Richard Garfield vs. Gary Gygax


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dreaded_beast said:
What does "EGG" stand for?

I think the GG stands for Gary Gygax, but I don't know what the E represents.

Ernest. One of his sons is also named "Ernie". I also have my suspicions that the Duchy of "Urnst" comes from this, too. :)

But don't let me get further on the "nameplay" issue, because you'd spend a college semester's worth of time digging into all the nameplay going on in the Greyhawk Universe. :eek:
 

Henry said:
But don't let me get further on the "nameplay" issue, because you'd spend a college semester's worth of time digging into all the nameplay going on in the Greyhawk Universe. :eek:

The most comprehesive collection of "Greyhawk nameplay" I've seen is at grodog's site (though Gary has disputed a few of these interpretations, I believe, and I'm sure there are still more waiting to be discovered). Probably my favorite Greyhawk name-game is the city of Erelhei Cinlu (from module D3: Vault of the Drow). The name comes from the first syllables of the names of each of Gygax's five children (at the time, his son Alex hadn't been born yet): Ernie, Elise, Heidi, Cindy, and Luke. :D
 

WizarDru said:
For a great many years, EGG WAS D&D. Not the only person by any means, but the big burritto, the 'go to' guy, Mr. Big. I learned from Moldvay, but I knew Gygax.


Great point! I think someone mentioned earlier that, in general, when people need information they're much more likely as a first option to ask another person than to look for the information in a book or on a computer. Hence, in the early days of D&D, players first reaction when they had a question about the rules of the game was to want to ask Gary himself. In my book, Gary is the Mr. Big of D&D because he made himself available in that capacity to his fans.

That's right, you could call EGG himself, at home, and ask him how many spells your first level Magic-User should start the game knowing. He didn't change to an unlisted phone number or call you a looney or report you to the police as a stalker, he'd sit there and talk to you about your game on the phone. He made himself available to the fans he shared a love of the hobby with. If your horseless carriage broke down in 1899, you couldn't send a telegram to Henry Ford asking advice on how to fix it and expect a response. If you had a problem with your spanking new personal computer in 1981, you couldn't call Bill Gates on the phone and ask him to help you debug it. It takes a special kind of person and a special approach to business to make yourself that available to your customers.

That kind of attitude breeds loyalty and deserves respect. I'm extremely grateful that it was Gary who brought the RPG hobby to the world, because IMO his approach to the game and to other gamers is a big part of what made the hobby so appealing.
 
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It is worth remembering that a lot of D&D players don't know who Gary Gygax is.

I know who both Gary Gygax and Richard Garfield are, but I'm very interested in gaming history.

Cheers!
 

MerricB said:
It is worth remembering that a lot of D&D players don't know who Gary Gygax is.

I know who both Gary Gygax and Richard Garfield are, but I'm very interested in gaming history.

Cheers!

There's a LOT of gamers out there, and a lot of them were born & raised both entirely rather far away from Wisconsin and entirely away from the 70's *grins*, so I can believe that.

On the other hand, I have never met one, and I was born pretty darned close to both Wisconsin AND the 70's ('72 to be exact).

But it's pretty wild to think about gamers who don't know from EGG. I suppose that in itself is a mark of when I became a gamer. :/
 

I didn't know

Actually, I didn't know who GG was until I started posting (or as some have suggested, lurking) here on EnWorld. I'm far more aware of who Monty Cook is than I am of Gary Gygax. The same would be true of Ed Greenwood. And, I'm a great fan of Richard Garfield's--hence the original post.

Just for the record, I believe that the first few rounds of battle would go like this:

Turn 1: Gary attack Richard with his Mace +1, dealing 7 points of damage. (Richard's AC is 10). Richard responds play playing his Black Lotus (An artifact of immense power), taps and sac's it to play Illusionary Mask and uses the one remaining mana to play (i.e. summon) a phryexian dreadnought. He also plays a tundra.

Turn 2: Gary attacks again, The dreadnought blocks, no damage dealt to Richard, 12 points to Gary. On Richard's turn, he plays a volcanic island, a saphirre mox and proceeds to psionic blast gary, dealing 4 points of damage to GG, and 2 to himself. The Dreadnought attacks, dealing GG an additional 12 points of damage. Total damage: Gary 28, Richard, 9. =-)

Okay, so I slanted it in Richard's favor: I'm sure somebody who favored GG and understood Magic could make it out in GG's favor.


Again I apologize personally to GG and all of his fans. I had not intention of slandering or libelling him in my first post. My profound ignorance was apparent, and I'm glad so many people took the time to explain to me the error in my understanding and assumptions.

Thanx guys,

Sparxmith
 

sparxmith said:
Again I apologize personally to GG and all of his fans. I had not intention of slandering or libelling him in my first post. My profound ignorance was apparent, and I'm glad so many people took the time to explain to me the error in my understanding and assumptions.
Don't worry about it. I think some folks read emotion into your post that wasn't there. I can easily see how someone would have no idea who Gary was, or what his significance was; especially if you're newer to the hobby, as you are. You have to understand, ENWorld has a LOT of over-30 gamers who grew up with most of the modules and books bearing Gary's name, and his editorials in Dragon. In the days prior to the web and BBSes, Dragon was and the books were THE way to get that kind of info, and Gary was the one who handed it out. :)

And for what it's worth, Richard's chances of victory increase or decrease dramatically based on his opening hand. If he pulls a mulligan, he gets pounded. ;)
 

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