Slashdot Mirror
Interview with Gary Gygax
the_bahua writes "Have a look at this one-on-one with Gary Gygax, over at KCGeek.com. It's a tell-all, see-all, look into the mind of the man behind the second-best thing to do at four in the morning. Responsible for one of the cornerstones of geekdom, he is largely unknown to many, including many RPG fans."
This guy reminds me quite a bit of Steve Wozniak, from Apple.
Subtle, quiet, approachable, and doing something for the love of the field. These are the type of people who do more for a field without thinking about it than most people even think possible.
That and he seems to be a huge Mac fan!
He even mentions Lemonaid Stand! I remember playing that game when I was about seven!
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
That's what user mode in Opera is especially good for, reading badly colored text.
Thinking about the ubergeek Gary Gygax, got me wondering. (Wasn't it E.Gary.Gygax ?)
Is old D&D stuff collectable now ?
I've got bits and bobs such as a 1979 Dungeons & Dragons rule book (3rd Edition D&D, Not Advanced D&D) are they actually worth anything these days?.
I'm not that bothered either way, if its worthless financially, its still an heirloom from a mispent youth.
Ah wistful thoughts about +5 Backscratchers... (for those scratching their heads...it was a cartoon in the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide)
Guess TSR wasn't TSR without old Gygax....At least Wizards are trying to make the best of the old stuff now.
Care to speculate what the impact of this change in RPG's will have on the insurance industry?
Let's face it, the first time most people used dice for other than shooting craps was when rolling up characters and playing D&D and like games. Eventually the same or highly similar probability systems were implemented by other game companies and many computer games. Some time in the past TSR voiced their displeasure at other games using 3D6 for stats, how armor class is calculated, etc. Hence many games used their own varied methods of valuation of stats, etc., making it a bit of a trick to determine where characters of various genres stood. Is it still a concern for RPG game developers, to create their own systems of statistics, or is those methods and values as detailed by TSR pretty much an open standard?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Notice that he also points out his slight distaste for rule nazis by saying his current game specifies that the GM (or whatever he calls it in this game) is always right ;p
I wonder if Gary has gotten around to admitting that just about every single creative idea he incorporated into D&D was first stolen from Dave Arneson? And later, the guy who wrote "Metamorphosis: Alpha", Jim Ward?
Of course, y'all are probably so young these names mean nothing to you. Young geeks these days, they have no culture....
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Wizards of the Coast (who is owned by Hasbro) is laying off 100 employees... for those that do not know Wizards of the Coast is the current owner of D&D
read about it here
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Grappling was a joke. A strict literal interpretation meant that a grappler with initiative could basically render weapon wielders helpless.
:)
On the other hand, a literal interpretation of the introduction to the DM manual meant that you could play fast and loose with the rules, which I did. I got into competitive fencing around the same time and completely revamped the combat system in my campaigns. Rogues loved me
If Gary is as approachable as he seems, would it be possible to have a Slashdot interview of him? I'd like to know what he thinks about the Open Gaming License.
Siggy Wiggy Figgy Tiggy a bana bo Biggy!
Speaking of which, didja ever read all the way through that book? Several of the 'rules' were mere suggestions on how to handle situations. At several points the DMG devolves into more of a discussion on what makes a good game rather than hard and fast rules. Very interesting reading.
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
And in the interest of full disclosure, I come out with:
Str: 11
Int: 15
Wis: 15
Dex: 9
Con: 11
Chr: 15
A nice waste of a few minutes. Obviously flawed, though - assigning a 15 INT simply for a Masters Degree indicates you've never actually dealt with people in graduate school (*GRIN*).
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
His corporation was thoroughly and soundly thrashed on the front page of Wall Street Journal well over a decade ago.
Why?
The Wall street Journal wanted potential unwitting investers to be aware of his corporations highest ratios of family members in a listed public company in history.
He hired every relative, near relative, friend, etc and let them bicker and fight the company into utter chaos and floundering.
Rule #1 dont hire relatives and friends just for the sake of it to give them jobs.
He blew it.
Wall Street Journal spelled it out quit clearly to me... Gary Gygax is a terrible business man.
I did play AD&D all though high school and College though, and many other RPGs, and do think fondly of of the standardization of the game so that I could easily merge into other peoples games.... I respect him for that (being successful) But he destoryed the integrity of the game with bad decisions to capture children market. It should never been brought below adult level gaming.
What about the bag of holding having mass but not weight. As a sparrow I was able to very very slowly fly across a mountain gorge with an entire posse in the bag! I thought it was insane that the rule would have allowed that oddity. It should be massless and weightless.
Or wierd loopholes in definition of visibility for range attacks on spells (visibility at beginning or end of a spell needed? middle?) lots of hole sin lighning bolt and other spells
AD&D was not brilliantly thought out.
A physicist should have been hired to proof read it.
Do you see the Wizards of the Coast edition as an improvement in this regard?
I've played 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd edition AD&D, though it's now just called D&D.
The 3rd edition is much, much better. It is so much more... orthogonal. Almost all the special cases and little-used rules have been eliminated or integrated. The combat system is more more realistic, and most abilities have been combined into skills and feats, which a bunch of new ones thrown in.
That said, all an RPG is supposed to do is help people to tell a story. I believe stories are better when they don't contradict themselves, so a good set of rules can provide a good structure to compose a story against.
So Gary is correct, in the sense that the GM is always right, and it's not the rules that can make a game enjoyable. But good, consistent rules can go a long ways towards making the game more comprehensible. And I completely disagree with him as to the merits of 1st ed vs. 3rd ed..
With the older editions, the GM would have to intervene frequently to restore sensibility to the game. But that can also frustrate the players, because they don't know what to expect. With the 3rd edition, the GM needs to intervene far, far less frequently, leading to smoother gameplay. I believe this can then allow everyone to concentrate more on the story, which is the most important part.
I just wish I still had my original "crayon in the numbers" dice - just for sentimental value. All of my early D&D boxed sets walked away from my dorm in college, in a box stuffed full of Heinlein, Asimov and a bunch of pulps. Damn bastards probably thought they were getting sterio equipment and records.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Back at a Science Fiction Convention I-CONX, I think it was 1990, I was assigned to drive Gary Gygax from his hotel and the con site. He was a real blast to talk to. On the second day of driving, he bought me a few pints of beer at the hotel bar and chatted for awhile. It was incredible to talk gaming stuff with him for an hour.
Gary always seems to have some game that he's beta testing. So the few times that I saw him at other conventions, I would participate in some of them. We all laughed pretty hard when he took out a large stack of business cards. He must get a ton from people because he converts them into his new game cards. Real rough beta I guess.