I met Gary Gygax when I was 12 years old and the rest is history. As one of the founding members of the LGTSA (Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association), I just stayed involved in all facets of the game group, through Chainmail, to Dave Arneson's involvement, to Gary Gygax's refinements and then to a more active role in writing for it.

Did you have anything to do with how the material was created back in those early days when the game was beginning?

Why yes. When Gary and I were writing GREYHAWK, Supplement 1 for OD&D I contributed quite a bit to that. He called me one day, for instance, when I was at Don Kaye's house (the cofounder of TSR) and said he was stuck with how to make the game balanced as all of the classes at that point used 6-sided dice for hit point generation. I merely blurted out, "Well, let's stage them with the polyhedral dice, 4's for Magic-users." and so on, which is the way it finally was printed. Lots more than that, but you get the gist.

Can you remember the first adventure you were involved in and what was your character?

When the LGTSA first invited Dave Arneson down to LG to see what he had done we all roiled PCs and played for the first time, myself, Gary, Ernie Gygax and Terry, my brother, with David Meggary (designer of the DUNGEON board game), leading the adventure and us "newbies". My brother's PC got fried by a fireball and we ran from many balrogs, just to note some of it.

In Greyhawk Castle I played Robilar for the first time with Ernie Gygax, Elise Gygax and Terry. We ran around and killed some giant centipedes and left but Robilar wanted to stay the night in a room there to see what would happen and was promptly chased out by giant lizards. So much for going it alone then, but I later made up for that with great solo adventures.

What was it like being part of a role-playing group, back then, that had Gary Gygax as DM? Who else was part of those early games?

Covered somewhat above for participants, to include Don Kaye, Tom Champeney, Mike Mornard, Bill Hoyer and too many others to list. Well, we were all used to either cooperating as miniatures gamists or board gamers, or of course were opponents, so we loved the idea of Gary generating opponents for us, though we never knew what they were more than half of the time, but that was the most enchanting part about it all. 'What is it?' was a question oft-asked by the players. 'Something else to run from' was often the answer to that question. It was all new. Very important to remember today, and that's where I get my greatest influence from to keep things new while DMing or writing, btw.

How was Robilar created and what was the most favourite adventure?

I rolled him on Gary's kitchen table, and got an 18 strength to boot! Favorite adventure was to the City of the Gods, where Mordenkainen and Robilar, played by myself and EGG, respectively, were DMed by Dave Arneson in that fantastic city of his. I wrote a longish story about it, which is still kicking around the web.

When did you start writing serious RPG material?

Officially with Greyhawk, Supplement #1 to D&D.

When did you have your first serious piece of material published and what was it?

Well, Gary and I play tested the board game D-Day by Avalon Hill and published an article on that in the General Magazine in 1968 or 1969, can't remember quite when. I was given an author credit there. Above that the aforementioned supplement starts my book-publishing career.

From those early days, what was the most important piece of work that you undertook?

Greyhawk the supplement again, as it set the outline for what was to flow out of it for AD&D.

You say that your products under Pied Piper Publishing will be "old school"; what is your definition of "old school"?

It's a gaming style based upon unrestrained creative input of participants and at many levels, which is what the game was originally designed to allow, for no one could never cover every gaming or rules instance in "make believe" with a rules set. I have always pointed this out that DandD's designers were both avid historical gamists and rules designers, and that they thought having a less rigid structure in this regard is noteworthy considering their base of involvement with game design before then, which was in creating very rigidly defined rules like "Don't Give Up the Ship," or "Tractics."

The phrase Old School must be taken in context, however, for there was no such word in existence before "New School" evolved, which is where the phrase generates from. This is a separatist's view which I shun entirely, as in RPG in general there is no "one way" to do anything, taking into account variants of systems, house rules, supplemental material and the GM's whim. And we would as a whole have shunned that very concept in the formative days as exclusionary and in total opposition to the creative license of DMs and players. To me it is anathema to the very premise of D&D as initially play-tested, designed and furthered as a successful and ground-breaking game. Boiling it down, "Old School" is inclusive of all facets of the game as originally published.

Some people also tag Old School as a look and presentation of product, so by association PPP will convey that look in its product line to signal the same, but what you find between the covers of our forthcoming products is where the real ideal of Old School will exist, in unfettered imagination and creativity which continue to test such boundaries as these did back with D&D's initial release.

Which versions of D&D/AD&D have you enjoyed writing for the most and why?

I've pretty much enjoyed them equally and I even enjoy writing for other systems like CandC and d20/3E+ when publishers will do the translation work for me and let my creativity roam free. :)

So tell me, what is Cairn of the Skeleton King all about?

I will not give away the plot if that is what you are asking. It' about beginnings and endings, how's that for vague? But the statement is true if you read it, and in many ways. Buy it and find out. ;)

Why go back to your roots and write material for the older versions again? What do you hope to achieve from this?

I'm comfortable there. Coupled with controlling creative output it allows me a full range of expression, to expand instead of stay rooted to one place, and to influence a market I have encouraged to do the same by way of example and good old fashioned competition. Also I get to "move" as Butch Cassidy said in the movie. "I'm better when I move..."

You have mentioned this new approach to funding your project. Why choose to adopt this method?

I assume you mean sponsorship here. Well, these are limited signed and numbered editions, and sponsorship programs like this have been available in the small press medium for years. It's even been done with other RPGs. The pre-order phase is a good way to assess consumer interest as well, and this particular market has not been tested in years, if ever, after the decline of published material for it.

Do you prefer having your own publishing company? If so, why?

It allows freedom of expression, and all artists with vivid imaginations who wish to push those boundaries always seek the freedom in which to do that, so this is one big reason. Being liable for my own mistakes is another, and publishing what I feel is above the bar and instead of rushing to "get it done" is definitely a third, but not specifically in that order.

What is your most favourite D&D moment when playing the game?

When I sacked the Temple of Elemental Evil in the playtest and got EGG so angry that he sent an army to destroy Robilar's Castle. :)

What do you feel the differences are from the early days of ADandD, to the newest form of the game 3.5E/d20? Do you feel that the older versions could enjoy a second coming?

First question: Too much rigidity of form with newer editions, which I have touched upon in an earlier question. With that comes the inevitable slew of rules, which bogs down the reasons for the game, which is to play, not theorize and exponentialize. A game is a game, however, and some adapt to these whereas others do not. If you enjoy it, go for it. If you don't, look elsewhere, and ADandD is certainly a far easier game than most, as would be ODandD.

Second question: Some of us say that it never left. ;) It will probably never rise to the grandness of its heyday, if that is what you mean. But that is not the important point. Enjoying a game is the most important facet of gaming, of course, and if all current gamers can continue doing that with the inclusion of new product, so much the better.

If other authors showed interest in following suit and wanted to create material for the older versions, such as you are, would you be interested in allowing them to have the material published through Pied Piper and develop things that way, following a similar format?

Most definitely. There are in fact three such authors under consideration at this time. Much depends on the successful outing of our first project, however.

We at ASGI are big first edition fans and when we play (not as often as we would like) using the 1E rules. Do you still play? If so what edition do you play?

I rarely have time for sleep these days. Nowadays I mostly game at cons, and will be running my AD&D game at LGGC in Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) in June, which is a small affair, sponsored by Troll Lord games.

What improvements, if any, would you have made to 1E rules, to have created a 1.5E, basically to perfect them rules at the time? Do you think the game needed to be modified further than that as time went by?

Wow, you don't believe in general questions do you? I believe that the spell system needs to be fine-tuned, not redone, but added to allow optional breadth. Right now it's very linear. I have had ideas for this as far back as 1975, just never had the time or position to forward same. Other than that, IMO, the system is great, even without my own supplemental ideas about spells.

In the UK, D&D and other RPGs, were highly criticized in the 80's as being "bad for children," for many reasons; anti-social, encouraged violence and devil worship amongst others. Did you have similar claims in the US, from church groups and the general public?

Yes, mostly untrue and biased, based upon rabid thoughts and having less to do with reason than emotion. As Gary Gygax aptly responded at GENCON VIII when asked by a local news channel if he thought he was a wizard when he played such games: "Do you feel that you are a slum lord when playing Monopoly?" :)

If so how did you feel about such claims and how were they dealt with?

TSR was a game company and dealt with such claims in a respectful fashion and with a certain amount of incredulousness as well.

With computer games taking the place of RPG do you think the effect of these games is actually more pronounced and tangible?

I'll answer that this way: The anti-socialization effect of gaming, computers, which seemingly have kept a pace with the ever-increasing speed of some societies. Interfacing through conduits instead of face-to-face, thus losing the true meaning of comradeship and the intimate relationship of sharing ideas and ideals as well as all of the other social aspects of face-to-face play, which continue to make us grow as individuals and groups within these spheres by personal interaction and discourse.

There are a lot of gamers out there that would no doubt be VERY interested in having material published. Would you ever be interested in publishing a compendium of such material?

PPP will be considering submissions from everyone who is willing to meet a simple criteria based on these questions, mainly, "Is it new and evocative? Is it fun to play?" Pretty simple criteria. And that's the way the game and its components ought to be, eh?

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