The Egg of Coot, Annotated

The Egg of Coot, A Historical Note: The Blackmoor Campaign’s “Egg of Coot” was not a jab, subtle or otherwise, at Gary Gygax. The rumor refuses to die Arneson’s Egg of Coot was Gygax, whose initials of EGG make this an easy leap for some. The truth of the matter is this: the Egg of Coot was an insult against a real person but it was was not Gygax. The evil “Coot” immortalized in Arneson’s campaign was a gamer in Arneson’s Napoleonic Wargame named Gregg Scott (grEGG sCOTt). Scott was unhappy as Arneson shifted his gaming group from Napoleonic warfare simulations to fantasy gaming. Scott took his frustration out upon Arneson by playing a rather nasty joke on Arneson which cost Arneson both time and money to correct. Arneson got revenge by immortalizing Scott as the evil Egg of Coot. Both Arneson and Gygax, as well as gamers in Arneson’s group, told this story over the years when asked, there is no doubt at all Gygax was not the Coot.