Gary Gygax Bails Out the Road Crew

Be sure to read Gary Gygax, Puns & Me

Troll Lord Games fell together rather quickly back in 2000 and 2001 and Gary Gygax was a huge part of that. We debuted with a smattering of adventures and a world setting and soon after signed Gary to do the Gygaxian Fantasy World series: a collection of books for RPG enthusiasts and world builders. We eventually published 7 in the series, but there were at least another 4 in the queue he wanted to get out the door. There was so very much more. 

After Gencon moved to Indianapolis in 2003 or 04 or whatever year that was, there was a sudden deficit of cons in the Lake Geneva area. Gary was a little older and didn't care for long car rides so trekking to Indiana wasn't something he contemplated with any degree of joy. We had done a few shows in Little Rock and were musing on whether we should do more and then of course, the idea of doing one up in Gary's neck of the woods was floated. But before we could do anything a con was launched, GameFest, that promised to bring Gencon madness back to Milwaukee. 

We were all quite satisfied. This was the year we were releasing Gary Gygax's The Hermit (I loved this adventure, still one of his best). A monstrous tome of lists that any CK/DM/GM should have. Editing and laying it out alone made my vocab jump through the roof, something Gary found rather amusing. 

(Gary had this great way of smiling, that softened the lines of his face. It favored the one side of his mouth more than the other and involved no outlandish motions like myself or brother Davis have when we laugh. It was very comforting.)

So that summer Davis and I loaded up the truck and lumbered north to Gamefest. Peter Bradley, our artist at large, met us there as did Casey Christofferson (now with Frog God Games) and other folks. 

But  en route Davis and I got distracted at a variety of bars in East St. Louis and we discovered, as many have before us, and many will after, that money doesn't last nearly as long as one's appetite. So we plundered the Troll Lord Games till and spent it as well (we were very loose with money in those days).

Once our health returned we hit the road and continued our journey to Milwaukee. Scrambling, we got set up for Gamefest only to discover that someone had plundered the till. Memory served and we had to scramble to find cash. People were already meandering into the booth to buy the aforementioned World Builder and we had no way to get change. 

Well there was Gary. Sitting in his Hekaforge Booth (with Chris Clark) and so having no other options I went to borrow some from the GM DM. I told him our tale of woe and he smiled as it unfolded (there were more details there than I'll put here) and even chuckled a little, dug into his wallet and produced enough cash for us carry on, shaking his head, amused, all the while. It gave him quite a few laughs for the rest of the convention. 

I think he rather appreciated our unorthodox methods, they were so different than many companies he had dealt with before - though I know at times it drove him nuts. Our approach had an honesty of purpose that I think he appreciated and I found Gary himself, in all our dealings, to be scrupulously honest.