Q: "Of the characters you have played, which is your favorite?" Gygax: "I really must admit Mordenkainen is my favorite. I enjoy playing fighters, rangers, thieves, clerics, and multi-classed sorts in OAD&D, but the magic-user is usually most fun for me". Johnson, Joel (2008-03-04). "Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview". Boing Boing Gadgets. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
Q: "In Dragon 315, Jim Ward talks about the origins of the Greyhawk setting, and is quoted as having said: 'He [Gygax] had the whole world mapped out'. Does this mean you have material about the rest of Oerth hidden in your basement?" Gygax: "Yes, I had a sketch map of the remainder of the globe..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 33)". EN World. 2005-06-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The exact form of the remainder of the globe was not settled upon. I wanted an Atlantis-like continent, and possibly a Lemurian-type one. Likely two large continents would have been added. The nearest would house cultures akin to the Indian, Burmese, Indonesian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Japanese. Another would likely have been the location of African-type cultures, including the Egyptian. A Lemurian culture would have been based on the Central and South American cultures of the Aztec-Mayay-Inca sort"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)". EN World. 2003-04-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was asked to create a campaign setting for TSR to market, I did a new and compact "world"—that only in part, of course, as that was all I could fit onto the two maps allowed. So that became the World of Greyhawk". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I found out the maximum map size TSR could produce, got the go-ahead for two maps of that size, then sat down for a couple of weeks and hand-drew the whole thing. After the maps were done and the features shown were named, I wrote up brief information of the features and states. Much of the information was drawn from my own personal world, but altered to fit the new one depicted on the maps"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Of course as my campaign world was active, had many players, I did not wish to detail it [for the general public], so I created Oerth, the continent of Oerik, and all that went with it for general use by other DMs. I found I liked it so well that I switched my group's play to the World of Greyhawk soon after I had finished the maps and manuscript". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 11)". EN World. 2006-06-04. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The reception of fantasy elements in the medieval tabletop wargame was incredibly enthusiastic by about 90% of the old group. Lee Tucker dismissed it, and me. Mike Reese and Jeff Perren were not captivated by giants hurling boulders and dragons breathing fire and lightning bolts, nor did wizards with spells, heroes and superheroes with magic armor and swords prove compelling to them"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 41)". EN World. 2005-07-03. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I would use my point buys to take a superhero in magic armor, with a magic sword, backed up by a wizard with fireball spells. The superhero would assail the mass of enemy troops, and when they gathered round to attack him the wizard would drop a fireball on the lot. The superhero was very likely to come out unscathed, much to the fury of my opponents"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 2)". EN World. 2003-04-06. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Dave Arneson and I met at a Gen Con here in Lake Geneva around 1968, and with Mike Carr we authored the Don't Give Up the Ship naval miniatures rules for the Great Age of Sail around 1971-2"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)". EN World. 2006-07-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Dave was running a man-to-man (1 figure = one person) Chainmail fantasy campaign around then, and he... came down from the Twin Cities to see us, the gaming group, in Lake Geneva in the late autumn of 1972. Arneson brought some of his campaign material with him...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)". EN World. 2006-07-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I was as much taken with the prototype of the D&D game as anyone...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 2)". EN World. 2004-02-11. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Credit Dave Arneson and Dave Megary (designer of the Dungeon! boardgame) with my concentrating on subterranean settings for the D&D game. The contained adventuring environment was perfect for establishing fixed encounters before a game session, and for developing progressively more hazardous ones as the PCs grew in their capacity to manage them"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)". EN World. 2006-06-27. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "It was in the late fall of 1972 when I completed a map of some castle ruins, noted ways down to the dungeon level (singular), and invited my 11-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to create characters and adventure. This they did, and around 9 PM ... they had to come back from such imaginary derring-do, put their index card character sheets aside, and get ready for bed. They had had a marvelous time and wanted to keep playing". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)". EN World. 2003-07-22. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
Q: "What was the first ever monster killed by a PC in D&D?" Gygax: "A giant centipede, with the 1st level PCs played by my son Ernie (fighter) and daughter Elise (cleric)". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)". EN World. 2005-08-19. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The monsters first encountered, by son Ernie's and daughter Elise's characters, were a nest of scorpions in some rubble in the very first room of the dungeon they entered. The glint of coins was mentioned to lure the incautious hand into attack proximity, but Elise's PC used a dagger to poke around, and the scorpions were spotted. Eventually one managed to sting, but the poison saving throw was made". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)". EN World. 2004-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "They next encountered and defeated a gang of kobolds with a chest of 3,000 copper pieces. Needless to say, they weren't pleased with the treasure". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)". EN World. 2004-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Later in the long session of exploration, the two intrepid adventurers came upon the lair of several kobolds, slew two and the rest fled. They found an iron chest filled with coins...several thousand copper pieces--that was too heavy to move. A big disappointment". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)". EN World. 2003-07-22. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In a couple of days time Don Kaye (Murlynd), Rob (Robilar, Otto) and Terry (Terik) Kuntz joined the gang". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2006-08-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The castle and dungeons came about a month before the first, one-page map of the City of Greyhawk"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XI, Page 21)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "An average of seven gaming sessions a week was typical even when I was busy working. Often I played more than that". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-02-26. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "There were well over 60 different players that participated in the game sessions that I ran, and that's one of the reasons that I had Rob Kuntz join me as co-DM. Many of them, the "regulars" numbering around a dozen, were there seeking daily adventure sessions, while the majority of the others showed up to play on weekends. sometimes there were over 20 D&D gamers ghathered [sic] in my basement". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Page 260)". EN World. 2005-12-05. Archived from the original on 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
Gygax: "When I initiated the Greyhawk campaign, I envisaged a world of parallel earth sort. Thus the geography then assumed was pretty close to that of earth. Being busy running game sessions, creating dungeon levels, the map of Greyhawk City, writing new material, and also really enjoying 'winging it', I never did a large-scale map for the world". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The planet was much like our earth. The city of Greyhawk was located on the [Great] lakes in about the position that Chicago is, and Dyvers was north at the Milwaukee location. The general culture was pseudo medieval European. Some of the kingdoms shown on the WoG map were around the adventure-central area, the City of Greyhawk". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 4)". EN World. 2003-04-14. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was using the pre-World of Greyhawk map for my world setting, the West Coast of North America was the Pleistocene region inhabited by savage cavemen and their contemporary fauna". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 45)". EN World. 2005-07-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Zagyg is based on a sort of joke--me as the mad designer of Greyhawk Castle and its dungeons. After all, how else could such a place exist? "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 18)". EN World. 2002-09-20. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Rob, playing Robilar solo, delved into the dungeon, made it. Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13. Then Terry Kuntz noted both of his usual companions were not available to play, went forth with Terik, and made the lowest level successfully... No other players in the group managed that". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When a character got down to this level there was no going back. The one managing that was given an appropriate reward then sent on a giant, one-way slide clear through to the other side of the world". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I enlisted Rob as co-DM for my campaign too, as it took two of us to manage the large player groups, and also to run all the game sessions demanded by smaller parties. Often times there were two long sessions a day in 1974 and 1975. I had to write material, so Rob ran many of them". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When, after a couple of years of time, Rob became my co-DM, there was a massive alteration in the upper works of the castle, a whole, massive new 1st level was created, and then the level plan for the expanded lower levels of the dungeon was created anew, with the original levels of my making incorporated with those of Rob's dungeons, plus a number of new ones we created to fill the whole scheme". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I ceased the campaign in 1985 when I severed all times with TSR. I have used it on occasion since, of course, but not for regular, ongoing play". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 34)". EN World. 2007-03-02. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "I'm curious as to, in the early D&D games, how much character and personality did the players put into the PC's?" Gygax: "The main thrust for most players back then was the action, so a few PCs were unnamed, and we referred to them rather caustically as 'Joe's fighter' or 'Bob's cleric'. The core group, the regulars, were much more concerned with developing their PCs, interacting with each other and some NPCs in character"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 7)". EN World. 2005-02-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "Did you make up named spells like Melf's acid arrow, Otiluke's resilient sphere and Mordenkainen's disjunction yourself, or did these come from player research?" Gygax: "All of those spells I made up, usually to honor a PC in my campaign, or for the person who suggested the basis.... Melf [Melf's acid arrow] was a PC of son Luke..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 6)". EN World. 2003-05-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)". EN World. 2004-03-26. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In general most of the players, myself included when initially adventuring and not DMing, thought little of the PC's name, but more about what thrilling things would transpire. Thus my first character was named Yrag...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 14)". EN World. 2006-06-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The strange wands that Murlynd used made a loud noise and delivered a damaging missile, but neither effect was due to gunpowder. These were very rare magic items devised by Murlynd's arcane understanding of technology and how to make it function magically". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 13)". EN World. 2003-11-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Mordenkainen came into being about the first month of 1973". "Gary Gygax: Q & A". EN World. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The background I created for Mordenkainen was Finnish-like in nature.... I really was captivated with Finnish myth after seeing a B&W movie done by the Russians, I think, about [Vainomoinen], Leminkainen, and Ilmarinen adventuring to Pojola and entering Louhi's fortress, then reading The Green Magician by de Camp and Pratt as well as the Kalevala". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)". EN World. 2006-06-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I do believe that Mordenkainen earned his twenty-something levels through cleverness, daring, a bit of luck, and dint of trying..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)". EN World. 2006-06-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Mordenkainen was adventuring in Rob's dungeon when he surprised a 3rd level magic-user of Evil persuasion. Mordie's charm spell worked on that worthy, whose name turned out to be Bigby. By dint of fellowship, lecturing, mentoring, and sharing with Bigby, he was not only turned from [Evil] to Neutral, but from there to a leaning towards [Good] as he considered his past actions". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 24)". EN World. 2006-08-08. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "I heard a story which made it sound like Bigy was an NPC that you charmed and [who] later became your PC". Gygax: "Mordenkainen did indeed manage to get the drop on Bigby, [and] charm him. At the time Bigby was a 3rd-level [Evil] dungeon dweller. By word and deed Mordie brought him around from [Evil] to [Neutral], and thus Bigby became his apprentice. I got to roll the stats for that character after Rob [Kuntz] determined he was a loyal henchman of Mordenkainen". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 3)". EN World. 2005-02-19. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "[Rary] was one that Brian Blume created early in the D&D cycle, a magic-user that Brian wanted to work up to 3rd level so as to introduce him as 'Medium Rary.' When he gained that level Brian quit playing that PC, and pretty much dropped out of regularly playing D&D in fact"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 7)". EN World. 2006-05-29. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The original [Circle of Eight] was composed of my PCs--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Felnorith, Zigby, Vram & Vin. In the novel version the Circle was expanded to encompass other PCs in my campaign such as Tenser. It came into being because Mordenkainen and Associates had a lot of wealth stored up from successful adventuring, located a place for a stronghold deep in enemy territory to assure plenty of action, and then went to work building the citadel". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-01. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As there was a small army of dwarves associated with the larger, mounted field army, the building project went relatively quickly, about three game years to complete". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-01. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel was indeed my personal creation as a player.... It was an octagonal castle with eight wall towers and a central keep with much space between the outer wall and the inner works because of the number of troops housed in this fortress". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)". EN World. 2004-03-26. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel and its Circle of Eight was original to my own campaign. When Mordenkainen was at a level I considered too high for normal adventuring, I used the money he and his associates had amassed to construct the said fortress". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 17)". EN World. 2003-07-08. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "St. Cuthbert was more of a joke than otherwise. Consider the advocacy of pounding sense into someone's head by dint of blows from a club". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 4)". EN World. 2006-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The development of anything akin to a logical pantheon of deities for the world setting took a considerable period of time to complete because we seldom dealt with such entities in play. St. Cuthbert and Pholtus were amusing to the players with cleric PCs so I spent time detailing them. The balance then followed as I brought into play evil deities to serve as villains and to frustrate the aims of the PCs". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 5)". EN World. 2005-02-24. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I initially began creating adventure material I assumed that the GMs utilizing the work would prefer substance without window dressing, the latter being properly the realm of the GM so as to suit the campaign world and player group". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 40)". EN World. 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As I was running a game with a large number of players involved, I really didn't want to supply them with the whole world on a platter". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was asked by TSR to do my World of Greyhawk as a commercial product I was taken aback. I had assumed most DMs would far prefer to use their own world settings". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In regards to the timeline for the WoG setting, I had no immediate plan for advancing it as the world was meant to be used by all DMs so desirous, each making it conform to his own campaign needs". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)". EN World. 2007-04-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In general the player groups in my campaign were not much interested in politics and warfare. When I played my PCs, I was always meddling in politics and had a large army, so some warfare was played out with Rob as the DM". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)". EN World. 2004-01-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Greyhawk was set up to enable both political play and large-scale warfare...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)". EN World. 2004-01-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The relatively low level of NPCs, and the balance between alignments was done on purpose so as facilitate the use of the world setting by all DMs. With a basically neutral environment, the direction of the individual campaign was squarely in the hands of the DM running it... That was done because to my way of thinking dominance by one alignment group tends to restrict the potential for adventuring". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I must accept the blame, of course, as I okayed the material. Of course, being a DM who always flew by the seat of his pants, I never used [the tables]... When I was running a game the weather was what I said it was". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 15)". EN World. 2005-01-06. Archived from the original on 2005-01-18. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Had I remained in creative control of the D&D game line at TSR one of the projects I planned was the complete development of the Oerth world setting, and production of source nodules for the various states and outstanding features of the Flanaess—such as the Roft Canyon, the Sea of Dust, etc.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 12)". EN World. 2006-09-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "What direction would have Greyhawk gone? How different would it be today?" Gygax: "There would be a complete globe with more continents and states thereon". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)". EN World. 2003-04-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: I did intend to expand the WoG setting to cover the complete planet... No real work had been done on this project, though, when I parted from TSR at the end of 1985". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)". EN World. 2004-02-29. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I had plans to create material detailing the various states and major terrain features of the world setting, as well as completing the world with a second boxed set"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 10)". EN World. 2007-04-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Francois had a map of a continent and some islands to the east, and they were going to be added. The "Orient" was actually to be past them, closer to the West Coast of Oerik... Len Lakofka had an eastern continental addition as well as the Lendore Isles, so what I planned to so was incorporate Francois' and Len's maps with Oerik, complete the lower continent below it, and have a real globe". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)". EN World. 2005-03-03. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I was alerted to a problem: Kevin Blume was shopping TSR on the street in New York City. I flew back from the West Coast, and discovered the corporation was in debt to the bank the tune of circa $1.5 million". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 28)". EN World. 2007-01-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Later TSR and [Wizards of the Coast] approaches to and treatment of the Greyhawk setting was quite contrary to the purpose for which I intended it when it was created". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)". EN World. 2007-04-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The original map of Greyhawk city was one sheet of graph paper with colored boxes indicating various places where PC would go--inns & taverns, armorers, money changers & banks, gemners & jewelers, city buildings, guilds, etc. That was expanded to two, then four map sheets, with the thieves' quarter and Rob's Green Dragon Inn shown". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, page 2)". EN World. 2004-02-13. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2)". EN World. 2004-11-19. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus side adjuncts, and the 'New Greyhawk Castle' that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new levels too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding... I hope". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)". EN World. 2005-12-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "...the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use. What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)". EN World. 2005-12-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "What our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Yggsburgh was a pain in the rump to write because I wanted to include as much detail as possible for the GM interested in using it as a campaign base. So there are sections on history, costume, monetary system and economy of the area, and complete descriptions of the town, its main locations, and the outstanding geographical areas all with encounters or suggestions for same". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)". EN World. 2005-02-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Rob has finished his add on module, but i have not been up to doing the work needed to create the upper works of the castle proper, let alone the dungeon levels below them. When my oldest friend died in late November, it was quite a setback for me. Anyway, I am feeling a good deal better if late, and I will attempt real creative work as soon as I feel up to it--likely March". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)". EN World. 2005-02-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Arneson: "We were in correspondence with the group from Lake Geneva through the Napoleonic Campaigns at that time, so we mentioned that we were doing fantasy stuff on alternate weekends and they became very interested in it". "Interview with Dave Arneson". Pegasus (1). Judges Guild. April–May 1981. Archived from the original on 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
"Robilar was one of the first to make it around the Oerth. By entering the lowest level in Greyhawk Castle, he was propelled by a magical slide to what would be modern day 'China'. Teric and Tenser followed, as they missed his return to the first level of the Castle, which, as a team, this trio held sway over. They caught up with him by scrying and they finished the adventure together". Kuntz, Robert J.; Behringer, Douglas J. "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
Kuntz: "Gary was none too happy with Robilar's adventure beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil. Robilar had a great time dismembering creatures, crunching things and watching Gary's look of consternation grow with every toppled column. The final straw was the releasing of Zuggtmoy. The DM's vendetta pursued Robilar all the way back to his castle, which he was forced to abandon". "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Pied Piper Publishing. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "Robilar, along with Teric and Tenser, formed a triumvirate and took over the first level of Castle Greyhawk for a while. They barracked their respective forces there and guarded ingress and egress, using the location as a base for further adventures deep within the sprawling castle complex". "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Pied Piper Publishing. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Gygax: "As the members began to get tired of medieval games, and I wasn't, I decided to add fantasy elements to the mix, such as a dragon that had a fire-breath weapon, a 'hero' that was worth four normal warriors, a wizard who could cast fireballs (the range and hit diameter of a large catapult) and lightning bolts (the range and hit area of a cannon), and so forth. I converted a plastic stegosaurus into a pretty fair dragon, as there were no models of them around in those days"."Industry Insights: The RPGnet Interviews - Interview with Gary Gygax, part 1 of 3". RPGNet. 2001-05-01. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
Q: "What was the largest party Robilar ever adventured with (I mean, with other player characters)?" Kuntz: "Probably 6-7 in the earlier days. That then was too much for my wants, which spurred me to seek solo adventures when possible". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar Q & A". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-05-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Q: "In Dragon 315, Jim Ward talks about the origins of the Greyhawk setting, and is quoted as having said: 'He [Gygax] had the whole world mapped out'. Does this mean you have material about the rest of Oerth hidden in your basement?" Gygax: "Yes, I had a sketch map of the remainder of the globe..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 33)". EN World. 2005-06-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The exact form of the remainder of the globe was not settled upon. I wanted an Atlantis-like continent, and possibly a Lemurian-type one. Likely two large continents would have been added. The nearest would house cultures akin to the Indian, Burmese, Indonesian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Japanese. Another would likely have been the location of African-type cultures, including the Egyptian. A Lemurian culture would have been based on the Central and South American cultures of the Aztec-Mayay-Inca sort"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)". EN World. 2003-04-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was asked to create a campaign setting for TSR to market, I did a new and compact "world"—that only in part, of course, as that was all I could fit onto the two maps allowed. So that became the World of Greyhawk". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I found out the maximum map size TSR could produce, got the go-ahead for two maps of that size, then sat down for a couple of weeks and hand-drew the whole thing. After the maps were done and the features shown were named, I wrote up brief information of the features and states. Much of the information was drawn from my own personal world, but altered to fit the new one depicted on the maps"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Of course as my campaign world was active, had many players, I did not wish to detail it [for the general public], so I created Oerth, the continent of Oerik, and all that went with it for general use by other DMs. I found I liked it so well that I switched my group's play to the World of Greyhawk soon after I had finished the maps and manuscript". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 11)". EN World. 2006-06-04. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The reception of fantasy elements in the medieval tabletop wargame was incredibly enthusiastic by about 90% of the old group. Lee Tucker dismissed it, and me. Mike Reese and Jeff Perren were not captivated by giants hurling boulders and dragons breathing fire and lightning bolts, nor did wizards with spells, heroes and superheroes with magic armor and swords prove compelling to them"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 41)". EN World. 2005-07-03. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I would use my point buys to take a superhero in magic armor, with a magic sword, backed up by a wizard with fireball spells. The superhero would assail the mass of enemy troops, and when they gathered round to attack him the wizard would drop a fireball on the lot. The superhero was very likely to come out unscathed, much to the fury of my opponents"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 2)". EN World. 2003-04-06. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Arneson: "See, I had this neat German plastic kit [of a castle]. Oddly enough, even though it was actually a German kit, years later I learned that it was actually a model of a castle in Sicily. But when I started, I was thinking German".Jones, Jeremy L.C. (April 2009). "Interview with Dave Arneson". Kobold Quarterly (9). Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
Arneson: "[The concept of a fantasy campaign] just grew and shortly [the plastic castle] was too small for the scale I wanted. But it was a neat kit and I didn't want to abandon it, so the only way to go was down [into the dungeons]. All this happened a few weeks before the first adventurers caught sight of it".Jones, Jeremy L.C. (April 2009). "Interview with Dave Arneson". Kobold Quarterly (9). Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
Gygax: "Dave Arneson and I met at a Gen Con here in Lake Geneva around 1968, and with Mike Carr we authored the Don't Give Up the Ship naval miniatures rules for the Great Age of Sail around 1971-2"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)". EN World. 2006-07-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Arneson: "We were in correspondence with the group from Lake Geneva through the Napoleonic Campaigns at that time, so we mentioned that we were doing fantasy stuff on alternate weekends and they became very interested in it". "Interview with Dave Arneson". Pegasus (1). Judges Guild. April–May 1981. Archived from the original on 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Dave was running a man-to-man (1 figure = one person) Chainmail fantasy campaign around then, and he... came down from the Twin Cities to see us, the gaming group, in Lake Geneva in the late autumn of 1972. Arneson brought some of his campaign material with him...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)". EN World. 2006-07-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I was as much taken with the prototype of the D&D game as anyone...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 2)". EN World. 2004-02-11. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Credit Dave Arneson and Dave Megary (designer of the Dungeon! boardgame) with my concentrating on subterranean settings for the D&D game. The contained adventuring environment was perfect for establishing fixed encounters before a game session, and for developing progressively more hazardous ones as the PCs grew in their capacity to manage them"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)". EN World. 2006-06-27. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "It was in the late fall of 1972 when I completed a map of some castle ruins, noted ways down to the dungeon level (singular), and invited my 11-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to create characters and adventure. This they did, and around 9 PM ... they had to come back from such imaginary derring-do, put their index card character sheets aside, and get ready for bed. They had had a marvelous time and wanted to keep playing". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)". EN World. 2003-07-22. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
Q: "What was the first ever monster killed by a PC in D&D?" Gygax: "A giant centipede, with the 1st level PCs played by my son Ernie (fighter) and daughter Elise (cleric)". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)". EN World. 2005-08-19. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The monsters first encountered, by son Ernie's and daughter Elise's characters, were a nest of scorpions in some rubble in the very first room of the dungeon they entered. The glint of coins was mentioned to lure the incautious hand into attack proximity, but Elise's PC used a dagger to poke around, and the scorpions were spotted. Eventually one managed to sting, but the poison saving throw was made". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)". EN World. 2004-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "They next encountered and defeated a gang of kobolds with a chest of 3,000 copper pieces. Needless to say, they weren't pleased with the treasure". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)". EN World. 2004-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Later in the long session of exploration, the two intrepid adventurers came upon the lair of several kobolds, slew two and the rest fled. They found an iron chest filled with coins...several thousand copper pieces--that was too heavy to move. A big disappointment". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)". EN World. 2003-07-22. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In a couple of days time Don Kaye (Murlynd), Rob (Robilar, Otto) and Terry (Terik) Kuntz joined the gang". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2006-08-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The castle and dungeons came about a month before the first, one-page map of the City of Greyhawk"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XI, Page 21)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "An average of seven gaming sessions a week was typical even when I was busy working. Often I played more than that". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-02-26. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "There were well over 60 different players that participated in the game sessions that I ran, and that's one of the reasons that I had Rob Kuntz join me as co-DM. Many of them, the "regulars" numbering around a dozen, were there seeking daily adventure sessions, while the majority of the others showed up to play on weekends. sometimes there were over 20 D&D gamers ghathered [sic] in my basement". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Page 260)". EN World. 2005-12-05. Archived from the original on 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
Gygax: "When I initiated the Greyhawk campaign, I envisaged a world of parallel earth sort. Thus the geography then assumed was pretty close to that of earth. Being busy running game sessions, creating dungeon levels, the map of Greyhawk City, writing new material, and also really enjoying 'winging it', I never did a large-scale map for the world". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The planet was much like our earth. The city of Greyhawk was located on the [Great] lakes in about the position that Chicago is, and Dyvers was north at the Milwaukee location. The general culture was pseudo medieval European. Some of the kingdoms shown on the WoG map were around the adventure-central area, the City of Greyhawk". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 4)". EN World. 2003-04-14. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was using the pre-World of Greyhawk map for my world setting, the West Coast of North America was the Pleistocene region inhabited by savage cavemen and their contemporary fauna". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 45)". EN World. 2005-07-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Zagyg is based on a sort of joke--me as the mad designer of Greyhawk Castle and its dungeons. After all, how else could such a place exist? "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 18)". EN World. 2002-09-20. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Rob, playing Robilar solo, delved into the dungeon, made it. Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13. Then Terry Kuntz noted both of his usual companions were not available to play, went forth with Terik, and made the lowest level successfully... No other players in the group managed that". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When a character got down to this level there was no going back. The one managing that was given an appropriate reward then sent on a giant, one-way slide clear through to the other side of the world". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
"Robilar was one of the first to make it around the Oerth. By entering the lowest level in Greyhawk Castle, he was propelled by a magical slide to what would be modern day 'China'. Teric and Tenser followed, as they missed his return to the first level of the Castle, which, as a team, this trio held sway over. They caught up with him by scrying and they finished the adventure together". Kuntz, Robert J.; Behringer, Douglas J. "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
Gygax: "I enlisted Rob as co-DM for my campaign too, as it took two of us to manage the large player groups, and also to run all the game sessions demanded by smaller parties. Often times there were two long sessions a day in 1974 and 1975. I had to write material, so Rob ran many of them". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)". EN World. 2002-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When, after a couple of years of time, Rob became my co-DM, there was a massive alteration in the upper works of the castle, a whole, massive new 1st level was created, and then the level plan for the expanded lower levels of the dungeon was created anew, with the original levels of my making incorporated with those of Rob's dungeons, plus a number of new ones we created to fill the whole scheme". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I ceased the campaign in 1985 when I severed all times with TSR. I have used it on occasion since, of course, but not for regular, ongoing play". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 34)". EN World. 2007-03-02. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "I'm curious as to, in the early D&D games, how much character and personality did the players put into the PC's?" Gygax: "The main thrust for most players back then was the action, so a few PCs were unnamed, and we referred to them rather caustically as 'Joe's fighter' or 'Bob's cleric'. The core group, the regulars, were much more concerned with developing their PCs, interacting with each other and some NPCs in character"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 7)". EN World. 2005-02-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "Did you make up named spells like Melf's acid arrow, Otiluke's resilient sphere and Mordenkainen's disjunction yourself, or did these come from player research?" Gygax: "All of those spells I made up, usually to honor a PC in my campaign, or for the person who suggested the basis.... Melf [Melf's acid arrow] was a PC of son Luke..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 6)". EN World. 2003-05-02. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)". EN World. 2004-03-26. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In general most of the players, myself included when initially adventuring and not DMing, thought little of the PC's name, but more about what thrilling things would transpire. Thus my first character was named Yrag...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 14)". EN World. 2006-06-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Kuntz: "Don was a great fan of the Western and an avid supporter of the Boot Hill rules". "Robilar Remembers: Murlynd". Pied Piper Publishing. 2004-10-18. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
Gygax: "The strange wands that Murlynd used made a loud noise and delivered a damaging missile, but neither effect was due to gunpowder. These were very rare magic items devised by Murlynd's arcane understanding of technology and how to make it function magically". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 13)". EN World. 2003-11-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "What was the largest party Robilar ever adventured with (I mean, with other player characters)?" Kuntz: "Probably 6-7 in the earlier days. That then was too much for my wants, which spurred me to seek solo adventures when possible". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar Q & A". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-05-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "Gary was none too happy with Robilar's adventure beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil. Robilar had a great time dismembering creatures, crunching things and watching Gary's look of consternation grow with every toppled column. The final straw was the releasing of Zuggtmoy. The DM's vendetta pursued Robilar all the way back to his castle, which he was forced to abandon". "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Pied Piper Publishing. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "Losing my castle was a major defeat, but I decided to abandon it because [Gygax] was noticeably intent on getting even with me for the Temple of Elemental Evil sacking I'd perpetrated". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "The city, at the instigation of those Good forces, especially Tenser, had [the Green Dragon] confiscated". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "Robilar, along with Teric and Tenser, formed a triumvirate and took over the first level of Castle Greyhawk for a while. They barracked their respective forces there and guarded ingress and egress, using the location as a base for further adventures deep within the sprawling castle complex". "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co". Pied Piper Publishing. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Gygax: "Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-05-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Mordenkainen came into being about the first month of 1973". "Gary Gygax: Q & A". EN World. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The background I created for Mordenkainen was Finnish-like in nature.... I really was captivated with Finnish myth after seeing a B&W movie done by the Russians, I think, about [Vainomoinen], Leminkainen, and Ilmarinen adventuring to Pojola and entering Louhi's fortress, then reading The Green Magician by de Camp and Pratt as well as the Kalevala". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)". EN World. 2006-06-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I do believe that Mordenkainen earned his twenty-something levels through cleverness, daring, a bit of luck, and dint of trying..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)". EN World. 2006-06-13. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Mordenkainen was adventuring in Rob's dungeon when he surprised a 3rd level magic-user of Evil persuasion. Mordie's charm spell worked on that worthy, whose name turned out to be Bigby. By dint of fellowship, lecturing, mentoring, and sharing with Bigby, he was not only turned from [Evil] to Neutral, but from there to a leaning towards [Good] as he considered his past actions". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 24)". EN World. 2006-08-08. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "I heard a story which made it sound like Bigy was an NPC that you charmed and [who] later became your PC". Gygax: "Mordenkainen did indeed manage to get the drop on Bigby, [and] charm him. At the time Bigby was a 3rd-level [Evil] dungeon dweller. By word and deed Mordie brought him around from [Evil] to [Neutral], and thus Bigby became his apprentice. I got to roll the stats for that character after Rob [Kuntz] determined he was a loyal henchman of Mordenkainen". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 3)". EN World. 2005-02-19. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "[Rary] was one that Brian Blume created early in the D&D cycle, a magic-user that Brian wanted to work up to 3rd level so as to introduce him as 'Medium Rary.' When he gained that level Brian quit playing that PC, and pretty much dropped out of regularly playing D&D in fact"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 7)". EN World. 2006-05-29. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The original [Circle of Eight] was composed of my PCs--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Felnorith, Zigby, Vram & Vin. In the novel version the Circle was expanded to encompass other PCs in my campaign such as Tenser. It came into being because Mordenkainen and Associates had a lot of wealth stored up from successful adventuring, located a place for a stronghold deep in enemy territory to assure plenty of action, and then went to work building the citadel". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-01. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As there was a small army of dwarves associated with the larger, mounted field army, the building project went relatively quickly, about three game years to complete". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-01. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel was indeed my personal creation as a player.... It was an octagonal castle with eight wall towers and a central keep with much space between the outer wall and the inner works because of the number of troops housed in this fortress". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)". EN World. 2004-03-26. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel and its Circle of Eight was original to my own campaign. When Mordenkainen was at a level I considered too high for normal adventuring, I used the money he and his associates had amassed to construct the said fortress". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 17)". EN World. 2003-07-08. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Kuntz: "Before [Gygax] codified the gods there [were] Norse Gods... Robilar really only mentioned Odin once or twice; Mornard's Gronan as well as Ratners's Ayelerach both swore by Crom". "Robilar Remembers: Goddess of Luck?". Pied Piper Publishing. 2002-11-20. Archived from the original on 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
Gygax: "St. Cuthbert was more of a joke than otherwise. Consider the advocacy of pounding sense into someone's head by dint of blows from a club". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 4)". EN World. 2006-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The development of anything akin to a logical pantheon of deities for the world setting took a considerable period of time to complete because we seldom dealt with such entities in play. St. Cuthbert and Pholtus were amusing to the players with cleric PCs so I spent time detailing them. The balance then followed as I brought into play evil deities to serve as villains and to frustrate the aims of the PCs". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 5)". EN World. 2005-02-24. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I initially began creating adventure material I assumed that the GMs utilizing the work would prefer substance without window dressing, the latter being properly the realm of the GM so as to suit the campaign world and player group". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 40)". EN World. 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As I was running a game with a large number of players involved, I really didn't want to supply them with the whole world on a platter". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "When I was asked by TSR to do my World of Greyhawk as a commercial product I was taken aback. I had assumed most DMs would far prefer to use their own world settings". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In regards to the timeline for the WoG setting, I had no immediate plan for advancing it as the world was meant to be used by all DMs so desirous, each making it conform to his own campaign needs". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)". EN World. 2007-04-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "In general the player groups in my campaign were not much interested in politics and warfare. When I played my PCs, I was always meddling in politics and had a large army, so some warfare was played out with Rob as the DM". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)". EN World. 2004-01-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Greyhawk was set up to enable both political play and large-scale warfare...""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)". EN World. 2004-01-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The relatively low level of NPCs, and the balance between alignments was done on purpose so as facilitate the use of the world setting by all DMs. With a basically neutral environment, the direction of the individual campaign was squarely in the hands of the DM running it... That was done because to my way of thinking dominance by one alignment group tends to restrict the potential for adventuring". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)". EN World. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I must accept the blame, of course, as I okayed the material. Of course, being a DM who always flew by the seat of his pants, I never used [the tables]... When I was running a game the weather was what I said it was". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 15)". EN World. 2005-01-06. Archived from the original on 2005-01-18. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Had I remained in creative control of the D&D game line at TSR one of the projects I planned was the complete development of the Oerth world setting, and production of source nodules for the various states and outstanding features of the Flanaess—such as the Roft Canyon, the Sea of Dust, etc.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 12)". EN World. 2006-09-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "What direction would have Greyhawk gone? How different would it be today?" Gygax: "There would be a complete globe with more continents and states thereon". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)". EN World. 2003-04-05. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: I did intend to expand the WoG setting to cover the complete planet... No real work had been done on this project, though, when I parted from TSR at the end of 1985". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)". EN World. 2004-02-29. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I had plans to create material detailing the various states and major terrain features of the world setting, as well as completing the world with a second boxed set"."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 10)". EN World. 2007-04-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Francois had a map of a continent and some islands to the east, and they were going to be added. The "Orient" was actually to be past them, closer to the West Coast of Oerik... Len Lakofka had an eastern continental addition as well as the Lendore Isles, so what I planned to so was incorporate Francois' and Len's maps with Oerik, complete the lower continent below it, and have a real globe". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)". EN World. 2005-03-03. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I was alerted to a problem: Kevin Blume was shopping TSR on the street in New York City. I flew back from the West Coast, and discovered the corporation was in debt to the bank the tune of circa $1.5 million". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 28)". EN World. 2007-01-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Later TSR and [Wizards of the Coast] approaches to and treatment of the Greyhawk setting was quite contrary to the purpose for which I intended it when it was created". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)". EN World. 2007-04-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The original map of Greyhawk city was one sheet of graph paper with colored boxes indicating various places where PC would go--inns & taverns, armorers, money changers & banks, gemners & jewelers, city buildings, guilds, etc. That was expanded to two, then four map sheets, with the thieves' quarter and Rob's Green Dragon Inn shown". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, page 2)". EN World. 2004-02-13. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2)". EN World. 2004-11-19. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus side adjuncts, and the 'New Greyhawk Castle' that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new levels too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding... I hope". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)". EN World. 2005-12-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "...the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use. What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)". EN World. 2005-12-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "What our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Yggsburgh was a pain in the rump to write because I wanted to include as much detail as possible for the GM interested in using it as a campaign base. So there are sections on history, costume, monetary system and economy of the area, and complete descriptions of the town, its main locations, and the outstanding geographical areas all with encounters or suggestions for same". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)". EN World. 2005-02-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Gygax: "Rob has finished his add on module, but i have not been up to doing the work needed to create the upper works of the castle proper, let alone the dungeon levels below them. When my oldest friend died in late November, it was quite a setback for me. Anyway, I am feeling a good deal better if late, and I will attempt real creative work as soon as I feel up to it--likely March". "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)". EN World. 2005-02-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
Mizer, Nicholas J. (22 November 2019). Tabletop role-playing games and the experience of imagined worlds. Cham, Switzerland. p. 135. ISBN978-3-030-29127-3. OCLC1129162802.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
yuku.com
piedpiperpublishing.yuku.com
Kuntz: "Don was a great fan of the Western and an avid supporter of the Boot Hill rules". "Robilar Remembers: Murlynd". Pied Piper Publishing. 2004-10-18. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
Kuntz: "Losing my castle was a major defeat, but I decided to abandon it because [Gygax] was noticeably intent on getting even with me for the Temple of Elemental Evil sacking I'd perpetrated". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "The city, at the instigation of those Good forces, especially Tenser, had [the Green Dragon] confiscated". "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats". Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
Kuntz: "Before [Gygax] codified the gods there [were] Norse Gods... Robilar really only mentioned Odin once or twice; Mornard's Gronan as well as Ratners's Ayelerach both swore by Crom". "Robilar Remembers: Goddess of Luck?". Pied Piper Publishing. 2002-11-20. Archived from the original on 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
