GARY GYGAX Q&A Part LVII

[Were there a lot of genre cross-overs in the original GH?]

About one session in every 12 would involve somethingfrom outside the fantasy genre. that was enough to
keep things from getting too staid. [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?
t=121380&page=4&pp=15

[I read a post by one of your OD&D campaign players on Dragonsfoot, where he remarks that he and his
fellows have actually managed to rout (if not completely crush) the Old Guard Kobolds on the first dungeon
level of Castle Greyhawk. I was wondering if you had any comments on the matter (praise for the players,
lament for the ruin of the OGK), and if you had entertained what menaces might now come to fill the void
left by their passing...]

The Swine!

I refer to my players and their filthy 5th level PCs of course. Picking on those fine upstanding little kobolds
at their level. They should be ashamed, not bragging and thumping their chests. It took a hold person then
three sleep spells to do the vile deed.

Fortunately, they are adventuring in an abbreviated dungeon level construction, so the actual Old Guard
Kobolds remain unaffected, are still around to beat the crap out of lower level parties not sufficiently astute
to run away and come back when they are at 5th level

The party had pretty well mapped the first level, and the only remaining force there were the OGKs, so I
suppose it was inevitable that the poor little dears met their fate. It gave me some considerable satisfaction
that they dropped the offending magic-user to 0 HPs twice during the encounter. It was as if the random
dice determination for PCs hit was sentient, knew that he was the instrument of their doom. He dropped 12
of them with his third sleep spell...

The thouls awaiting the party on a lower level will wreak revenge for their depredations above. As they are
active in the dungeon complex, only wandering monsters will be likely to be encountered on the
depopulated 1st level. [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=121380&page=5&pp=15

When one "creates" a fantasy world setting that is totally divorced from our world, it is logical that special,
unique deities are needed to fill it, for clerics subsume deities that are served. Thus I began adding deities to
my campaign early in 1973, and those became the first deities of the World of Greyhawk. [EGG]
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=121380&page=6&pp=15

[Why the long delay before your deities where shared with the rest of the world? And, did you use "real
world" divinities in your original Castle Greyhawk campaign, in addition to Saint Cuthbert of course ]

That answer is easy. 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. Only after I had completed the last of the core rules books for AD&D was there time for me to address
growing audience interest in the World of Greyhawk its deities. When the version of that setting was ready
for publication, the need for a more detailed pantheon of deities was apparent, so that's when the details
were set down. That made Len Lakofka happy too, for I brought in the deities he had been using for his
campaign [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=121380&page=7&pp=15

After a lot of adventuring fun in Hommlet, and a foray into Nulb, the team went into the ToEE, explored,
fought, withdrew, and came back again repeatedly. Robilar went in alone, smashed some magically shut
gates with a pillar, and freed Zuggtmoy. Scenario over. [EGG] http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?
t=121380&page=8&pp=15