In Memorium- Gary Gygax (1938-2008)
Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, died yesterday at home. He is survived by his wife, six children and seven grandchildren.
This wasn't really a surprise to anyone in the gaming community. Gary's ill health was no secret. As Jolly Blackburn, creator of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic says:
Gary told us last summer that he was living on 'borrowed time'. His doctors had given him to the "previous" December.
Course while he was telling us all this he was puffing on a cigar and drinking scotch.
But for those of us who roleplay, for those of us who LRP, for those of us who play MMPORGS, Gary was someone who had an effect on our lives. And I feel the need to pay tribute to that.
I still remember my first game of Dungeons & Dragons, even if the details are somewhat hazy. At the age of 11, my grandmother had bought me Basic Dungeons & Dragons set for Christmas. And, somewhat under protest, she agreed to run a dungeon for me and the kid next door. And we spent the next two hours in a state of near hysteria, fighting ratmen (my grandmother always liked ratmen for some reason) and skeletons. From that moment on, I was hooked. No matter how stressful my teenage years were, the weekly gaming session was always there to keep me going.
Of course, like many people, as I got older I moved onto different RPGs, that suited my needs better. But without Gary, that would never have been an option. Similarly, no matter how much I mocked the mess that was Cyborg Commando, no matter how aggressively I disagreed with some of Gary's views on game design, without him there would have been nothing for me to kick against in the first place.
And outside the gaming community, Dungeons & Dragons is and always will be roleplaying. It wasn't until Vampire appeared years later that gaming became noticable to the mainstream again.
So I am here not so much to mourn Gary as I am to thank him. Yes, in the end he 'just' created an innovative game. He didn't find a cure for cancer. He didn't end war. But for a small percentage of the world's population, he made our worlds just a little bit more magical then they would have been without him.
And that's worth raising a tankard to.
For the last word on how we should remember him, I will let Gary speak for himself.
I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.
RIP Gary Gygax. May all your dice rolls be natural twenties.
This wasn't really a surprise to anyone in the gaming community. Gary's ill health was no secret. As Jolly Blackburn, creator of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic says:
Gary told us last summer that he was living on 'borrowed time'. His doctors had given him to the "previous" December.
Course while he was telling us all this he was puffing on a cigar and drinking scotch.
But for those of us who roleplay, for those of us who LRP, for those of us who play MMPORGS, Gary was someone who had an effect on our lives. And I feel the need to pay tribute to that.
I still remember my first game of Dungeons & Dragons, even if the details are somewhat hazy. At the age of 11, my grandmother had bought me Basic Dungeons & Dragons set for Christmas. And, somewhat under protest, she agreed to run a dungeon for me and the kid next door. And we spent the next two hours in a state of near hysteria, fighting ratmen (my grandmother always liked ratmen for some reason) and skeletons. From that moment on, I was hooked. No matter how stressful my teenage years were, the weekly gaming session was always there to keep me going.
Of course, like many people, as I got older I moved onto different RPGs, that suited my needs better. But without Gary, that would never have been an option. Similarly, no matter how much I mocked the mess that was Cyborg Commando, no matter how aggressively I disagreed with some of Gary's views on game design, without him there would have been nothing for me to kick against in the first place.
And outside the gaming community, Dungeons & Dragons is and always will be roleplaying. It wasn't until Vampire appeared years later that gaming became noticable to the mainstream again.
So I am here not so much to mourn Gary as I am to thank him. Yes, in the end he 'just' created an innovative game. He didn't find a cure for cancer. He didn't end war. But for a small percentage of the world's population, he made our worlds just a little bit more magical then they would have been without him.
And that's worth raising a tankard to.
For the last word on how we should remember him, I will let Gary speak for himself.
I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.
RIP Gary Gygax. May all your dice rolls be natural twenties.