Zagyg's Wisdom — Dragonsfoot Q&A

Howdy!

As I promised, this new thread is begun so I can respond to questions of all sorts, not just the the LA game, that members here might have for me.

This makes it much easier for me to keep track of posts that need my attention, of course

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:Howdy!
Excellent!

Gary, I have a question about demi-human level limits...

(running away, ducking)

Come back here you filthy wedge-ear, you stumpy grubber, and all cucumber-nosed and fuzz-footed runts too! I'll show you level limits!!!

Actually, I do have a serious question: are you planning on attending the 2006 (that's correct, 2006) Gamefest? The Wife has seen the pics from the '04 show and I've told her about the fun that was had hanging out and playing C&C and now she wants to meet you.

I haven't heard about the show, but if I get an invitation likely I'll show up.

This year it appears as if my sole appearance will be at the Canadian National Games Expo in Toronto the last weekend of August.

Cheers,
Gary

JF wrote:Hello!


How much time and creative energy did penning the works of G1 or B2 consume?

Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...

As near as i remember, a great amount of creative energy expended in the week or two it took me to write each of those modules. My work weeks ran about 60-70 hours then, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

KewlMarine32 wrote:

This year it appears as if my sole appearance will be at the Canadian National Games Expo in Toronto the last weekend of August.

Can you be the Guest of Honor at the Marine Corps Ball in the month of November???

Whoa!

That would be a signal honor, but It isn't likely, as I am not up for much in the way of travel these days, and I doubt it's held near Lake Geneva

Cheers,
Gary

3RD21ST wrote:Hello Gary,

Good to see that you are up and about promoting the hobby. Best wishes for you as far as your health is concerned.

Also I have a question for you concerning the true names of the demon princes and arch devils. There are a handful, give or take a few, of spells that will cause such beings considerable pain and/or discomfort if used in conjunction with their true name. My question is, did you ever jot down the true names of demon princes and arch devils? I am just dying to know what some of their real names are. Having the eye for detail that you do, my guess is that you did do this for many if not all of them. My next guess would be that you could count on one hand the ones who appear in the various monster encyclopedias under their true name. I refuse to believe that you would ever make something that easy for players. However, as a DM, I would very much like to know what those names are. Is there a way for me to find out what those true names are, other than convince you that I should not be kept on a need to know basis for said information?

Best Wishes,
Rob

Howdy Rob!

To be succinct, i created out of whole cloth the true names of very few demons. Only if a powerful PC was bent on encountering such an entity did I spend time to develop such details.

If you are planning to have a list of true names, then I suggest you make them up based on the commonly known name(s) of the demon in question, and keep that list well hidden from prying eyes. Imagine you being in the same boat as Rumplestiltskin

Cheers,
Gary

KewlMarine32 wrote:

Whoa!

Well, this year it will be here in Waikiki (Nov 10) but the next one will in Portland (Nov 11) in 2006. Maybe then, you will be able to attend... In either case, I will be there to set it up and will have you in mind...

Heh,

That's where my daughter Heidi amd grandson mike live, Hawaii, near Waikiki. while I've been there only once, they visit us here in Wisconsin once or twice a year. ever have been to Portland.

Semper Fi;)
Gary

gideon_thorne wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:
So. You don't see yourself going to this years Gamefest? I know any number of people attending would be glad to see you.

Only if the host gives me an invitation...soon

Cheers,
Gary

Bregh wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote: Considering my wife just accepted a job in Mississauga (on the outskirts of T.O.) and we're moving south in due course, you can bet I'm now arranging my vacation home to co-incide with this event!

I'll be keeping an eye out for you, Gary!

Heh,
And as I have driven through Sudbury, I'll wager a nickel you are happy to be removing to the toronto area

BTW, Toronto reminds me of a clean Chicago with fewer ghettos and less crime--all good!

cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Here's a nuts-and-bolts question for you, Gary:

In designing a dungeon based around undead creatures as the primary "inhabitants", what do you suggest as a method for keeping it from becoming a cake-walk for the party manned by a cleric and/or paladin?

Well...

Just as vampires always have not merely wolves but also their servants to knock away outthruse crosses, other undead should have similar protections. Traps certainly, but mainly non-undead creatures of symbiotic sort to assail the threatening clerics whie their masters have at the others in the party.

I have even resorted to talismans that make turning more difficult, and sending vast numbers of low-level undead at the cleric, even as some stronger ones come forth to lay him low.

Cheers,
Gary

Blustar wrote:Hey Gary! Glad to see you are doing better these days and I hope you can get out and about even more in the years to come!! I wish we had a decent Con down here in Florida to tempt you, but alas it is not to be, we do have temperatures in the mid 80's right through the winter and as being that eventually you will be getting older.......

Having me show up at a con is costly. My time is very precious to me these days

I have 5 questions:
1. Are you planning on writing novels any time soon?? I have recently been on a reading binge and have consumed some Gord novels and the first Mythus one too. They were enjoyable and left me wanting more, so just wondering if your future plans include another stab at the oft times un-rewarding task of prose communication?

No, as I haven't a fullydeveloped world setting to inspire me. Perhaos after the LE world is fully detailed in print.

I do have a partial novel based on the Lejendary AsteRogues universe, though.

2. Is "Hall of Many Planes" tied to any campaign setting or milieu? Is it a generic setting or closely tied to Lejendary Earth(or Erde, or Castle Zagyg) but masquerading as a generic setting?

The HoMP is a setting of special sort that should fit into any campaign. It is written based on the starting world being that of the LE, but the GM cabn easily alter that. All of the action takes place in generic spaces.

3. Is the Castle Zagyg series being written in such a way to enable a painless transition to the World of Greyhawk setting where it originally took place? Are you going to develop Yggsburgh into a full fledged campaign setting or is it a part of Erde??

Yggsburgh and its environs are well detailed, but they are sufficiently generic to enable the GM to put them into almost any campaign setting. the area is not specific to any world setting, even that of Greyhawk.

4. Is the Castle Zagyg series going to be a dungeon type campaign that was described in OD&D(volume 3 Underworld & Wilderness Adventures), with "numerous levels sprawling in all directions"? An example of the "way it used to be done"?? Or is it being "modernized" and "streamlined"?

"Modernized" dungeon levels. I shall not respond to that suggestion.

5. Lastly, will there be a final adversary for the whole thing?( Castle Zagyg) Can players eventually defeat the dungeon???

Shades of CRPGs!

Cheerio,
Gary

Blustar wrote:First of all, thanks for all the answers(I know you're busy!!) and some quick ones...
1. Is this available on the internet or will it be serialized in a magazine sometime in the future, or maybe even published? I'm an avid SF fan, so I would love a sneak peek if possible.

As the work isn't finished, and I haven't the time to consider fdoing that for the foreseeable future, the answer is no. Also, the genre is more fantastical science than actual SF.

2.Do you have a production schedule for the CZ series planned? I just see March for Vol.1, but no preliminaries for the rest. I know exact dates are out of the question, but was looking more for ballpark guestimates(what years maybe) and what the intervals between series would most likely be. (months, years!!)

There are four man-years of work needed to complete the castle levels and dungeons. If we begin work soon, the first part should be ready in a year, with more coming in the way of additional modulkes every three months thereafter for about two and a half years. i am not sure when i will be able to commence that work, though, and as I must have the lead, that means Rob can't do anything until i feed him the basic material.

[/quote]3. Are there going to be recommended character levels for each volume in CZ and do you have any preliminaries on what those might be ?[/quote]
In gebneral I believe dungeon levels speak for themselves;)


Thanks again and I can't say what a privilege it is ummm... posting?? with you, has been; I just started playing OAD&D this last year( started with 2ed in the 90's) and will try LA probably in the summer, when my son comes in from out of town. ( He loves trying new games!)I already have all the books so just have to read through them. Anyways thanks,
Alex[/quote]
Hope the above serves,
Cheers,
Gary

Sieg wrote:Hey Gary!

Here's hoping those....people.....at Gamefest hurry up and invite you to the 2005 MGF. Your attendance is at least half the reason my wife Indigo Rose and I have attended these past two years!

Who can say? I am not counting on it...

A few questions:

1. You mention above the setting for the novel being "Fantastical Science"; is that sort of a 19th century Vernian type setting or more High Fantasy w/fantastical science in it? I ask because I'm running such a game now (Vernian) and am always happy to see product for it....even if its a novel that might be many years (if ever) in the making.

Indeed, it is a mix of something akin to the 18th and 19th centuries' technology with super science that allows virtually any astral body to be changed into a habitable one with sufficient heat, light, atmosphere and gravity.

2. I bought LA Essentials but haven't scanned it in yet; is LA Essentials a full (albeit stripped down) version of the full LA or is it more a 'basic' set?

The LA Essentials is a stripped down version of the regular core rules, so that one can use it to play for years without having to buy more. Of course, there will be more in the Living theLejend supplement and campaign setting/adventure scenarios module, and the core LA game rules can be used to add in all the material stripped out for the sake of space.

3. I read on TLG's board that the Canting Crew is going to be redone for C&C; will all your books of that line be redone for C&C? I hope so, as its worth it to me to repurchase 'em to get less stat blocks and be able to concentrate on the real text!

The whole of the GFW reference book series is basically generic and applicable to most FRPGs. They now have examples from the D20 and La game systems, but because of the shrinking interest in D20, those examples are likely to be replaced with ones from the C&C game.

Oh, and about Dragons..... Ah liyke Dragginss.....!! Espechaly dem Whiite Dragins!

<running off & trying to catch up w/Delver!>

They you'll love the drakes in the LA game system--they are the Western dragons, Dragons in the game are strictly Oriental in nature;)

Cheers,
Gary

Lothar TVNI wrote:Greetings Gary! First let me say congratulations on lighting a fire under the imaginations of so many people, including myself of course!

In The Dragon #33 Len Lakofka mentions in his "Leomund's Tiny Hut" article that you and he disagreed on certain interpretations on some spells. He mentioned Magic Missile specifically. He wrote about the Invisibility spell but he doesn't mention if you agreed with it or not.

Lenard Lakofka wrote: Invisibility
While violence causes the instant negation of Invisibility, I think that
other magics do so also. I rule that if a Magic-user is invisible he/she will
become visible in the segment during which he/she discharges a magic
item or begins to cast any spell. Also, an invisible figure can not receive
another spell without negating the invisibility. Thus a figure can be
enlarged, strengthened, hasted and then made invisible, but Invisibility
MUST be the last spell throw or it is negated at once! Note that a figure’s
"gear" is not equivalent to another figure. "Gear" above and beyond
normal encumbrance will not become invisible and will spoil the effect
of the entire spell. Lastly, "gear" can not be passed around to others
and remain invisible. The trick of giving all weapons to the Magic-user
to hold while Invisibility is cast and then passing the invisible weapons
back to the other players is unfair. Invisibility can be used to make an
individual weapon, its scabbard (holder) and belt invisible, of course.
Drawing the weapon will negate the invisibility.

/

I had been wondering since reading this article if this was how you ruled the invisibility spell also.

Thanks!

Welcome:)

Len's take doesn't matter al that much, as he isn't the author of the game

Magic missiles always hit, and that's a rule i have never varied from.

I covered all the invisibility stuff over on the EN world boards thread, and in general I agree that any offfensive action,m including casting a apell or picking a pocket breaks the spell. Len could have simplified the "gear" question by simply saying that invisibility covers the person upon whom it is cast as well as all normally worn and carried by the individual.

If that doesn't cover it, come on back.

3RD21ST wrote:Hi Gary,

As many people know about them, the vampire is one of the more infamous supernatural beings of folklore. I was wondering, though, what version of the creature you used for your background? The reason I ask is because the other night I was reading the vampire's entry in the Monster Manual, and I could have sworn after I was finished that I just got done watching Christopher Lee in one of the Hammer Dracula pics. Was this your inspiration, or did you use another source? Stoker's novel perhaps? I see both intepretations in there, but like I say it reminded me so much of Christopher Lee.

Rob

Heh, I have read Stoker's novel, Dracula, several times over the years. However, my favorite screen rendition of that character is that done by Bela Lugosi. I used Stoker and various folklore sources to develop the vampire as a monster in the A/D&D game

Cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Mr. Gygax, there was a couple of us wondering where the name Dungeons and Dragons came from. In an interview, Dave Arneson stated the following:

Dave Arneson wrote:Where did the name "Dungoens and Dragons" come from?
We sat down in [co-creator] Gary Gygax's basement and made a list of all the possible titles, and I think it was actually his daughter Alicia that came up with "Dungeons and Dragons". Up until then I had called my favorite game Blackmoor because that was the name of the campaign. He called his Greyhawk, and neither one of those were good mass-market titles. We brainstormed up a list - and made sure we got the kids involved, because they don't have so much chaff in their minds - and that was the best one.

Is that accurate?

Not at all. but it is slightly more accurate than the claim that my ex-wife named the game.

Dave Arneson was up in St. Paul and not with me when I wrote down two single-word lists of possible titles for the game. I did ask my player group which they liked, also queried my family. My youngest daughter Cindy, was adamant that I must use "Dungeons & Dragons." As a number of others were in agreement with that choice, and I liked the alliteration, that's what I went with when I took the mss. I had written to the printer in early December 1973.

Cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Thanks Mr. Gygax. At least the part about your daughter was close (even if it was the wrong name).

Heh!

Dave was likely referring to my eldest daughter Elise, she along with her older brother Ernie, having been an original play-tester in my game.

Cheers,
Gary

Sorry, but I inadvertantly hit "Edit" rather than "Quote" in responding to your post, and I didn't notice the stupid blunder until it was too late

Blushingly yours,
Gary (who really needs to be working at editing; thus the rush to manage board posts like this one and many others here and elsewhere.)

Handy Haversack wrote:Hello, Mr Gygax,

This came up recently on the 1e board here and in my game on Superbowl Sunday (during the Superbowl of Blood, as we called it). It's a bit nuts-and-boltsy, but:

During a charging attack while mounted (say, with a lance) or from a centaur with a lance, how far past the opponent is it necessary to take the attacker? That is, does the full charging move need to be completed, or can the charger slow down and begin to turn during that move?

And I assume that only the lance attack could happen on a charge, not the hoof attacks?

Thanks so much. It's an honor and a pleasure to see you communicating with all of us.

Best,

Michael

Spears, sabers, or any other sort of weapon can be used in a mounted charge. The lance just allows for attack contact sooner than do such other weapons.

Most charge attacks were done at a trot or a canter, not a gallop, except perhaps two mouned units having at each other.

A quarter of a move should suffice for the charging unit to pass through and turn the mount. for example, a charge of 24", with impact after 12" distance has been covered, would ene 8" beyond the point of impace, with the figure wheeling to the left or right if so desired. Otherwise, the move would end 12" beyond the point of impact.

That isn't perfect, but at best such things are loose simulations of actual combat.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:
But I fixed it for you.

Many thanks, amigo

Cheers,
Gary

Fid wrote:Hi Gary:

Someone over at ENworld asked you a question about Jack Vance. In case you're not aware - a team of volunteer editors recently compiled all of his works in a multi-volume (and very expensive) set.

Details at:

http://www.vanceintegral.com/

Law Schick is listed on the web site as one of the volunteer editors.

Actually $1,000 for the entire collection is modest in price if they are well-bound volumes...and real pros do the actual editing, and by thaat I exclude Schick. Sadly, when the offer was extended, I hadn't the wherewithal to opt for it

Cheers,
Gary

Blustar wrote:Hey Gary,

A rumor I've been wondering about....(mostly dealing with OAD&D)

1. That in your personal "campaigns", you switched over to a "silver" standard. Is this true? If I switch over to silver when using OAD&D(i.e.just count all gold values in modules etc., as silver) should I still leave a Castle's cost as in the DMG or do I need to adjust the whole "economy"? If there isn't an easy way to do this I'll probably just stick with whats in the DMG for my OAD&D campagins.( I want to try and emulate a "Greyhawk" found in the Gord novels where gold isn't as available or prolific.) (I guess I would also have to change XP to 1sp=1XP too, so as not to mire level progression)

Short answer: No. I didn't switch for my OA/D&D play until very recently when I changed all my campaign play over the the La game monetary system. 1 ounce of copper = $1

also,

After finally reading a bunch of Jack Vance and RE Howard I can finally see your point; that D&D is really closer to these works in spirit than Tolkien. They are amazing authors, who I feel are underrated and sadly not read at the same "pace" as Tolkien's work. That being said, Tolkien will always be one of my favorite authors because of his "writing style" more than his stories(I still love his "story" but the "style" puts it into that next tier, for me anyway). I know a lot of people dislike his ponderous style in LOTR but it reminds me of Herman Melville. Vividly pictaresque and subtly powerful. I would like to personally thank you for page 224 in the DMG. I might have missed some of these amazing stories. Is there a short list of author's you've come across since then that should be added to the "inspirational reading" list post-haste??? Thanks for your time, Alex

Happy that you have read a couple of the greats of fantasy and enjoyed them. As for style, I find that of Jack Vance more compelling than any other author in the genrs.

Cheers,
Gary

Sieg wrote:Hey Gary,

A few AD&D questions for you:

About what level in your campaign did PCs retire? Did they usually go the strongholds route, or something else?

The few who reached such level were ready to retire their PC somewhere around 15. most never bothered to formally retire, simply created new PCs when one reached 12th level or so and wasn't that much fun to have on adventures with lower-level PCs, or was just a tad boring because of familiarity.

Rob Kuntz had Robilar build a stronghold, as he had so much wealth and the pair of green dragons to manage.

In your opinion, what literary figures would be the appropriate archetype example for the Illusionist class?

I believe that the best examples of illusion magic are found in L. Sprague de Camp's "Haorld Shea" stories, with various practitioners using it, the Finnish wizards most generally. there are plenty of others found in fairy tales such as those of Andrew Lang.

Finally, what is your opinion of the 'popularity' of the Drow? I know they were originally made as kinda 'one shot' monsters for the G-D-Q series, but do you approve/disapprove of the direction the race has been taken in?

...and nothing about dragons. Honest!

The drow were actually created to be the dominant human-like race in the vast subterranean world. what little i know about how they have been treated by other authors since then is not at all palatable to me. The drow are purely malign by temperment, as hateful as wolverines, as opportunistic as hyneas. they have absolutely no angst, save when facing an immediate threat from a mor epowerful drow or demon

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Gary,

Am I right in remembering hearing you say that you do not own a copy of Tractics any longer? Are you interested in a copy? I've actually seen more than a few for sale online (actual "sale", not eBay ridiculousness), and I didn't know if you'd be interested.

Right, all of my copies of Tractics have been lost or stolen.

As to obtaining another, thet depends on the asking price for a complete set with box.

Do you think there's any set minimum amount of time that one should put in designing a module?

What a tough question! A one-page madule should take at least a day of time to complete If someone can write a module that looks and plays like a well-respected commercial adventure in a very short time, great. that person can likely make a modest living as a module creator.

If you were going to wholly remove psionics from (A)D&D, would you remove psionically endowed monsters such as the intellect devourer or mind flayer, and demons and such or would you relegate their powers to something specific to their type and nothing else?

I have no comments on fules changes for a game that now belongs to WotC.

Lastly, in AD&D how would you handle an out-and-out ambush set up by monsters, particularly if a party has a very-difficult-to-surprise character (like a ranger)? I'm talking about a situation where the party is observed from a distance by the monsters and the creatures make good their set-up and are ready to spring it on the party at the appropriate time. The way I've been handling it is to treat the monsters as having a surprise score of "6" no matter what, then roll a single d6 for the party and ajudicate accordingly.

I think I'd have the ranger check for detecting the ambush with a second, opposed roll, check if the initial check would otherwise succeed in spotting the waylayers.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:Um, I started another thread with this, but apparently it'd be better off here (I still think this should be moved to General Discussion):
As much as you've had to do with the original Castle & Crusade Society, how active is your membership today? I've heard you are at least an honorary member, do you frequent the boards and supply much input?
As an aside; I'm wondering how your health has been lately and hoping a great deal that it is at least fair! My father suffered a stroke years ago and has had a rough time of it since. I really hope you are doing better because, in at least some way you (and your games) have been like a father to me. As disembodied as you'd like to be from The Game, AD&D has taught me everything I know, expanded my mind, and gave me the best memories of my childhood, now brought up again by websites like Dragonsfoot, and musings from yourself.
I wish you the happiest, longest life you can have, Gary!

Howdy oldschooler:)

Sufficce to say that i have been low on energy and unable to do much work since the two CVIs and the subsequent heart attack-like problem brought on by the medicine I was taking to combat further strokes. Of late, though i have felt stronger, and able to do more work--a couple of hours a day, sometimes more--thus the Q&A threads.

As I didn't have any major contribution to the C&C game I am not active on the TLG boards, but i will pop in and post now and then if asked. Of course the Castle Zagyg, Yggsburgh, campaign netting is in and of itself a major addition to the C&C game, and I expect that once that's in print I'll need to be more attentive to the Troll's boards

I expect that the majority of my creative work will be published by TLG, this year and onwards, so I'll have a lot of incentive to be actively posting when i have time and energy.

As of now I am pretty well booked doing developmental editing on the third book from Hekaforge detailing another portion of the Lejendary Earth world setting, this one The Mysterious Realms of Hazgar, which I should be finished with in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,
Gary

Virel wrote:Gary! It's good to see you on DF.

I have another question, naturally

The 1st ed AD&D, PHB, p 110 - under Psionic Abilty last two sentences

"Psionic ability is double psionic strength. i.e. 10 to 344. One-half of psionic ability is attack strength, one half is defense strength."

Monster Manual lists a Succubus as having 200 Psionic Ability.
1/2 of 200 is 100 so our Succubus has 100 in attack and 100 in defense.

However, the MM also lists Beelzbub the arch-devil as psionic ability 313. One school of thought says one can't have a fraction of a point and have 156.5/156.5 or 156/157 as Beelzbub's psionic strenght, so his strenght is actually 313/313

Likewise the Succubus should be 200/200 because the Monster Manuel while labeled "Psionic Ability" really doesn't mean the same psionic ability as in the PHB. Eldrich Wizardary (I think) lists the Succubus with a 200 attack strenght.

Should Beelzbul with psionic ability of 313 have something like 156/157 in attack and defense or should he have 313/313 in attack/defense?

I assume this would apply likewise to all other creatures with psionics like Mind Flayers. I very seldom use infernal creatures but I do use Mind Flayers a good bit.

Sorry, but the game now belongs to Wizards of the Coast, so any and all calls regarding it have to come from them...or YOU can decide for yourself, because what you decide is as valid as anything I might opine, doubly so in the case of your own campaign

Cheers,
Gary

Virel wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:

Virel wrote:...
...

Thank you Gary. I feel much better about keeping psionics as they have been since 1980 IMC. I have no value for WotC "opinions" for my game.

Heh

You are the captain of your ship and all that...

Still, psychic powers are a thorny matter to deal with for most RPGs. I was not happy with the way I handled them in AD&D, but their treatment in the Lejendary Adventure system seems quite easy and handles well from both ends of play. Better still, the overall Ability is likely to transfer smoothly to other genres using the basic LA rules and mechanics with minor adjustments to limit its impact in non-magical, low technology settings.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:Gary,

Which Abilities are absent from the LA Essentials boxed set?

Ask the Trolls, because I don't have my one copy of the game handy. However, IIRR mainly those with lots of activations. Only Enchantment and Theurgy are included, those with a reduced number of powers.

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote: I may have a line on a couple of sets...I'll post more info when I know more.

That sounds good, and maybe we can trade items

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:Could you tell us anything about your forthcoming card game, King of England, King of France?

Okay...

In brief it is a game best played by five persons, although as few as two can have a good go at it. It is a simulation of the 100 Years War with very little emphasis on combat, much nore on diplomatic-political maneuvering. all actions are managed by play of cards. the opponents are: the Angevin Empire (England), France, Flanders, Toulouse, and Savoy. Each opponent plays cards in turn, trading with others if he and they are so incluned. After a player makes his playes, all others can counter play cards from their hand, but no new cards are drawn until a complete round of play is over. the object of the game is to expand one's territory, and the main players, England and France must also control two key provinces of France to win.

It can be over in a bit under an hour or go on for almost two. I've play-tested it fith family, gamer friends, and at conventions, so I think it's a pretty clean game.

Maybe the Trolls will post some qotes from the rules

Cheers,
Gary

McDeath wrote:Of all the D&D, OAD&D, 1st, etc editions of products (modules, accessories, errata, etc) you have worked on; do you have any finished products (printed & published from TSR or whoever)? Were they given to you or did you have to buy them? Seems like any work you would have created you'd get a free copy of the polished product. Your ideas and all. Actually, I wonder if any creator is guranteed a finished product of their work contribution (be they artist or writer)??

I established the policy of giving each employee a copy of each new prioduct. Author would get three copies as a rule.

Cheers,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote:Greetings Gary,

I think we may have met a long time ago, maybe 1976 I think, though I'm not sure. I followed the trail from the Horticultural Hall in Lake Geneva and standard Avalon Hill wargames to a residence in Lake Geneva to buy my first D and D stuff out of a basement where a big dog seemed quite interested in me. A quick seminar on strange dice and outline of play and I was on my way. I loved the almost literary creativity of D and D then and it has endured the test of time. I've taught my children now and they too love it. It's been a great gift to us and many others. Thank you.

That sounds like my place at 330 Center Street. the dog you mention belonged to my former wife, and he was a slinking mutt:(

Anyway, it is heartening to read your good words regarding the D&D game!

I grew up just outside of Elkhorn. My grandfather had a farm on Highway 12 between Elkhorn and Lake Geneva, which is how I was able to attend those early GENCONs. I have always tied books and literary experiences like Dungeons and Dragons to places. I read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and played D and D at my grandfather's farm. In my mind, his orchard in the moonlight was a fantastic place after having read Tolkien or having played D and D. Perhaps a druid grove or a medieval forest. Of course it was a mundane orchard by a barn right on Highway 12. Never mind the traffic and the ordinariness of it. It became magical when my imagination was sharpened by your game. In my mind it is still a magical place, one of those sharply defined memories that you can't lose. I think I see it so clearly because I learned to look on the world with wonder. I learned that from Tolkien and D and D.

Sure, I hitchhiked Hy 12 (now County H) many a time. did you know Jim ward or Darlene Pekul? Both are from the Elkhorn area.

I worked on a couple of farms as a boy, and I loved that. both were south of Lake Geneva, though. when i ran a small far for a day because my bosses' brother, the owner, was down with pleuresy, I decided that i didn't want to do that the rest of my life though...

I followed your great success with pride that a near neighbor had done so well. My father owned King's Tavern in Elkhorn for some years. I, of course, have frequented Lake Geneva often. I usually visit once or twice a year. I always stop at Harry's or Fat Cats for a drink and to walk along the Lake Shore again. I remember old girlfriends and rides on the Lady of the Lake or closing time dinners at Hanny's diner. I remember playing football and basketball against Lake Geneva. I remember the Dungeon store in downtown. I even worked at Jack's Mrs Robot Car wash one summer on Highway 12 headed out of town north. I remember playing guitar with my rock band for a birthday party at the Lake Geneva yacht club. I remember going to a friend's birthday party in Williams Bay. I remember the juke box at Chuck's in Fontana always had "Amie" by Pure Prairie League. I have lots of fond Lake Geneva memories. It is a very beautiful place.

Sorry I missed your father's place in Elkhorn.

All the others you mention I am very familiar with, and my son Ernie who ran the Dungeon Hobby Shop still stops in at Fat Cat's for a cocktail now and then. After Jane's Bar was closed I pretty much gave up on going out to saloons, as none can compare to Jane's

It was exciting to see that your imagination went round the world from that house in Lake Geneva.

Best regards,

Lloyd King

Well, i am back in Lake Geneva again, and my imagination is still working, although I can't spend nearly as much time recording that information as I used to...

Oh yeah...my question. Often in reading D and D settings or modules I think I see Lake Geneva or Wisconsin reflected in it. Are there any particular Wisconsin locations embedded in any of your game writings or is it pure imagination?

Other than "The Barony of Horn" in the Gamma world module I co-wrote with my son Luke, there are no direct references. Of course impressions are reflected in ones expositions and descriptions.

I had a nearly complete module for Unhallowed, the horror genre RPG of the Dangerous Journeys game. It was actually set in Lake Geneva and surrounding country--an archeological dig in the Kettle Moraine area, the seven pools at the golf course in Fontana, etc. Too bad that it never got published because of the T$R lawusit against the game system.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:
Geourgy
Necrourgy
Psychogenics
Sorcery

Are there any other Extraordinary Abilities in the game or are these six "the" list?

That covers it, although I am adding as optionals Shamanism and Witchery Abilities as optional for the campaign.

Also, have you (or the Trolls) given any thought to a "Lejendary Companion" or the like that could bring those who have Essentials into the full game without their having to buy the core books?

I haven't. but you'll have to check with the Trolls about their considering that. I would recommend against such a product because of the very mimited audience for it. also, when the two paperback LA game core rule supplements are published by TLG, they'll be editing the five paperback books into three hardcover editions, so I know their plates are filled to overflowing.

Last, I noticed in your profile at lejendary.com that you are a fan of classical music. How do you feel about Gregorian Chant?

I enjoy an occassional Gregorian Chant, also Tuvan throat chanting. In general I most enjoy symphonic and ballet music, some limited amount of opera as well as classical Spanish guitar and most piano music.

For a change of pace I'll listen to modern jazz, blues, old R&B from the 1950s or some Cajun or ethnic music--there was a great station in New Orleans for the latter, but I can't recall the call letters any longer.

Cheerio,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote:
The dog seemed quite ferocious. I always counted that as my first dungeon adventure.

His name was Harold and he was a slinking cur, but he would backbite...

I know both the Ward family and the Pekul family, though not sure about Jim and Darlene. My father bought his tavern from Hollis Ward with whom he bartended at "The Crossroads" north of Elkhorn. Hollis' son Dan Ward worked for my Dad and taught me to bartend. Not sure how Jim fits into that picture. Don Pekul was in my class at Elkhorn High (1978) and I may have met Darlene. My dad taught at Elkhorn High for many years so he knows about everyone from Elkhorn. (Excellent marketing for the tavern by the way) Dad would know them.

Darlene is doing some maps and the like for my latest game products. I haven't heard from Jim in some time, but I introduced him to gaming.

Yes, it is sad to see the institutions go. Glad there are still a few around. You can't manufacture the character of an old pub. Samuel Johnson, the great English writer contended that the pub was the greatest invention of mankind

Can't argue with that, although I believe it is rated a bit too high

Interesting. There was a group of abandoned mansions on Highway 50 near Williams Bay in the 1970s. My friends and I frequented them during teenage hijinks. They were an eerie Victorian location. They seem to be gone now as they stood on the site of Geneva national.

Those buildings were the old Crane Farms estate ones.

Also, Yerkes observatory is quite weird, old and eerie if you have never toured it. Quite fascinating also. Twisting staircases leading up old towers to huge telescopes. My daughter got to open the dome one night.

I know someone on the Yerkes board 9or whatever) and i used to party with Harley thronson, a grad student working there. My first visit was in 1945 or so when looking down from the outer walkway was really scary!

And, of course, the mansions around Lake Geneva, on Snake road in particular are awesome. My mother infiltrated one of the former Wrigley mansions on one occasion. She knew the housekeeper from her work at Lakeland Hospital. She made an excellent thief as no one would suspect one of such saintly demeanor. (Of course she didn't actually steal anything, just wholesome scouting).

Heh, and I paled around with Mickey Patton whose grandfather Matt was head gardner at Green Gables, so I got around the estate a bit. the childrens playhouse with the bowling alley and soda fountain knocked me out.

I lived in a condo in the Stone Manor for a couple of years too, but that place is too spooky for words.

It just seemed to me that Lake Geneva has an abnormally high number of eery, fantastic locations.

the city officials are working overtime to make sure they are torn down to make way for mini-storage complexes and mini-malls, high-density housing, and light industrial buildings.

Oh, and I should tell you too that all my wargaming and D and D experience was great professional preparation. I made a living at it for a while when I worked at CIA and got paid to wargame. I always saw it as a combination Paladin/Sage existence when I was an intelligence officer on the Afghan war in the 1980s. So, don't let anyone tell you that there is no practical application for those D and D skills.

An associate and I proposed an anti-terrorism RPG to the givernment, but we got turned down.

Cheers,
Gary

Mr. Awesome wrote:Heya, Gary.

A few quick questions: Did you have anything to do with the non-weapon proficiencies in Oriental Adventures or were those David Cook's?

those were all from Zeb the Destroyer

In your preview for 2nd Edition shortly before your departure, you mention a fairly common weapon that you'd left out of the game. Do you remember what this was?

Er, I think there was another one, but I can't remember, so that's it.

Heh, neither can I recall it now, the weapon and the mention

Cheers,
Gary

starwars1138 wrote:You guys are making me want to come visit Lake Geneva

I'm having breakfast this AM with a fellow gamer coming to visit.

The campaign session is thursday night, and we always can accommodate a visiting fireman

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:After OD&D and AD&D, what role playing games have you designed and had published? I know of Lejendary Adventures (a favorite of yours that I'm trying to get into), but wasn't there a couple others?

Well...
There were Boot Hill and Warriors of Mars done with Brian Blume back in the days of TSR.

After I separated from TSR I did the Dangerous Journeys, Mythus FRPG and the unpublished horror genre version of the system, Unhallowed, with Mike McCuley. T$R sued and then bought out all the rights to that system. Before that I was a co-creator of the Cyborg Commando SFRPG, although Frank Mentzer and kim mohan did most of the systems and rules for the initial, and only published part of it. It was projected as a trilogy.

Cheers,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote:

Heh, and I paled around with Mickey Patton whose grandfather Matt was head gardner at Green Gables, so I got around the estate a bit. the childrens playhouse with the bowling alley and soda fountain knocked me out.

One of my best teachers at Elkhorn High was friends with Harry Hartshorn of Flowerside Farms, across the street from Green Gables. He told us stories of "La Dolce Vita" with his friend in English class. Mr. Wehner lived on Snake road too in a more modest accomodation.

Anyway, thanks Gary for swapping old home stories. You make me homesick. I'll probably be up in the summer.

Regards,

Lloyd King

Hi Lloyd:)

I have met Harry Hartshorn. He knew my cousin Hugh E. Burdick quite well.

As for Flowerside Farms, State Senator Bill Trinkie owned the main house on the lakeshore, Flowerside, for a short time, and I visited there. there was an 80' living room with a full pipe organ at one end! Bill knew me because my Grendfather Hugh A. and Uncle Hugh L. burdick were both lawyers and had held city and county offices here, and Bill Trinkie was also an attorney (and real estate developer).

Speaking of ex-wives, when you come here be sire to get in touch. I'll tell you a most humorous tale of when my then-wife refused to cook me dinner after I cam home from a 12-hour day, had me broke from her spending, but i went out for dinner at a nice local restaurant anyway. I am surely a risk taker

Ciao,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote: Well, I guess I should have known what I was getting into on our honeymoon. When my wife, lacking milk, decided to make scrambled eggs with mayonnaise as a substitute. I knew then that I was not getting haute cuisine in my life. I ate it...bravely. Talk about risk taking. But she was cute.

Of course as time went on her motivation went down. So, too, did the cuisine. When you
descend from the mayonnaise scrambled eggs you know you are in trouble. By the end she had reduced the food pyramid to two food groups--canned and frozen. It was more of a food obelisk.

"So, what's for dinner tonight, honey...canned or frozen!" Talk about taking risks...both canned and frozen foods are dangerous when hurled.

In the meanwhile I have become quite a good cook. My girlfriend appreciates my chicken cacciatore and the paella I made.

Thanks for the invite. I'll be glad to share stories of how a simple country boy from Elkhorn wound up working for the CIA and traveling in Pakistan.

By the way, there was some small amount of wargaming in the CIA New Analyst Course of the Avalon Hill variety. With government work you just need to find one sympathetic purchaser. 100 "NO"s + 1 "YES" = YES

All I can respond to safely is the wargaming portion of the above. I picked up my first Avalon hill game in the winter of 1958, original Gettysburg, and that sufficed to make me a convert to board wargamig. I got to know Tom Shaw well, play-tested for AH, wrte a few articles of their magazine, The AH General, and eventuallt they published my wargame Alexander the Great.

Hope to see you this summer,
Gary

Fid wrote:
In case you don't know, Jim is producing d20 stuff through Fast Foward games based in Lake Geneva.

http://www.fastforwardgames.com/aboutffwd.cfm

Not to steal your thunder, but I've been trying to recruit some other TSR alums to these boards. If there is anyone you've lost track of AND would like to hear from , let me know. So far we've had Steve Marsh, Len Lakofka and Frank Mentzer stop by.

Well, I am not sure that FF is still in business. The D20 market has tanked. Jim lives in Elkhorn, and there isn't a Fast Forward office in Lake Geneva that i know of, but I dn't go out much

BTW, Steve, Len, and Frank are all good fellows and friends of mine

Cheers,
Gary

starwars1138 wrote:With all the RPG history in Lake Geneva... there should be a museum. Sounds like there are quite a few old homes that would suitable locations. Course, there's the funding issues... but we can dream can't we?

RPGing and CIA stories... maybe I'll skip that Europe trip this summer and come to Lake Geneva. The conversation sounds too good to pass up

That there is gaming history to be found here is because Don Kaye and i lived here. The folks of this place do not appreciate that in the least.

BTW, you should see the prices for real estate here!

Cheers,
Gary

rogueattorney wrote:Gary,

Just read through the preview of Yggsburgh posted by the Trolls. It looks fabulous, sort of like Keep on the Borderlands or Village of Hommlet on a much larger scale. I'm excited to see the finished product.

Yggsburgh is actually a lot more in-depth material and with more adventure material in it too

My father was quite the war-gamer. If you ever got down to any of the cons in the southern half of Illinois in the 70's and played any Napoleonics, you two probably crossed paths. I guess he knew and gamed with a number of the guys from GDW and Judges Guild. Anyway, while other kids were playing Bonkers and Clue, my brother and I were playing Kingmaker, Rail Baron, and Aces of Aces. It was my dad who introduced me to D&D way back in 1980, and I've been playing it ever since.

If he played Column, Line and Square rules likely i played in a game with him or with someone he played with.

As for those games you mention, I still love to play Rail Baron.

The King of England, King of France game looks like something my dad would really enjoy. Any notion of when it will be available?

R.A.

Ypu'll have to check with the Trolls about that, sorry... i propose, they dispose

cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi again Mr. Gygax,

I was wondering how much background you had thought through for Acererak from TOMB OF HORRORS. For instance, the scenes of normal, pastoral life in his evil temple, wherein the figures are rotting or infested with worms: did these have a specific meaning for Acererak's background, or were they more simply dungeon dressing? Also, did his servants die when he "passed over" and go to their "reward" in Hades? Or did you think there might still be groups somewhere dedicated to him? I am running ToH now, so these questions were on my mind.

Thanks.

Michael

As with writing a novel, the material in the ToH was for narrative purposes, color. I didn't wish to make the demi-lich an ongoing antagonist, for i thought it far too limited, so no details beyond those given in the module were developed. that sort of treatment also allows for free creative rein if one wishes to further exploit the subject

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Gary,

I was wondering if any of the name-specific spells in the PHB and UA were actually the result of PC research on your original campaign. For instance, did Bigby come up with any of the various hand spells that carry his name?

I am sure some (most?) did not come about this way but I'm curious as to whether or not all of them were made up by you. I'm fairly sure, for example, that "Serten's Spell Immunity" wasn't the result of PC research as Serten was a Cleric, iirc.

Thanks in advance!

Pax,

Chris

Heh, Chris...
You ask that of the game's designer, campaign DM, and the player of the character?

the answer to many is a simple, yes because i wanted my PC to have that sort of spell. some of the others were named for a PC who would have loved to have such a spell but didn't think of creating it, so i did in the name of the PC. Tenser's Transformation, for instance, was simply the magical expression of what son Ernie would do with his PC when Tenser had cast his last spell and still wanted to be in on the action

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:Gary,

How difficult would it be to use LA spells in an AD&D or similar (C&C) game? I assume that Very Minimal activations could be used as Cantrips and Extreme as 9th-level spells?

I can't say from experience, but i should suppose a conversion of LA Powers to AD&D spells would be fairly easy--with some adjustments for the differences in time frame and damage potential between the two systems. while Power Grade is a guideline for spell level, i think Gm judgement would have to be applied on a case-by-case basis.

Cheers.
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Cool, thanks Gary!

Hey, as a follow up question: you mentioned Ernie's playing Tenser as a Mage that would enter melee when out of spells. Did Tenser ever employ the spell that was named after him or did he simply throw caution to the wind and have at it? I've always wanted to use that spell but never had a PC Magic-User find it

Pax,

Chris

Welcome!

He never used Tenser;s Transformation, just went hell for breakfast into battle. however, he did use Tenser's Floating Disk on every occassion it would enable the party to haul out more loot

Cheerio,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Gary Gygax

What is the meaning of Lugh's portfolio thing of generality in the 1980 Deities and Demigods info. rule sourcebook? I think it means everything, but I'm not sure. I like true-neutral to mean generality or the average of everything instead of true-neutral associated with nature. Your 1978 PHB for ADandD 1st edit. has it printed that 'naturally, there are all variations within each alignment--the descriptions are generalizations only.' I like the variation of true-neutral being natural and unnatural. Can I be a true-neutral, nondruid cleric of Lugh to guide the worship of his generality?

Sorry!

I didn't author the work in question, nor did I do an approval or any editing on it, so I can not speak to what it says. Check with Rob over on the Pied Piper Publishing boards, or perhaps Jim Ward (Fast forward) for an authoratative response

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote: Uh, didn't anyone ever remind him that he was a Magic-User???

Actually, in OD&D only the lack of armor and slow gain in chance to hit were factors. The magic-user with a dagger did as much damage as a fighter with a battle axe.

Well, iirc, Tenser's "ability to locate treasure and his greed to recover every copper found are well known."

Pax,

Chris

Quite true, as I made that so His brothers Luke and Alex followed in those footsteps... Of course we are all of Swiss heritage, and a Switzer puts Dutchmen to shame, the latter, in turn, making Scots appear generous.

Cheers,
Gary

starwars1138 wrote:Gary,

I love gaming stories and the like. What is the most memorable or funniest moment you've ever had playing an RPG (preferably an in-game moment). I'd imagine that you've heard the "Gazebo" story and things of that nature. Got any good ones to share?

Hope I'm not getting TOO far off topic here, but we have talked CIA stories and prices of real estate, so I'd assume this is okay

Chris
In Atlanta

Actually, those sorts of stories are all set forth in the "Up on a Soapbox" column essays that were run in Dragon Magazine until some months ago. with additions from Rob, and a bit of new material, I'll eventually compile a ms. for a book

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Gary, thanks for your reply, but I want to know what you think about generality and true-neutral. Can generality be related to the alignment of true-neutral instead of nature connected to true-neutral? Also, can you send my previous posted question about this to the persons and computer-net site that you named above? My ability to use the computer-net--with forums more difficult than Dragonsfoot--is below average.

Well Amigo...

I think my definition of Neutral alignment in the DMG is sufficient, and the neutral isn't a generalist but one who belioeves in the harmony of creation and a balance between all of its forces. It's up to you to rationalize any changes you wish to make in the alignment for your own campaign.

As for being an errand boy, bah! As if I don't have enough to do, and my time is worth nothing. However, here is the URL for Pied Piper:

http://p085.ezboard.com/bpiedpiperpublishing

cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Is there going to be a Deity book made for the LA system, something akin to the 1E AD&D Deities and Demigods?


What are the other modules in the same line as that of "The Abduction of Good King Despot?"

LejendaryPantheons is in the hands of the Trolls now. I haven't heard a publication date from them. The deities book for the La game is quite different from any AD&D offering--more pantheons, far more listings, and a much different quantification method.

As for any other of the old New infinities modules, darned if I can remember names:?

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:...

Anyway, Gary, I'm sorry if it seems like we're bombarding you with pure AD&D (or Original D&D) questions constantly and seemingly ignoring the body of your work beyond D&D (LA, DJ etc.). Please don't think we (or at least I) don't like to hear about your other projects as well. It's just that we're all really, really big D&D fans, too.

Not a problem. I just don't find it a good use of my time to rehash any substantial material pertaining to a game that is now owned by another entity, one where I have no input, let alone control.

Whatever anyone concludes, wants to do with the games for their own campaign is as valid as anything I can supply.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Gary

Somewhere at the back part of the 1979 DMG for ADandD 1st edit. is a list of natural herbs as medicine. When I saw and read that info., I started using oregano for my teeth because it is a germicide and painkiller. Pepper is good for sprains and I think something else, but I forgot. Is that list of medicinal herbs true for real life? If it is, you might want to try some of those natural remedies listed instead of unnatural medicine for your health. I have noticed that doctors don't give all the info. that is cheapest and the most useful. Your 1979 DMG for ADandD 1st edit. has helped me in real life and it might help you. Just choose a herb that you think matches the symptoms that you have and that doesn't have any side effects that you can think of.

As I recall, the list of herbal remedies was taken from actual books listing such natural medicications.
In that vein I do plan to check into chelation therapy soon.

McDeath wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:

oldschooler wrote:After OD&D and AD&D, what role playing games have you designed and had published? I know of Lejendary Adventures (a favorite of yours that I'm trying to get into), but wasn't there a couple others?

Well...
There were Boot Hill and Warriors of Mars done with Brian Blume back in the days of TSR.

After I separated from TSR I did the Dangerous Journeys, Mythus FRPG and the unpublished horror genre version of the system, Unhallowed, with Mike McCuley. T$R sued and then bought out all the rights to that system. Before that I was a co-creator of the Cyborg Commando SFRPG, although Frank Mentzer and kim mohan did most of the systems and rules for the initial, and only published part of it. It was projected as a trilogy.

Cheers,
Gary

Upon the mention of WOM my ears perked up intensely. I still need to read the books that inspired WOM but I was wondering if you can recall some of the details of the aliens? All I know are the names:

Inhabitants of Barsoom

Cyborgs
Robots
Androids

(Mars)
Red Martians
Black Martians
Yellow Martians
White Martians
Tharks
Apts
Banths
Thoats
Calots
Orluks
Sith
Darseen
Plantmen
Zitidars
Malagor

I'm assuming that most of them. Actaully, anyone can answer this question. Were there any pictures of these aliens in the WOM book? And did WOM have any accessories?

As it has been nearly 30 years since i co-wrote the RPG, i suggest you get a copy of Warriors of Mars and have a look for yourself. My lone copy of the booklet is packed away in storage and I can't access it easily.

cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote: ........Whatever anyone concludes, wants to do with the games for their own campaign is as valid as anything I can supply.

Cheers,
Gary

That is an excellent statement, especially coming from the creator. I have seen too many people sacrifice their "fun factor" for stcking too strictly to the rules. Molding the game to our own preferences and having fun with it, should always be the first and most determining factor, IMO.

you are so right, and that would aply even if I was still in charge of the game, it was a living RPG, not virtually dead

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:So Gary, what happened to Dangerous Journeys and Mythus? Did you grow tired of them or think Lejendary Adventure to be a more improved game? I don't know much of anything about those two, and I'm only just learning about LA.
I'm also curious about the spelling "Lejendary". Is there any reason it isn't spelled Legendary?

T$R sued and the cost of defending from their trumped-up complaints was too great to bear, so we settled. They paid a LOT of money to Trigee and bought the inventory of the DJ, Mythus game products from GDW, the publisher. Now WotC owns all the rights. the fact is that I prefer the La game system to the very complex one i devised for the DJ game.

The spelling of the name of the La game is done so as to make it a trade-markable one, of course. Using a "g" is ordinary and the adjectival use could be challenged as a viable trade mark.


Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:So Gary, what happened to Dangerous Journeys and Mythus? Did you grow tired of them or think Lejendary Adventure to be a more improved game? I don't know much of anything about those two, and I'm only just learning about LA.
I'm also curious about the spelling "Lejendary". Is there any reason it isn't spelled Legendary?

T$R sued and the cost of defending from their trumped-up complaints was too great to bear, so we settled. They paid a LOT of money to Trigee and bought the inventory of the DJ, Mythus game products from GDW, the publisher. Now WotC owns all the rights. the fact is that I prefer the La game system to the very complex one i devised for the DJ game.

The spelling of the name of the LA game name is done so as to make it a trade-markable one, of course. Using a "g" is ordinary and the adjectival use could be challenged as a viable trade mark.


Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:

dcs wrote:

oldschooler wrote:So Gary, what happened to Dangerous Journeys and Mythus?

T$R bought the rights to them, so they are now the property of WOTC/Hasbro.

The ironic thing about that was that the cash hemmorage caused by T$R's irrational paranoia regarding DJ pretty much was the beginning of the end for them. Their corporate death was long and painful, but if they'd worked with Gary instead of against him...

Well, just remember the proverb about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I think yoou are correct. The cost to T$R of the lawsuit and the settlement was the straw that broke the camel's back for Lorraine Williams.

For once when went around came around to her...

Cheers,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote:

All I can respond to safely is the wargaming portion of the above. I picked up my first Avalon hill game in the winter of 1958, original Gettysburg, and that sufficed to make me a convert to board wargamig. I got to know Tom Shaw well, play-tested for AH, wrte a few articles of their magazine, The AH General, and eventuallt they published my wargame Alexander the Great.

Well, Gary, you learn something new every day. I had no idea that Alexander the Great was your baby. My 12 year old son and I just completed a game. The old man taught him a lesson about anchoring his flanks when the old man's Persians have all that cavalry.

As an old infantry officer / CIA intel officer I really appreciate the subtle details. The lower attack strength from flanks and rear, along with the morale table really make the game much more realistic. And not too much additional complexity paid for the realism. I remember studying Alexander while working on my MA at Georgetown. So, a great intro for my son.

We've played Kingmaker too as a family. I use that to teach my kids their family history as we have several ancestors on the Battlefields of the Wars of the Roses.

As a military miniatures buff and rules author, those additions to the game were pretty automatic. If you enjoy Alexander the Great, you should have a look at the supplement I did, Alexander's Other Battles--Granicus, Issus, and Hydaspes against King Porus.

Kingmaker is a fun game, and the armorial bearing visuals are certainly a part of its appeal. My maternal side of the family was in England back then, but i haven't a clue as to their involvement, if any, in the War of the Roses

Cheerio,
Gary

dcs wrote:Sad that two companies (T$R and GDW) were ruined by the suit.

Do you think that you would have developed the LA game if it wasn't for the suit, though?

How mistaken you are.

GDW was not harmed by T$R's litigation, other than whatever potential in sales was lost from not being able to further publish the DJ system.

The financial problems at GDW came from an entirely different source, their Desert Storm wargame. They printed a huge number based on an order they received, and then the conflict was over and virtually all of the games ordered were returned. That is what caused them to fold.

The lesson is, don't print large runs of anything without a purchase order and a contract that stipulates no returns.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:How mistaken you are.

<< snip >>

The lesson is, don't print large runs of anything without a purchase order and a contract that stipulates no returns.

Ahhh, OK. I've been laboring under this misconception for some time now.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Many folks have the same idea. How the misinformation got spread about is anyone's guess, for the hobby is full of gossips that like to feel important by claiming to have information that is just plain erroneous.

GDW bore none of the legal costs for defending against T$R's litigation, We estimate that they spent about $2 million on just the preliminary discovery, and thus they were willing to settle for a large cash sum, as their costs for our side's discovery would likely have run them that much.

What an unpleasant and negative discussion. i shall cease forthwith!

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Is Unearthed Arcania (note the spelling) still available for download? I do know at one point it was on your webpage, Gary. There were some neat ideas in that, which I would like to try and transport to C&C, unofficially.


Also, I cannot wait to see Lejendary Pantheons. May I email you with a question specific to it, which I do not wish to be public?

that was never anything of mine. I did send some material to that website, and I had a link on my old webpage, but i know nothing else about Unearther Arcania!

If you have questions about the LP book when it is published do not send them to me, rather post them on the biards at www.lejendary.com and email me the URL for your message. I'll respond there. that sort of methor prevents having to deal with the same thing separately for unpteen people

Cheers,
Gary

glaucusrex wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:As a military miniatures buff and rules author, those additions to the game were pretty automatic. If you enjoy Alexander the Great, you should have a look at the supplement I did, Alexander's Other Battles--Granicus, Issus, and Hydaspes against King Porus.

Cheerio,
Gary

During my travels in Pakistan I crossed paths with Alexander. I stopped at a little town founded by the Greeks on their march called Taxila. The British museum there was full of Greek artifacts, statues, urns, coins, etc. It was a lovely, unexpected crossroads of culture and history in the middle of nowhere. Thence, it was up to Peshawar and the Khyber pass.

So, I have had a sentimental spot for Alexander ever since I felt the dust of his vanished army on my boots.

Sounds if you had a a great time on that bit of travel.

From what I read about Alexander's army fighting the Indians, it was a near thing because of the Elephants, and it was key that his forces included Persian horse archers.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:Ever thought of running a Greyh-, er, Zagyg campaign using Lejendary Adventures? If you already did, how'd it go? I've heard a lot of good things about LA and peeked at the Quick Start rules. It's been enough for me to order the LA Essentials boxed set, anyway. Do you think Castle Zagyg will be easily usable with both systems?

No, I didn't have time to deal with a cross-over version of the setting for LA game play.

The AD&D and LA game systems are sufficiently different as to require specially crafter material for adventure scenarios in either. This is especially true for dungeon crawls, where LA Avatars start out equal to around 5th level PCs with a broader range of potentials, but progress more slowly from there than do PCs.

The short answer is that although Yggsburgh is written for C&C game play, it is quite adaptable to the LA game, but all encounters, especially the upcoming Castle Zagyg dungeons, will need to be adjusted to account for the variances between PCs of any level and LA game Avatars.

[I'm also curious on what plans you have for future LA products, unless that "little castle thingy" of yours has you running ragged

The Trolls have more than enough of my old mss. to put into print before I worry about feeding them more. Besides, I have a cadre of able authors and module designers to call upon to make sure the GFW line is filled and new adventure material is forthcoming.

If and when i feel up to doing the castle and dungeon levels, you better believe that work will fill all my available time and use all creative energy. that sort of design is difficult and demanding work.

Cheers,
Gary

Mr. Awesome wrote:Gary: I've been tinkering with making new character classes for AD&D, and I was wondering if you had any special way of figuring out experience needed for levels.

Actually, if you find the various progressions for the classes given in the rules books satisfactory, they will provide you with a template for that of any new class.

Cheers,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:Gary, another question about your current OD&D campaign, if you don't mind.

How are you handling initiative & disrupting spells?

Are you using 1d6 for the DM vs. 1d6 for the PCs for initiative? Are ties rerolled or considered simultaneous?

D6 for surprise, 1 = 1 free round, 2 = two free rounds. D6 for initiative, ties meining simultaneous attacks.

Do casters have to declare that they are casting before initiative is rolled? If so, do they have to declare the specific spell? If the caster's side wins initiative, is he safe from disruption? If his opponent's win initiative, do they automatically disrupt his spell with any successful hit?

Yes, as I always require, spell-casters must announce their actions, name any spell they mean to cast. If they are successfully hit and damaged before it is cast, the spell is lost.

In other words, I am DMing those matters as I have for about 33 years now

Cheerio,
Gary

Blast!

It seems that I have not been getting email notification of posts made here. sorry, and I have not been ignoring you all. I'll go back and see about responding to the questions that have been posed.

Cheerio,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Mr. Gygax, we are debating this in another thread:

Why are elven F/MU's (also F/MU/T's I imagine) and Rangers allowed to cast magic-user spells while wearing armor and other classes not? Does this only apply to elven F/MU and not half-elf ones also?

That rule was to stifle complaints from Tolkienists about elves in the D&D game not being sper-human. Half-elves were not given such a break.

cheerio,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Mr. Gygax, we are debating this in another thread:

Why are elven F/MU's (also F/MU/T's I imagine) and Rangers allowed to cast magic-user spells while wearing armor and other classes not? Does this only apply to elven F/MU and not half-elf ones also?

That rule was to stifle complaints from Tolkienists about elves in the D&D game not being super-human. Half-elves were not given such a break.

cheerio,
Gary

Kersus wrote:
So, knowing this, I am ready to make plans to attend. The last weekend in August eh? 26th-28th.... Aha ... http://www.hobbystar.com/ComicConToront ... g_Home.asp

What all will you be doing there? Seminar? Games?

Cpt. Canuck

Looks like three short Q&A seminars, three 2-hour game sessions, and three autographing/chatting sessions also of 2-hour length.

That's tentative.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:

Why are elven F/MU's (also F/MU/T's I imagine) and Rangers allowed to cast magic-user spells while wearing armor and other classes not? Does this only apply to elven F/MU and not half-elf ones also?

I got this one, Gary! Because those wedge-eared, tree-huggin', curly-toe shoe wearin', toy & cookie makers need all the protection they can get! How'd I do?

Spot on
Gary

elementalawe wrote:DM and author Gary Gygax

For ADandD 1st edit. or ADandD 2nd edit., can I play a half-dwarf and half-human for the campaigns of Greyhawk, Ravenloft, ForgottenRealms, DragonLance, and any other campaign except DarkSun? DarkSun has a mul, which I think is half-dwarf and half-human, but I want to know if there can be a 5 ft., 5 in. tall half dwarf and half-human who isn't a mul. When I saw and read the Complete Book of Dwarves for ADandD 2nd edit., I didn't notice anything printed about whether or not dwarves can mate with humans. Also, I noticed that your May 1985 UnearthedArcana info. rule sourcebook for ADandD 1st edit. has it printed that dwarves--including dwarf subraces--are N(neutral) in the racial preferences table. Because dwarves are neutral towards humans, is that strong enough for a dwarf to mate with a human to produce a half-dwarf and half-human as a PC race in ADandD 1st edit. or ADandD 2nd edit.?

I don't comment on 2E. As for the rest, that's a call for yur DM not me

Cheers.
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:
...

On the subject of spellcasting: Do you give MUs 4 initial spells like in AD&D? Do MUs get any new spells when the train for a new level, or do they have to find/research all their spells beyond their initial allotment? (Do the OD&D booklets even address spell acquisition? I don't remember seeing it...)

Do clerics have spellbooks as Vol. 1 seems to suggest?

(There's been a lot of discussion of OD&D in the classic forum. It seems there are a few of us who are considering going back to the original game or--like me--trying it for the 1st time despite years of playing its descendants.)

We didn't have training needed in the original D&D game, and if new spells were wanted, the character had better get out and about and find some, contacting a friendly m-u of higher level or gaining spells on scrolls or spell books as treasure.

That answers the book question as well, eh?

Cheers,
Gary

Gandalf Istari wrote:Mr. Gygax,

...

I'm wondering about how influenced you feel you've been by the ancient world, as compared to, say, the medieval world. Its obvious from the inclusion of things into the game like the Greek and Egyptian gods, as well as monsters from ancient mythology and lore, that you are knowledgable about the period. However, I've always felt that AD&D was distinctly medieval in its flavor, and so I was wondering whether the ancient world was simply a period from which you plundered monsters and gods to expand and add variety to the game, or whether you personally feel that it influenced your view of "the game" as much as the medieval period so obviously had?

I've been rereading some of the classics of late, including such epics as the Illiad and the Odyssey, so the question about how influential the ancient period has been upon you and your games came to mind. Does the medieval period hold more appeal to you than the ancient period?

Most of the D&D game's inspiration comes from a mix of the ancient (quasi-ancient Hyborea of Howard's Conan) and medieval (and imaginary middle ages fiction), so there's no way I can measure the relative weight of each. I read pretty well equally in both historical periods. The medieval was a less organized and more individualistic period, though, so that's why general technological and socio-cultural assumptions are set in that time...or later.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:

gideon_thorne wrote:I dunno if its accurate. But poke around on Page 16 of the AD&D 1e PHB and look under the strictures of Elves via multiclassing.

As I thought, it is not just elves but all "non-human and semi-human race characters who are multi-classed." Under "Fighter/Magic-user" on pp. 32-33 this is stated explicitly without reference to a particular character race (although it notes that "Elves and half-elves may be fighter/magic-users"). So Elves aren't an exception, as they are in 2e AD&D; they follow the same rule as everyone else. All multi-classed characters, no matter what their race, can use the most favorable armor according to their character classes, with the exception of multi-classed thieves, who can't perform thief functions in armor heavier than leather armor.

The fact is that only elven chain was allowed for castng of magic-user spells in my capmaign. A multi-classed elf could manage to get away with wearing even plate armor and casting, but not thieving, but not a half-elf, or gnome.

Actually, whatever suits the DM and the player group works for me!

Cheers,
Gary

Virel wrote:Gary,

When you decide to make a House Rule for say OD&D, OAD&D, Lejendary Adventures, or Castles & Crusades how do you go about implementing it?

By telling the assembles players the new facts of campaign life;) even though many of such house rules becme stone by being put into print in a game, that doesn't mean i always use them...

Use the Mark One eyeball just "know" what will work and won't work due to experience with the game system in question?

That's the way i do it nowadays.

House rule writing began for me back in the 1960s when my opponent and I would argue about wargame rules. Eventually we would agree on a new rule and write it down. My original Gettysburg game has about four pages of added rules written on regular lined paper.

Do you play test it from the DM's point of view by letting the NPC's & monsters test against the party before turning it over for general use etc?

Include the rule then if it doesn't work over rule it etc?

I will certainly play-test a rule that I am uncertain about, and if it is flawed I will amend it so as to work better. then the players' characters get a break...one way or another...as something that happened in their adventure didn't actually happen that way at all;)

Wondering about your methodology for this sort of thing for various game systems. I would appreciate any tips about the "good ways to do this". I tend to tinker with my games a little bit.

Thank You

Virel

if you have designed the system or are intimately familiar with because of long and intense play, you should be able to create rules changes by the proverbial seat-of-the-pants method. Try it on minor things initially, and if the changes work as you assumed, keep on going. Remember also that there can be rule changes for special situations that do not affect general play. When you make them, just tell the players why the new rule is in effect, how it came about, and what it is. Those changes can be forgotten, and only a player with a great memory will ever plague you if you don't bother to record them;)

Cheers,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:I hope you don't mind my questions about your OD&D campaign. I'll play the game my own way, but if I didn't value your opinion, I wouldn't be playing games you wrote.

From Deogolf's recountings, it seems like the players are identifying magic items pretty quick. Do you just tell them up front what a magic item they've found is, or do you make them work to identify it?

Are PCs dead at 0 hp or can they still be revived by a cure spell or healing potion?

As the players don't seem particularly interested in town adventures, i skip all that and simply take away large amounts of money when they are in the city regaining health, resupplying, etc. Thet obviates the need for them to do what they would consider a waste of valuable adventuring time in hunting up a mage to Id items for them.

I do require that they taste potions and experiment to find out what the liquid does.

If they discover something unusuakl, likely I'll have them visit the Stripped Mage to have the object explained...

At 0 the PC is uncoscious (with a further -1 per level, so a 4th level fighter can be at -5), but a potion or a cure wounds can restore them immediately

Cheers,
Gary

Blustar wrote:Don't mean to bother you with minutiae regarding OAD&D(but here I go!) but do ranged attacks get their full ROF's during surprise segments? For example, if a PC has 3 seg. of surprise to work with(and had a bow), could he/she fire 2 arrows per seg.? In effect getting 6 shots off before initiative?


We already play with our own "house" rule but was wondering what the official rule intended. The combat example later in the DMG seems to imply a different reading.


Sorry for the boring question...

regards,

Alex

no problemo:)

As far as my intent went, there was no difference between a blow and a missile attack in regards to surprise. So if there are three segments of surprise, the weapon has a RoF of two per segment, then six attacks could indeed be made thus.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:ADandD 1st edit. DM Gary Gygax

I don't have a DM, so I want you to be my DM temporarily. If I would be playing in your Greyhawk campaign and the time is 1977 to 1988, would you allow me to play a half-dwarf and half-human? If so, which human of Greyhawk-Oerth mixes with which dwarf subrace?

That's easy! There were no half-dwarves in my campaign, although I suppose if pressed I'd allow a dwarf-orc mix... (J/K)

Cheers,
Gary

Virel wrote:Gary,
Thank you for your advice on implimenting House Rules.
V.

Happy to have been of even so small a service

Cheers,
Gary

Kersus wrote:Awesome, I certainly hope to get in on those. Although I don't know what I'd get autographed besides AD&D 1e books... I already have the Author's editions of the LA books. Would autographing the AD&D books with your name on it be a nono these days?

With such long sessions, i will be happy to sign several books for anyone, and the particular book isn't a matter of concern to me.

What system(s) will you be running? Is each gaming session going to be relatively the same?

OD&D dungeon crawls are the easiest to manage, but I may do one La game. This isn't set up yet. In fact, the contract isn't yet signed, but I figure it's about 90% certain...

Tickets haven't gone on sale for this thing yet.... I'm anxious already

Glad to have you in Canada!!!!

K

I haven't been to a Canadian game con since the late 70s when I went to one in Ottawa. It was a blast:

cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Hey Gary, I was just looking through the 1983 Greyhawk Gazeteer and noticed something a little odd. The listing for the various deities indicates the racial origin of each deity (C=Common, O=Oeridian, S=Suloise, F=Flan, B=Baklunish, U=Uknown). When you come to Raxivort, the god of the Xvarts however, the origin is listed as "M".

Is this a typo? Or, perhaps, does it stand for "Monster" as the deity's racial origin (since Raxivort apparently began as a normal, though gifted, Xvart)?

Thanks in advance.

Pax,

Chris

Chris,

That''s an interesting catch, and I've never noticed it propr to your mention above.

I should think that it's a typo for the proper ID for Raxivort, that should be N for Non-human deity, all those of the Demi-humans and humanoids.

cheers,
Gary

Gnarley Bones wrote:Gary, I have heard (probably incorrectly) that you did not (and do not) play with psionics in your game?

If so, how do you handle mind flayers in your game? I'm interested in doing away with psionics altogether and would like to replace their psionic powers with comparable spells (charm, suggestion, power word stun, etc).

Right you are. there were no psionic or psychic powers in my campaign. A mind flayer did its blast and/or used spell-like powers to affect others, just as you are doing in your campaign.

Psychogenic Ability in the Lejendary Adventure game system worrks very much that way, and it is easy to use, can move into genres other than fantasy as well

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Here's an LA question for you, Col.

Is LA suited to an intensive dungeon-crawl type game?

I realize that ultimately it is the players and Lejendmaster or DM or GM or etc. who make the game, but I'm curious to know if you have any generalities in mind when you think of what LA can do.

As far as I am concerned, the LA system is great for dungeon crawls. It facilitates whatever type and style of play one desires...other that rule-playing. The main difference is that the GM (the LM in this case) can't stock successively deeper levels with higher level monsters as could be done with the D&D game, but that's not a problem for one familiar with the LA game's array of creatures and able to create challengng Non-Avatar Characters.

To be specific, my player group enjoyed several months of dungeon exploration and combat, both in Living the Lejend caves scenario and in the Hall of Many Panes dungeon crawl episode, both of which will soon be published by Troll Lord Games.

Cheers,
Gary

Gandalf Istari wrote:Mr. Gygax, another question if I may...

I would prefer it if you addressed me as Gary

Actually, a question in two parts. Its obvious that your life-long love of games had an influence on you when it came to inspiration and the perspiration of creating the (A)D&D game. Would you say that different bits and peices of the game came to you over time as you worked through various board games, card games, war games, etc. before roleplaying in the D&D sense was invented, or was it like a "Eureka" moment where you saw the potential for a great game wherein people mathematically represented a character in a fantasy world? In other words, was it a gradual process of thought that slowly over time lead you into creating a role playing game, or was it a flash of insight that brought together alot of stuff that had been floating around in your subconcious?

the material for the initial D&D game's content came from over 30 years of game playing, more than 20 years of intense reading of imaginative literature, nearly as many years of studying history and military history, and a decade of active game development and design work. The specifics for the D&D game sort of fell into place automatically after the Chainmail "Man-to-Man" and "Fantasy Supplement" material was published and Dave Arneson related that his college group were playing the system on a pure player-for-hero (or wizard) basis, with mercenaries for hire to add to the force.

Second part of my question is probably much more mundane. When you did come up with the concept of D&D roleplaying (regardless how you arrived at that concept), did you have a gut instinct that you had a race horse on your hands? Did you just KNOW that it was a hobby that was going to take off once people got their hands on it, or were you unsure and only became convinced of the longevity of roleplaying as it gained popularity over the years?

Thanks again for posting here to answer our questions.

I was absolutely certain that the D&D game would be popular and have legs back in 1972 when I completed the initial draft of the rules. That assurance never wavered from then on.

The size of the potential audience was not ascertained by me or anyone else, however. I was thinking of the customer base being military game fans and imaginative literature (SF, fantasy, horror, occult) readers--maybe 100,000 persons or so. That's why I was careful to add as much as possible to appeal to the fans of J.R.R.T. so as to broaden the audience base.

Cheers,
Gary

Gandalf Istari wrote: ...

So if I'm reading that right, you thought (A)D&D would take off among people who wargammed and among readers of various fantasy genres, but you didn't expect the game to expand much beyond those specific customer groups? If I am reading that right, then you must have been quite surprised when (A)D&D caught on as well as it did outside of the demographic groups you had in mind for the game.

30 years later and gaming is going strong.

No, by the time I was writing the AD&D game I was well aware that the audience for the game was much larger than I had thpought in 1972-5, and virtually world wide in scope. My initial assessment was based on the D&D game and changed only after we had published it for two years.

By the end of 1975 I was very much aware of the broad appeal of the game. The appeal was to almost anyone with an active imagination, as the theme of the game is the heroic quest one of mankind's folklore and legend.

Cheers,
Gary

Well...

What can I say?


Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

A tricky matter that I hope you could provide some feedback on:

...

Michael

Not to be a pill, amigo, but the game in question doesn't belong to me. It is the property of WotC. They are the ones who can state with certainty how its rules and so forth operate. I can not, as it is their property. whatever I say is no more valid than the opining of any other game master.

Of course, they have consigned AD&D to the scrap heap, so it's unlikely that they'll bother answering any questions about it.

As for me, well, I currently have my own new game system to worry about nowadays, and the only active RPG that is close to AD&D is the C&C system from Troll Lord Games. Perhaps the Trolls will be able to assist in regards to the matter.

I can say that the typical illusion is just that, and IMO if it is penetrated all portions of it are dispelled. Only in advanced illusion magic where a percentage of actuality is included in the magical effect generated would portions of the spell remain in effect to the viewer otherwise penetrating the illusion.

Illusions are particularly difficult to manage in game play because they are based totally on make-believe from make-believe magic. they have no basis in reality as "normal" imagined magic generally does.

Cheers,
Gary

Greg Ellis wrote:Hi Gary,

Speaking of illusions, how do you handle "harm done by illusionary beasts" in Lejendary Adventure?

Assuming the Avatar actually believes he is being attacked by a real (for example) grizzly bear, what happens to him if the illusionary grizzly's attack inflicts harm?

What if there's enough harm to kill the Avatar?

Best wishes,

Greg

Any illusory harm surely harms the individual so believing, and if it is such that the affected character is convinced the damage is lethal, that is sufficient to kill him.

Illusion magic is minimal in the LA game, BTW.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Game Designer and author Gary

As a DM, you don't allow a half-dwarf and half-human in your campaign. Your campaign is GreyHawk because you created it, so does that mean some other DM who is using GreyHawk can allow a half-dwarf and half-human as a PC race? Is a DM other than you, in accordance with the ADandD 1st edit. PHB or DMG, allowed to create a half-dwarf and half-human for any campaign?

Well...

In the PHB and the DMG I authored, there isn't a rule that established any half-anything other than a half-elf and a half-orc. Of course any DM can make up any rules for any campaign he runs, including Greyhawk, and if that includes a halfling-ogre character, it's none of my business.

Gary

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:What Gideon Thorne said.

A good heuristic for a DM is: Before breaking a rule, try to understand the reasons why that rule was made in the first place. If you understand the "why" of the rule, you can break it in an informed, knowledgeable way.

Heh...

As if that usually were the case. for every able GM running a game there are probably 99 others who are less than that, and gaining a real understanding of the overall workings of an RPG isn't an easy thing unless one has sat down and designed one...or made a hash of a revision.

I speak from experience, my first wargame being an incredible mess set on a world that ended up as cylindrical when we were finished with the thing. My first military miniatures rules weren't much better.

The number of crashed RPG groups from ill-advised "improvements" to the game system is likely staggering. What the hobby really needs is a school to teach GMing, with classes in game design and creative writing included. thet would surely add greatly to the number of RPG fans enjoying real RPGing;)

Cheers,
Gary

gideon_thorne wrote:
Funny you should mention that. A summer school I went too in california (I was taking extra art related courses) also offered an AD&D 'class'. The fellow running the class, a chap named Clint Owen, taught much about cooperative team work and strategy.

I spent several summers in that class and had many a good time. It went on for the length of the summer break in school.

Learning how to be a better player is fine, but the ftf RPG hobby is totally dependent on the supply of able GMs, for growth of the hobby that is the single critical factor. Thus, to expand the audience more competentant GMs are mandated.

They are teaching game design at several schools now, but to the best of my knowledge there is nowhere one can go to learn the art of game mastering.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:That is an awesome answer; it is exactly what I was hoping to hear, Gary.

Proves that even i can get lucky now and again

By physical material nature and in accordance with the ADandD 1st edit. info. rule sourcebooks, what do the ears of a dwarf look like and what do the ears of an orc look like? Unlike elves, I'm hoping that a dwarf has rounded ears like a human and that an orc has rounded ears like a human. Also, in accordance with the ADandD 1st edit. info. rule sourcebooks, are the details of a human character's appearance-- whether natural or magical--decided or determined by the player?

FWIW, I envisage dwarves with shell-like ears ala humans, only proportionately larger. My vision of orc ears is a somewhat lop-eared look as was the case in the LotR films.

The specifics of a PC's appearance should always be left to the player, the details based on the GM's racial description paramaters, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

What usually hapens is this:

The very able GM also understands how to design an RPG and create an adventure module. Then ego takes over, he designs his own system and plays it with a handful of associates for some time, then grows discouraged becase his masterpiece is viewed as yet just another ordinary RPG by gamers at large. He quits being a GM, his players leave the hobby, and that's that.

The hobby needs to recognize and give proper laurels to GMs, especially those that run several RPG systems for large numbers of players. That was one of my goals when i conceived the RPGA. Of course any publisher has a goal of conversion of GMs to their system, but that is short sighted, and the goal should be to convince the GM to add the RPG to his repitore.

Cheers,
Gary

gideon_thorne wrote:So. Speculating on the idea of a game masters school or lecture...

What sort of lesson plan would be ideal?

that's for someonwe who plans to teach such a course to determine.

I get paid for consulting, more for creative work, and laying out a lesson plan is more than mere consulting;) I suspect it would take several weeks to do a proper one, with carefully thought-out plan and reading list.

Cheers,
Gary

ska wrote:Gary---

When your gaming group played OAD&D as long as a magician "won" initiative (assuming the 1d6 dice being used to determine initiative) could any spell be gotten off prior to attack as long as the spell did not take more than a round to cast?

Thanks

Just so!

That encouraged spell-casters to stay in the rear of the party too...

Cheers,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:Gary, I've seen you recommend The Abduction of Good King Despot a few times, so I finally picked up a copy. It does look like a lot of fun. Coincidentally, it also struck me that I might rather run it under Lejendary Adventures instead of D&D.

Have you ever run Despot with LA?

Could the "Atk" percentage listed for monster be used directly as Precision?

No, I am too busy creating new material for LA game adventures look outside for same....other than play-testing the Castle Wolfmoon work that Chris Clark devised and I developed.

I'd use LA game creatures and their stats in the Despot module whenever there was a good corellary. Otherwise use the onbes shown and the ATK percentage is indeed the same as P as attack chance in the LA game.

cheers,
Gary

+2 backscratcher wrote:Hello Gary. I don't know if this has been answered before in any of your other "Ask Gary" threads before but...

I was always wondering how you came up with the 6 ability scores. Did you experiment with different ones before deciding on the 'big 6'? It may be a silly question but I was always curious!

Well...

Actaully, I don't recall ever before having been asked that question.

I simply decided those six were sufficient to define a character, chose names for the stats, and began using them immediately. Seems thay worked pretty well without a lot of fuss and play-test input, eh?

Cheers,
Gary

Fid wrote:Gary:

What did you do about polyhedral dice in the early 70s? Is this something you came up with for D&D? Did they exist for wargaming? Were they readily available? How was the quality?

I began playing D&D around 1985 and all we had were the muticolored polyhedrals that came with Holmes basic. I lived in the sticks and the only D&D vendor was Waldenbooks. If you lost your dice, you were screwed unless you bought another Holmes box. Just curious.

How many times am i going to have to answer this question?

Before the D&D game was published in January of 1974, before I wrote the first draft at the close of 1972, I had come across an educational supply catalog from a company in California that sold the six Platonic solids as numbered dice. That was the only source i know of back then, and they charged $3 per set for low-impact, badly numbered dice. D&D was the first game to use all those different dice.

We ordered them and sold the sets at $3.50, getting them at $2.70 from the educational supply cmpany, but they couldn't keep up with the demand, so TSR found the Far East manufacturer and ordered then by the great gross. TSR always sold dice, eventually had them made to order, but never did really good ones.

Cheerio,
Gary

Yorlum wrote: ...

...Can you point to an inspiration for that conceptual leap?

Yes, my desire to get away from a linear curve with 6 outcomes or a bell curve with 36. I wanted a wide variety of both for more interesting random results and put the new dice to work accordingly;)

Cheers,
Gary

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:Hi Gary.

Can I persuade you to share any reminiscences with us about Empire of the Petal Throne? How did you feel about EPT when you learned of its existence? Did you read it in detail, and if so do you have any comments? What led you/TSR to publish the product?

Of course I read the EPT ms. from Phil Barker carefully, and I was rather upset about how much of the system came from D&D. I mentioned this and told Barker that if TSR published it there would be no problems. That was the best way, we all agreed. and we went all out to make the product the grandest of RPGs available.

I played EPT a score or so times, a few adventures with the Professor as GM, and enjoyed the game very much. We had a group of fans at TSR in fact.

I can't recall many details now after 30 years of playing all manner of RPGs since.

Cheerio,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:Gary, I was wondering if you could comment on the accuracy of this. In particular the 1st three sections (before the Traveller stuff).

Are you refering to the first edition of the D&D game? If not, what are you referring to?

When developing D&D, were you aware of von verdy du Vernois' Free Kriegspiel?

No, and I am unaware of that particular title at this very moment.

Cheers,
Gary

Solomoriah wrote:I did a websearch and found this page:

http://home.freeuk.net/henridecat/

It has a discussion of what Free Kriegspiel is, and how it is played. Basically it's a wargame where the only rules are in the mind of the referee, or "umpire" as he is called there.

Thanks:)

From the quick read i gave the page, it seems as if the game began as a structured wargame with many rules, and I am not sure when it mutated into an umpired contest. The fact that there are rules for movement and action times means it isn't so "free" as the name claims.

Many a set of old time wargames rules were written on a few index cards.
Actually, from my initial take the Wellsian Little Wars rules seem to be as free form.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Gary, If I play a half-orc and half-human in the game of ADandD 1st edit. during the time of 1977-1988, can I choose rounded ears like a human and can I choose weak infravision or no infravision? If half-orc and half-human is strong enough to have infravision like a full orc has, can it be reasoned that the half-human part is strong enough to not have infravision like a human doesn't have it? Why was it determined that half-nonhuman is srong enough to have infravision like a full nonhuman has?

Hey!

All of that is between you and your DM, so don't ask me

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Was it ever intended that a Wraith be a subrace/subspecies of a Wight, or vice versa. The 1E MM descriptions seem to indicate they are related to each other, in my humble opinion.

No, there is no relationship as in developmental status. they are related in being undead, and that's that. A wight is more closely related to a lich than a wraith, eh?

Cheers,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:
I guess I'm most interested in the pre-D&D stuff. (Having read every interview with you I've ever found, I've read what you've said about the direct development of OD&D.) Dave Wesely & the Braunstiens & their influence on Blackmoor...can you verify any of that?

(I'd ask Dave A. for his take as well, but he doesn't come around to talk with us.)

Of course i can't comment on statements made by others, especially whenI haven't any idea as to the content and context.

I can say that the origins of the RPG are in children's games of "Let's Pretend" and "Cowboys & Indians," so one needn't look to wargames for the direct inspiration for the game form.

Cheers,
Gary

RobertFisher wrote:Another OD&D question...

When you are DM, is there any advantage to choosing a sword over a dagger or spear? Is there any reason to choose a two-handed sword rather than a single handed weapon + shield? Would you do anything if you felt a player was "abusing" the fact that all weapons do the same damage to only buy the cheapest kind?

(Or does it not really matter in the long run because PCs will be using magic weapons they've found instead of bought weapons?)

All the weapons do the same amount of damage in OD&D, yes. Howwever, in cases of tied initiative, the longer will attack first, and swords are more durable than weapons with woden hafts.

As for the advantage of using a cheaper weapon, it is logical, and a club kills as surely as a sword. Only social class distinction is concerned in regards to what weapon is used for the deed;)

Cheers,
Gary

Virel wrote:Gary,

In your adventures (all rpg games) how often do serious player rivalries occur?

Are these normally within the same adventure party/group or between individuals/players in different adventure parties/groups?

While there are occasional personality conflicts, I have never has any serious playyer/PC rivalries. My sons Luke and Alex did get into PC squabbles now and then, but that was a case of the younger trying to show he was equal to the elder.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Gary Gygax

I'm understanding more about my character's race in the game of ADandD 1st edit.--thanks to your answers--and because I have asked about trivial things that the rulebooks don't cover. I have one more question regarding PC humans as described in the 1977-1988 ADandD 1st edit. PHBs. If I play a human, can my human character in the game be like me in real life in every way: the same culture as me, the same natural, physical material appearance that I have, and the same six natural basic ability scores that I have?

If I was your DM I would not allow you to create a fantasy PC based on you. That would be metagaming, as is currently said.

Such a PC would be allowable in a contemporary or future campaign setting on non-fantasy sort, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

Just a quick FYI:

I did a horror spinoff of AD&D where the players were all yound teenagers, Boy Scouts, and their stats were based on their own estimates of what they possessed when that age. Of course there were no scores above 15, and most were in the 8-10 range. It worked well, and we had a lot of fun with the adventure in a huge onl seemingly abandoned mansion;)

Cheers,
Gary

Anonymous wrote: Hey Gary,

I 've been trying to strike a balance in the tone of my campaigns where the PC's are not all one "big family". I find that everything becomes to convenient and isn't very "realistic" in the sense that not even with your best friends would people behave in such fashion. The PC's should also have some personal motivation that might or might not coincide with the party. I have ruled that sharing info such as alignment, true personal finances, etc. are to be kept secret as much as possible and character sheets are absolutely to be kept secret.

I always had the impression that during your campaigns with 20-30 players( total I mean) that when someone brought out their 8th level wizard that the other PC's around the table would also feel nervous. Not knowing if this "wizard" was completly sane or "good".

Did you only allow Neutral and Good PC's to adventure together to avoid intra-party rivalries or conflicts? Consequently, allowing Evil PC's to only adventure with Neutral PC's as well?

Why were evil alignments allowed if it wasn't to create intra-party conflicts or at least keep players "honest" and wary? (were "evil' PC's mainly used in all "evil" parties?)

Is it contrary to the spirit of the rules to foster PC independence? Will it lead to unforseen problems later? Like bitter PC rivalries and a cut-throat game?

thanks,

Alex

I don't interfere in the PC relationships in campaigns I run. I do expect personal background and motivation to be detailed and considered by players when I am mastering an LA game campaign.

No dictation of alignment has ever been made in any of my A/D&D campaigns, save for some special tournament adventure scenatio.

Cheers,
Gary

Blustar wrote:Sorry guys that was me up there...and a double post at that, aaack!

Is there any way to delete the extra post? (mods???)

sorry,

Alex

Not to worry...we all err now and again The matter is TCO.

Cheers,
Gary

elementalawe wrote:Thanks for your term of metagame thinking, Gary. I was always wondering what it is called if I play my in-game 1e ADandD character like me in real life. Is there any thing whatsoever that my 1e ADandD fantasy character can have like me in real life? I mean the same personality and alignment and the same physical, material appearance?

Heh:)

I can't take credit for the creation of the term "metagaming," as it has been used by others before me.

Generally, I should think a GM would have no probelms with a game character that was based on the actual player, but the PC's knowledge should be based on the background created for the character by the player, and it should be in keeping with the PC's origin, culture, socio-economic class, education, training, and experience.

In a D&D game a wizard with high intellignece is the best bet for a PC that has broad and esoteric knowledge. Of course virtually any character with high intellegence can be innovative and creative.

Cheers,
Gary

cimerians wrote:Hello Gary!

Long time its been and its great to see many threads now with questions and answers by you and everyone. Hope you continue on in a healthy path so we can get more material and feedback from you.

Hail Cimerians!

All the fellows on the various boards arE on my back about writing more. Lackaday! I am lackadaisical

I have picked up LA essentials and I'm looking forward to the hardbacks (doesn't matter too much cause I have the Hekaforge premium editions already). I remember all the feedback and surveys you requested through the internet back when LA was still being thought about in the mid 90's. Its been a decade at least and I was wondering what you think about the basic box set and working with the Trolls. Satisfied with it? It seems they do a pretty good job...

The Trolls are splendid fellows, and we get along well indeed. I expect to see their publications improve even more over time, and I have no complaints now

A few more, I apologize if these have been answered already:
-- Will Lejendary earth be re-released in some form by the Trolls? Any details?

when hekaforge has completed the series of volumes in paperback, and there are at least three to go, one coming very soon, The Mysterious Realms of Hazgar, all parties concerned intend for TLG to publish the LE world Setting in hardback form in due course. At this time I can say nothing more, of course.

-- Will any other writers other than yourself release some additional material for LA?

That's been done already by Jon Creffield and Chris Clark, and there are more modules coming from both soon. Also the redoubtable Dan Cross has written a long adventure that the Trolls will be publishing--this year, I believe.

As for core rules material, all of that is by me, and a fair bit of now material in that vein from others has been picked up and included in my supplenmental books, Tome of Knowledge and More Beasts of Lejend, both to come from TLG likely this year,

And the cheezy question of the day. My nephew played the D&D game for the first time about two weeks ago, I introduced him with the Moldvay Basic set. He loved it and wants to play more, of course he remembers your cartoon show from my old VHS tapes and asked if a few villains could appear and I said yes of course.

So, I posted a thread here asking for some stats for Venger:

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10610

Can you wip up six ability stats for me? Thats all I'll bother you with.

Stay well Gary! and thanks for listening and responding!


--George A.

Whoa!

Making up stats for Venger from the cartoon show basis, where such considerations were meaningless, is a dicey thing (pun intended)
Try these:

S 17
I 18
W 7
D 17
C 17
Ch 16

cheers,
Gary

Gnarley Bones wrote:Hi Gary,

I just finished Necropolis (the DJ edition). What a challenging adventure! Did you write this scenario for DJ, or did it exist previously, in your own game?

Thanks.

The Necropolis adventure was created solely for the DJ Mythus game

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:ADandD 1st edit. designer Gary

For any version of classic DandD or for any version of ADandD, when a PC human male is first created as a starting adventurer at a young adult age of 15 yrs. to 35 yrs. with a specified weight, does it mention anywhere in the rulebooks that a PC can gain weight or that a PC is allowed to gain weight as natural aging occurs? If the rulebooks don't mention it, does a PC stay with the young adult age specified weight forever?

Howdy:)

As a matter of fact most DMs and players seldom worry about such details. It is possible that a character beginning adventuring at c. 15 years of age will remain at about the same height and weight, or that there could be a dramatic increase in both.

In all events, personal characteristics of the PCs in a campaign are left to the purview of the DM. If his campaign is such that such details are useful in play so much the better, eh?

As an aside, I do have guidelines for the Avatar races, by gender, suggesting height and weight as well as physical description details for characters created by the GM in the Lejendary Adventure game.

Cheers,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote:Hello Gary,

I'm wondering if I might come across ZAGYG'S FLOWING FLAGON in the world of Castle Zagyg. This would be a most excellent magical treasure for any hardworking adventurer.

Cheers to you and good health,

best regards,

Rhuvein.

Well...

That a specific that won't be answerable until the encounters for all the levels are completed, including what is found in a place after whatever guardian was present is defeated.

It is a good bet that finding artifact-like magic items won't be likely

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:Question for my buddy Gary regarding the 3 lil' booklets: What's a turn? Check out my problem in detail here: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10694
I'm looking for the original intent as well as how The Game is meant to be played out. BOY those rules are vague

As for elementalawe/richardstincer: You're taking this whole DandD/ADandD thing WAY to seriously! It's just a game so sit back, relax and just have fun. You don't need anybody's approval on how to play, even the original designers!*

*I'm well aware of the irony of saying this after asking the initial question, but that's different: I'm looking for original intent, not seeing if my way of playing is "ok" or not.

The solution to your problem is simple. Use the AD&D system of rounds, 10 to a turn, and then there's no confusion. thjat means movement is in inches as shown, an armored man on foot going 60 feet in a minute's time, and the troll regaining three hit points in a round.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote: Ahhh, so that's why you wrote those rules I kinda figured it'd be something like that. Maybe AD&D is more for me with it's rules/guidelines a little more "laid out" as it were. I'm afraid decades of TV and video games have rotted my imagination

Nah!

All you need to do is think of the game is belonging to yopu as much as it does to the autor, and then it's easy to fix perceived glitches

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:Great advice that seems to sum up the intent and spirit of the original game!
One question you may not have been asked before: What's the story with terms like Olve, Euroz, etc.? Are they the actual names of races in your game, a gnome language, or just nicknames? Are they just Greyhawk flavor words, or maybe terminology used in your games that wasn't actually published to avoid confusion? Is there a list of these words somewhere defined?
Er, I guess that's more than one question; But only one subject!

Those are names for non-human races from the World of Greyhawk. If you read the material you'll fnd them all there. I didn't make a lot of use of them in my games, but occasionally they would appear in this or that reference.

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary, now that I have asked you everything that I think was missing about a PC race, I want to ask you about ability scores next. For the method that allows rolling 12 sets of six natural basic ability scores for 12 characters, a player can select the six most desirable scores. Does that mean I--or any other player--can select six average scores for a starting PC adventurer? The reason that I want average, basic natural ability scores is because I like being average in physical and mental abilities. Averageness and neutrality are aesthetically pleasing or inherently pleasing to me.

Hi!

Once again you are asking me questions that are properly the purview of the Game Master.

If you are the GM, make up your own rules as how to handle the dice rolls for new PCs. If someone else is, then ask him.

The alternate means of stat number generation in the OAD&D game were to boost the numbers above the average 9-12 spread to something like 10-13 or 11-14.

Cheers,
Gary

Sieg wrote:Gary,

Apologies if you covered this earlier, but any moew news if you've gotten an invite to Milwaukee Gamesfest?

Thanks!

Howdy Amigo:)

The last word I have had is that the company sponsoring the Gamefest series is kaput, so no Milwaukee Gamefest. I am quite sad about this

The Trolls are planning to run a small con here in Lake Geneva, but there are no details yet as to date or place

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote: The Trolls are planning to run a small con here in Lake Geneva, but there are no details yet as to date or place

Cheers,
Gary

Definitely keep us posted on this one.[/quote]
Will do::

Cheers,
Gary

Salut!

The trolls have only mentioned a con here in Lake Geneva in apssing, so I have no idea as to what they envision...other than a small event. I do assume I will be a GoH at such an event, but about other details I am unable to speculate. Of course one might well assume that both the LA and C&C games would be featured there.

As to the where and when, the length of the show and the cost, not even the Trolls know at this time, as they are yet to research what is available here for a mini-con.

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Sweet! Am I invited?

Now, for the good Colonel--

Maybe this has been answered somewhere, and if so, then I'm just blind and dumb. But... why are there at least 3 versions of the Drow? There's the one from the MM, one from FF, and the stat method and character classes options in UA.


For everyone else-- Which one, or something else, is the most commonly used?

As for the convention to be held here in LG, I do believe all gamers are invited!

Now, under the heading of water under the bridge

Hmmmm...

I don't recall any drow in the MM. AS a matter of fact I know there were nont there, as I created the race after the MM was written. As for drow apearing in the UA work, those details there were for DMs who were looking for information on how to create potent NPCs of that race.

Cheers,
Gary

Troll Lord wrote:Hello all,

...

Mike, did you really ask if Gary Gygax would be GOH at a convention sponsored by Troll Lord Games IN Lake Geneva? LOL Of course Gary Gygax would be the Guest of Honor (mike just razzed me on the phone for a few minutes, actually wanted me to READ the text in his email and not just look at the attachment...what's that about? LOL!

Steve

Great!

My appearance fee has just been increased dramatically, and of course seeing as how there's no need for travel or lodging expense, an addition for a great room party can be worked into the arrangement, right?

Now answer the emails about the various module proposals that have been submitted and quit wasting time here


Gary

Fid wrote:Gary:

If the Lake Geneva cons don't work, I'm sure fellow DF'r Aranion would love to have you at the first annual Grogcon. You'd have to pay your way, but I'm sure you'd find enough free drinks!!!

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8207

Heh,

At this stage in my life I don't generally attend cons except for a fee. Time is far too precious to me

Cheers,
Gary

As I said...

Drow were not detailed in the MM.

As for the rest of it, the details were devised when I had a setting for the race

Cheers,
Gary

Draco Caeruleus wrote:Gary,

In the original D&D booklets of 1974, it says that elves can advance either as fighting-men or magic-users. They can switch between these classes between, but not during, adventures.

What does that mean exactly? Do they only gain XP for one class at a time? Do they only get the benefits of one class at a time? If the latter, would that include things like hit points?

Or is it just an ambiguity that was fixed with the later multiclassing rules?

Thanks!

Heh...

More water under the bridge

Actually the booklet is quite clear in this regard. An elf can act as a Frighter and use armor, gain XPs in thwt class, or one can act as a Magic-User and likewise gain XPs. What isn't clear is the HD. When an advance in level is indicated, the elf gains one-half a HD whether the advance is in the Fighter or M-U class. Thus the elf is operating at a disadvantage, not an advantage, in regards HPs.

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Not being familiar with the line, Gary, is there a "Domesday book" for LA I can buy that contains creatures, LM info and player info or is there a "DMG/PHB/MM" set of books or what?

Howdy:)

there are indeed three core rules books at the present time, plus adventure material and more. The best place to have all such questions answered is www.lejendary.com There are products pictured and described there, plus boards and more. That'll save us all time and effort;)

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote: Okay sir. I will poke around over there. Most of my gaming these days is your *ahem* other game but I've been thinking about branching out some...

Okay

If you like rules-light and very adaptable systems, I am sure you will find LA compelling. It is quite unlike OA/D&D save in spirit, soul, and enthusiasm.

Cheers,
Gary

Thoth Amon wrote:DD:
I hate to jump into Gary's thread, but I will...
Get the Lejendary Rules For All PLayers first and the Beasts of Lejend second. The Lejandmaster book is fine, but you can actually run a game without it. Beasts of Lejend is my favorite of the three.

Actually...

The advice about not needing the LML book is quite misleading. Amongst other things it lists all the Avatar Knacks & quirks and contains the only listing of Extraordinary (magic) items, plus a lot if invaluable informatin regarding prices and non-human racial information, not to mention clarifications of some of the information in the LRfAP

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary Gygax, thanks for your previous answer. It seems to me, then, that the DM is in control of: PC race, the six basic natural ability scores, adventurer-class profession, and alignment. There are two final questions that I want to ask you about. Can a DM of ADandD 1st edit. also act as a player? When I asked you if my half-orc and half-human PC can have rounded ears, I forgot to mention the ears of a full orc. You told me that a full orc has lop-looking ears, but are those lop-looking ears rounded or wedge-pointed?

Hi Richard,

As a practical matter the DM has control over everything, including the rules that govern play of the game.

It is generally not a good idea for a GM to play a character in the game. i have done that, but it is difficult, as it removes the disinterest from the role and requires a great deal of expertese to cary off successfully--that is neither aiding or hinderig the players to any meaningful extent.

As for the ears of an orc, i envisiage them as being rather loped, but that's another DM call. they might be large, rounded, and look like a chimp's to some GMs

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Thanks again, Gary, for your answers. In this thread, in my message-post of questions directly before this one, I said that I had two final questions for you, but now I realize that there could have been one more. I have asked something about Valley elves in your World of Greyhawk forum--can you look at it there? I have never bought the specific campaign books for ADandD 1st edit. because I didn't have the money for them. Nevertheless, I bought nine general campaign sourcebooks for the ADandD 1st edit. game during the late 1980's. They were all the stiff cardboard coverings, but I don't have them anymore because I started selling them in 1989 when ADandD 2nd edit. came out. I thought that 1st edit. ADandD was not going to be around ever again--or at least that is what I was told by the group of highschoolers who I was gaming with at the time.

Well richard,

See Oldschooler's comments regarding WotC. It's their property now.

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:To try to be a salve, and sponge out the water I keep adding under the bridge, like a misbegotten Grimm troll.... and to try, in desperation to quell any damage to the mind I have caused, I'll ask another, better, question:

Do you use the books in your own Fantasy Series, or are you more the off-the-hip DM, making notes as you go along?

Heh...

Yes, I do use material from the books where useful in my creative efforts, although in my crowded workspace I tend to refer to the mss. copies I keep in computer files. Of course I do make up many things as I go along too, as that is the way I am used to working for some decades.

Cheers,
Gary

dcs wrote:

Thoth Amon wrote:
Gary, you've noted elsewhere that starting LA avatars are about as potent as 4th-5th level D&D characters. You've also noted that Yggsburgh was designed for characters 4th-6th level. Was this done deliberately? or were you perhaps thinking subconciously of the type of challenges a starting LA avatar would face? Could one use Yggsburgh for LA, just converting the creatures & NPCs to their LA equivalents? The reason I ask is that (as I noted above) I find the LA game compelling, but at the same time I don't have a lot of free time in which to run a game, and I've been waiting for Yggsburgh for quite some time.

Ciao:)

Actually, a starting level of 4th-5th allows more freedom of scope for challenges in an urban environment, outdoors, and in subterranean settings too. It is serindipitous (or my subconscious work) that meshed that with the LA game

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary and others, all I'm trying to do is emphasize the fact that ADandD 1st edit. should have a measure of 50% realism--the reality of real life--because if it doesn't, it would be extremely on the side of being an unbelievable fantasy game. Gary, when you decided to use some reality about female strength being lower than male strength, that was excellent because it shows that the game of ADandD 1st edit. is allowed to have--or can have--real life aspects to it and it is not just total fiction.

Pardon me...

...but I suggest that the "real life" you propose is quite contrary to heroic fantasy when set forth as rules. Any such elements are strictly up to the Game Master. Mixing high adventure with the need for the excretion of bodly wastes is an extreme example of the ludicrisness of such an amalgum. The object of the AD&D game was never supposed to elicit anything such as you purport, and happily it did not elicit such from the vast majority of its millions of fans worldwide. the game is about exploration, questing, derring do, and swashbuckling action, with such mix of roleplaying as suits the group.

I rest my case and shall not deal with this subject further.

Cheers,
Gary

GuyinCognito wrote:Hey, Gary Just would like to say your AD&D is the champ! Mind if I rattle a few questions in?

How do you reward XP for valuables? coins, and magic (examples would be a boon) Say my party ends up finding: A longsword+1 (unidentified), 500 gp, and a crystal challice worth (375 gp). How and when should I award the XP? Could you elaborate on what "keeping" a magic item means?

Glad to be able to talk to you, this is neat,
GuyinCognito

We always gave XPs for treasure value, monsters killed or eliminated, and for meaningful thieving skill use and spells cast, the latter at 100 XPs per level. that was why the escalation in the number of XPs needed to increase a level was so dramatic as one progressed.

In your example above the award I'd hand out would be 875 XPs.

Keeping an item means it isn't sold to an NPC, is used by a member of the party. Selling an item brings in more XPs as the gold paid counts on a 1 GP to 1 XP ratio. the additional XPs for selling an item are one of a number of means for the DM to get magic items out of play.

Cheers,
Gary

Ratughoth wrote:Gary, If you had to come up with a one word description of LA, what would it be?

that's tough!

"Fun" is the best I can come up with in a single word, although "exciting" or "compelling" also come to mind.

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:
... If they identify it and sell it immediately after the adventure, if I am understanding you correctly, they would get the item's base XP value of 10,000 , plus another 25,000 XP for the sale of it, but if they didn't sell it off and instead carried it around and used some of its powers on various other adventures they wouldn't get an XP reward for a later sale...? Or would they?

Close, but no cigar

If they keep the item they get the 10K XPs for it--the one gaining the item gets that award, not the party. If the item is sold by the party's agreement, they divide the sale value of 25K as XPs. If it goes to one person, and that PC sells it, the 25K XPs go to that PC alone.

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:

dcs wrote:Midwest: Boss!

"Boss"? Maybe in the 1960s but having grown up in the Midwest it seems that "cool" would be the preferred term

Pax,

Chris

Swinging!


Gary

Sieg wrote:
That's great! So, the party has the incentive to browbeat the one person who wants to keep it to sell the item to get an xp split, otherwise just the one person who uses it keeps the xps....thus both getting the xps and the use of the item. That's a great idea!

So, did you ever have party infighting over such an issue?

In General...

Parties would have an agreement at the beginning of an adventure as to how treasure would be divided, usually total levels (half-levels for the second and third of multi-classed PCs) for the party divided into gold, gems, jewelry, and monster XPs, then handed out in shares per level. Magic items were diced for, the highest roll gettting first pick, and then on down the line.

If the party was in agreement, an item could be sold and the gold received added to the party treasure for division and gain of XPs.

The players able to generate high rolls--Ernie and rob were infamous for that, got the cream of the magical loot. I recall one time when both rolled 00, and in the roll-off following that rob rolled 99, but Ernie rolled another 00

Cheerio,
Gary

Asrogoth wrote:Gary,

Greetings. I have been on Dragonsfoot for quite a while now, but this is my first posting with a question directed towards you (which I've also asked of Frank Mentzer, Frnak, right?)

Howdy:)

You are right, that's Frank who jokingly signs off as Frnak.

As to:
....

Virel wrote:

Cias the Noble wrote: Keep in mind that the whole "elves-have-spirits-not-souls-and-only-creatures-with-souls-can-be-raised" thing in the DDG was simply an ad-hoc explanation for why elves cannot be raised.

The truth is, the rules said that elves couldn't be raised long before there was any type of in-game justification of this type. Personally, I believe the whole spirit vs. soul concept was invented after the fact mainly as a way to rationalize why only certain creatures can be raised. The difference between spirts and souls was invented to explain an existing rule, rather than the rule being based off this difference.

I tend to agree with you on that - but a least it provides some fluff around the rule.

Thank you in advance.

PS Here's the thread...

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 427#174427

Short answer:

In folklore elves are soulless, so it isnt merely a game device. As a matter of fact, I would question that they have spirits.

cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Gary, a few questions:

A few?!

What was your "reasoning" behind a cleric's turning ability, as in how is it able to function?

The fokelore example of a vampire being turned by a cleric presenting the cross.

Is the cleric turning the spirit/soul within the undead?

I don't understand what distinction you are attempting to assert. the undead are turned, be they material or spirit, as indicated in the mechanic.

Or is the cleric turning the unholy vessel (body)?

That too.

Does every undead have a spirit/soul bound to it?

No soul but the assumption is that some form of malign spirit or spirit force motivates the undead creature.

Was the Groaning Spirit (Banshee) created as an undead?

No.

Or was it some other form of creature that has undead characteristics?

Another form od spirit creature entirely, that has some powers that are also held by some undead.

If it was created as an undead, what row would it have been turned as (Spectre maybe) on the Cleric Turning Table?

It is not an undead creature.

Also what is the definition of a soul and spirit in game terms? We know which beings have souls and spirits and those with sprits can't be raised/resurrected, but what, if any, are the definitions of each?

Only humans humans have souls. All living things might have spirits. Deal with such metaphysical questions as the differences between soul and spirit as you see fit. the Egyptians believes that a human had a soul, spirit, shawow, double, name, and two other components in his makeup. This is about a game, isn't it? Thus I don't attempt to deal with such esoterica in rules interpretation

I asked these in the past tense so to get the original intent of your rules/thoughts, not as to a rules interpretation of a game currently under the realm of WotC.

Sorry that my original intent wasn't evident, and I hope that my answers above will assist in conveying that now.

Cheers,
Gary

Ratughoth wrote: I've been looking very hard at your LA game Gary. I like what I am seeing, if I had to come up with one word for it it would be FLEXIBLE.

So is a rubber hose

Seriously, I did do my best to create the system to serve as a vehicle for all styles of RPG activity, and to suit most genres in addition to fantasy. virtually any sort of character can be crewated as the player's Avatar in the game, modeled on historical figures, archetypes, or purely as imagined by the person so doing.

Cheers,
Gary

Solomoriah wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:

Does every undead have a spirit/soul bound to it?

No soul but the assumption is that some form of malign spirit or spirit force motivates the undead creature.

Aha! So I was right!

... it happens so rarely, i must write it on my calendar ...

In your campaign you are always right

anyway, the undead are all motivated by something non-corporeal, whether their own evil spirit that lingers or some malign spirit entity that has possessed the remains.

Cheers,
Gary

Gandalf Istari wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote: Would this include undead created via an animate dead spell, such as skeletons and zombies? It's been asserted that you always held undead such as skeletons and zombies to be nothing more than automatons, powered by magical force with no "spirit possessing the remains" as you put it.

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

Not that any of this matters a jot or tiddle, but...

Right you are about mindless skeletons and zombies. They operate as golems, by magical energy, although some malign intellect might direct them. Animated dead are not akin to the true undead--ghouls and wights and the rest.

This is not to say thet a malign spirit could not possess a skeleton or a corpse, so as to make something more potent and dangerous than the usual. the juju zombie was an example of such a concept, and skeleton "lords" are likewise.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote: That reminds me, have you ever given extra experience points or merits to players for sucking up?

No, and they don't tend to do that. I have givEn the PCs damage for players arguing with me or disrtupting the game.

Cheers,
Gary

GuyinCognito wrote:Greetings again Below are what I would consider some of my deeper questions as the rest I just make up myself (creature origins, the supernatural, etc). IMO PC power-balances are one of the basic building blocks of a sucessful game. My goal is to effectively run an AD&D party to 20th level and beyond -- With 2nd Edition the XP progression gets pretty hard past about level 12. Time and time again I find myself saying A-HA! at your original rules. IMO the questions following could help any DM, so here goes:

I have a lot of other things to do, so don't expect essay-length answers

How do I calculate the XP of a custom creature if it had 300 hp? 5000 + (300 x 35) = 15,500 (then plus any extra SAXPB or EAXPA)?

However you determine is best for your custom creature. just compare its XP value with whatever listed monsters you think are comparable. you can pull the number out of thin air if it suits you!

XP for the greatest monsters and dragons: the DMG lists ** for the Dragons? Is this due to the probable danger of even getting thru its lair, etc, that its full XP cannot be listed?

Dragons come in varying ages, so that's the main reason. also some of the same type and age can use spells, some can't.

An ancient spell-using dragon lists as 7758 XP as an example in the DMG XP section. A figter needs 3,000,000 XP for 20th level. How many of these "master" creatures are sucessful in game terms (plot, geography, etc?)

I haven't the slightest idea what your question means. I suspect you are questioning the point award. What you are ignorng is the treasure found with the dragon, for which XPs are to be awarded.

Are most of the XP awards gleaned by PCs based on treasure? (XP for treasure seems to emulate how adventurers CRAVE gold and wealth and makes getting gold equally enjoyable to getting an item of magical powers)

That's wehat the book says, yes.

At what frequency do you use the Treasure Tables and when do you assign treasure?

One uses the tables always, I should imagine, if playing by the book. Of course a DM can do that, have no treasure or decide what treasure the monster has without reference to the tables. I personally usually used the random tables for all outdoor encounters, seldom if ever for encounters that I designed.

What are your results(findings) on the Total Gold/Magic(in say XP value) of a 10/15/20th level character? What works and keeps the game going without power-saturation of items, etc? (I play a 2e mix so some of the specialization, proficiencies are a factor...)

What are yours? I haven't time to waste on silly stuff

Has time given you any other revelations?

Ypu mean like I'd be well advised to ignore some board posts?

Finally, maybe most importantly, someone wanted me to ask how to draw our players back from 3rd Ed??? (They are now rule-lawyers from Hades!? We are fading...)

----Guyin Cognito

Heaping coals on my head are you?! Well heap away, for I have editing i must get done.

Rule-players are going to cling to new D&D (3E, 3.5E, 3.999E, 4E etc.) like ticks to a dog. so are power gamers and those who are really superhero genre RPGers.

It's easy to get rid of them by refusing to play new D&D. but to win them away from that system is difficult as it gives rapid gratification much as do computer games purportng to be RPGs.

My best advice to to work on the bvetter players one at a time, have them engage in an AD&D session with a PC that isn't a comic book superhero wannabe, and see if the enjoyment of group cooperation and the challenge of having no superpowers but rather rely on thinking and imagination. That might suffice to win him over.

Greg Ellis wrote:
Hi Gary,

What are you working on at the moment?

Just curious.

The Nation Builder book ms. in the GFW reference series.

I also need to get material to Frank Mentzer so he can do the development of my old c. 1974 or 1975 tournament module that I designed for the Detroit Metro Gamers convention back then. It has never been played, let alone published, since that time. Troll lords will publish it as a C&C advcenture when Frank has fleshed out the encounter notes. It's original name is The Quest for the Teeth of Barkash-Nour.

Cheerio,
Gary

GuyinCognito wrote:... Didn’t mean to heap coals (I tried not to honestly!) ...

So, being really nice to heap more on my head, huh?!

Okay, I am just kidding

Hope you can manage to wean away all the new D&D players you meet to a real RPG system, whatever it might be, including AD&D, of course

(See, when i get worn out from developmental editing i am a lor more mellow )

Cheerio,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote:

I also need to get material to Frank Mentzer so he can do the development of my old c. 1974 or 1975 tournament module that I designed for the Detroit Metro Gamers convention back then. It has never been played, let alone published, since that time. Troll lords will publish it as a C&C advcenture when Frank has fleshed out the encounter notes. It's original name is The Quest for the Teeth of Barkash-Nour.

Cheerio,
Gary

Hi Gary.
Heard about this and I am very much looking forward to seeing the final product!

Any chance that some lucky adventurer might find Zagyg's Flowing Flagon in this module?

Best regards,

Rhuvein.

Not in the cards, amigo.

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Have you ever wanted to create something for an RPG, in any form or genre, for any system, even a totally new one, where humans are not predominant?

No. the effort needed to devise the evolution, biology, cultural history, and society of non-human races, make them truly different from humans and yet appealing to players, is well beyond my capacity.

Cheers,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote: Thanks Gary.
Perhaps a skilled sorcerer in my campaign, who specializes in alchemy could unearth the arcana necessary to build such a magic vessel and then from there lead the adventurers into fame and fortune . . .

Rhuvein.

But of course...after many years and much expense, with a high chance of failure.

The sure way is to devise an adventure in which the party can discover such a magic item if they succeed in overcoming all of the obstacles, the many guardians and traps, find its cleverly concealed hiding place

Cheers,
Gary

PapersAndPaychecks wrote: Players in my campaign should note that buying the DM a pint of guinness will enhance the chance of success.

A bargain!

I consider anything less than a six-pack an affront

Cheers,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote: I will heed your advice and let the adventurers find it in the way you suggest.

Many thanks,

Regards,

Rhuvein.

Heh!

that's the sirit. make those lazy PC go out and risk life and limb to gain magical goodies. None of that namby-pamby purchasing or forging such items on their own. That's for sissy new D&D players

Cheers,
Gary

blackprinceofmuncie wrote:Hi Gary!

We at Dragonsfoot are blessed to have several preeminent figures from the world of RPGs visiting us. I was wondering if you had any info about another such figure, a regular contributor to The Dragon back in the day, Lewis Pulsipher. What was his relationship with TSR? Was he a regular participant in your gaming group? Any idea what he's up to now or what the chances are we could get him to drop by Dragonsfoot and chat?

No, Lew lives somewhere other than in the area of Lake Geneva--out East perhaps.

Lew was a boardgamer that moved to comment of RPGs. that's about all i can say.

Cheers,
Gary

ScottyG wrote: What about Zagyg's Needle? Might it be tucked away in CZ somewhere? Luke mentioned to me that Melf's acquisition of the item was quite memorable.
Scott

Bah!

That's a unique item, and Melf has it. He had to find it in a haystack, of course... When he unlimbers it it might be a dagger or a pike, and piercing weapon in between those lengths, even though he's facing a huge opponent or a small one close in. However, the plusses to hit and damage are good overall.

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Interesting about Zagyg's Needle, Gary (and I remember reading about it in one of the Gord stories). Does Melf (or whoever) have any control over the size the weapon takes upon use? (Such control would be nice, although given the Mad Archmage's personality somewhat unlikely.)

No control whatsover. the size and pluses are discovered by randon d8 roll.

I was actualy surprised at how quickly Alex was able to realize that fire was the way to discover the whereabouts of the item, his burning the haystack after only a relatively short time of fruitless hand-searching.

Another question with regards to unique weapons such as Zagyg's Needle, the "Tentacle Rods" from G3, etc. Did you penalize the PC's using such implements because they didn't have weapon proficiency when using them? E.g., did Melf need to spend a weapon proficiency slot before being able to use the Needle without pnalty?

Pax,

Chris

That's another negatory. the tentacle rods are like wands in my estimation, the magic directs their attacks.

Cheers,
Gary

rogueattorney wrote:Col.,

Where did the name Lolth come from? Is it any relation to Lilith, the apocryphal first wife of Adam and purported mother of vampires?

...
R.A.

Actually, I created the name "Lolth" as a name that seemed "right" for a spider-like demoness. I was not thinking of the mythical Lilith when I made up that name.

If you have ever read the Extraordinary Book of Names, one of the reference books in the "Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds" series, you'll understand the thinking processes that go into creating names for a fantasy milieu

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Gary:

Salmon or Cod?

Well...

Lake Geneva has landlocked salmon (stocked back in the 20s or thereabouts, and never caught any more), plus northern pike, pickeral, walleyed pike, German brown trout, large- and smallmouth bass, cisco(akin to Lake Michigan smelt), crappies, bluegills (and sunfish), plus yellow perch that are all worthy of catching. For rough fish there are gar, carp, bullheads, and rock and white bass.

I used to fish mainly for the panfish, as yellow perch are my favorite fish, and bluegills are good eating too; but I'd sometimes go after walleyes and bass. Using a ling rod and spinning reel, or a flyrod made it fun to catch even smaller piceans

There are huge garfish in the lake, as long as a rowboat, and carp as big as a grown man. they aren't caught, of course. The biggest walleys I've seen from the lake was over eight and a half pounds.

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:My grandfather on my mother's side once spoke of seeing man-sized (and larger) catfish "shadowing" their rowboats as he worked on a bridge project in Alabama. Of course that could be a "fish story".

Now we know where some of the giant fish in the Monster Manual come from, eh? Pike, etc.

I have seem the giant carp with my own eyes, and a gar that looked like it was seven feet long taking a white bass from a spawning school neat shore in the spring. the garfish of incredible size have been seen from airplanes, basking near rowboats, much as your grandfather spotted those catfish. I'd believe him, as they have caught huge catfish in the Mississippi River.

Cheers,
Gary

Lothar TVNI wrote:Good evening Gary,

Did you play TOP SECRET? If so may we hear a bit about your escapades in that game?

But of course!

I played in a few test games at the TSR offices, then my son Luke became the GM, and we burned the very few modules available one per play session. We quit thereafter because Luke was too young to be able to create espionage adventures, and I was too busy to take on GMing another system that needed much effort to devise module material inorder to play it.

I very much enjoyed the game.

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Hey Gary, could you do a little explanation of the new monetary system used in LA? I believe it gives treasure in dollar amounts but from what I have seen (which isn't much as I don't own LA as yet) I haven't been able to puzzle out a conversion to the 1eAD&D gold standard. IN other words, how many dollars to the gold piece?

Pax,

Chris

Heh:)

The LA game's monetary system is quite easy and straightforward. I will not compare and contrast it with that of any of the D&D game's editions.

Basically, the LA game assumes a model much like the actual. Gold is valued at $500 per ounce, silver at $10, and copper at $1. Aside from some special proicing for swords, armor, and warhorses, everything is pretty much based on contemporary prices, and thus the $ indicator.

The monetary system is explained more fully in Fantasy Life, and completely detailed in the LA core rules book, Lejend Master's Lore.

Ciao,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote: Thanks for the quick reply, Gary. That does sound like a pretty straight forward system, actually.

Welcome, and the system is as simple and easy as I could devise for a game system designed to be usable in multiple genres, as soon will be apparent. I havE co-designers working on other genres now, and with luck the first will be published in 2006, Lejendary AsteRogues, RPG of Fantastical Science Fiction--a sort of Victorian/super science mix.

This leads me to an LA specific question, however. In the modules for the game is treasure listed simply in dollar amounts or do you break it down according to coins, gems, jewelry, etc.?I recall reading your LA campaign journals on the games list a while back and, IIRC, the treasure mentioned was always in dollar amounts with no mention of gold, silver, etc. (and I have a hard time imagining fantasy characters opening chests in old dungeons and finding stacks of unmarked bills in place of piles of gleeming coins ).

Pax,

Chris

All treasure is given in coins and specific items. Being a busy chap, I cut corners when I am creating a dramatic account of a play session, list the value of all the swag without itemizing the lot. It goes without saying that gold is more valuable than in many game systems, one pound oF coins being worth $8,000. Gems are still the best form or portable wealth, large flawless diamonds and corundum gems, pearls, and black opals worth vast sums. (Never guess I actually enjoy gemstones and jewelry, would you?)

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:
...

Actually, it's funny you mention this. Last night I was rereading the Book of Exodus and noticed that just about every gem it talks about in the making of the tabernacle/liturgical vestments for the Aaronic priesthood are found in the DMG's gem section!

...

Pax,

Chris

for some extensive listing of valuable stones check out the World Builder in the "Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds" reference book series;)

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hiya Gary,

Two quick questions about your fine novel Sea of Death:

If you happen to remember (and are legally able to answer), what was the creature that chased Gord and Leda down the tube as they made there way to the City Out of Mind? At first, I thought flumph, but it was too evil for that. Black pudding?

Also (and I hope you haven't been pestered with this too much before), what approximate level would you say Gord was during the action of this book?

Thanks,

Michael

Sorry...

That sort of informationis not something I do not care to discuss. The critters were something that i envisaged butnever developed for game play. As for level, as Gord is no longer associated with the AD&D agme the question is moot...but I'd place him at around 18th

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Thanks, Gary. I hate to make you skirt the boiling legal waters, but I am never sure just what is safe to ask. You're the champ!

MH

Actually, there's nothing for me to fear regarding such a discussion, other than the fact that the material in question is the IP of another entitity, so anything I have to say about it is fair game for them to use in their additional work based on the property.

Naturally, I am not interested in providing creative material under such conditions.

Cheers,
Gary

Gentlegamer wrote:It is my understanding that revised versions of these tomes are in the works. Is this correct?

Incorrect;)

There are supplements coming, TOME OF KNOWLEDGE and MORE BEASTS OF LEJEND, and sometime after those are published, perhapslate in 2006 or sometime in 207, revised hardback editions are pl;anned.

Cheers,
Gary

Gentlegamer wrote:...
So in the meantime those interested in going beyond the Essentials need to find the original softcover rulebooks?

Quite right:)

That's an easy task. your FLGS should be able to order them for you, or you can order online as noted.

Cheers,
Gary

Steve Marsh wrote: neat, that is one of my favorite genres for light play.

Hi Steve Old Fellow

Jon Creffield is now working on completion of the campaign setting and adventure "node" book to go along with the three core rules books I have put tigether. Two are for the LM of the game, explain the planets et al. and politics, detail the fleets of "sailing" spaceships and the space creatures dwelling in the asteroid belts. The scope for play in the LAR agme is really pretty astonishing, from on-planet roleplaying in city dives to commanding battle fleets. The in-between includes piratical raids or protecting against them, intregue on vast space stations, hunting space beasts, exploring for uninhabited astral bodies to claim and terraform for one's own stronghold...or not.

There are good guys, bad ones, and lost of gray-shaded folk too, and the LM has great scope to add whatever makes his campaign special for its participants.

Never guess i really like this genre too, eh?

Cheers,
Gary

Bloodcat wrote:I can't really say I have any appropriate questions for the main man behind this wacky hobby of ours since most of them have already been answered here or were in the excellent interview he did with OD&Dities a while back.

However I will say thank you for all the nifty game stuff you have created over the years and the game that is as old as I am!

Hopefully I will have a quality question to ask sometime in the future, but until then I shall enjoy reading this thread and looking forward to your future works!

Heh...

I am still doing a fair bit of creative work, even though I have a son that is only a bit more that half the age of the D&D game, another born two years before I did the initial draft in 1972, and my eldest who with his oldest sister were the first two to play-test the game

Cheerio,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote: So I think what you're saying is that you're still a young fellow producing great material and your kids are probably very knowledgeable about D&D, right

Regards,

Rhuvein.

How about old fart still managing a bit of creative work, all of whose children have played A/D&D but the three girls quit early, and the two oldest boys are too busy with their work nowadays to play much except computer games?

Alex, who is age 18 is active playing in my group, on the computer, and online too.

At least my oldest son, Ernie, plans to be at the mini-con here in Lake Geneva at the end of July, so he'll get to do some playing then

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

I have a quick question about your relationship with the fine author Jack Vance. I was reading his Alastor books this weekend and noticed that when 30 million ozols (moneys) disappear in the first one, one character turns to another and says, " 'Lord Gyagx will want his money.' " Well, now. This book was published in 1973. Had you already met Jack Vance at that point, and is this a nod to you?

Indeed, I was in correspondence and telephone contact with the Admirable Mr. Vance at that point. I chided him jocularly for not referencing "Gygax" as a vicious starmeter instead of a venal lord. Sadly, I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jack in parson...

I also noticed in the second book a reference to "memory tablet." Any connection there with LA?

Thanks.

Michael

None that is conscious. Perhaps the name came from deep in my memory

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

Thanks for the quick answer. I guess Mr. Vance could have made "Gygax" the inventer of hussade, but it's pretty great to get to be any sort of character in the work of an admired writer! Nicely done.

M

Pfui!

Jack was being cruel, for had I been ihe inventor of hussade, I'd have been the one who won the girl...both of them

Cheers,
Gary

Hey chris:)

A bit straped for time of late, so pardin the brevity of my response. Here's the order I would use, and I do agree with you about omitting the Queen of the Demonweb Pits module. I never liked it.

Keep on the Borderland
Village of Hommlet
Temple of Elemental Evil
Dungeonland
Land beyond the Magic Mirror
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
Glacial rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
Hall of the Fire Giant King
Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
Tomb of Horrors
Descent to the Depths of the Earth
Shrine of the Kuo-toa
Vault of the Drow
Isle of the Ape
(Necropolis, final portion)

Cheerio,
Gary

Hi Chris,

You were very close in the order to play those modules.

To break between the G and D series have an important NPC send the party off to better equip and prepare themselves for the subterranean realms by exploring a newly discovered great underground hall and a forbidden tomb. Survivors of those two adventures will be much better able to manage the drow and the demons in the city of Erelheicindlu

Cheers,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote: ...Unfortunately my gaming is largely restricted to an online campaign I DM these days, but you never know. At least now I have a pretty good notion of how things will progress if I do get the chance

Pax,

Chris

Pity that

I'll think of your suffering as I play a session of Metamorphosis Alpha tonight whith the lads here at my place, James M. Ward being our Esteemed GM for this adventure, taking over from me as the DM for OD&D

Chris, you need to advertise for some fellow gamers in your locale!

Cheers,
Gary

As Bigby is only in the mid 20s in level, that sounds fine. Of course he is always accom[anied by an entourage of fighters and others to support him...

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:I have a question for Gary regarding character creation: Would you trust any player to simply pick his or her statistics (Abilities or otherwise) rather than roll dice for them? Sort of like a point buy, but with whatever they think their character would have; Any thoughts on this approach?

Do you allow a child to choose what he will have for dinner? I think not. The parent is the one responsible for that sort of decision, just as the Gm oversees character creation

Cheers,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:As a question in game design, do you think that class and skill based systems can combine ? i.e. using a D&D type class system, while also using skills.

Or do you feel that the two are separate, as they both seek to cover the same area of gameplay (i.e. what a character can, and more importantly cant, do) ?

(with classes assumed to be iconic archetypes, rather than just a loose "template" as some games use)


Cheers!

The two systems are so different in their approach that it is difficult to merge skills into a class based system. It is quite possible to make class-like roles in a skill based system by listing those that make an archetype and then giving benefits for having such a mix for a character.

As a matter of fact I was doing that in the Dangerous Journeys Mythus game, and in Lejendary Adventure, with it's skill bundles, the concept is further advanced and works splendidly if I do say so myself.

I hasten to add that following a template to gain an archetype in the LA RPG doesn't make a stereotypical character, for there is much room for individualization, and the non-archetypical character is not penalized, so complete freedon of skill-bundle selection is not discouraged.

Cheers,
Gary

Particle_Man wrote:What is the last thing you remember talking about to Tom Moldvay? When was this?

Ditto for Trampier...

I didn't speak much with Moldvey...

As for Tramp, the last time I recall talking to him was in Jane's Bar when he was having some trouble with his wife. Considering Jane's, having trouble there isn't remarkable.

Cheers,
Gary

gideon_thorne wrote:Yet another recomendation Gary. You being a fan of chess and all I thought this might interest you?

http://www.sjgames.com/proteus/

Dont know if you have seen this or not?

Hey!

I hit the websote but couldn'y pull up the rules, so I can't comment.

It is worth noting that there has been one hit with dice games, and never one with chess variants, so

Cheers,
Gary

Zudrak wrote: You mean Yahtzee?

None other

Of course poker dice don't count, even though I used to win a lot of free drinks playing "horse"...

Heh,
Gary

gideon_thorne wrote: I'll put the game in my travel bag and bring it along.

Don't fergit yer hogleg!


Gary

oldschooler wrote:Question:
Gary, when you're refereeing a game, who rolls the dice? ...

If the action is that of the Avatar, and the results would be reasonably obvious to that individual, the player rolls the die or dice. His Avatar, his activity. That way the player is actively participating in what affects his game persona, an there is no question as to the result of the roll, as it is made openly before all participants.

As a matter of fact, I roll most of the LM dice openly so that the players can see, so they know I am not fudging random results either for or against them.

Cheers,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:Maybe this was asked before, but it was a recent topic..

Is it intentional in AD&D that the Haste spell (causing magical aging) should require a system shock roll, risking death ?
Or was that an unforseen sideeffect ?

the system shock check was included so DMs has something to use to prevent abuse of the spell, such as when a PC drank a potion of speed and then had a haste spell cast on him.

My players knew better that to try to get cutsy like that when I was the DM

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary, in my signature below, I have the belief that TN is a general alignment--am I correct? All of the other 8 alignments seem to be more specific.

hi richard,

TN is True Neutral, those that believe that all other alignments are simply a part of the whole picture, each necessary to counterbalance the others. To maintain the cosmos, the True Neutral holds than each of the other eight ethoi must remain viable and active. for example, this view holds than one can not know good without evil.

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Do you like mixing genres together, something like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, crossed with Boot Hill, for example... or do you prefer to stick to one element and see where that takes you? From reading some of the new material (Hall of Many Panes, for example. Not trying to give anything away about it, though, so don't sue me....) I'm curious. Do you consider that sort of thing to be "high magic" and not Conaneque "sword and sorcery?"

Heh,

I have mixed genres since the OD&D game was published.

I do not think a magic-rich setting precludes swords & sorcery, although the pure "Conanesque" sort is pretty well out in such an environment. that doesn't trouble me, as the only real roles in such a setting are permutations of the warrior and thief archetypes.

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Thanks for your response, Gary. In your 1979 DMG for ADandD 1st edit., it is printed that the TN alignment is narrowest in scope or focus. Does 'narrowest in scope' mean it is easy to follow the alignment of TN? I like a simple, tit-for-tat equality whereas Mordenkainen likes the alignment of TN to be complex.

Simply put, alignments are for the use of the DM in the development of the nations and the peoples that inhabit them, principally the dramatis personae that will interact with the group of player characters. It is meant to serve the DM as a measuring stick against the performance of the PCs in the campaign, after each has elected an alignment as a general template for the ethical and moral views of their game persona. In the same secondary role, they are meant to be useful in regards use of magical spells and magic items that require the imbuing of some spirit (force) in their making.

As compared to the reasons for which I created them, alignments are generally misused by DMs and I am sorry that I did not originally stress their principal meaning and uses.

Gary

Dragon Fire wrote: Wow, that's a great insight into alignments Gary. I have seen many discussion regarding alignments that would have gone much different if they had known this.

As i said, I blame blame myself for not fully elucidating the purpose of alignments, assuming that DMs would comprehend my thinking by some sort of osmosis

Cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote: Well, don't feel to badly. I didn't put near the "stock" into alignments that other DMs have. So, maybe I absorbed some of your thinking.

Those DMs that understand the whole of the AD&D system are likely to do just that sort of thing. Unfortunately, there aren't all that many of them. anyway, good show on your part

Cheers,
Gary

ScottyG wrote:Gary, there's a rule that first appeared in Q1 stating that magic items lose pluses based on how many planes removed they are from the Prime. I thought I remember reading on a recent thread elsewhere that you weren't fond of that rule, and would have handled it differently had you had the opportunity to release some planer material, but now I can't find the thread or the quote. Is that correct, or is my memory off?
Scott

Your memeory ios correct. the value of magical weapons might remain unchanged, increase, or decrease on different planes. that is a comples matter and depends on the nature of the magic used to enchant each particular sort of weapon. fortunately, it is no longer something i need concern myself with, or I'd have a difficult task of classification and table-making on my plate

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:
I have a problem with the cavalier's ability to function at negative hit points. As I understand the rule, any other character reduced to 0 hit points (optionally as low as -3, if from the same blow) is rendered unconscious, and subsequently bleeds away 1 hp per round until death occurs at -10 hp. A good cavalier, however, can remain conscious down to a negative hit point total equal to the hit points rolled at 1st level (i.e., -4 to -13).

My problem with this is that, as written, the cavalier essentially has no choice but to run away at this point. It is expressly stated that he cannot continue fighting, but must bind wounds and seek further healing. This doesn't strike me as particularly heroic. Everyone else in the party is knocked out and bleeding to death, while the brave cavalier gets to flee for his life. This has come up a couple of times in my game so far, and seems distinctly out of character.

Am I misunderstanding how this was supposed to work? How did you adjudicate it in play-testing cavaliers (assuming it came up)?

Huh? I don't think I get what you are saying...

I can't understand your problem with a rule that calls for a thinking character to retreat post-haste when in imminent danger of dying. Being brave and chivalrous does not equate to being stupid and throwing away one's life. It isn't heroic to die for no reason, and that applies to all including paladins.

The cavalier has no obligation to waste his life in foolhardy posturing. When he is near death getting away and tending wounds is logical. As the DM I would allow the admonition to be tempered by circumstances such as saving the lives of others, but otherwise what the rule says it says, and I won't suggest any contradition

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Sorry -- I remembered one other question after I posted. Did you intend a PC's maximum number of henchmen (based on Charisma) to be a lifetime limit, or simply the most he could have in service at any one time?

Right.

The rule is meant to a-ply to the maxmum number of henchmen a PC is able to command at any given time, not a lifetime number. One or more might be dismissed or be lost, and such vacancies can be filled with new retainers.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote: Actually, you just cleared it up for me, Gary. Thanks. The problem I ran into in one of my sessions was that the party's camp had been ambushed by gnolls (foolish PC's camping too close to their lair ). The other PC's were quickly rendered unconscious, leaving only the cavalier. When reduced to negative hit points herself, she had no choice but to hightail it out of there while her companions lay dying. That seemed unchivalrous to us, but, from your reply, it appears we were just over-thinking it. Much obliged!

Good show then!

Remember, it is a game, and the DM is there to see the system is a vehicle that entertains all the participants, DM included, and enjoyment and fun are paramount.

As an aside, as the DM I would surely have allowed the cavalier to remain and battle the gnolls if there was a chance of saving the others and this was desired by the character.

Cheers,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:...

Is the intention of the barbarians hostility to magic users, that he cannot at all participate in the same adventuring party, or simply that he will not "cooperate", such as receiving beneficial spells, will mostly ignore the magic user in a fight, etc ?

the latter. I meant for the barbarian to be a thorn in the side of all spellcasters, but a most useful adjunct to the mixed adventuring party nonetheless;)

Also, what is the single most asked question, you have received over the years ?

Cheers and good health
Ivan

You just asked it...again!

Seriously, I have no idea, for I don't keep track of such matters.

The main candidates are:

How did you think of D&D?

What made you write the D&D game?

Would you change anything in the D&D game?

How do you pronounce your name?

Can I send you my RPG for your comments?



Heh,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:Can I send you m.... is that a gun ? Never mind good sir

Actually...

I just say, "Sure, go ahead, as soon as you sign a consulting contract. I get $90 an hour for such servicem and there is a 10-hour, non-refundable advance against actual hours billed.'

That works nearly every time

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote: You forgot, "Where did you find those funny-shaped dice?"!

Uh oh . . .



*DMPrata ducks behind nearby boulder for -10 AC bonus*

No lightning bolts from making that observation. that is a question that is indeed asked all too often, along with why I wanted to use such dice

Cheers,
Gary

Weasel fierce

What do lawyers get per hour? How about electritins?

As for AD&D questions, i find them pretty tedious, as the game system is out of print and not supported by any publisher. That said, I'll respond briefly:

Paladins are indeed meant to be the bravest, most loyal, and purest of knights. If there is societal proscription against something, including a knight using a bow, then a paladin would not do so unless it was to save the life of some honored figure, such as his liege lord. that duty would likely over-ride his honor. another example is the killing evil prisoners that have surrendered and asserted a change of alignment to the paladin's own. This is not generally unacceptable, for that act assures the former lost ones will go on to a better reward in the after life and no returning to their evil ways.

As for rangers, they are not goody-two-shoes sorts, and they do not lose ranger status for occasional slips of conduct that might be deemed evil as long as they repent and do not make a habit of such behavior. The DM is charged with noting the latter and taking appropriate measures.

Cheers,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:
In todays gaming industry, the lawyer is pretty much as important as the game writer, or so it would seem

Hah! What do you mean about "today"? Ever since mankind has used written laws lawyers have been necessary. they are best emloyed before making a deal rather than when things are falling apart, of course.

Thanks for your answers though, they are much appreciated.

You are welcome:)

The RPG industry and hobby, like so much else, seems to every now and again have its peak moments, where something new, fresh and unique comes out. Then a while carries on without much else being new, before something else does it again.

Some such points could propably be said to be original D&D (duh), Traveller, Vampire, GURPS and propably some others, that I forget or neglect.

Sorry, but your examples are not valid. they are simply spinoffs of the original RPG concept and had no significant impact on the entirity of the field.

What do you think the last "big thing" has been, and how long do you think it will be, before we see something truly new again?

Milestones in gaming as a hobby:

Military miniatures in general.

The Avalon Hill Company's board wargames.

D&D.

Computer games to a major extent!

Games Workshop's Warhammer game to a minor estent.

Wizards of the Coast's Magic the Gathering.

Whizkid's "Clix" games to a minor estent.

As for predicting what the next major game phenpmonon will be, if I knew that answer i'd not tell you, but rather be employed producing it

Cheers,
Gary

Bombay wrote:Hey Gary, glad you have taken the time to do a Q&A, Alot of your answers have been very helpful and insightful.

I have always had questions about magic items. Many of the modules made for AD&D are loaded with magic items. Sometimes I think there must be an assembly line that is making +1 longswords and +1 plates. Those in my group, we started brainstorming and got off onto a tangent that perhaps that a +1 longsword made, is actually a failed attempt at say a Frostbrand. Or maybe you can "mass" produce +1 longswords for all of your henchmen.

If you care, could you elaborate on the production of such items.

Thanks, appreciate it.

Fast reply:

What do more cautious and retired mages do? why they make magic items to earn a handsome livng, of course. So indeed thate are perhaps 100 each of various sorts of +1 swords--easy to enchant for a moderately able caster. As those blades don't wear out or get destroyed easily, many are likely to be several decades old, some older, some newer. And those +1 swords are scattered over several kingdoms with many millions of inhabitants.

Really, what's so common about 1 +1 sword per 10,000 persons? (-:

This calls to mind the heated debate about smelting and fashioning platinum. I pointed out that any wizard could manage it easilt. The twit contending against the use of the metal then demanded why any mage would do that. "To become filthy rich without risking life and limb," I suggested. End of debate.

Cheers,
Gary

Bombay wrote:Good point, never thought of it that way.

Thanks for the fast response!

bk

Sure:)

Even though I exaggerated the case a good deal, in truth, all mages aren't interested in derring-do, and they need to make a (good) living somehow!

Cheers,
Gary

Mr. Awesome wrote:I just remembered one I've been wondering...
For the cavalier, it says they're uncontrollable in battles, attacking enemies in a given order. A lot of people interpret that to mean any combat, but I think it means large-scale battles. Am I right?

You are essentially correct.

In a combat situation where the cavalier is nominally under the command of another, the cavalier will ignore orders and attack whenever he is so moved. Any player with a cavalier PC should read up onj knights in combat so as to know how to properly play the role of such a character in such situations--and to do that in general social interaction as well.

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

I was doing a bit of inspirational reading in the preface to the AD&D PHB last night and noticed that you thanked one Dennis Sustare. I was wondering if you could tell us who this fellow was, in terms of his connection to D&D, and whether he granted his name to the seventh-level druid spell Chariot of Sustarre. Thanks.

Michael

Sure:)

Dennis sent in the material that was used to make the druid a class rather than a sort of evil human monster as it had been in the OD&D game. The spell in question was ondeed named in his honor.

Cheers,
Gary

Bombay wrote:Someone was mentioning the Greator Tenticle Rod, and led me to this question. Say if someone from G3 is able to obtain this, and then brings it to the abyss plane, how would the powers of such an item be "Upped".

Would it go from a 6HD +6 to say a 12HD +12?

I had thought that perhaps to +10, as the elemental god in a murial stated in D3, has 10 tenticles.

Would you ass other abilities other then numbing and losing a point of dex?

Whoa!

The material in question doesn't belong to me, it is the IP of another, and I am a busy fellow. There's no way I am going to expend a lot of time and energy figuring that out, for it's something the DM can decide for himself, eh?

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary, a druid of early ADandD 1st edit. is the only adventurer-class profession that is required to have the TN-alignment. Why were nondruid general clerics not allowed to have the TN-alignment? Is it because TN is not a divine enough alignment for a nondruid cleric to have?

Well...

Considering that the entities served by the Evil clergy are far from divine, I wouldn't say that the deities of the druid class are not more divine than demons and devils, but...

The general concept conveyed by the admonition regarding the ecclesiastical servants of the Neutral alignment position is this: In the fantasy milieu, only the druid class adheres to the precepts of this alignment. thus only druids, not other sorts of clerics can claim this alignment.

In short, if a cleric is truly neutral, he is per se a druid.

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Thanks, Gary, and I think I understand your answer above, but I'm not sure. Another thing that I don't understand in the alignment section of the 1978 ADandD 1st edit. PHB is: "naturally, there are all variations and shades of tendencies within each alignment." I understand the shades of tendencies part, but I don't understand what variations can there be. Can I say that my variation of TN is practical, philosophical, simple, or nonphilosophical for example?

Remember that the alignments as set forth are primarily for the use of the DM. In any brief survey of moral and ethical considerations meant for a game, that describing the treatment of Alignments you refer to, no complete metaphysical discussion of the moral compass shown is set forth.

As with people, if you lined them up for visual grading there would be great fifficulty, as each would be at least margnally different from those to either hand, even though they seemed to look alike. The variation within a moral and ethical grouping is as diverse as the people that fall within its paramaters.

In light of that, it is virtually impossible to answer your general question.

Cheers,
Gary

steampunk wrote:Mr. Gary (hah!),

I write this for a few reasons:

1) OMG, OMG, OMG - THE Gary Gygax may respond to little ole' me!

Okay, I have, so hereafter it's no big deal

2) Thank YOU for a great hobby and many fond memories!!

Welcome, and I've had a lot of fun doing that, many great memories too.

3) A couple, hopefully not too tedious, questions:

a - What do you think of PBeM campaigns? With many of our (at least, this group) favorite games being out-of-print, having face-to-face games is becoming more and more difficult. Yet, D&D is so *magical* (pun intended) because of the great social interaction between people. Just a sentence or three on your thoughts in general.

That form of RPG activity is better than none at all. Along with playing online in chat rooms, it provides opportinity for gaming with a group to many persons that would otherwise be without, so it ain't bad

There is no substitute for gaming in-person with a group of comrades, but that becomes more difficult, or even impossible, for many enthusiasts as they assume careers and marriage. PbEm is better that having nothing but so-called CRPGs to play. those won't be really RPGs until AI is far more advanced, and LANs can hook up parties for joint adventuring with a computer GM.

b - In your campaigns and experience, would you please comment on non-adventuring NPCs and progression? For instance, in the real world, you can have a civil engineer that goes out, after college, and works for 20 years. His peer can stay in school and work up to being a professor and teach engineering for 20 years. While it wouldn't be of interest for a player to run a PC this way, it would go a long way to explaining a high level cleric in a church setting, or a MU in a school setting. I just can't imagine all high-level NPCs (especially spell-caster/research types) traipsing through dungeons merely to gain knowledge.

All of my players want to be actively engaged in every adventure session they can, so never has any of them even hinted at a non-adventuring role. Those are the purview of the GM in truth. These games aren't meant to reflect the lives of ordinary persons, rather those of the daring and heroic (or villainous)

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Well, thanks Gary, but there is one thing I know for sure. I don't agree with lawfulness in the game and in real life because lawful implies the group over the individual. All of my life, I have been living subordinate to society's laws because the group or society of real life has been subordinating my needs and desires. I don't see anything even or equal about that. It is more decent to be neutral or chaotic because those alignments are less inclined to be corrupted to evil.

No question law if force.

Any organized state needs laws to govern its actions and those of its peoples.

Whatever you choose to make of the matter is up to you. I am not concerned hereon beyond the gaming standpoint of the subject.

Gary

steampunk wrote:Gary,

Thank you for your reply! I can appreciate your situation, being quite busy and all.

Certainly, and happy to oblidge.

Regarding the non-adventuring NPCs, I was in no-way alluding to players. But I had simply been searching for a "rational" means of explaining high-level NPCs to my players, especially if they (the NPC) doesn't appear to be the "adventuring-type". I would never allow this for players, but simply as DM-generated background.

One of the drawbacks of a class and level system is just this very sort of thing, explaining/rationalizinf high-level NPCs.

There are many ways for a character to gain skill in a field. In the Mythus game I called that "STEEP," as a play on the word "steeped," being extremely knowledgeable. The letters stand dor Study, Training, Education, Experience, and Practice. You should be able to use that to build reasonable backgrounds for high-level NPCs. They all have a past history proor to being encountered by the PC party, no?

What got me to thinking about that was the recent election of the Pope. The news pointed out that some Cardinals (Archbishops) spent most of their time with "the people" out at a church and such (forgive me - I'm not Catholic and don't know the terminology). While other Cardinals spent almost their entire time at the Vatican, doing what I would call "bureaucratic work".

I appreciate your response.

One doesn't have to be "in the field" all the time to become expert in something. Of course a good deal of hands-on work is also required. All of the Cardinals had seminary training, were ordained to the priesthood, and experienced ecclesiastical duties outside the Vatican, surely.

Two quick, last questions, if I may:

(1) Can you explain the methodology of the organization of the DMG? If this was explained somewhere else, please tell me to bugger off and use google!

No, as I wroite it from the top of my head, did little re-organization, and what is there generaly follows the rules organization and what I think the DM needs to know, have help with.

The MM and PHB are just so... different? The DMG feels like a different staff helped with organizing it.

The works in question were published much as I wrote the ms. each. Of course a compilation of monsters is different from a handbook for players...

(2) Did you (or do you) use the dungeon generation material (in the DMG) much? Or were most campaigns and dungeons very carefully crafted?

Thank you again!!

I seldom used the random dungeon generation system, although I found it useful on a few occasions. That said, I wouldn't call most of my dungeon levels "carefully crafted." Especially themed ones were, and I did my best to make all of them confusing to map, but that's more workmanlike than otherwise. The encounters were likewise a mix or "whatever" and "this will knock their sox off" sorts, but some features of many thrown together as mere mazes levels, had specially designed and placed features.

Cheers,
Gary

serleran wrote:Trying to get off the AD&D kick, and onto something else--

Regardless of game setting, or system, do you personally feel that deities are defeatable? Can they die from physical attacks, or must they suffer the slow withering away brought by the loss of faith in them?

Thanks.

In my FRPG designs most deities are meant to be absolutely unkillable by any mortals. However, there are the quasi-deities that are subject to being destroyed by powerful humans.

Deities are also envisaged as being subject to destruction by other, generally greater, ones.

This is how I currently rank the Lejendary Adventure Deities. All above 10th Rank (low power entities) are generally subject to being killed by mortals.

DEITIES STATISTICS GUIDELINES
Deity Lower Median for Statistics* Various
Rank Health Precision Speed Armor** AEPs*** Abilities
15th 90 90 17 10/5 100 A
14th 95 95 18 11/6 110 A
13th 100 100 19 12/7 125 A
12th 120 115 20 14/8 145 A
11th 140 125 21 15/9 165 A
10th 165 135 23 17/11 225 B
9th 190 150 24 19/13 250 B
8th 215 165 25 21/15 275 B
7th 250 180 27 25/17 350 C
6th 295 195 28 30/19 400 C
5th 350 210 31 35/21 500 D
4th 405 225 34 40/23 600 D
3rd 550 250 40 45/26 750 E
2nd 750 275 45 50/30 1,500 F
1st 1,000 350 50 60/35 3,000 G
°° 2,000 500 60 75/50 5,000 H

Ability Explanation
A Demi-deities (15th to 13th Rank) & Least Deities (12th & 11th Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with the nature of the entity in question, at score range of circa 91 to 120 (90 + d30). Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is c. 75% of all possible activations available to the type or individual. Very minor wish fulfillment capacity might be possessed above 13th Rank. Possibly able to summon others akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort can be destroyed by humans using Extraordinary means, and thus they are mortal; some are likely of limited existence otherwise and thus also non-eternal as well. They will, of course, generally dematerialize and escape death rather than mindlessly remain to be slain of such option is possible.
Ability use at over 100 score for this level fails of a result of 100 (00) on d%. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at 150% of Speed Base Rating.
B Minor Deities (10th to 8th Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with the nature of the entity in question, at score range of 111 to 150. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is c. 90% of all possible activations possible to the individual. Very minor wish fulfillment capacity is, and minor wish fulfillment possibly, possessed. Likely able to summon others of lesser Rank, and possibly of like Rank, akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are basically eternal in that they can be truly harmed only by deities of 5th or greater Rank, or on their own plane by deities of their own sort or higher in capacity. If otherwise "slain" such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix.
Ability use at over 100 score for this level can not fail, except on a result of 1000 (00) on 3d10. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at twice Speed Base Rating.
C Lesser Deities (7th & 6th Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with the nature of the entity in question, at score range of 141 to 180. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all activations possible for the individual. Minor wish fulfillment capacity is possessed. Very likely able to summon others of lesser Rank, and possibly of like Rank, akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are eternal, they can be truly harmed only by deities of 3rd or greater Rank, or on their own plane by deities of their own sort or higher in capacity. If otherwise "slain" such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix.
Actions done within one hour of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at three times Speed Base Rating.
D Major Deities (5th & 4th Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with nature at score range of 171 to 220. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all activations possible for the individual, plus special deital activations (strong to extreme ++) according to the nature of the entity. Minor wish fulfillment capacity is, and major wish fulfillment might be, possessed. Able to summon others of least Rank, likely able to summon others of lesser Rank, and possibly of like Rank, akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are basically immortal in that they can be truly harmed only by deities of 3rd or greater Rank on their own plane. If so "slain" such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix, but such causes the entity to actually lose a Rank. This may or may not be regained according to the will of a 1st Rank deity of its pantheon and/or the active honoring of the deity by followers.
Actions done within one day of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at five times Speed Base Rating.
E Great Deities (3rd Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with nature at score range of 210 to 300. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all possible, plus specials according to nature (good to extreme +++). Major wish fulfillment capacity is possessed. Able to command deital minions (15th to 8th Rank) to its presence, and most likely able to summon others akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are immortal in that they can be not be permanently harmed by other deities. If defeated such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix, but such causes the entity to actually lose a Rank. This may or may not be regained according to the will of a 1st Rank deity of its pantheon and/or the active honoring of the deity by followers.
Actions done within one week of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at 10 times Speed Base Rating.
F Greater Deities (2nd Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with nature at score range of 310 to 400. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all possible, plus specials according to nature (low moderate to extreme ++++). Able to command deital minions (15th to 6th Rank) to its presence, and most likely able to summon others akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are immortal in that they can be not be harmed by other deities, assailed effectively only by deities of 3rd or greater Rank. If defeated such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix, but such causes the entity to actually lose a Rank. This may or may not be regained according to the will of a 1st Rank deity of its pantheon and/or the active honoring of the deity by followers.
Actions done within one month of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at 15 times Speed Base Rating.
G Greatest Deities (1st Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with nature at score range of 420 to 600. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all possible, plus specials according to nature (very minimal to extreme +++++). Major wish fulfillment capacity is possessed. Able to command deital minions (15th to 4th Rank) to its presence, and most likely able to summon others akin to it for assistance in time of crisis. Deities of this sort are immortal in that they can be not be harmed by other deities, assailed effectively only by deities of 2nd or greater Rank. If defeated such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix, but such causes the entity to actually lose a Rank. This may or may not be regained according to the will of two or more 1st Rank deities of its pantheon and/or the prolonged active honoring of the deity by followers.
Actions done within one year of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at 20 times Speed Base Rating.
H Above Greatest Deities (°° Rank): Normal and Extraordinary human Abilities in accordance with nature at score range of 703 to 1,000. Capacity in Extraordinary Abilities is 100% of all possible, plus specials according to nature (very minimal to extreme +++++). Major wish fulfillment capacity is possessed. Able to command deital minions (15th to 2nd Rank) to its presence. Deities of this sort are immortal in that they can be not be harmed by other deities, assailed effectively only by deities of 1st Rank. If defeated such an entity will simply be sent in spirit form to its own dimensional matrix, but such causes the entity to actually lose a Rank. This may or may not be regained according to the will of two or more 1st Rank deities of its pantheon and/or the prolonged active honoring of the deity by followers.
Actions done within one decade of time by lower ranking deities can be negated or reversed by deities of this Rank.
Ability use at this level can not fail, and a result of 100 (00) on d% means nothing. Recovery of Activation Energy Points is at 30 times Speed Base Rating.

Cheers,
Gary

Name-level Nobody wrote:...

Gaining levels is a mechanism for controlling player character advancement, not for simulating life.

Not to be argumentative, but a superior Gm will have answers for players' questions of this sort. A solid game system will amke the explanation easy and reasonable without resorting to the sort response suggested.

Cheers,
Gary

dragons-treasure wrote:I was just wondering gary what your all time favorite adventure in any setting or rpg was?

Heh...

That is a kind of question I I can not answer. It is akin to asking which is my favorite child, book, or game. When I am playing an RPG I am either having a great time or not. In the latter case i don't play that system or with that GM again.

Cheers,
Gary

dragons-treasure wrote:after i posted that i tried to ask myself the same question and came up with the same response.Btw thanks for all you did and do for the rpg community.Been playing 20 years and aint quiting any time soon:)

No problem, as there are some people who do have single most-favored whatever.

As for my contribution to gaming, it is my pleasure to have been able to do what I did, I've had a lot of fun with it all, and I don't plan on quitting ever, although I have had to slow down on the creative work,

Cheers,
Gary

Blast!

Seems that the automatic notification of posts here has failed. One of the fellows on my laist gave me a kick to let me know that there was activity here.

So, sorry to have seemingly ignored things here

If you'll re-post anything you wish me to comment on, I'll be happy to respond.

Ciao,
Gary

Yes...

777 is right for me, but now I've gone and spoiled that

I tried the EN World boards earlied but couldn't access the website. I'll try again now

Cheers,
Gary

Maraudar wrote:Quick question Gary, probably been asked before but I am way to lazy to wade through 38 pages to find the answer .. Was Kelanan the hero-deity<sp?> a character of one of your players or was he a NPC from your campaign? Now for the obligatory: oh my god I just asked Gary Gygax a question and might answer me.

Maraudar

"Might" answer you?! I beg your pardon, but I answer any all all reasonable queries and even some banal chit-chat if I have the time and energy.

Kelanan, the Sword Lord, was something I made up out of whole cloth. I do have a fighter PC that kept finding magic swords, totes a number of them around, so there was some inspiration involved from there--he needed a deity

Heh,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Gary, if I send you the cash will you ship me a couple of cases of Leinenkugel's Berryweiss before it goes out of season?

Would that I could.

You need to sample some the the brews of New Glarus--better that the Leinenkugel. Their Fat Squirre ale and Native Ale are excellent:)

Cheers,
Gary

Jeffery St. Clair wrote:Gary,

Please allow me to add my own THANK YOU to those posted earlier in this Q&A - it's great to have a direct line to the author of my favorite hobby/pasttime/borderline obsession...

Do any of the games you GM/play have an opening for another player? Now that summer's almost here, my free time for gaming really opens up.
If not, I hope to meet you personally at the Lake Geneva Con. I hope you don't think I'm being too presumptuous - I, like many of the gamers on DF, am simply looking for more playing opportunities, and since you and Jim Ward are only minutes away, I just had to ask!

Thanks again for taking your time on this forum!

Jeffery

Hola Jeffery,

My pleasure to be of service.

Alex has recently recruited three high school seniors to the group, so when all the regulars show up we have eight. When Chris Clark heard that Jim Ward was GMing an MA game for us, the threatened to join the group too. the table can accomodate seven or maybe eight in a pinch. If you don't mind being crowded, I don't believe the others in the group will mind another player. Usually, one or two of the guys have other things to see to that keep them from attending, so...

Email me at [email protected] to confirm an appearance;)

Cheers,
Gary

3RD21ST wrote:Greetings Gary, I had a few questions for you including some "What Ifs" forgive me if these have become FAQs for you, as I have never seen them discussed.

First, I was wondering, supposing you were not the one to have created AD&D, do you see yourself as being a person content to follow the ruleset of the person who would have created it or more of a person who would have looked at the rules and tried to improve on it? [/quote]
But I did create the games that built the entire game genre, didn't I

To suppose is quite impossible, although I have Gmed and/or played a number of other RPGs without making any meaningful alterations in their rules or mechanics.

Second, every once in a while I see where someone has made the statement that if they had the means and opportunity to buy the rights to AD&D they would do so and turn it back over to you. I have often wondered, even if done free gratis, would you be interested in such a thing? I only ask because to me you seem very content with your post AD&D contributions to the hobby. Also, judging from your gaming contributions my feeling is that although some of your works are quite lengthy, that you are not one who likes to cover the same ground 2 or 3 times. You seem to me to be very economic in what you say or write, restricting your comments to only what needs to be said. If how I describe is how you see yourself, I wonder do you even see a need to go down the AD&D path again? Not that I would mind, if that ever happened In fact I would be tickled pink, if that ever did happen.

To cut to the chase here, you are quite accurate. I don't like to chew my cabbage twice--too many new things to masticate

The D&D game has gone far past any place where I feel it is redeemable, alhtough I would surely love to have the mark and copyrights to AD&D.

Finally, excepting the work and playtesting you have done for the Trolls, how long has it been since you have done an actual game set in Greyhawk? Is your original campaign still current?

As always, thanks for your time and for making yourself so accessable to your fans.

When T$R acquired the legal rights to the World of Greyhawk I ceased using it as my campaign workd, began working on new material. After all, as a creative person, the world setting serves as a base for more that game play.

That said, I now and then use the WoG as a setting when I am DMing for some fellows who have traveled a long distance to see me and have me run a game session for them. The last time I did so was some year or so back.

Cheerio,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Gary, do you remember who included the rakshasa into the 1E MM? As in who, came up with the idea to add it? I know it is from actual Indian myth/legend. We were chatting about the rakshasa and the rule of the blessed bolt killing them. I remember an old Kolchak: Night Stalker TV episode back in '74 were he killed a rakshasa with a blessed crossbow. Just wondering if that sparked the idea. I found some references to one rakshasa in Indian legend that was killed with a bow in his "Achilles heel" (his "heel" was actually his stomach). But couldn't find any references to blessed bolts. Just curious, thanks.

Err...

As a fan of the first series of Kolchack, The Night Stalker, I plead the 5th.


Gary

Oh All right!

Mia culpa

Heh,
Gary

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

3RD21ST wrote: But of course, you certainly did create it. And though I have told you this several time, you did a marvelous job. I'll have to beg your pardon on the "what if you didn't create ad&d question?" As a student of History, sometimes I get a little caught up on "counter-factuals" Anyway, thanks for taking the time to answer mine and everyone elses questions.

Whoa

I was by no means offended or even slightly irritated by your question. I put the cheerful emoticon in so as to make that as clear as possible. Fact is I don't take gaming or myself too seriously, and I enjoy jesting a good deal, poking fin at all, myself included as the "Col. Pladoh" demonstrates.

Anyway, the idea that seemed to me to lie beneath the question is that of justification for alteration of the game rules to "improve" them. As I did that continually beginning with OD&D, it is a valid activity...for the entity that created and publishes the base work. Otherwise, it is only an exercise in creating house rules or clone creation

Cheers,
Gary

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

weasel fierce wrote:Here's one for you, good keeper of kobold henchmen:

In game design,
Do you generally prefer "roll-under" systems (roll equal to or less than xxx to succeed) or roll+skill to beat a difficulty or target number ?

I designed the La game system to roll a given score or less to succeed. that system seems the most intuitively grasped by all participants.

Developing target numbers to exceed is more cumbersome in my view.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, there are several abilities granted to demi-humans in the OAD&D Monster Manual that are not included in the Players Handbook. Specifically:

• Elves and halflings are considered invisible in vegetation (in addition to their improved chance to surprise).
  Elves have the ability to "split-fire" with their bows.
  Halflings are +3 to hit with bows and slings.
  Gnomes receive a saving throw bonus vs. poison (in addition to their bonus vs. magic).

Are these editorial oversights in the PHB (akin to the infamous falling damage debacle), or did you intend for these abilities to be restricted to NPC demi-humans only? Thanks once again for your time!

I did oindeed intend the advantages to be for NPCs, but there's no reason not to use them for PC's.

Split-fire and move means half movement, archery, then remaining movement, of course.

Gary

Ermanaric wrote:Quick question about Archery, when you choose Archery, do you use your Weapons ability for your to hit chance or your Archery ability? For instance, if you pick Archery as your first ability, and Weapons as your second, would you use Weapons ability (even though your Archery score would be higher)?

Here's a quote from the ms. of the LA core rules supplement Tome of Knowledge from the Archery Ability explanation therein:

"An Avatar may always choose Archery instead of Weapons as his or her base chance to hit when arching. For example, an Avatar with 60 Archery Ability score and 40 Weapons Ability score will have a 64% chance of hitting instead of 46% (plus any Precision bonus for the weapon), and will inflict +6 harm in either case. "

That cover it?

Cheers,
Gary

Greetings D,

Your thoughtful suggestion is apreciated. while i enjoy listening to music or reading of many sorts, I tend to fall asleep easily, and either of those will knock me out in a minute

As an aside, this is by no means my first pass at reading the Bible. I began reading it as a teenager, studied it, and now enjoy reading a couple of chapters a day, seeking to gain knowledge and understanding, discernment and wisdom of no vain sort

Cheers,
Gary

Jerome Steelsides wrote:This has probably been asked before (and probably many times!) but I wonder, what would 2e AD&D have looked like had you been designing it? Would it have looked like it did (pretty much 1e with some added bells and whistles, IMHO) or would it have been completely different? Or, indeed, for that matter, was there ever a plan for a second edition?

Along similar lines, what do you feel as a designer should be the longevity of a given edition of an RPG ruleset?

Indeed, this question has been posed to me a few times prior to this.

As a matter of fact I was planning a revised AD&D work, one that would have included most of the UA book and some new classes--Mystic, Savant, and likely a Jester. the new work would not have been akin to 2E, although some expansion and detailing of Secondary Skills was planned.

That's all I have to say, and no, I will not go into details of anything I would have added or changed. The game system belongs to WotC now.

Cheers,
Gary

weasel fierce wrote:Here's one:

Do you recall who came up with the funny little joke pictures in the AD&D DMG ?

Not really, but...

That sort of thing was usually the work of Dave Sutherland (DCS III).

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:
If I may, that's the artwork of Bill McClean (or is it McLean) who also did similar cartoons for Sir-Tech's Wizardry! I: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. I'm so glad I have that collection of games and the manual(s)...

Cleric, casting W!'s equivalent of a Bless spell: "MATU!"
Fighter involved in melee in front of cleric: "...gezundheidt..."

That might be, but...

No person of that name worked for TSR, so the cartoons must have been mailed in.

Cheers,
Gary

Ermanaric wrote:[quote="Col_Pladoh. "

That cover it?

Yep, thanks. That's the way I thought it went but I figured I'd ask just to be sure. By the way, is there an Order that covers Archery that isn't in the Rules For All Players? I thought it was odd that there isn't an Archer Order in there.[/quote]
Nope!

The archer per se was common only in England. Such individuals weren't archetypical elsewhere in the world. One can cerate an archer Avatar pretty easily of course, using Archery, Weapons, Strength, and then whatever two additional Abilities one desires--Chivalry should not be one.
The Strength harm additions are applicable as the Avatar is drawing a more powerful bow, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

Bombay wrote:Hey Gary,

I was DMing last night, and had a player that was stuck in a Wall of Force. He had the spell wall of force's memorized and wanted to use it to escape, i ruled that it wouldnt be possible, based on Teleports spell description. He also had a amulet of the planes, and i was at a loss at that point as to what to do. Was wall of force intended to be a spell you could not escape from my any means like Teleport, Word of Recall, Dimension door etc?

Short answer:

The Wall of Force spell was not intended to be more than a blocking energy that prevents passage. If it was cast so as to totally surround the character then that individual would be trapped until the spell ended. An Amulet of the Planes would enable escape I would think.

Cheers,
Gary

Greg Ellis wrote:
You mean Physique, right Gary?

I don't recall any "strength" stat in LA.

Heh,

Been playing a lot of OD&D and Metamorphosis Alpha of late, where Strength is the name used for physical capacity. Indeed, I was thinking of Physique ability when I enteres "Strength"...

Thanks for pointing out the error!

Cheers,
Gary

Sorry...

I just noted the list of two-handed weapons.

All real pikes, not merely awl pikes, are two-handed weapons.

A sling is used one-handed after loading the pouch with a stone or lead bullet. Only a staff sling is a two-handed weapon.

Most spears and a trident can be used effectively one-handed, although they can be used with both hands.

Cheers,
Gary

Howdy Predavolk,

As with many things, naming a favorite isn't my bag. I must say, though, that I enjoyed the full length novel about Conan, and "Red Nails" is an outstanding tale of chilling adventure action that I would love to be able to emulate in an RPG module.

JRRT's "rings Trilogy" was too slow paced for me, although I did enjoy The Hobbit.

High on the list of other influences for my FPR game design are:
Jack Vance, de Camp & Pratt, Fritz Leiber, Saberhagen, Merritt, and Moorcock. So many excellent old fantasy yarns...

Cheers,
Gary

Cravensson wrote:Pardon a clueless newbie for intruding on this discussion with the Grand Master. However, there is a burning question which I think only Gary can answer. Forgive me for asking such an impertinent question, but:

Do female Dwarves have beards?

This has been a raging controversy on every D&D site I have seen at sometime or other. I would like to know how The Man Himself weighs in on the issue.

Well Great!

Funny that you should ask that question, as I just posted to that topic on the EN World boards a ccouple of weeks back. Read all about it at:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132744

The short answer is YES. All female dwarves have beards

Cheers,
Gary

Greg Ellis wrote:Hi Gary,

Sorry if these have already been asked and answered...

When LM'ing, do you award merits on the fly (at the end of each encounter, or as they are earned)?

Or do you wait for the end of an evening, or the end of an adventure to hand out the merits (and demerits)?

Sorry I missed this post--didn't get a tickler email on it.

When the action is concluded, and that usually means the end of the adventure session, when the avatars are in a place where they can relax and assess the results of their adventuring, I hand out all Merits. Whan an adventure/quest is over then I also see about awarding Repute.

And to jump to a different game system:

Do you remember how the "awarding XP for treasure gained" idea came about in (A)D&D?

It feels more comfortable/intuitive to me to attach the XP to the obstacle, and let the treasure be its own reward.

Do you recall why you decided to award XP for treasure as well?

Best wishes as always,

Greg

Bah!

What do most adventurers risk life and limb for if not the gold and jewels?! they are part and parcel of the measurement of the mission's success. Who really cares how many critters are slain? It's the treasure that counts. It is virtually the ONLY reasonable meansure for thieves success.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:I have a question regarding OOP games for you Gary:
Please keep in mind that I know who now owns these games, but I'm asking about your current personal opinion regarding stuff you're rather intimate with...

If you had to choose between Original D&D (the lil' box with maybe Supplement I+) or Advanced D&D (maybe with UA), with only one of those games being available for any reason; Which would you prefer (as player or referee), and why?
Bonus Question: How would you say the current game Castles & Crusades (in your own personal opinion) stacks up to either of the above?

Sorry, but I am not a critic, and I don't care to make public judgements regarding my personal preferences. Also, endorsements are available...check with my agent

I enjoy playing all of the games you note. Each is different but worth playing.

For long-term campaign play, diversity, addition of different genres, I prefer the Lejendary Adventure system to any of them.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, during Tenser's exposition at the beginning of Isle of the Ape (an excellent humbler of PC's, by the way ), he says something to the effect of, " . . . Zagig, or, should I say, Zagyg. . . . " What's the difference in pronunciation between the mortal and demi-god forms of everyone's favorite mad archmage's name? Is the former ZA-gĭg and the latter ZA-gīg (or ZA-gēg)?

What's in a name? would the Mad Archmage be any...

Ah well, okay: ZAG-ig as opposed to ZAG-yg

BTW, thanks for your good words. I loved Isle of the Ape, but none of my players seemed in the least pleased with the setting...


Gary

Greg Ellis wrote: Thanks Gary! It makes a lot of sense when you put it that way.

Thank you Greg

Actually, conan always trook the jewels and a vouptous female as treasures gained from some ahrrowing adventure. Of course the latter always made off with the former, so the poor dumb savage had to go off and fight another batch of vile evil opponents.

In my AD&D campaign I watched monetary treasure pretty closely, so that the party didn't get too much in the way of XPs. I also handed them out for success in special abilities associated with a class that were meaningful to the party's activity--tracking, detecting evil, thief activities, spell casting, a clever or life-saving action. the base was 100 points, and that applied to spell level.

Unless spell-casters used weapons, that was their share of monster-kill points, the spell level XPs they got.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote: Er, thanks Gary. That's clear as mud now.

Well, if the difference between "yg" and :"ig" is unclear, pronounce them the same

I do recall your story about one of the PC's being grabbed by Oonga, rended, and thrown to the ground from great height. I can't imagine why the players didn't enjoy that. Personally, I can't wait to bring my group to the Isle -- but perhaps I should let them surpass 5th level first.

Very thoughtful. It is more fitting that Lords and Wizards be humbled than those of lesser rank

Cheers,
Gary

Asrogoth wrote:Gary,

What are some of the strangest situations you have found yourself in as a DM/GM? For example, have players ever had their characters do something so strange that you might have been at a loss for how to respond? Perhaps a player actually did something while present that would rank as being very strange in and of itself -- stood up on the table and acted out the last act of King Lear during a fight with a Gelatinous Cube, for example.

Just curious.

Thanks in advance,
Kenny

Well...

After decades of Game Mastering, the strangest things I can recall were done in game, not perosonally, actions that were really foolish and resulted in wrecking the adventure. However, recounting any one of those events would require an essay, something I am not prone to do on a board

Actually, my chess and military miniatures game stories are a bit more colorful, but I don't relate those online either.

Cheers,
Gary

Asrogoth wrote:Ah, understood. Thank you for responding though.

But of course.

One day it might eventuate that a compilation of stories of unusual gaming incidents will be done. the probles is that after over 30 years of it, so many conventions, that distinct incidents beccme more rare as memory blurs the lot into one vast panorama...

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:A question on dragons in D&D, Gary...

Throughout some of the modules (I'm thinking particularly of G3 and nasty ol' Brazzamael) dragons are given "odd" numbers of HP. Braz., in particular has like 63 or 52 or something like that. Is this indicitave of just good ol' seat of the pants DMing/module design or is there something about the dragon hit dice situation I'm missing. I always thought the progression was 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88 with the last being max. The odd number sorta threw me.

A Game Master is just that, and any of them can freely alter stats and hit dice/points as desired. thinking back i likely should have gven that critter 96 hit points, eh?

Also: there's a newish edition-nonspecific book on dragons you did and now for the life of me I can't recall what it was titled. A vendor at the last con I was at had a copy and curse me I didn't go back and buy it. What was it called again>

That would be the Slayers Guide to Dragons by jon Creffield and mE, published by Mongoose. It is done for D20, but the information can be corrected to apply to better systems;)

Cheers,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:...

...

Ah, so it was d20...! I guess the pages I looked at didn't have stats on 'em so I thought it was more generic. Still, I'll pick up a copy because as you said "corrected to apply to better systems" !

At least the AC system in D20 isn't horrible

Cheers,
Gary

Greg Ellis wrote:
ZING!

Good one Gary!

Well...

Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks forth

Cheers,
Gary

predavolk wrote:
...Where does the 11hp progression come from, or are we not talking about 1AD&D here (that's not even 2nd)?

Check the HPs for the other dragons, and you'll see the progression

Cheers,
Gary

predavolk wrote: ALL RIGHTY THEN! I wrote out the logic but couldn't follow it myself- that's a good signal that I should go for lunch as clearly my brain has already gone without me! But the female was very old (7) x medium size (6), while the male was ancient (8) x large (7), so 42/56 works for me.

FWIW, what I was planning in a revision was giving dragons a base d12 rather than a d8.

Oh, and before I do go for lunch (break is almost over researching this module!), any comments on Braz's purpose Gary? Ooh, and one more question about G3- did you have any specific Greek titan in mind for the captive titan? OK, OK, I'm going...

I need to take a break and do my mornig reading...

Braz' was just hanging around with pals of his

Titans in OAD&D were generic, not tied to Greek mythology.

Cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:Gary, quick question. Who was/were the contributor(s)/creator(s) for the psionic section of the 1E PHB? Steve and Frank didn't recall and recommended I ask you.

Heh...

Mentzer emailed me about that this AM. the fact is that no one controbuted much of anything to the section, other that urging me to do it. that came from a bunch of gamers from the chicago area. I confess I listened, for the way I tried to acccomplish the inclusion was not in harmony with the system.

Psychogenics in the Mythus and Lejendary Adventure games works well, so i eventually got it right...

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, here's (I hope) a question that hasn't been asked before: In the Dungeon Masters Guide, you set a precedent (later expanded upon by others) that meteoric iron could be enchanted up to +3, mithral-alloyed steel to +4, and adamantite-alloyed steel to +5. Then, in Unearthed Arcana, you introduced the Sword +6, Defender and Sword +6, Holy Avenger. Did you have some other mythical metal in mind for these +6 weapons? Pure (as opposed to alloyed) adamantite, perhaps? Or maybe glassteel? My players appreciate this added level of detail, as opposed to, "Ho hum, another magical sword. . . ."

Actually, that's the sort of detail I dislike giving, as it seemingly encourages players to have their PCs attempt to create magic items that are meant to be won by adventuring success.

If I must, pure adamantite would be the metal of a +6 weapon.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Thanks, Gary. While I haven't had a problem with anyone crafting magic items (yet), I can see your point. I use this mostly for flavor. When the villain draws his "long sword of dull grey metal, which seems to exude a purplish, black light-like radiance," I get the players' attention.

Understood, and a good plan while it lasts

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:" . . . and now for something completely different. . . ."

When you introduced the barbarian class in Dragon #63 (and later in Unearthed Arcana), you described the skills and weapons which would be appropriate for various barbarian cultures in the World of Greyhawk. One group that I feel was overlooked are the Paynims. My guess is that they would be similar to the Tiger and Wolf Nomads, wielding light lance, short composite bow, and scimitar, with the secondary skills of horsemanship and long distance signalling. What do you think, Gary?

Ah, that could be so, the oversight. I don't recall and haven't any material at hand to check.

You are correct in regards the Paynims, they being much like the tiger and Wolf Nomads. All three do have some medium cavalry. the Paynims do not have the long-distance signalling, but have ambush skill.

Cheers,
Gary

Rhuvein wrote:Hello Gary. I haven't seen this asked before, but forgive me if you've answered this elsewhere.
Which race is the oldest, among the gnomes, elves and dwarves?

Thanks!

Actually, no one has ever asked me that question;)

As far as I am concerned, the racial age is the same for the lot of demi-humans.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, no doubt this has been asked of you before, but I haven't been able to find a "definitive" answer. Did you intend for dwarven PC's (and other small demi-humans) to move slower than human PC's, or were the Monster Manual movement rates (6" for dwarves & gnomes, 9" for halflings) written to reflect units of armored troops as opposed to individuals? There seem to be two schools of thought on this one. On a related note, what do you think it would take to get one of those pokey, curmudgeony, bearded types onto a horse to keep up with the rest of his party?

The rates of movement given indeed were for troop units, not individual PCs--not that a fully armored dwarf PC would move faster, or that a halflinf PC like-armored would move 9.

As for mounts, would you believe pony horses or ponies?

Cheers,
Gary

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:I've never understood the thing about dwarfs not wanting to ride horses. Did that start with Dragonlance?

Short, burley people with short legs do not make good horsemen

A small horse or a pony makes the task easier.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:The player of the dwarven PC in my group is going to be very happy when I tell him he can now move at the same base rate as the humans (subject to armor and encumbrance, of course). In later editions of the game (grr ), dwarves were specifically given lower base movement rates, but I wasn't sure that that was actually your original intention. Clearly now it wasn't. Thanks once again Gary!

Be careful now...

An unencumbered human has a base movement rate of 12, I'd give the short-legged folk a base of 9.

Obmi the Dwarf, one of my favorite villians, relied on his boots of speed to escape human pursuers...which infuriated the players, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Hmm, as written in both G3 and GDQ1-7, Obmi does not own boots of speed. Maybe I'll just have to pencil those in. Also, now that I look, in GDQ1-7, everyone's favorite dwarf is noted as having a 9" base movement rate. Mea culpa.

Hey, while I'm perusing this, what the heck is the meaning of, "The fire giant of stone left and left elbow," anyway? (It is written in Dwarf on one of King Snurre's communiqués with the other giants.) I never did understand that. (Neither did my players -- maybe that was the point. )

Obmi had his boots of speed in Greyhawk Castle's dungeons...as well as an artifact gained from another plane. when I penned material for publication, I left them out, although on reflection, it would have been better had he retained that advantage.

Blamed if I can recall the meaning of the cryptic lines you mention. Perhaps I was referring to a stone statue of a fire giant, for the reader to go to the left when seeing it, then to go left again in a dogleg (elbow) passage. Then again, maybe it was to use the left hand to grasp the statue's left elbow to open some sected place. Of course it might have been nothing more that confusing fluff

Cheers,
Gary

Fid wrote: Well that changes things after 20+ years of play!

Not really though. On most of our dungeon delves the party (which always seemed to include a Dwarf ot two) was always at a 6" anyway because there were humans in plate mail. The faster bases only played a part when the human mage and elven thief had to run a way!!!!

How many dwarves do NOT clank around in armor and encumbered with shield and weapon in addition to their dungeon gear?


Gary

Fid wrote:
Yep, our dwarves always served as our "tanks". We always put them by themselves in the first rank of the marching order with the other front line fighters in the second rank waiting to step up.

We figured the Dwarf's higher constitution/hit points gave him the best chances to survive any traps. Interesting enough, neither of our two main "tanks" made it through our twenty-plus years. Novwek Epsid is still trapped in one of Acererak's teeth and his protege, Nan-Dreglos, was lost to the Bag of Devouring you put in that damn soup tureen!

Heh, and in large party dungeon forays, the dwarves, gnomes and halflings former the front rank, then elves and humans with spears fought behind them, and the spell casters fired off their attacks from the third rank using the intervals between the two files before them.

Ah, and how grand it is to recall conceiving the bag of devouring

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:Why the split up of Medusa from "gorgon"?
Why change basilisk from a cockatrice to an eight legged lizard?
Why name all winged horses Pegasas?
Why the rubbery, regenerating trolls and not the more familiar trolls of Scandinavian myth?

I think you see where this is going...

Were there specific reasons for ignoring "history" is some cases or outright changing that which is familiar to fantasy buffs?

Why not right back at you! there is no definative authority regarding fabulous monsters. For example, a medieval bestiary shows the gorgon as a metal-scaled bull as I gave in the AD&D MM.

Difference is good, because that means players can't be certain what they are facing--until they have fought and overcome the critter in question.

Cheers,
Gary

Joe Maccarrone wrote:
Whaddya think?

Thanks!

Joe

Hola Amigo:)

Your thinking is exactly the way I see matters--despite the rules. The cavalier is a fighter, so those limist apply, The additional two levels for being single-classed also applies. A grey elf with 19 strength would indeed be a formidable figure. However, as I recall my reasoning back then I wanted the elves to have the chance for a few really tough fighters.

Cheers,
Gary

Joe Maccarrone wrote: Thank you -- I think I'll go with my gut, then. Having limits to the fighter class, but not the cavalier, seems incongruous.

An elven cavalier of level 9+ -- who'd no doubt also have a high dex and great skill with a bow -- would make a fine champion for the skinny, pointy-eared folk.

As the Faerie Knights were reputedly of great puissance, you might want to go further that two levels above the indicated maximum. after all, the stats required for a cavalier are very stringent. Perhaps three levels, with one added for each 18 in Con and Dex, Str level addition also.

Hey wait! that isn't in the rules...

Of course I have been known to ignore them fairly often

Heh,
Gary
P.S. To all rule lawyers:

DMPrata wrote:Gary, on the subject of cavaliers, I have two questions I'd like to run by you if I may. First, with regard to training, when you wrote that, after 6th level, the cavalier no longer needed "formal" training -- that his normal daily regimen would suffice -- does that mean that you no longer charged cavaliers training costs for level advancement (such as you proposed for the barbarian and your post-TSR "hunter" class), or, rather, do they simply start self-training as name level characters (albeit at an earlier level)?

The former. The cavalier at higher levels need nothing but on the job training.

Secondly, are a cavalier's retainers meant to remain in service indefinitely, advancing in levels alongside their master, or should they be released at higher levels and replaced with new low-level types? In the game I ran in the 80's, we went with the former, and ended up with a 16th level cavalier and four 12th level retainers, which seemed a bit odd. ("Come, squire, help me into my armor. Slay that dragon later." ) On the other hand, the way I'm running it in my current group (which includes two PC cavaliers) is to release the retainer at 4th or 6th level (haven't decided yet) and recruit a new low-level replacement. Granted, there's no real-world, historical equivalent of "levels", but which method do you think is closer to the original concept?

This isn't a matter of rules but of DM management of his campaign. If it is generally not related to historical precedent, then a swapping out of higher level retainers for lower level ones is okay.

Logically, in a milieu based on the medieval, then vassalage and feudalism will prevail. A cavalier gaining in rank will rise in knightly status, build a stronghold, possibly be ennobled, see his loyal vassals (retainers) have estates of their own, and have lower level retainers too.

Cheers,
Gary

Time to close this thread and start a new one, which I'll do after posting this;)

Gary

Done and done!

Thanks

Gary

Post here please, rather on the old thread that's now at 46 pages...

Gary

Dear Fellows:

I dislike managing private messages and am embarassed to find I have a slug of them that I was blissfully unaware of until just now

If you would be so good as to post ALL questions here, any unanswered private mail ones included, I will be grateful, if not in your debt

thank you kindly,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Gary, just in case you missed it there is an important message in the General forum...

I find your sig message importantly amusing because I agree with the assessment whole-heartedly

cloak n' dagger wrote:

merkholz wrote:

Is there something that isn't in the 3E rules?

Heh, yeah, the Dungeons and Dragons RPG.

Cheers,
Gary

BTW...

If you are referring to the notice of the lamentable demise of Dave Sutherland, I am sadly aware of that fact, have been sending emails to many quoting Paul Stromberg's eulogy, have posted it on the boards at www.lejendary.com

Ciao,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Hey Gary, the posts regarding Elven Cavaliers got me thinking about things of a fey nature. I was curious if you ever did anything in your Greyhawk campaign or LA along the lines of the Seelie/Unseelie Courts. I've been looking a little for information on these groups in mythology and haven't found too much and was wondering of you had and how'd you'd adapt them to a campaign.

Pax,

Chris

Howdy Chris,

I trust you havce read the SECRET COMMONWEALTH.

As I recall, I found a fair amount of information on the Seelie and unseelie courts back in the 1970s by using the local library here to tap into the Wisconsin interlibrary loan system to get old books--mostly from the U of WI.

I contemplated a campaign using the information, but decided it would need a considerable amount of effort--a completely non-human environment, that of the World of Fairie. With not a vast amount of resource material to work from, I decided against spendng a couple of years developing the setting and new creature information...

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

If this is not too specific, I was wondering about some reasons for a couple of AD&D choices, viz., why are only evil nonhuman races listed a having shamans and witch doctors? Specifically, I am thinking about centaurs. It seems like they would be a good candidate for shamans. Was there a specific reason you limited this to evil humanoids?

And if YOU were to bend the rules (hush yo' mouth!) and let, oh, say, centaurs have shamans, what level might you cut them off at?

Again, if this is too specific, just ignore. Thanks.

HH

Well...

As far as any of my reading in mythology went, i never got the slightest hint that centaurs and their ilk had and religous inclination whatsoever. In the AD&D system, if I was to consider they did, I would be more inclined to allow them druidical indiduals, the same with satyrs and silini.

As to levels of any clerical types, I would suppose something around 7th would be tops.

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Druids! Well, that answers that! Very helpful.

I was actually thinking Chiron, I think his name was, Herakles' centaur tutor, at first when mulling on this.

Thanks, Gary.

By the way--Brewers? Packers? Cubs? White Sox? Bears? Any interest in any of them?

Well...

...that character was more of a sage than a cleric of any sort, no?

Cheers,
Gary

Anonymous wrote:Dang, looks like I'll have to do my own work on this one

I was just curious as I'm contemplating having the Elves in my homebrew originate from a sort of demi-plane where the Seelie Court would be located. Said court wouldn't come into actual play very much, but I was thinking of background for added "flavor."

Pax,

Chris

The Seelie and Unseelie courts share the same world, certainly. It is a sphere like earth. The highest of the Seelie court are likely the Feys...or the Sidhe, some of the latter are of unseelie nature, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

JF wrote:Hello Gary!

I just finished reading the interview you gave to Bill Silvey on his website.

I have a question regarding your comment about the Gamer Master maintaining a professional disinterest in the Players' success.

Let's take G3 for this example and assume the PC's are using stoneskin and heavy protection magics to launch fast raids and sorties and then teleporting away before the magics fail but still managing to inflict heavy casualties to the Giants. How do you maintain the DM indifference when the PC's have a method of decimating the dungeon module without producing a counter attack that would look like a punitive grudge hit?

There is nothing in the role of the disinterested GM that prevents keeping the game a challenge.

If you apply the danger of use of the teleport spell, it is likely that there will be some dangerous times for the PCs. also, after a second raid such as you describe the giants would surely get help not otherwise mentioned in the module, say some objects that dispel magic.

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary, when you mentioned dichotomies in the neutral paragraph of the alignment section in your 1979 ADandD DMG, does that mean the opposite things of nature or TN-alignment can exist at the same time? I mean if purity and defilement, good and evil, life and death can all exist at the same time so that I can be a TN-alignment undead PC.

With all your learning get understanding...

Any creature or person centered on one aspect of balance, True Neutrality, cannot perforce, be of that ethical belief. That the True Neutral holds that there must be opposites does not by any leap of imagination mean that one is of any such opposing forces it in itself of balance, only that the True Neutral understands their role in the cosmos.

A graphic example might be darkness and light. both are necessary for balance, but neither is balance per se.

Gary

richardstincer wrote:Thanks for for your reply, Gary. I have always had trouble with reading comprehension and quick learning. For ADandD 1st edit., can there be a TN-alignment undead character, creature, person, or humanoid? I'm thinking that positive energy and negative energy can both be used to animate the dead. Also, the state of undeath has a balance of life and death at the same time, so should that allow a TN-alignment undead?

No problem, Richard. I have trouble with higher mathmatics

The short answer is no. All undead are of negative plane energy, and can not be of neutrality.

Cheers,
Gary

Post here please, rather on the old thread that's now at 46 pages...

Gary

Dear Fellows:

I dislike managing private messages and am embarassed to find I have a slug of them that I was blissfully unaware of until just now

If you would be so good as to post ALL questions here, any unanswered private mail ones included, I will be grateful, if not in your debt

thank you kindly,
Gary

TheDungeonDelver wrote:Gary, just in case you missed it there is an important message in the General forum...

I find your sig message importantly amusing because I agree with the assessment whole-heartedly

cloak n' dagger wrote:

merkholz wrote:

Is there something that isn't in the 3E rules?

Heh, yeah, the Dungeons and Dragons RPG.

Cheers,
Gary

BTW...

If you are referring to the notice of the lamentable demise of Dave Sutherland, I am sadly aware of that fact, have been sending emails to many quoting Paul Stromberg's eulogy, have posted it on the boards at www.lejendary.com

Ciao,
Gary

chrisspiller wrote:Hey Gary, the posts regarding Elven Cavaliers got me thinking about things of a fey nature. I was curious if you ever did anything in your Greyhawk campaign or LA along the lines of the Seelie/Unseelie Courts. I've been looking a little for information on these groups in mythology and haven't found too much and was wondering of you had and how'd you'd adapt them to a campaign.

Pax,

Chris

Howdy Chris,

I trust you havce read the SECRET COMMONWEALTH.

As I recall, I found a fair amount of information on the Seelie and unseelie courts back in the 1970s by using the local library here to tap into the Wisconsin interlibrary loan system to get old books--mostly from the U of WI.

I contemplated a campaign using the information, but decided it would need a considerable amount of effort--a completely non-human environment, that of the World of Fairie. With not a vast amount of resource material to work from, I decided against spendng a couple of years developing the setting and new creature information...

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Hi Gary,

If this is not too specific, I was wondering about some reasons for a couple of AD&D choices, viz., why are only evil nonhuman races listed a having shamans and witch doctors? Specifically, I am thinking about centaurs. It seems like they would be a good candidate for shamans. Was there a specific reason you limited this to evil humanoids?

And if YOU were to bend the rules (hush yo' mouth!) and let, oh, say, centaurs have shamans, what level might you cut them off at?

Again, if this is too specific, just ignore. Thanks.

HH

Well...

As far as any of my reading in mythology went, i never got the slightest hint that centaurs and their ilk had and religous inclination whatsoever. In the AD&D system, if I was to consider they did, I would be more inclined to allow them druidical indiduals, the same with satyrs and silini.

As to levels of any clerical types, I would suppose something around 7th would be tops.

Cheers,
Gary

Handy Haversack wrote:Druids! Well, that answers that! Very helpful.

I was actually thinking Chiron, I think his name was, Herakles' centaur tutor, at first when mulling on this.

Thanks, Gary.

By the way--Brewers? Packers? Cubs? White Sox? Bears? Any interest in any of them?

Well...

...that character was more of a sage than a cleric of any sort, no?

Cheers,
Gary

Anonymous wrote:Dang, looks like I'll have to do my own work on this one

I was just curious as I'm contemplating having the Elves in my homebrew originate from a sort of demi-plane where the Seelie Court would be located. Said court wouldn't come into actual play very much, but I was thinking of background for added "flavor."

Pax,

Chris

The Seelie and Unseelie courts share the same world, certainly. It is a sphere like earth. The highest of the Seelie court are likely the Feys...or the Sidhe, some of the latter are of unseelie nature, of course.

Cheers,
Gary

JF wrote:Hello Gary!

I just finished reading the interview you gave to Bill Silvey on his website.

I have a question regarding your comment about the Gamer Master maintaining a professional disinterest in the Players' success.

Let's take G3 for this example and assume the PC's are using stoneskin and heavy protection magics to launch fast raids and sorties and then teleporting away before the magics fail but still managing to inflict heavy casualties to the Giants. How do you maintain the DM indifference when the PC's have a method of decimating the dungeon module without producing a counter attack that would look like a punitive grudge hit?

There is nothing in the role of the disinterested GM that prevents keeping the game a challenge.

If you apply the danger of use of the teleport spell, it is likely that there will be some dangerous times for the PCs. also, after a second raid such as you describe the giants would surely get help not otherwise mentioned in the module, say some objects that dispel magic.

Cheers,
Gary

richardstincer wrote:Gary, when you mentioned dichotomies in the neutral paragraph of the alignment section in your 1979 ADandD DMG, does that mean the opposite things of nature or TN-alignment can exist at the same time? I mean if purity and defilement, good and evil, life and death can all exist at the same time so that I can be a TN-alignment undead PC.

With all your learning get understanding...

Any creature or person centered on one aspect of balance, True Neutrality, cannot perforce, be of that ethical belief. That the True Neutral holds that there must be opposites does not by any leap of imagination mean that one is of any such opposing forces it in itself of balance, only that the True Neutral understands their role in the cosmos.

A graphic example might be darkness and light. both are necessary for balance, but neither is balance per se.

Gary

richardstincer wrote:Thanks for for your reply, Gary. I have always had trouble with reading comprehension and quick learning. For ADandD 1st edit., can there be a TN-alignment undead character, creature, person, or humanoid? I'm thinking that positive energy and negative energy can both be used to animate the dead. Also, the state of undeath has a balance of life and death at the same time, so should that allow a TN-alignment undead?

No problem, Richard. I have trouble with higher mathmatics

The short answer is no. All undead are of negative plane energy, and can not be of neutrality.

Cheers,
Gary

Hi Scott:)

The mummy being indicated as from the PMP was a typo. It was meant to be Negative as all undead are.

Cheers,
Gary

Well Greg...

Glad you are having fin with some OAD&D:)

The Cleric is not as good a combatant as a fighter, spells are not as manifold and potent as those of a Magic-User, have limited magic items to gain, so those are the downside. Also, one must indeed be careful of all actions or risk getting in hot water with one's deity.

Cheers,
Gary

Driver wrote:

Col_Pladoh wrote:The mummy being indicated as from the PMP was a typo. It was meant to be Negative as all undead are.

Thanks for the quick response! When I was a kid, I made up a rationalization having to do with mummies being "Egyptian" and tying in to Osiris as "tomb guards," but I like your answer better.

EDIT: By the way, I was recently admitted to my state bar, and I'm not exaggerating when I say D&D was the major catalyst for the love of reading and puzzle-solving that carried me to what limited academic success I've achieved ... so you get to share some of either the credit or the blame for minting another lawyer, depending on your viewpoint.

right!

I too have used Osiris to demonstrate that negative (a god with a still heart) can be benign as well as malign at times--agathocacological. His plane is shadow and definately negative.

Appreciate your generous sharing of your personal achievement. It is good to know that my work aided you in realizing your own potential

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, here's a quick one that came up in one of the other forums. (I must admit, in 23 years this hasn't occurred to me. ) Since rangers can't read spell scrolls, how do they learn magic-user spells at higher levels?

Simple:

They learn them and record them in a spell book.

Scrolls are soneone else's version os any given spell. A trained clEric, mage, etc. can read it by understanding the underlying princip0les it contains.

How's that for rationalization? Better than saying "It's magis," or else, "The game is fantasy, and that's the rule."

Cheers,
Gary

Asrogoth wrote:Gary,

The Strength scores in AD&D and OD&D can go as high during character generation as 18/00 if I remember correctly.

Why does the extra oomph (01-00) apply only to Strength? I can see a case for all the other attributes to have this special ability as well.

My apologies in advance if this is covered. I do not play AD&D and do not own a copy of OD&D to draw from.

Just curious.

Thank you in advance.

-Kenny+

Inusual strength is quantifiable, and the fighter class needed the benefit of increaded chance to hit and damage done thus.

None of the other stats have easily quantifiable measurement of addition as does strength.

Cheers,
Gary

ScottyG wrote:Gary, the published information was intentionally vague, and left the details up to each individual DM, but you have said that in your view the more advanced nations of the Flanaess were on a technological level equal to the Tudors. The same Renaissance Era technology is expressed much more clearly in the Epic of Aerth. Not being familiar with LE, I was wondering if you kept the same flavor for your newest setting.
Scott

Hi Scotty!

Yuppers

While I keep feudalism and vassalage, manoralism too, the overall technology level is akin to Tudor England, a bit advanced from there in regards to transportation (ships, canals, coaches), in the LA game world.

If you take a glance at the Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds book dealing with the socio-economic aspects of fantasy worlds you'll note that the tech level suggested there agrees with the way I have constructed the Lejendary Earth world setting.

Cheers,
Gary

CapN wrote:Hey Gary!

From The Acaeum, about the Strategic Preview:

The first issue was numbered #3 (why, we don't know, but we assume it was for humorous purposes), and the last, #6.

Why is that?

Beats me!

I think is was Brian and Dave that did the zine, and I was not privy to any of that affair, other than to contribute, read, and enjoy.

Cheers,
Gary

JF wrote:Hi Gary,

When you're building game systems or writing adventures do you use a top down or bottom up approach?

I have no fixed routine for creative work. I have used both methods of constructing games and adventure modules.

Cheers,
Gary

Well,

It's pretty easy, I should think. If the command was "Whirl", the individual would do that and likely disrupt all those in touching distance of his arms. I agree with Elfdart's suggestion that two of the opponents would have been directly effected by the command spell's activation success.

Cheers,
Gary

DMPrata wrote:Gary, when running OAD&D combat, did/do you require players to declare all their actions (not just spells) prior to the initiative roll? If so, are they allowed to change their declared actions as the round progresses (perhaps forfeiting an attack to help a fallen comrade, who may not have been "fallen" at the beginning of the round), or are they locked in to what they declared?

Actions must be declared or obvious--such as continued close-quarters combat. If some character desires to change a declared action in a round, then I generally assume that the alteration occurs at mid-point.

What I attempt is to have the party behave as would real persons in a confused situation.

In the LA game actions are in blocks of only three seconds, so there's no changing them.

Cheers,
Gary

Dragon Fire wrote:

Elfdart wrote: ....The command word? One that can't be printed here, but suffice it to say, it rhymes with "luck"....

Hhmm. Would people of that era even know/use that a word? Was that a word back then? Might just be jibberish otherwise.

Let us be reasonable. No one should expect players to use the language of a bygone era--shakespearean english, for example. The object is to play a game, not stage a theatrical production aping Elizebethan or earlier times

Cheers,
Gary

KewlMarine32 wrote:Mr. Gygax,

I noticed some time ago (Dec 2000) that you did a superb preface for Relics and Rituals (a Sword and Sorcery supplement for the Scarred Lands campaign). I have a few questions...

Within the preface, You liked the concept of "Tattoo Magic" as it was introduced in the book and then you mention "you wish you had thought of that concept". You also stated that "it will certainly be brought into your own work and campaign."

Do you use "tattoo magic" in any of the games you are running??? Is "tattoo magic" contained within LA and if not , will you incorparate such a concept into LA in the future?

The concept of tatoo magic is a good one, but it would logically be restricted to proimitive societies whose shamans employ such devices. I have not had time or energy to create a campaign module set in such a culture, and thus introduce the several likely uses ot tatoos that I think likely--protection, attack bonus, luck, possibly shape-shifting.

I do use Extraordinary body paints that provide protection, that concept being more likely to be widespread.

I also read in the preface that even though you were unfamiliar with the Scarred Lands campaign setting, you did state that "it seems a most intriguing setting" probably because of the parallel of the "god vs Titan" conflicts in Greco-Roman and Norse mythology.

Have you looked further in to the Scarred Lands campaign setting any since you did the preface in December of 2000??? Is the Scarrd Lands campaign setting still an intriguing setting in your opinion???

No, other things have quite filled my time and likely will. unless someone in my group volunteers to run games using the setting, it's unlikely that I'll ever get to it. So much to do, so little time to accomplish those desired things...

Also, I noticed that you called the concept of "ritual magic" a "great innovation, a glittering jewel." Do you use this concept within LA or plan on using it sometime in future products???

r/s

KM32

See above

Cheers,
Gary

Driver wrote:Gary,

Another "just curious" question. If you were going to assign an AD&D alignment to Cugel the Clever from Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" stories, what would it be? He doesn't seem to *actively* seek to promote evil, or any other ethos for that matter, but then again he's a git, and does some pretty nasty stuff in the stories.

I'd put him as Chaotic Neutral, but I'm curious how you'd rate him.

Cugel is Chaotic evil--note the small e there. He isn't demonic, but he is malign, never seeking to do good for anyone but himself, never hesitating to sacrifice anyone in search of his self interest.

(I've just read the "Dying Earth" stories for the first time in years, and had forgotten how much I like Vance. Now it's off to the library for "Planet of Adventure" and "Demon Princes."

I've just picked up new copies of the five novels about the "Demon Princes" and the sequel to Ports of Call, so I expect to be reading and enjoying Vance's work a good bit this summer. Planet of Adventure is my favorite work of his, if i actually have one..

I also just got a copy of "Princess of Mars" with a Ray Bradbury introduction. I like a lot of Bradbury's work, but felt the introduction was bush-league, as he damns Burroughs with faint praise, suggesting that some part of one's adult brain needs to be shut off to enjoy the Mars novels. Since Bradbury is often dismissed as a fluff-writer by hard sci-fi buffs, I found this sad and amusing, and wondered why they didn't get an introduction writer who was still capable of enjoying Burroughs without eyebrow arched.

There was also more bio about Bradbury on the back cover than about Burroughs.

Anyway, that's just a side rant, since I know you enjoy both Bradbury and Burroughs.)

Have a great weekend!

Bradbury is the finest author of imaginative short stories IMO, and if any other authors dismiss his work it is our of green-eyed jealousy i should think.

ERB's work is indeed juvenile but a lot of fun to read. Most of the stories are surely pot poilers with formula plots, but I enjoyed them, and there was a good deal of creative imagination behind the tales.

i do wonder why they had Ray write an intro when his heart wasn't in it. there muist be several name authors who could have done an enthusiastic piece.

oldschooler wrote:Two simple questions for Gary:

What size graph/hex paper have you used the most throughout the ages?
I've heard 5-6 squares/hexes is best...

What is your favorite kind of music?
My favorite groups include (but of course aren't limited to) Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Doors, Led Zepplin, Def Leppard, Journey, Styx, Chicago, Rush, System of a Down, Modest Mouse, The Killers, The Moody Blues, The Who and a great many singer/songwriters of the seventies.

I use graph paper of four, five, and six squares to the inch. when my eyes were better I sometimes used eight...

My favorite music is classical, then comes modern jazz and blues and old R&B from the 50s. I am also given to Spanish guitar and big band. When I am in the mood I enjoy some country and R&R--including the Doors.

Cheers,
Gary

oldschooler wrote:I should've mentioned Mozart too. It's been a while since listening, but his music always moves me.
Happy Pappy's Day! A little late, but I was with my own father all day yesterday and never went online

Yuppers!

Mozart is one of my favorites--love his horn scoring. Also fond of ballet music such as Prokofiev and Deliebes wrote, even Glière (the Red Poppy for instance).

Just kicked back for Father's Day, went out for brinch than stayed at home and had a quiet time which I enjoyed a good deal

Cheers,
Gary

What would I do as the DM in the above situation?

I'd carefull referee the combat between the paladin and dwarf, for the former surely must not allow such an affront to occur or else lose his paladin status

BTW, I'd give the paladin a +1 to both hit and damage his opponent due to rage at the foul act of sttacking a horse.

Cheers,
Gary

So...

That is wasn't the paladin's warhorse makes the matter less serious, but only marginally so. the paladin's honor was besmirched by the dwarf, and as the DM I would call that to the attention of the player of the paladin if there was less than great umbrage taken. To allow the incident to pass without punishing the offending dwarf would be a dark stain on the honor of the paladin.

Paladins are not stupid, and in general there is no rule of Lawful Good against killing enemies. The old addage about nits making lice applies. Also, as I have often noted, a paladin can freely dispatch prisoners of Evil alignment that have surrrendered and renounced that alignment in favor of Lawful Good. They are then sent on to their reward before thay can backslide

Cheers,
Gary