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[[Category:Characters|Mordenkainen]]
[[Category:Characters|Mordenkainen]]
[[Category:Wizards||Mordenkainen]]
[[Category:Wizards|Mordenkainen]]

Revision as of 14:37, 20 September 2023

This article describes Mordenkainen, the original player character of Gary Gygax created circa 1973. For the iconic World of Greyhawk NPC, see Mordenkainen.

The iconic Dungeons & Dragons character Mordenkainen originated as a player character of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax in a 1973 campaign run by Rob Kuntz. The D&D figure of Mordenkainen would eventually diverge somewhat from Gygax's original character.

Mordenkainen as a player character

Origin

In late fall of 1972, Gygax created the first levels of what would become Castle Greyhawk, in a playtest scenario of the fantasy rules which would be known as Dungeons & Dragons.[1][2] Gygax served as Dungeon Master for the Castle Greyhawk campaign.

Around January 1973, player Rob Kuntz began his own campaign set in Castle El Raja Key, allowing Gygax to create his own player character. Gygax created a fighter named Yrag (his own name backwards), soon followed by a wizard named Mordenkainen, with Gygax adventuring primarily as a solo player controlling both characters.[3][4]

Mordenkainen was inspired by Finnish mythology, with the name bearing similarity to the character of Lemminkäinen of the Finnish epic Kalevala. Gygax describes his influences as including a black and white Russian movie based on the Kalevala; likely Sampo (1959), released in English as The Day the Earth Froze (1964). He also cites The Green Magician (1954) by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, possibly drawing on the anthology Wall of Serpents (1960), which includes both that story and The Wall of Serpents, in which the protagonist visits the world of Finnish mythology.[5][6]

Gygax did not give much thought to the ethnic background of Mordenkainen, other than that he was human. In 2005, he suggested that he was probably of Oeridian descent.[7] He envisaged Mordenkainen as around thirty years of age at the beginning of his adventuring career, eventually reaching around 80, though physically appearing around 50 due to the use of potions of longevity. Gygax would also assert that Mordenkainen had no plans to become a lich.[8]

Gygax did not give much thought to Mordenkainen's appearance. In 2007, he stated upon some thought that he envisioned Mordenkainen as tall, lean, and pale of complexion, though tanned by sun and weather; with gray eyes and sharp features, bushy hair, and a long moustache, but no beard; often dressed in gray with black or bright blue accents, such as a girdle and blouse.[9]

Adventuring career

Mordenkainen began at 1st level.[10] He had a significant adventuring career, playing in several DM's campaigns on request.[11]

Mordenkainen soon recruited Bigby, then a third-level character, who he defeated using charm magic. He managed to change Bigby from neutral evil to neutral in alignment, and he soon became Mordenkainen's loyal henchman. Gygax went on to play Bigby as a character.[12]

In Rob Kuntz' campaign, Mordenkainen's adventures included exploration of the Machine Level of Castle El Raja Key; the Lost City of the Elders in early 1973 (which would inspire Kuntz's Kalibruhn Supplement in 1976); the high-level technological Dungeons of Krazor the Mad in 1974; the Orcky Level in late 1975; and the Temple of the Latter Day Elder Ones.[13]

Upon attaining 12th level, Gygax decided that Mordenkainen should set some goals, becoming politically powerful and keeping the balance in the Flanaess. To this end, he desired to control some territory upon which to keep his armies.[14]

As was common at the time, Mordenkainen had no shame about fleeing from risky encounters, sometimes hiding from powerful enemies or fleeing using teleport magic.[15] Mordenkainen at one point adventured with lawful evil characters, including Robilar, Terik, and Erac's Cousin.[16]

Encounter with an iron golem

One of the most well-told stories of Mordenkainen's is his encounter with an iron golem in a campaign run by Rob Kuntz. Recollections of this story vary between times and individuals. An early recollection appeared in Wargamer's Digest #7, dated May 1974, an article reprinted in Dungeon #112 in July 2004. It recalls that Mordenkainen was level 13, and accompanied by Bigby, at level 11. This campaign pre-dated the official release of D&D, taking place in 1973.[17]

Mordenkainen and Bigby entered the fourth level of a dungeon, in a room identified as the Great Hall, featuring great pillars of ivory some fifty feet high and ten feet in diameter. There, among two smaller iron statues, they encountered an iron golem wielding a poisoned sword in one hand and a whip tipped with cockatrice feathers in the other. Mordenkainen and Bigby flew to atop a tower, and attempted to trap the with rock to mud, only to discover that the iron golem also had the ability of levitation, as well as to breathe fire.

Mordenkainen was turned to stone, and Bigby fled before teleporting to find reinforcements, returning with the fighters Yrag and Felnorith and the cleric Bishop Ranaulf. Mordenkainen was restored, but in the fight Bigby was turned to stone and Yrag was slain. After defeating the golem, Bigby was restored and Yrag returned to life by the Patriarch of Greyhawk.

However, Gygax's various recollections of this event vary. In the preface to Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (1984), Gygax rather recalls that he was rescued by Yrag and Rigby.

In an ENWorld forum post in May 2003, Gygax recalls that Bigby was slain by the golem's poison, and the pair were rescued by Rigby and Nigby, with Rigby restoring Mordenkainen with stone to flesh, and Nigby using wish to restore Bigby.[18]

In Dragon #307 (May 2003), Gygax recalls that Bigby was killed by the golem's poisoned sword in the same round, and the pair were rescued by Nigby, Yrag, Felnorith, and Rigby the cleric, with the party using wishes to restore Mordenkainen and Bigby. He additionally recalls that the plan was for Mordenkainen to use rock to mud in front of the golem, then Bigby to use mud to rock once it had stepped into it.

Later, after wandering through a portal to a world where everything was super-sized, the party fled on the assumption that it must be inhabited by some creature whose tusks were large enough to construct those pillars.[19]

A version of this adventure module was published for AD&D as Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (1984), and for D&D 3.5 in Dungeon #112's Maure Castle (July 2004).

Continuing adventures

In 1976 Gygax also played Mordenkainen in a session run by Dave Arneson, where they explored the City of the Gods. A retelling of this adventure appears in Oerth Journal #6, as told by Rob Kuntz, who also played Robilar in the original adventure.

At one point, Mordenkainen was played in a high-level campaign run by François Marcela-Froideval. In 2004, he recalled that Mordenkainen had been 14th level at the time, a low level for this especially high-powered campaign world, which included NPCs at least as high as 40th level.[20]

Throughout his adventuring career, Mordenkainen encountered and defeated several dragons, among them the red dragons Gorki and Porki.[21] The two dragons were subsequently kept in the dungeons beneath Mordenkainen's citadel.[22] Porki, the smaller of the two, often accompanied Mordenkainen and company on excursions, hidden in a merchant's wagon and used as a diversion in battle.[23]

Mordenkainen possessed extensive spell books, and was fond of the spells magic missile, fire ball, lightning bolt, ice storm, cone of cold, cloudkill, death spell, power word stun, and Evard's black tentacles.[24] Mordenkainen also knew the enlarge spell, which he taught to all of his apprentices for its usefulness.[25] Although capable of casting ninth level spells, he rarely used wish except to restore slain allies to life.[26]

Mordenkainen revered Boccob, deity of magic, as was common in that campaign.[27] He was of Neutral alignment, though tending slightly toward good over evil, and chaos over law.[28]

Late in his career, Mordenkainen and his allies formed the Circle of Eight, and used their vast wealth to construct the Obsidian Citadel. The Circle at this point consisted of Mordenkainen and eight other of Gygax's PCs, including Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Zigby, Nigby, Vram, Vin, and Felnorith, with some others involved as well.[29] The Citadel's location was intentionally chosen inside enemy territory to ensure a steady supply of combat encounters. It was constructed with the aid of an army of dwarf mercenaries, and took three years to complete.[30] Its design consisted of an octagonal castle with eight wall towers, with walls extending to a significant distance beyond the central keep in order to house a massive number of troops.[31] On several occasions Mordenkainen and his army engaged in large-scale battles with thousands of troops, including city sieges and an instance where they wiped out 3,000 goblins from a distance.[32][33] Mordenkainen also recruited horse archers from the Wolf Nomads.[34]

Mordenkainen possessed numerous personal magic items. The Obsidian Citadel contained a large hoard of magic items, although much of it was low-level.[35]

Retirement

Following numerous adventures, Mordenkainen rose to above 20th level, a rarity in those days.[36] He went into general retirement around 18th level, after acquiring 9th-level spells, returning only for special high-level adventures.[37]

In one such special adventure, he was attacked by liches armed with rods of cancellation. In his final two adventures, which occurred a year apart, Mordenkainen visited the Metamorphosis Alpha RPG's Starship Warden, and in the other, a campaign run by his son Ernie, he was recruited in to fight two ancient white dragons, which he easily bested. Mordenkainen only rarely slew dragons throughout his adventuring career.[38][39]

According to a post by Gary Gygax in May 2005, Mordenkainen had not been played since around the year 2000, when he fought two white dragons in Ernie's campaign.[40]

Following his retirement from adventuring, Mordenkainen became involved in politics.[41] He rarely left his fortress, but when he did it was typically alone and in disguise.[42]

Later use

Gygax never released Mordenkainen's true statistics. Although statistics for Mordenkainen appeared in The Rogues Gallery (1980), p. 44, Gygax denied that this was an accurate reflection of his original character, saying that he refused to give his character's statistics to Brian Blume to produce the book, with the result that the statistics included were largely made up.[43]

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he lost creative rights to the name and character of Mordenkainen, although he retained the right to use characters whose names were near-anagrams of his own, such as Zagyg.[44] As with the rest of the World of Greyhawk, TSR and later Wizards of the Coast subsequently developed the character or Mordenkainen in directions of which Gygax had no creative control.

In 2002, Gygax asserted that the statistics for Mordenkainen as depicted in the Epic Level Handbook came "pretty close to nailing Mordie's level". That sourcebook places Mordenkainen as a level 27 character, suggesting that Mordenkainen's level is in the high twenties. However, Gygax declined to provide any further details.[45]

In 2007, Gygax suggested that were Mordenkainen to appear in a movie, he would not object to Mordenkainen being played by noted D&D fan Vin Diesel, though he had no particular actor he favored.[46]

Mordenkainen was Gygax's most famous character, and his favorite to play.[47]

Originally depicted with dark hair, Mordenkainen was first drawn as bald on the cover of TSR Jam 1999, a trait which would be continued in all subsequent D&D products. Todd Lockwood based his depiction of Mordenkainen on illustrator Fred Fields.[48] Living Greyhawk Journal #0 (Aug 2000) attributes this baldness to Mordenkainen's decision to shave his head in 589 CY, a habit which he has continued until at least 591 CY.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Gygax: "It was in the late fall of 1972 when I completed a map of some castle ruins, noted ways down to the dungeon level (singular), and invited my 11-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to create characters and adventure. ... After they went upstairs, I stayed in my study and went to work on a second dungeon level. The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd. After that it was a race for me to get more levels done as the player group grew and got more able in their delving." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 73. ENWorld, Jul 22, 2003.
  2. ↑ Gygax: "The initial plau-testers were my son Ernie and my daughter Elise, then ages 12 and 10 years respectively. They adventured on the first of what became 13 levels of "Castle Greyhawk" of the "Greyhawk Campaign" and loved it. I went to work immediately on a second level, even as Rob and Terry Kuntz and Don Kaye joined the play-test group." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 286. ENWorld, Jul 2, 2006.
  3. ↑ Gygax: "My first PC was a fghter named Yrag, back in 1972. Mordenkainen came into being about the first month of 1973. That's about all that I can recall with any level of certainly." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 140. ENWorld, Mar 1, 2005.
  4. ↑ Kuntz: "Gary started in the "mists" when rolling his first PC, Yrag. ... Within a day I allowed him to roll up his second PC, Mordenkainen, this to pair with Yrag, and because he was for the most part adventuring solo (but do read hereafter)." The First Living Campaign. Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign, April 6, 2013.
  5. ↑ Gygax: "The background I created for Mordenkainen was Finnish-like in nature, and his master was a chap called Old Waino..." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 277. ENWorld, Jun 13, 2006.
  6. ↑ Gygax: "I really was captivated with Finnish myth after seeing a B&W movie done by the Russians, I think, about him, Leminkainen, and Ilmarinen adventuring to Pojola and entering Louhi's fortress, then reading "The Green Magician" by de Camp and Pratt as well as the Kalevala." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 277. ENWorld, Jun 13, 2006.
  7. ↑ Gygax: "Actually, no, I never really worried about the ethnic origination of my human PCs. I would assume that Mordenkainen would be mainly of Oeridian stock and that Bigby is from Flan-Suloise background."Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 145. ENWorld, Mar 10, 2005.
  8. ↑ Gygax: "I envisaged Mordenkainen as around 30 year of age when he began adventuring, so that would make him around 80 years of age now (considering campaign time)--although he has quaffed a number of potions of longevity preiodically, always when a wish was cast, so likely he appears more like a vigorous 50." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 257. ENWorld, Nov 12, 2005.
  9. ↑ Gygax: "As a matter of fact u have nor given this matter much thought before this, as my mental picture of my PCs sufficed, it being rather vague ... Mordenkainen I pictured as tall, lean, with a pale complexion tanned by sun and weather. His features are sharp, eyes gray. His hair is rather byshy, with a long moustache but no beard. He favors garments of gray with black or bright blue accents--girdle and blouse for example. His age apears to be somewhere around 50."Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 389. ENWorld, Jun 30, 2007.
  10. ↑ Gygax: "Yrag and Mordenkainen both began as 1st level, and Rob Kuntz, the main DM for their adventures, was not prone to cutting slack for anyone." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 50. ENWorld, Mar 15, 2003.
  11. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen and Bigby, mainly by demand, played in so many different campaigns that they kept climbing. Most of my other PCs that did likewise, but were mainly active in Greyhawk with Rob as DM, are in the range of 16th level (Yrag) on down."Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 53. ENWorld, Mar 27, 2003.
  12. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen did indeed manage to get the drop on Bigby, charm him. At the time bigby was a 3rd level NE dungeon dweller. By word and deen Mordie brought him around from NE to N, and thus Bigby became his apprentice. I got to roll the stats for that character after rob determined he was a loyal henchman of Mordenkainen." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 133. ENWorld, Feb 19, 2005.
  13. ↑ The First Living Campaign. Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign, April 6, 2013.
  14. ↑ Gygax: "Survival and ability to adventure widely were my first concerns for Mordenkainen. When he made 12th level I decided he should have some greater purpose, so I added political concerns, keeping the balance in the Flanaess, growing powerful and influential, and keeping aggressive bad guys at bay. At no time was there a desire to rule more than a minor domain where he and his associates and followers would be secure and properly housed and fed. Of course, he had a lot of followers, so a small demesne was out of the question." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 277. ENWorld, Jun 14, 2006.
  15. ↑ Gygax: "When small parties adventured--well stocked with potions of healing and extra-healing--often no cleric would be present, for the members were high level and had a lot of magical goodies to cover them in crises. for example, Mordenkainen and Bigby would teleport away in a pinch." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 98. ENWorld, Feb 11, 2004.
  16. ↑ Gygax: "When my son Ernie became angry with me as DM he switched to playing an LE character, Erac's Cousin. That PC adventured fairly frequently with two othe LE ones, Robilar and either Terik or the monk PC that Terry Kuntz liked to play. ... Mordenkainen would adventure with that lot, always with a strong henchman. He was never assualted or even threatened." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 395. ENWorld, Jul 25, 2007.
  17. ↑ Kuntz: "The eight dimensions (from the original "Iron Golem" adventure 1973 that EGG--as Mordenkainen/Yrag/Bigby--played in) were indeed covered, but also via the tablets he found within the main room (i.e., carved coral tablets not included in the published WG5). These indicated/lead to off-world/Kalibruhn/dimensional realms, and were not planar locales (i.e., the planes of our own known dimension)." Q&A with Rob Kuntz. Dragonsfoot forums, Dec 12, 2012.
  18. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen and Bigby faced an iron golem in Rob Kuntz's campaign. It could levitate and breathed fire. That construct was armed with a poisoned sword and a whip tipped with cockatrice feathers. Mordenkainen was turned to stone and Bigby was slain when he failed his save:( Fortunately others of the circle came to their rescue, and as Rigby used a stone to flesh spell, Nigby used a wish to bring Bigby back to life." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 62. ENWorld, May 4, 2003.
  19. ↑ Gygax: "Fact is I never got to try any of those gates. Rob alone knows where those sent the PC activating them. All Mordie & Company found was a portal to a world where everything was super-sized--recall the huge ivory pillars thet he and Bigby sought refuge atop when the iron golem attacked. Not wanting to meet creatures armed with tusks as large as towers, we scooted away. the plan was to return another day, but fate intervened to disallow that--I was moved out to the West Coast." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 54. ENWorld, Mar 31, 2003.
  20. ↑ At 14th level through the next few above that, he played for a good bit of time in Francois Marcela Froideval's campaign. At those levels Mordenkainen was a low-level "flunkie" type, as the movers and shakers in that setting were of high 30th and 40th level. Frnacois had a complete campaign based on ultra-high level characters, and believe me it was filled with challenges and a very real sense of danger for PCs of under 30th level, I should think. There was a lot of roleplay and the wrong dialog coming from a character could be fatal..." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 99. ENWorld, Feb 15, 2004.
  21. ↑ Gygax: "Encounters with dragons were not common, quite rare, all things considered. Mordenkainen encountered several over his years of adventuring, subdued two red ones, the very old Gorki and the young Porki (thank you for naming them Rob...)" Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 159. ENWorld, Apr 11, 2005.
  22. ↑ "Gygax: that's so even though Mordenkainen has two red ones in his citadel's subterranean complex..." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 169. ENWorld, May 19, 2005.
  23. ↑ Gygax: "Ghorki remained behind to guard the Citadel, but little Phorki often accompanied expeditions into the surrounding terrain to rid the area of undesirable elements...and take their stuff. Uncorking him from a "merchant's wagon" was an effective diversionary attack ;)" Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 387. ENWorld, Jun 22, 2007.
  24. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen always had a fair stock of magic missile, fire ball, and lightning bolt spells to go with ice storm, cone of cold, cloudkill, death spell, and power word stun (later on) Evard's black tentacles was another oft-used casting. Dropping a cloudkill spell around his party and advancing on loe-level monsters was a lot of fun. Of course, depending on intelligence, he would alter the usual. Mordie had some pretty extensive spell books, of course, and he and Bigby exchanged spells to broaden their repertories." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 12. ENWorld, Sep 14, 2002.
  25. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen taught all of his apprentices the enlarge spell for such possibility...and to give them a healing sans cleric :lol:" Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 249. ENWorld, Oct 31, 2005.
  26. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen used wishes only in extremis to bring back associates that had met their end." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 256. ENWorld, Nov 9, 2005.
  27. ↑ Gygax: Mordenkainen being a mage was indeed a follower of Boccob, and thus generally honored Zagyg. The other magic-users in the group took also did the same. That meant that their cleric would be dedicated to Boccob, and the fighters and others, wanting the benefits of clerical ministrations came along for the ride;) Boccob was never an active deity in play, and none of the PCs was eager to have Zagyg intervene..." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 93. ENWorld, Jan 29, 2004.
  28. ↑ Gygax: "No. Mordenkainen is Neutral, although he tends to prefer Good over Evil, Chaos over Law." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 118. ENWorld, Feb 6, 2005.
  29. ↑ Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel and its Circle of Eight wasoriginal to my own campaign. When Mordenkainen was at a level I considered too high for normal adventuring, I used the money he and his associates had amassed to construct the siad fortress. The members of the 'Circle were Mordenkainen and his associates--others of my PCs. The latter included Bigby, Yrag the fighter, Rigby the cleric, Zigby the Dwarf, the Elves Vram and Vin, and Felnorith as principles. A number of lesser PCs were associated." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 72. ENWorld, Jul 8, 2003.
  30. ↑ Gygax: "It came into being because Mordenkainen and Associates had a lot of wealth stored up from successful adventuring, located a place for a stronghold deep in enemy territory to assure plenty of action, and then went to work building the citadel. As there was an small army of dwarves associated with the larger, mounted field army, the building project went relatively quickly, about three game years to complete. While it was in progress, the "boys" were active in raiding the lands around to keep the enemy forces back on their heels." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 82. ENWorld, Nov 1, 2003.
  31. ↑ Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel was indeed my personal creation as a player. The eight (actually nine) main PCs of mine that occupied it were Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Vram & Vin, Zigby, Felnorith, and Nigby. It was an octagonal castle with eight wall towers and a central keep with much space between the outer wall and the inner works because of the number of troops housed in this fortress."Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 105. ENWorld, Mar 26, 2004.
  32. ↑ Gygax: "Rob was the DM for some of Mordenkainen's roving forays with several thousands of troops, even city siege attacks. He winged such, as we both had considerable experience with large-scale military miniatures battles. That's what I did when a large PC force met a large NPC one opposed to it." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 119. ENWorld, Feb 7, 2005.
  33. ↑ Then again, Mordenkainen, bigby, and several other members of their group did wipe out 3K of goblins Rob Kuntz sent against them, luckily from a distance, and I found it quite appropriate." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 390. ENWorld, Jul 19, 2007.
  34. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen was in the lands of the Wolf Nomads, recruited a troop of horse archers there. I brought in no NPCs from East or West as there were plenty from the central and north." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 363. ENWorld, Apr 15, 2007.
  35. ↑ Gygax: "The magic hoard in the Citadel is large...and sadly mostly of very low level. Poor Zigby the dwarf lost his +2 shield in the frost giant jarl's ice caves and had to accept a +1 replacement from Mordenkainen  :\ This is not to say that Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, and Riggby don't glow like bonfires when a detect magic spell is played upon them...Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 257. ENWorld, Nov 11, 2005.
  36. ↑ Gygax: "Never did I demand a retirement of a PC. Most of the players with characters in the high-teens level voluntarily took those PCs into semi-retirement, keeping them only for adventures that called for potent adventurers. My own top-level PC Mordenkainen, went past 20th level thus--special high-level scenarios." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 66. ENWorld, Jun 14, 2003.
  37. ↑ Gygax: "When PCs got to around 15th level they were generally retired, went only on special adventures. (Even given that, Mordenkainen took enough of those to get into the 20s, although his general retirement was at 18th level, when he could finally use 9th level spells!)" Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 76. ENWorld, Jul 25, 2003.
  38. ↑ Gygax: "In one in company with several other like PCs. the first encounter faced by the group were liches armed with Rods of Cancellation that charging the party. ... Mordie's last two adventures were one there he was accompanying some mid-level characters who got transferred to the MA game's Starship Warden and another in which two ancient white dragons were awaiting the party. Each of those was about a year apart." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 66. ENWorld, Jun 14, 2003.
  39. ↑ Gygax:" To the best of my recollection my PCs have managed to slay only a few [dragons]. Of course, Mordenkainen and party did subdue a couple of red dragons. The last time Mordie was involved in dragon slaying was in an OAD&D campaign run by my son Ernie. Two ancient white dragons had ambushed his main players' PC party, killed most. So they sought help, Mordenkainen agreed to the deal, and lead the survivors and some new PCs into the dragons' lair. a Power Word Stun took care of one, and the other, lurking invisibly above on a ledge was then assailed and laid low--many a Magic Missile lightening the combat load on the other characters in the melee." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 3. ENWorld, Sep 3, 2002.
  40. ↑ Gygax: "Mordenkainen has not ventured forth from his citadel for about five years. The last adventure he assisted with was to deal with a pair of ancient white dragons." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 166. ENWorld, May 16, 2005.
  41. ↑ Gygax: "As for Mordie, no such pretensions;) He adventured a lot, made a substantial level, and then got involved in politics." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 29. ENWorld, Nov 7, 2002.
  42. ↑ Gygax: "Nowadays he seldom ventures forth, but when he does it is in disguise and usually alone." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 277. ENWorld, Jun 14, 2006.
  43. ↑ Gygax: "Heh, and a slight error in reasoning there, amigo. The information in the ROGUE'S GALLERY was quite fallacious, made up im many cases when we refused to give Brian our PCs' stats. Rob respected my wishes and didn't use Mordie's actual stats and information, and whatever was written thereafter based on those works continues the error."Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 81. ENWorld, Nov 1, 2003.
  44. ↑ Gygax: "Anagrans of my name are exclusively my property according to my settlement agreement with TSR, so that is how I can use Zagyg, or Zagyg, as well as Yrag;)" Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 243. ENWorld, Oct 20, 2005.
  45. ↑ Gygax: "Actually, I am given to understand that the EPIC 3E book has come pretty close to nailing Mordie's level. I haven't seen it, so I can't comment further. As I do still play that PC now and again, I won't reveal anything else." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 4. ENWorld, Sep 3, 2002.
  46. ↑ Gygax: "To the point, though, i have never thought about the matter, and I do not have any actors in mind. I wouldn't mind seeing Vin Deisel as Mordie, though. That's because he is a D&D fan, of course." Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 388. ENWorld, Jun 29, 2007.
  47. ↑ Q: "Of the characters you have played, which is your favorite?" Gygax: "I really must admit Mordenkainen is my favorite. I enjoy playing fighters, rangers, thieves, clerics, and multi-classed sorts in OAD&D, but the magic-user is usually most fun for me." Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview. Boing Boing Gadgets, May 14, 2009.
  48. ↑ "The art order called for a representative character for each world. I thought it would be fun to use characters from the Wizards Art and Cartography Departments as models: Illustrator Fred Fields as Mordenkainen, from Greyhawk. ... Todd Lockwood, TSR Jam 1999.

Bibliography

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