Here is a test to your internet lore. How many of you know the origin of the Machine of Lum the Mad?

Post what you think here, and I'll tell you if it's that or not.

The first time I ever saw a refrence to it was in the first edition PnP dungeon masters guide under the artifacs heading. Yes I am old. :(

Well.. that's not the origin of it.

Some years ago, before BGII came out, there was a very popular Gaming website with a very "special" webmaster. The website was called The ranting of Lum the Mad, and you guessed it, his name was Lum the Mad.

That was a very popular gaming news website, and he wasn't effraid to piss off game devs by saying the truth. Lots of Devs and fans alike visited the website and the forum, including the BGII devs. But he quited working on his website when Mythic Entertainment, the maker of DAOC, hired him as a PR. But when BGII was made, he still had his website.

This whole quest is an easter egg for him.

Now that is respect!! Who else can say that they have a whole section of a game devoted to them?

I also saw it for the first time in my first edition DM's Guide. It doesn't say much about it's history. Gary Gygax created it himself or he apropiated it. He was rather notirious for using other people's material (Moorckock's Melnibone, Lieber's Newon and Cuthulu mythos). I have one of the early first edition Deities and Demigods with the said material. He was later sued and had to remove the material. There are other questionable cases. I am so greatfull for Gygax and his two college buddies (who he railroaded), for creating AD+D. I am still playing in two games after 25 years, but facts are facts. Since The Machine Of Lum The Mad has been in AD+D books all these years, I would have to say the creator was Gary Gygax.

I don't know where Lum the Mad got his name from. Probably from that old rulebook.

But I know for a fact that they made it for Lum the Mad (the webmaster). They teased him on his website.

It's sad that he quited his website, that was the best.

Interesting bit of trivia, though... Was unfamiliar with both explanations. [img]smile.gif[/img]
But did they just use this guy's name or were there more Easter Eggs referring to him, like some of the machine's effects or the way the notes were written?

Interesting, although now I'm wondering about that item in Shadowkeeper where the book is said to belong to Lium the Mad.....

I thought the Machine of Lum the Mad dated back before AD&D.

It was in the AD&D Book of Artifacts.

The way the notes are written are certainly to mock him.