Gary Gygax
I'm sure I'm the millionth person to write about this on their blog today. But the passing of Gary Gygax hit me unexpectedly hard.
When I was younger, he was kind of a hero to me. He made a living being a geek.
I fell in love with my first wife through gaming. Our characters fell for each other, and that enabled us to admit that we had, too. I've gotten my second wife involved in gaming as well, and it has allowed us to spend many quality hours together.
Some of my dearest friends, past and present, I met or became close to at the gaming table. Several through high school that I won't name individually, Pendragon, the entire Egbert/Wright/Smorodinsky Co-Prosperity Sphere, my great friend Bob, Jerry, who owns the local game store. These are all people I wouldn't have met or become close to without RPG's.
Gaming is the one thing (aside from my wife and children) that I truly look forward to every week. Almost every day. If I miss a game, I get cranky and depressed. It allows me to flex my imagination the way nothing else I've found can. It allows me to blow off steam by slaughtering orcs and ninjas on Friday nights. This might sound laughable, but it allows me to explore parts of my personality that I otherwise might not. Demosthenia is a part of me, as much as it may scare me.
For all this and more, for the uncountable thousands of hours I've spent laughing and drinking and hanging out with my gaming friends, I have Gary Gygax to thank. I know he wasn't a saint...real people rarely are. But he was the father of, by my light, the greatest hobby in the world. Thanks, Gary.
When I was younger, he was kind of a hero to me. He made a living being a geek.
I fell in love with my first wife through gaming. Our characters fell for each other, and that enabled us to admit that we had, too. I've gotten my second wife involved in gaming as well, and it has allowed us to spend many quality hours together.
Some of my dearest friends, past and present, I met or became close to at the gaming table. Several through high school that I won't name individually, Pendragon, the entire Egbert/Wright/Smorodinsky Co-Prosperity Sphere, my great friend Bob, Jerry, who owns the local game store. These are all people I wouldn't have met or become close to without RPG's.
Gaming is the one thing (aside from my wife and children) that I truly look forward to every week. Almost every day. If I miss a game, I get cranky and depressed. It allows me to flex my imagination the way nothing else I've found can. It allows me to blow off steam by slaughtering orcs and ninjas on Friday nights. This might sound laughable, but it allows me to explore parts of my personality that I otherwise might not. Demosthenia is a part of me, as much as it may scare me.
For all this and more, for the uncountable thousands of hours I've spent laughing and drinking and hanging out with my gaming friends, I have Gary Gygax to thank. I know he wasn't a saint...real people rarely are. But he was the father of, by my light, the greatest hobby in the world. Thanks, Gary.