theWeem

Russ (@Morrus) of EN World has returned from his Wedding and Honeymoon so to him I would first like to say, grats and welcome back!

In honor of his wedding and return, I thought I would dedicate a “RL Meets D&D” to him and his new wife

Click the image to see the full version, and be sure to follow me on Twitter if you aren’t yet!

Normally I caption these kinds of images myself, but I’m curious to see what you would do here. Please leave your caption(s) as comments, or tweet them to me and I will post them here. In the future, I may do contests for captions selected as winners!

FYI: I know baseball umps don’t wear stripes, I just wanted it to be obvious he was a ref of sorts (makes for some good captions though, hehe)

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Captions

…from Twitter

@barnardchad “Eat me if you want but I still say the runner at home was out!!!”

@countingku “Can someone toss me a bun?”

@Generationd20 *sigh* “I really should have finished my Masters degree.”

@Dustin_00 “Spit out my first baseman, we all know you’re allergic to Mexican.”

@DocDraconis “I really need this job man! I CAN breathe fire. Watch THIS *wheeze*… ok, NOW watch *wheeze*… ok, now…. “

…from Comments

Rasmus “Do YOU think I have bad breath?”

Charisma “Yeah, it went up my nose.”

B. Lynn “I don’t care if you toss me out, YOU FAILED YOUR PERCEPTION CHECK!!!!”

B. Lynn “Do not meddle in the affairs of umpires, for thou are crunchy & taste good with ketchup. “

insanitygawd “My dad is the coach and he’s going to kick your butt if you say I’m out.”

Free Xenon *Gold Dragon* – “I wonder if he has seen Star Trek before?”

drow “I dunno, you don’t think it makes me look fat?”
“No, not at all. The vertical stripes are slimming, they really suit you.”

…from ENWorld.org

Fifth Element “Stupid dragon! Baseball umpires don’t wear stripes!”

jaerdaph “I already told you – you can have your treasure hoard back when we’re done using it as a pitching mound!!!”

Thornir Alekeg “I bet the chromatic dragon umps never have to put up with this.”

…from RPG.net

Wields-Rulebook-Heavily “Oh great, there goes the wannabee Saint George again.”

Ricohard1986 “Gold Dragons are creatures of Utmost Law and follow this in all things.”

flyingmice “This is baseball, not football! Get rid of the zebra suit, ya moron!”

NPC’s have always been important in my D&D campaigns (as they are in most), but I really like to try and make them stand out a bit more. I try and make them each very different and unique. I even find images online to represent them and then put them up on my screen behind me as the players talk to them.

Paizo makes a product I thought might help with this – their GameMastery “Friends of Foes” Cards.

I had run into these a while back online and was pretty sure I could put them to good use, but I was hoping to see more than 3-4 examples of them. Despite looking online, I couldn’t see any more than the one’s they already showed. One of my primary concerns was that the examples they showed were of young human characters. I wanted to see what the range was, but could find no other examples. Did they have elderly characters? What about ugly ones, or even monsters such as orcs? I could not be sure.

But, recently I decided to just buy them anyway – and I am glad I did.

There is a nice variety to them. There are some elderly in there, and even some children. There are monstrous creatures and their are friendly-looking characters. Some are smiling, and some seem indifferent. One appears to be scared while others seem indifferent.

The best thing for me however was that however they appear, and regardless of their expression (even those who look mad), I can imagine almost all of them being a regular NPC – for better or worse in my players eyes.

These cards are excellent quality – not flimsy at all, very durable. The backside is blank as well so you can write out any details you might want to – or you could let your players do that.

Also, you don’t need to be playing Pathfinder – these can be used for any game (I’m using them for D&D).

I’m not much of an accessories guy (well, beside those I can make myself) but I can definitely recommend these cards. You can get ‘em here.

[ONE QUICK NOTE - These cards do not come with stands, or miniatures like those I have in the photo - I simply used those for display]

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Today on Twitter, NewbieDM stated the following…

I would totally do an ad campaign with Drizzt dressed as Santa Claus with a bag full of red boxes. Screw it. #dnd

Well, be careful what you wish for around the Weem – you never know what might happen…

Make sure you check out Newbie DM’s site if you get the chance!

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Have you read Part 1 yet?

Back in 2001, in my early 20′s, I had been playing D&D for about 10 years and like many others, the Gygax name was an inspiring one. It was also around that time (1999) that I had begun designing websites – something that would eventually become my full time job. As such, I had a number of gaming sites. By 2001 I decided to approach this legendary man with an interview request for one such site, which he accepted.

My questions for him were coming from a fan’s point of view. I was not following the industry. I bought my books and played my games – that was about it. As such, some of these questions he had probably answered many times before and after, but I was not aware of them.

Until a few days ago, I had thought this interview was lost to time. Many times I had looked for it, including searches for it online – perhaps someone had copied it to their site etc – but those searches never found anything. Recently however, I found some old “data” disks – essentially backups of old sites, and while pouring through them I found this interview, as well as one I did with David “Zeb” Cook (of Planescape fame, among other things).

Here I present to you the last part of my 2001 interview with Gary Gygax…

W: Speaking of you playing, you also run games (DM) of course, what is your favorite house rule? 

GG: For tha past five years I have regularly run only a LEJENDARY ADVENTURE RPG campaign. (I am writing this on Thursday, and tonight is the night for the session:) As the system is “rules lite”, about half of what happens in an adventure session is winged, with whatever is needed for the situation made a rule pro tem. 

Aside from that, though, I generally ignore rules, not add more house ones. If the game is flowing smoothly, the players immersed in the actions of their characters, fun being had, then all is well. Rules are meant to facilitate that through explanation and quantification of things that are nor actual (spells, monsters, etc.). I see no benefit in adding more unless the enjoyment of the game is somehow enhanced by such. 

However… I do, now and then, add special “rules” for player’s characters, PCs—Avatars in the parlance of the LA game. For example, when a certain PC named Melf was called to task for failing in his devotions, said elf was given as penance a daily sunrise ritual. He had to greet the sun, prance merrily, as he sang a paean of joy: “When the sun in the morning peeps over the hill…” That brought much merriment to the other players assembled, for of course, for there was
role-playing involved in this activity. 

W: There are people who don’t know anything about tabletop roleplaying games who might say it is a game played by “computer geeks” only. How do you respond to this? 

GG: Aww, heck! You mean that you can’t just be a plain old “game geek” any more. Back in the 1980s, MILWAUKEE Magazine ran an article on GenCon, pictured me with a lot of the conventioneers arouns, titled the piece “Lord of the Nerds”. Very clever, that so-called journalist who did that. Today “nerd” is almost a laud, so it is being replaced by “geek”. 

There happens to be a community of interest amongst gamers, computer buffs, SF devotees, animie and comic book fans. Amazing how many of each sort also enjoy one or more of the other pursuits, if you will. These days, however, the “computer geeks” are the most numerous—counting those who play a lot of computer games. So it is likely most appropriate to characterize RPGers thus, rather than as “SF geeks”, or other geek classifications. 

Just goes to show that when someone is ignorant they tend to use an epithet to disparage as they stereotype… 

W: Ok, enough about the old stuff, let’s talk about Lejendary Adventure/Earth. When developing this new game, did you fall back on people that were around from the beginning days of TSR, or is this an entirely new game involving many new faces? 

GG: Answering your queries about “old time” things is fine, but I am likewise happy to respond to questions about more current activitiesJ 

I began the LEJENDARY ADVENTURE Game some six years back, aiming it at the computer, actually. Shortly thereafter, I determined to make it a paper RPG product first, then seek a producer for electronic versions. Aside from some play-test suggestions, and a bit of consultation and input here and there, I basically researched and wrote 11 books for the system all by myself. The books consist of six core rules ones (three for a new genre outside fantasy) and five sourcebooks. I also have written one adventure, co-designed another. 

Hekaforge Productions, with me as the guy in charge of the creative end of things, has more recently looked afield for freelancers. Quite a number have been found, and our schedule is filled through 2001 now. Two adventure scenarios by other authors are now available, and this number will grow rapidly. The same is true with freelanced sourcebooks and game-genre expansions. 

Of course I am still actively creating new material for the LA system…also for a line of generic products aimed at all GMs. 

Soon Hekaforge will begin publishing a line of fantasy adventure novels set on the LEJENDARY EARTH world. It will be some time before I have time to get to writing any tales for this line, though. As it stands, I’ve got about a year and a half of creative work before me at this moment, and I could easily add more, would have to, if it weren’t for “farming out” to freelance talent. 

W: I know at least one of the core books has been released, and if I remember right, another one is to come out shortly, or just came out. How has support for the product been so far? Are you getting some good feedback?

GG: Thanks for asking that:) We have all three core books out in three editions—a signed and numbered Author’s Edition with a very limited run, a Collector’s Edition with a limited printing too, and then the Regular Edition. The limited-run editions contain a serial adventure that is omitted in the regular books. The core books are: Lejendary Rules for all Players, Lejend Master’s Lore, and Beasts of Lejend. To support that we have a LM’s Screen, an introductory adventure, Lejendary Road, and a general adventure module, Enclave. The world sourcebook is coming soon—likely after several more adventures are published. 

The LA game really got its start online, and it is from the gamers on the net that it gets its greatest support. However, the Hekaforge Productions game line is carried by many fine distributors, has made it to the shelves of a fair number of game shops thus. (We are working to broaden that penetration.) 

W: Well, I should wrap this up otherwise I could go all day. Last question; there are a lot of gamers out here in California, when should we expect to see you out here again, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area  

GG: Darn, I wish I could say next month—for a stay of several months. I am not a fan of Wisconsin winters, especially after having lived in Southern California for three years time when the D&D Cartoon Show was in production and running. As it is, though, I haven’t the vaguest notion of when I’ll have the opportunity to make it to California. 

I had hoped that Hekaforge would be far enough along to perhaps attend DunDraCon this winter, but the company is still too small to afford such an outlay. Perhaps in 2002. 

There is some likelihood of me being in the Los Angeles area late this year, or early next. That depends on the development of another, basically non-game project with which I am associated through Trigee. Should that eventuate, likely a easy sell talking Gail into renting a car and driving up the coast to visit game shops between there and San Francisco, maybe do a fast demo of the new game system in the process. 

W: Gary, thanks again for taking time out of your schedule, I really appreciate it. I would have never guessed I get the chance to do this when I was a kid. Good luck with your future works. 

GG: Welcome, and thank you! 

Don’t hesitate to come back with any more questions either;-}> If you have a few more, shucks! Be happy to supply answers. 

Gary

———-

I remember the interview quite well despite my memory issues and the period of time that has lapsed. Looking back and remembering the experience, I laugh at the questions I had asked, but hope he understood (somehow) how big of a deal this was to me. I wish, for all of us, that we still had some more time with him.

Thanks again Gary.

Back in 2001, in my early 20′s, I had been playing D&D for about 10 years and like many others, the Gygax name was an inspiring one. It was also around that time (1999) that I had begun designing websites – something that would eventually become my full time job. As such, I had a number of gaming sites. By 2001 I decided to approach this legendary man with an interview request for one such site, which he accepted.

My questions for him were coming from a fan’s point of view. I was not following the industry. I bought my books and played my games – that was about it. As such, some of these questions he had probably answered many times before and after, but I was not aware of them.

Until a few days ago, I had thought this interview was lost to time. Many times I had looked for it, including searches for it online – perhaps someone had copied it to their site etc – but those searches never found anything. Recently however, I found some old “data” disks – essentially backups of old sites, and while pouring through them I found this interview, as well as one I did with David “Zeb” Cook (of Planescape fame, among other things).

Here I present to you Part 1 of 2 from my 2001 interview with Gary Gygax…

WEEM: First of all, let me thank you for agreeing to answer some guy’s questions from the west coast. I’m sure there are much more important things that get set-aside for something like this, and I greatly appreciate that. 

Gary Gygax: Well thanks a lot:) Actually, though, I appreciate the honor of your asking me for an interview. 

W: When Dungeons and Dragons was released for the first time, did you ever expect it to become as popular as it has? I have wondered if you just “knew” that there would be a lot of others who would enjoy it as much as you, or if you really didn’t care whether it became big or not. 

GG: Popular! Sure I “knew”! I was convinced that the D&D game would sell to virtually all wargame fans, likely the fantasy and science fiction crowd too. Asked anytime from 1973 through about 1975, I’d have assured you that we would sell no fewer than 50,000 units….maybe even a bit more. 

Then in late 1975, about this time of year (October), in fact, when the fan letters were coming in at an ever increasing rate, it suddenly struck me. The demographics of the
D&D audience were not quite what I had thought would be the core market. In fact, we were reaching lots of people who didn’t fit the profile. So then I revised projections upwards, and my seat-of-the-pants projections for the next five years was very close to what TSR actually did in gross sales—margin of error was within 5%. 

So I missed initially, but hit the bullseye later on. 

W: What did others think of your creation as it was in the works? Did they tell you that it was a waste of time, or did you get a lot of support? Both? 

GG: All of those who hadn’t played D&D were skeptical—scoffers, more accurately. Before Don Kaye and I formed Tactical Studies Rules I even queried The Avalon Hill Company about their interest in publishing D&D and the DUNGEON! Game. They declined with a laugh… So Gamers who had not been exposed to the power of D&D play were almost as dubious about its potential as those who knew nothing about hobby gaming. 

W: As the game grew in popularity, did you get a lot of visitors to your home wanting to meet you or sit down and play a game? If so, did you go along with it, or did you try to keep work away from home? 

GG: Me, a gamer, wanting to keep my fellows away from where I live? Never! 

Before D&D was published the basement of my house was a weekend gaming hotspot—as of c. 1967 or so mainly for miniatures on the sand table there. When the first dungeon forays were staged upstairs, the winter of 1972, the dining room became a popular gaming spot most days of the week. To avoid spousal wrath, we soon moved RPG activity to the basement, playing on a flat table that replaced the one covered with sand. 

At the same time, I received many letters and phone calls each day, all having to do with the draft manuscript of the D&D game I had mailed to fellows across the country. These resulted in my revising the draft from 50 pages length to 150 pages in the early summer of 1973—essentially what was published. 

At around that time we ran D&D sessions four or five times a week, and sometimes 20 players would show up! That’s when I talked rob Kuntz into co-DMing the Greyhawk Campaign with me. Just too many PCs for one guy to manage. 

Although there was a lot of turnover in the player group—a small group of friends would play with us for a time, then go off to start their own campaign—the attendance at game sessions there in my basement remained very high through 1975. Thereafter, we had to kick most out because we were also running the company from the same place, my little office-studio above, and the basement. 

W: My brother and I were wondering if Mordenkainen or Bigby were started as PC’s. If so, who played them? 

GG: Mordenkainen was my first magic-user PC, as a matter of fact. In a fairly early stage of his adventuring career, Mordenkainen encountered a NPC in a dungeon, used Charm Person, and thus gained an apprentice. Bigby was then only 3rd level. After having him as a flunky for a fair number of adventures, I started playing Bigby as my PC. 

Both Mordenkainen and Bigby remain my PCs too, although both are now into the 20s in level. I last played “Mordie” about a year ago, while Bigby has languished even more—last played about three years back. 

If you have read/played MORDENKAINEN’S FANTASTIC ADVENTURE (written by rob Kuntz), you’ll have a fair idea as to how I operated them as a killer team….although in the named adventue more killees than killers (^_^). 

====

Stay tuned for Part 2 of 2 from this interview!

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Tonight (this morning now?) I was messing with some old music creation software I have not played with in a long time and thought I would play with something D&D related. Anyway, I took a bit of DM Samuel saying “You’re listening to 4 Geeks 4e” from the latest episode of 4 Geeks 4e and made a song using it.

Anyway, they are more than welcome to use it in any way they see fit if they want to, I just thought I would share it for fun. They didn’t ask me to do anything, they just happened to get picked for my experimentation

You can listen to it here.

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Back in 2001, I ran a number of various RPG websites. For one such site, I sought out people in the industry to interview, including Gary Gygax and David “Zeb” Cook.

These interviews were published on my site at the time, but within a year, the site was taken down and before long those interviews were lost. Despite looking for them ever few years, my assumption has been that they were lost for good.

However, a few days ago while sifting through old CD’s, I found a few “data” (backup) CD’s that had old websites on them, and deep within those backups I finally found the interviews.

On Monday, I will be presenting part 1 of 2 from my 2001 interview with Gary Gygax. In this interview, you will see him answer questions from a fan (me) who was not following the industry closely yet, and was simply asking one of his heroes the questions that he had been wondering about for years.

In the interview with Zeb Cook, you will see a lot of the same thing – questions from a huge Planescape fan answered by the very man who created the setting.

I’m very excited to have found these, and look forward to sharing them soon!

This last week was awesome.

My brothers came in from out of town (a few hours away) to stay with me this last Monday through Thursday and we had a blast! One of them even ran a one-off D&D game on our typical game night (Tuesday) which was a lot of fun. He has some background in theater and I think one of the great things he brings to his games is that immersion you get when you have a DM who can act out various roles really well.

His game involved us heroes heading out to a haunted island of sorts in search of the father of a boy who went missing there. It was a horror-themed game, and done very well – everyone had such a good time we played well past the time a few of my players needed to have been heading home.

We also played some old school games including Age of Empires 2 and Imperium Galactica 2 which was a lot of fun and brought back some great memories. I also introduced them to Monday Night Combat (thanks @michaelrobles for getting me hooked on that one) which was a lot of fun as well (I seem to really enjoy the ‘Gunner’).

One of the days they were here, I had to head into the office to get some things done during which time my wife took the guys out to ride ATV’s out on the (Pismo) Dunes (I didn’t feel like going so it was good timing).

Anyway, this week was a ton of fun but we stayed up very late most nights and I am very worn out now (the fact I just finished doing a bunch of yard work doesn’t help with the resting either). I have a number of things to work on outside of this site, but I do hope to get back in here tomorrow or the next day with an update or two.

Seeya then!

I have this week off as my brothers come in from out of town – as such, things will be slow here until next weekend or so.

Just sayin’