Short notice, but Paul Stormberg is running an AMA on the Gygax IP on Reddit today from 12-2 CST.

Short notice, but Paul Stormberg is running an AMA on the Gygax IP on Reddit today from 12-2 CST. Info via Erik Tenkar

Announcement link: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/adylvq/paul_stormberg_who_is_currently_cataloguing_all/

This is the actual link where he is responding: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/ae9ef5/the_lost_treasures_of_gygax_ask_me_anything/

http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/adylvq/paul_stormberg_who_is_currently_cataloguing_all/

Gygax photo 12/77

This has circulated before, but I haven't posted it in this collection. This is Gary Gygax at work in his TSR office at 723 Williams St, Lake Geneva. Hand-dated by someone as December 1977, which is the same month the Monster Manual came out. An upside down lid of a Holmes Basic set is at the top of the pile of books behind his head. Perhaps he is working on the Players Handbook?

Watch the trailer, it features the Holmes Basic set.

Watch the trailer, it features the Holmes Basic set.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

I backed this Gygax documentary Kickstarter. 2 hours left!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dorksofyore/the-dreams-in-garys-basement-a-documentary-on-gary?ref=project_link
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dorksofyore/the-dreams-in-garys-basement-a-documentary-on-gary?ref=project_link

Stunner of the week --- the short dungeon that inspired Tomb of Horrors is actually much closer in design to the...

Stunner of the week --- the short dungeon that inspired Tomb of Horrors is actually much closer in design to the tomb in Gygax's lengthy Necropolis than it is to the actual Tomb of Horrors! This was revealed by the publication of the special edition of Arts & Arcana, which included a reprint of the original tournament version of Tomb of Horrors, and as a bonus, Alan Lucien's original dungeon that inspired it. Read about Trent's find here ---

https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2018/10/d-review-art-arcana-first-impressions.html

Allan Grohe Jon Peterson Guy Fullerton

The preview for this prominently features our dice, plus a shot of Holmes Basic at 1:05.

The preview for this prominently features our dice, plus a shot of Holmes Basic at 1:05. And Jon Peterson among others. : )

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Kickstarter for a Gygax documentary, The Dreams in Gary's Basement, by Dorks of Yore/Pat Kilbane. Includes a 2:42 minute preview. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dorksofyore/the-dreams-in-garys-basement-a-documentary-on-gary
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dorksofyore/the-dreams-in-garys-basement-a-documentary-on-gary

Gygax tribute mini from Bear Miniatures. h/t Mark Hunt

Gygax tribute mini from Bear Miniatures. h/t Mark Hunt
This is a painted version of the unpainted resin mini. Unfortunately appears to be out-of-stock. edit: unpainted mini appears to be metal, see video below.

https://www.bearsheadminis.com/store/p35/Games_Knight._Dungeon_Master_miniature..html

April 1976 Gygax Correspondence

April 1976 Gygax correspondence posted on the Acaeum (with the recipient's info redacted). Dig the Lizard Logo letterhead!

Read more here -
https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?cache=1&p=293693&c=1#p293693

Gygax D&D revision plans from early '77, including the "beginner's guide"

Gygax D&D revision plans from early '77, including the "beginner's guide"

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/gygaxs-d-revision-plans-1977.html

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/gygaxs-d-revision-plans-1977.html

A new blog post from yesterday for 'Gygax Day' (which was Friday).

A new blog post from yesterday for 'Gygax Day' (which was Friday). A compilation of actual play reports from Gygax himself, and it is an old school dungeon crawl.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

For Gygax's 80th birthday anniversary, I've collected his 2002 play-test reports for the "Dungeon Delving" portion of the module the Hall of Many Panes, originally posted to his gygax-games mailing. These are still publicly available in a yahoo groups archive, but are hard to find and cumbersome to read in that format.

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/07/gygax-dungeon-delving-playtest.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/07/gygax-dungeon-delving-playtest.html

Words to live by.

Words to live by.
(Gary Gygax in Europa zine 6-8, April 1975)

The template for your next Gygaxian dungeon level!

The template for your next Gygaxian dungeon level!

Originally shared by Jeff Rients

Four or five years ago I scanned this page from Le Corbusier's The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale Universally applicable to Architecture and Mechanics. I can't shake the feeling that it could be useful when designing a dungeon.

Gary Gygax at work in his TSR office at 723 Williams Street (per ErnieGygax on FB) in Lake Geneva, WI.

Gary Gygax at work in his TSR office at 723 Williams Street (per Ernie Gygax on FB) in Lake Geneva, WI. Dated 12/77, so after Holmes Basic and just around when the Monster Manual came out. Perhaps he is at work on the Players Handbook?

Originally shared by Grand DM

Gary Gygax at work in his office (1977). That giant coffee mug is definitely +5.

OD&D stats for Mordenkainen, as written up by Gygax in 1974. Courtesy Jon Peterson

OD&D stats for Mordenkainen, as written up by Gygax in 1974. Courtesy Jon Peterson

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2018/06/mordenkainen-in-1974-and-today.html

A little Gygaxian detail I never put together before: the Guest Chamber (room 60) in the Shrink of Evil Chaos in the...

A little Gygaxian detail I never put together before: the Guest Chamber (room 60) in the Shrink of Evil Chaos in the Caves of Chaos has a "polished mirror" hidden under a "velvet cloth". Gygax presumably placed this here because nearby is the captive medusa (Cell, room 64).

This article from The Dragon #22 (Feb 1979) is interesting because itcites an impressive sales figure for HOLMES'...

Olde House Rules wrote:

This article from The Dragon #22 (Feb 1979) is interesting because it cites an impressive sales figure for HOLMES' BASIC of 4,000 a month! But it's also prescient with respect to the role computers would eventually play, although it appears Gygax never anticipated edition wars and the like. To quote the master...

"I envision only minor expansions and some rules amending on a gradual, edition to edition, basis..."

Yeah, good luck with that, Gary. Anyway, this really speaks to the mainstreaming of D&D back in the day and how TSR worked to make it happen! These dispatches are a fascinating read for sure...

Trent with AD&D write-ups of two late/post TSR Gygaxian monsters, the Losel and the T'roul (aka Thoul)

Trent with AD&D write-ups of two late/post TSR Gygaxian monsters, the Losel and the T'roul (aka Thoul)

https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2018/02/d-lost-gygax-monsters-part-1.html

Jon Peterson​ on Gygax's pre-D&D galactic conquest campaign, War of the Empires.

Jon Peterson​ on Gygax's pre-D&D galactic conquest campaign, War of the Empires. Includes a Greatest Empire, analogous to the Great Kingdom of Greyhawk

Originally shared by Jon Peterson

Before the Great Kingdom there was the "Greatest Empire" of Gygax's "War of the Empires" (1969), a space conquest game that was a key precursor to 4X games.

That Gary Gygax loved puns and anagrams is well established, as is the fact that I frequently miss examples of them...

Originally shared by James Maliszewski

That Gary Gygax loved puns and anagrams is well established, as is the fact that I frequently miss examples of them that have been staring me in the face for, literally, decades.

Re-reading Gary's Gamma World module Legion of Gold, I only just now recognized the significance of the name, Jemmas, Warder of the Barony of Horn.

I am an idiot.

Audio of Gygax Television Appearance Nov 79

From the era when Holmes was the intro game! This appearance probably helped drive sales of the Basic set for Christmas '79.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

This is a real treat! Jon Peterson has found an audio recording of Gary's appearance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow in November 1979. At the time Tomorrow was the late-night talk show that followed the Tonight show (so essentially the forerunner of Letterman). Gary was in his prime (41), and it shows in his voice - it's much less gravelly than what I've heard from the rare '00s recordings available on youtube. AD&D was "complete" - TSR had just published the DMG back in August. D&D was becoming a cultural phenomenon; this is also just a few months after D&D came to national attention when it was (wrongly) thought to be involved in the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert from mid-Aug to mid-Sep.

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2017/12/gary-gygax-on-tomorrow-with-tom-snyder.html

The audio is better than I expected from a home recording off the TV, and Jon helpfully provides a transcript of the entire show.

A new post on the blog, looking at Gygax's dungeon level from the Hall of Many Panes (2005).

A new post on the blog, looking at Gygax's dungeon level from the Hall of Many Panes (2005).

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

A look a late-era Gygax dungeon level harking back to his earliest designs:

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/12/gygaxs-dungeon-level-from-hall-of-many.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/12/gygaxs-dungeon-level-from-hall-of-many.html