Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Keith Baker wrote:Hey all!

There are going to be a number of events at GenCon this year that honor the memory of Gary Gygax. One of these is going to be an ongoing AD&D game, run continuously throughout the convention. The basic concept is "The Tower of Gygax" - a constantly shifting dungeon crafted by the great wizard who taught the gods themselves how to create worlds. This dungeon has no map; instead, it is a mass of rooms, and the DM will randomly select a new room whenever you successfully make it across the room you are in. The goal here is to create an experience that's part Tomb of Horrors and part Killer Breakfast. Players will play in hour-long shifts, and we're scheduling 12 people to a session; the idea is that the mortality rate will be high, people will cycle through the table, and you'll get ribbons to commemorate your achievements whether or not you survive. We want to give people a taste of AD&D, but they don't have to commit a full four hours to it - though if they enjoy it, they can come back again and again.

I'm coordinating the event, but I'd like to have as many people involved as possible; if you have fond memories of AD&D or just want to take a step back in time, I'd love to have you involved. I'm looking for two different things: Room design and DMs.

With room design, the dungeon is going to be a mass of randomly connected rooms; as such, each room is, in a sense, a self-contained adventure, with the challenge to the PCs being to make it out of the room alive. We want rooms to be colorful, challenging, and ideally to include a number of random elements - so even if players compare notes they don't know exactly what to expect. We want rooms to be dangerous enough to cycle through players (think Tomb of Horrors and Grimtooth's Traps) - but at the same time, we want to create an experience that's entertaining as opposed to frustrating. So you may walk into a sphere of annihilation - but is there anything we can do to make that something you can smile at? If you're interested, let me know I'll send you more details (power levels of PCs, etc).

With DMs, the Tower will be run for 80 consecutive hours throughout the convention. While I've got myself and a few other DMs on board to run it, I'd love to have as many "celebrity" DMs as possible take a shift, to make it a more memorable experience for the players. It's an hour commitment; if you're interested, let me know and tell me what times youd be available. Of course, it's not going to be a normal adventure; at any given time, you're going to have six spectators, and part of the challenge is to make things dramatic enough so as to keep the spectators entertained as well as the players. Part of this falls to the room designer, but as DMs we'll need to bring some energy to the table.

In any case, if you are interested in helping as a DM or in designing one or more rooms, please contact me offlist. Thanks for your time.

-Keith Baker

. . . if you have fond memories of AD&D or just want to take a step back in time . . .

Wheggi wrote: Love how this guy assumes that we are all playing the Wizbro version of the game and that we'd just be designing a complex AD&D encounter for the sake of nostalgia. Pfft. I'd love to see one of these current emo designers who'd want to 'take a step back in time' try to make a quality AD&D encounter just off the cuff.

I'm sure this guy is nice and his motives are pure, but boy is he a WotC tool.

Ghul wrote: Well, if I am going to Gen Con (I'm awaiting to see my publisher's intentions), I would like to take part in this. I see it as an opportunity to create some encounters that might not be exactly as Mr. Baker describes, but rather of a more Gygaxian bent. After working on adventure development for and with Mr. Gygax during the last 2.5 years of his life, and having spent the last 27 years reading and re-reading his works, I feel I'm qualified to provide the interested fans a true taste of some Gygaxian-flavored adventure -- not just some dumbed-down hack-and-slash crap. I would provide mystery, intrigue, tricks, traps, riddles, and other strange happenings, in addition to some deadly monster encounters.

Wheggi wrote: Shows you how dialed into the current D&D community I am. Guess I should be packed back up into my crate...

Wheggi wrote: Yes, it would seem that this is directed towards the current WotC gamer. But if that's the case, how do they expect these guys to make an AD&D adventure? Just assume that they can borrow their Uncle Morty's old books? I guess the ideal person for this task is the old fanboy who tries to keep 'current' with the game but still holds on to all his stuff from the 80's.

Wheggi wrote:Guess I should be packed back up into my crate . . .

Marriat the Ranger wrote:Hmmm ....

I haven't checked the list of hosted games at GenCon but why don't they just run several classic modules in honor of Gary? Such as the ones he wrote?

IMO such an event as the one being organized at GenCon only reinforces the stereotypes of AD&D that the 3etards loudly proclaim on a regular basis- "shallow", "just hack and slash", etc. Look at the strange old outdated animal in the cage, quick toss it a bone and lets move on.

If I were honoring Gary I would run a couple of his best modules tourney style at GenCon like they used to do in the old days. I ask some of his closest and most able gamer friends to be the DMs. I'd make a real big to-do of it .. not some revolving door "I went to Disney World and got this T-shirt" type of thing ...

Can't say I like it. They could do something honoring Gary much better and in better fashion IMO.

Ghul wrote:<<snip>> I would like to take part in this. I see it as an opportunity to create {and run} some encounters that might not be exactly as Mr. Baker describes, but rather of a more Gygaxian bent <<snip>> -- not just some dumbed-down hack-and-slash crap. I would provide mystery, intrigue, tricks, traps, riddles, and other strange happenings, in addition to some deadly monster encounters.

Keith Baker wrote:We are still looking for writers and DMs to participate in the Tower of Gygax memorial event. With DMs, we are looking for people to cover late night or early morning shifts throughout the convention, or any time on Sunday. With rooms, the submission deadline for a room is August 1st. If you are interested in contributing a room and believe that you can meet this deadline, please contact me at onesmallkeith@gmail.com and I'll send you the room design guidelines. Thanks, and I hope to see you at GenCon! - Keith