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.

 

[Mercule]

Shouldn't we make a point of bringing awarness of this important day to the rest of the nation? I am sure that all school students would be pleased if it were made a national holiday--devoted to playing the RPG of your choice, of course

Personally, I'd be tickled just to see what Hallmark came up with for the holiday.

 

[S'mon]

S'mon,

Darned if I can remember if the GW chaps had obtained additional releases from the authors of those creatures appearing in the Fiend folio or not.

I'd be pretty amazed if they hadn't! I'm sure the original authors signed something transferring all rights to TSR (otherwise they're in line for a heck of a lot of royalties!) - this would only apply to the Fiend Folio published version & all later versions derived from the FF though. You could also make a (retrospective) contractual agreement transferring the copyright in the White Dwarf published versions to someone else, but I doubt anyone would have thought to do so in this instance.

The important point is that these two versions are separate works, albeit the latter derived from the former, and transferring copyright in the latter work does not affect the copyright status of the former work. So eg if you still have your original pre-publication umber hulk text, you would probably still have copyright in it, unless it were a 'work for hire' - eg if you were paying yourself a salary as an employee of TSR at the time, and creating monsters was part of your work duties, under US law the copyright in all 'works for hire' vests in the employer, so you as Gary Gygax would never have had any copyrights in any works done as an employee of the corporation.
Under the Berne Convention on copyright (US is signatory) you still have moral rights in how people treat the umber hulk, though...

Disclaimer: I could be wrong. I'm British, anyway. I'm not a qualified lawyer, I just have a PhD in moral rights in copyright.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Personally, I'd be tickled just to see what Hallmark came up with for the holiday.

"Munchkins and game geeks,
"Computer nerds too
"We hope this holiday's
"Perfect for you!

"From the Hacks at Hallmark."

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Heh, S'mon!

Believe you me, I made sure to have contractual agreements for everything I wrote while at TSR, those NOT as work for hire. My job description did not include creative material I produced.

When matters between TSR and me were settled back in 1985, that was covered, so most of the copyrights I owned became the property of TSR, and some additional ones were later acquired by WotC.

I do retain the rights to the "Gord" stories and some few other properties, as well as to my name and variations of it such as Ignatz. Morgax, and Zagig.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[S'mon]

Heh, S'mon!

Believe you me, I made sure to have contractual agreements for everything I wrote while at TSR, those NOT as work for hire. My job description did not include creative material I produced.

When matters between TSR and me were settled back in 1985, that was covered, so most of the copyrights I owned became the property of TSR, and some additional ones were later acquired by WotC.

I do retain the rights to the "Gord" stories and some few other properties, as well as to my name and variations of it such as Ignatz. Morgax, and Zagig.

Cheers,
Gary

Your legal struggles are legendary, Gary.

Peter Jackson should make a movie about it...

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Your legal struggles are legendary, Gary.

Peter Jackson should make a movie about it...

Argh!

You know where to hit a guy and make it count

Heh,
Gary

 

[S'mon]

Argh!

You know where to hit a guy and make it count

Heh,
Gary

Actually, when I think about the TSR saga, I always think of Star Wars, specifically George Lucas' excellent novel of ep IV:

(shameless flattery follows)

"The old TSR was the TSR of legend, greater than distance or time.

Once, under the wise rule of the EGG, the TSR throve and grew.

But, as often happens when wealth and power exceed the admirable and attain the awesome, there appeared those evil ones with greed to match..."

Thankfully though the only Evil Empire in gaming these days is British - and they don't do RPGs at all anymore, so no point getting het up about that...

 

[Ulrick]

Sorry, I missed getting email notification of a number of posts here, yours being the first. I look forward to solving the mystery

Cheers,
Gary

Well, I did some digging and asking around, and nobody seems to remember his "English name."

It is a mystery, indeed.

So far I know the following:

1. People at the Guild who knew Standing Bear claim you were on amicable terms with him.
2. You vaguely remember an American Indian gamer from Iowa.
3. You met this gamer at a Gen Con or two when D&D was just starting.
4. Standing Bear also went by an English name.
5. I found out that Standing Bear did run an RPG before D&D game out. He switched to D&D because it had a better system.

The past, though lived, still changes. Every individual remembers it in his or her own way.

Which, of course, makes me more curious about the past...

But its the stories, however, that makes this search interesting. I don't know their true or not but I think these might be a little amusing. Keep in mind that these come from unreliable sources and I maintain that they are highly likely to be false (I don't wanna start rumors).

1. One member of the Guild claims that Standing Bear helped you create the original D&D game along with Dave Arneson--huh?


2. Another claimed that D&D was made as a collaborative effort among you and your friends, and you just happened to see a business opportunity and took advantage of it. And your friends weren't too happy about it.

I said to that, "Good for Gygax. That's just how things work. Not many people see a business opportunity and take advantage of it...he did."

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Well, I did some digging and asking around, and nobody seems to remember his "English name."

It is a mystery, indeed.

So far I know the following:

1. People at the Guild who knew Standing Bear claim you were on amicable terms with him.
2. You vaguely remember an American Indian gamer from Iowa.
3. You met this gamer at a Gen Con or two when D&D was just starting.
4. Standing Bear also went by an English name.
5. I found out that Standing Bear did run an RPG before D&D game out. He switched to D&D because it had a better system.

The past, though lived, still changes. Every individual remembers it in his or her own way.

Which, of course, makes me more curious about the past...

But its the stories, however, that makes this search interesting. I don't know their true or not but I think these might be a little amusing. Keep in mind that these come from unreliable sources and I maintain that they are highly likely to be false (I don't wanna start rumors).

1. One member of the Guild claims that Standing Bear helped you create the original D&D game along with Dave Arneson--huh?


2. Another claimed that D&D was made as a collaborative effort among you and your friends, and you just happened to see a business opportunity and took advantage of it. And your friends weren't too happy about it.

I said to that, "Good for Gygax. That's just how things work. Not many people see a business opportunity and take advantage of it...he did."

At the risk of incurring the wrath of some of the folks who have given you their recollections:

As far as I am aware, there was no RPG available before the D&D game was created. The closest thing to it, aside from gtames of "Let's Pretend" sort were psychological ones and the Inter-nation Sims that were run popularly for a time in the 1960s.

There is no question that I wrote every word of the original D&D game. Dave Arneson has said so himself in an interview in the now-defunct magazine Different worlds (issue #3, as I recall).

I sent the original 50 pp. ms. to about a score of other wargamers I was close to back in 1972. Most of them were college students. Indeed, these individuals game me a lot of feedback, so that in about two months of time after sending out the initial draft I rewrote the game so that the ms. was 150 pp length. That was likewise mailed out, this time to about twice as many persons for play-testing and input.

Chalk up the false stories to envy and jealousy There isn't one person who can come up with a shred of evidence contrary to what I state forthrightly above, mainly because there isn't any. Rather like the post here some time last year that claimed I had bashed female gamers. That chap claimed he'd find and post the proof, and I'm still waiting

Anyway, that said, I do hope you can discver Standing Bear's English name, as my curiosity is piqued.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Draxx]

Greetings Mr. Gygax,

I have looked on this forum for over a year but rarely posted as you can see by my extremely low number. Anyway I wanted to thank you for giving the world a game that has provided my friends and I over 25 years of fun and memories. I began playing in 1978 and am now 33 years old and still loving it!

If I may ask a question (I hope I'm not retreading old ground here) Can we expect any updated sequels to more of your classic modules by yourself or your sons in the near future? I have great memories and fondness for the giant series and White Plume Mountain. Also given the rise of computer power and DVDs, laptops at the game table, etc. Have you considered using computer visual aids to your adventure modules?

Just wondering, and thanks again for many years of fun!

Resepectfully,

Draxx