, D-series

As for Q1, Ask Dave Sutherland and Brian Blume about that. It was taken out of my hands by the latter when Sutherland discovered the "Demonweb" pattern in a hand towel and talked Brian into using it as the main theme for the concluding module. I had no creative control over it.

I had hoped to get to the Elder Elemental god in a sequal to the ToEE, but...

Bah,
Gary

A hand towel???

That's surely an example of how ideas that inspire creativity can from from the oddest sources.

 

[Decado]

Gary,

I have been following this thread for a while now and wanted to thank you for creating something that has given me years of enjoyment.

TTOEE is my all time favorite series and I have been DMing it for four years now in a play by post game. I as a DM I really enoy the fact that it is open enough to add my own material which I have done on numerous occasions. I wish there modules like that being published now. I did just purchase Necropolis and am working on intergrating it into my Greyhawk Campaign. I was considering placing it in the Sea of Dust or Dry Steepes.

After reading all the post in both threads I was finally able to come up with a question. I really enjoy the Ranger class and always wondered about the ruling that no more then 3 rangers could ever work together at one time. I am curious as to the reasoning for that rule. I always thought of the ranger class a fantasy version of Army Rangers, warriors who specialized in fast raids, hit and move tactics and used minimal equipment.

Thanks again for giving us a great game.

Decado

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

I have been following this thread for a while now and wanted to thank you for creating something that has given me years of enjoyment.

TTOEE is my all time favorite series and I have been DMing it for four years now in a play by post game. I as a DM I really enoy the fact that it is open enough to add my own material which I have done on numerous occasions. I wish there modules like that being published now. I did just purchase Necropolis and am working on intergrating it into my Greyhawk Campaign. I was considering placing it in the Sea of Dust or Dry Steepes.

A mutually shared pleasure, i assure you It is good to learn that you appreciate the creative room I always try to leave for GMs, so that the material can be personalized as well as fit into the unique campaign.

As for placing the Necropolis adventure, I'd recommend that you move it off map to a new continent that can a accommodate more civilizations. Nothing wrong with having an Egyptian-Indian-Persian-Burmese-Chinese land mass separated from the Oerik map....if you are so inclined.

After reading all the post in both threads I was finally able to come up with a question. I really enjoy the Ranger class and always wondered about the ruling that no more then 3 rangers could ever work together at one time. I am curious as to the reasoning for that rule. I always thought of the ranger class a fantasy version of Army Rangers, warriors who specialized in fast raids, hit and move tactics and used minimal equipment.

Thanks again for giving us a great game.

Decado

The stricture was placed in the rules to discourage parties of one sort of character, or an over-balance of one--Rangers. We found that a problem in the large groups we were DMing at the time.

The Ranger was envisaged as more of a lone scout sort than a trained military man who operated in units.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[MerricB]

Rather to my amusement, the "3 Rangers in one party" is faithfully adhered to in the AD&D computer game "Unlimited Adventures". I don't know many who have come afoul of it, though, as you can only have 6 characters in a party...

Gary, you introduced the new classes of Cavalier, Barbarian and Thief-Acrobat to us in Dragon Magazine and later Unlimited Adventures... were those classes being played by players in your campaign?

Cheers!

 

[Col_Pladoh]

[snip]

Gary, you introduced the new classes of Cavalier, Barbarian and Thief-Acrobat to us in Dragon Magazine and later Unlimited Adventures... were those classes being played by players in your campaign?

Cheers!

Hi Merric

We had one cavalier, a couple of barbarians, and one thief-actobat ex post facto... I actually worked up a barbarian just to use as an annoyance factor when playing with a group that had greedy mages in it. Of course I made sure to have a goodly number of sympatico PCS around to avoid undue retribution for his destruction of "stinking magic!"

Heh,
Gary