Greyhawk Interview with Gary Gygax at Eye on Troika

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(Originally posted by Mollusken)

Eye on Troika have interviewed Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons and the World of Greyhawk. The interview is focused on the Greyhawk setting and the Temple of Elemental Evil module.

Is there a recurrent theme throughout the setting, in its history and its people? If so, what is it?

The original theme was the waves of invasion-migration into the continent by the Suloise and Oridian and Baklunish “races” who displaced and generally absorbed the original inhabitants, the Flan people. These migrations brought the invaders into conflict with each other, and even affected the geography of the continent by magical means in their wars.

How do you describe the temple itself?

The adventure is a long o*ne that requires players to use hit & run tactics often. After initial exploring is accomplished, and the first opponents dealt with, some assessment of information and planning is in order, likely done at a safe place in the nearby village. This same pattern repeats throughout the module. Based o*n that, the general description of the Temple is a campaign-length adventure of considerable complexity, with increasing challenges in both problem solving and opponents encountered. As it was originally written, players could expect a high character fatality level unless considerable caution was employed and expertise exercised. Doing the “wrong thing” is quite possible, which can cause the adventure to be a failure in terms of its mission. I never have heard from anyone who participated in its play, though, who faulted the work in regard to fun and excitement.

Read everything here.