Unfortunately the cleric won’t be able to resurrect.
From Wired:
Gygax designed the original D&D game with Dave Arneson in 1974, and went on to create the Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventure RPGs, as well as a number of board games. He also wrote several fantasy novels.
“I don’t think I’ve really grokked it yet,” said Mike Mearls, the lead developer of the upcoming 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. “He was like the cool uncle that every gamer had. He shaped an entire generation of gamers.”
It’s been decades (!) since I gathered with friends around a table to play D&D. Now a cultural icon of my youth has passed. Since many of us here are of a generation to have played the game, I thought it worth noting.
Hat tip to Paul of Cthulhu, who notes he had recently interviewed Gygax for his Yog Radio pod cast. Hopefully the interview will air soon. Paul does an excellent job with his horror interviews.
I did comment over on your Dkos post, but didn’t want this one to look unloved… 🙂
Dungeons and Dragons was a cultural phenomenon — look how many eager young imaginations it inspired (or how many eager young minds it warped, take your pick)….
During my two forays into working professionally in the fantasy gaming industry (okay, three if you count the computer game that never got off the ground…) — the creativity the games inspired in its avid fan base was always the best part of the games, from the original D&D through its many later editions, and all the other games that sprang out of that beginning, was always the best part.
During my two forays into working professionally in the fantasy gaming industry
Tell! Tell! Who did you work for? We probably know a lot of the same people.
Actually, for me the best part of working in gaming was watching people play something you had a hand in producing and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
A little company called Gamelords, Ltd, back in the early ’80s (produced Thieves’ Guild and Free City of Haven, among other things). Every once in a while I run into someone who remembers those titles….
Then only a few years ago, I worked on a bunch of books for White Wolf, in their Vampire: The Masquerade and Dark Ages lines, and one fiction project for Vampire: the Requiem.
The last time I attended GenCon, they were still holding it at University of Wisconsin-Racine, and the dealers’ room was the (un-airconditioned) gym.
I think I remember the Thieves’ Guild book. That was licensed from Asprin’s anthologies, right? And yeah, I remember White Wolf. They had just gotten started not long before I left Steve Jackson Games.
I went to Gencon about three years in a row. Con trips were always a lot of work but we enjoyed them immensely. The years I went they were holding it at the MECCA in Milwaukee, in shouting distance of one of the best Thai restaurants I’ve ever been to, The King And I. We also went to the Safe House once a trip or so. Ah, memories.
Nope, the Asprin anthology was Thieves’ World — I remember talk of a licensed game module based on it, but I don’t remember if it was ever done. Our Thieves’ Guild was an independent series of adventure/scenario modules and rules systems focused on thieves and other ne’er do wells – to give them something to do other than sensing traps and picking locks in dungeon crawling.
I remember Steve Jackson games — he’s still in the business, I think.
He is, and by all accounts is doing pretty well. I still hear from him from time to time — even if you don’t count the four times a year when the royalty checks arrive in the mailbox.
Working for Steve was a blast and I’m glad I did it and I’m glad I got out when I did.
wanted to play D&D. He was precocious with a genius IQ. That was back in ’81. All of the players were much older than he was, of course, so there was no way around my having to go with him. I went to SF cons before he was born so it wasn’t hard for me to find games that would accept us, odd couple that we were. Inside the game there were no boundaries of age. It was a test of intellect and creativity. What fun we had!
Thanks, Gary Gygax!
It’s always that failed Constitution saving throw that gets you in the end. RIP Gary.
I remember quite clearly my first time playing D&D in high school, and heading down to the local games store to pick up Dangerous Journeys. It’s been awhile since I’ve played any of the RPGs that require actual human interaction, but I’ve loved some of the computer D&D universe games.
Darn, you beat me to it!
I moved on from D&D pretty quickly to other RPGs (notably Traveller, being the SF buff that I am), but there’s no doubt that without Gary, the whole field probably wouldn’t exist today, and for the countless hours of fun role-playing brought me when I was younger, I can only offer my profound gratitude.
and D&D and Boot Hill and a bunch of the games from the early days of roleplaying. Then I got hooked into GURPS and TOON and Teenagers From Outer Space! and it was all over.
I don’t do RPGs anymore, but my wife and I (and occasionally the kids, who helped out some) still relate real-world actions to roleplaying mechanics, like tripping over the linoleum and saying “Oh, failed our Dex roll, did we?” or watching some idiot in traffic and observing that they obviously have the disadvantage called Traffic Rules Don’t Apply To Me.
Actually a great deal of my current life would never happened had Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson not invented D&D. I never met the man, but I guess I owe him big time.
Man. I used to love that Boot Hill game. That was a blast.
As I said on my own blog: I know I speak for a lot of fantasy and science fiction fans and writers when I say that he will be sorely missed. I’m a world driven writer and world building is one of my strongest skills. Some of those skills were learned by GMing AD&D and the other, later, games that it helped bring into the world. I will raise a beer in his memory tonight.
Goodbye, Gary. Ave, atque, vale.
And that beer is a Spotted Cow.
Goodbye, Gary.
(Drinks)
Yeah. Cheers. Joining KMc in a toast. (glug, glug, glug).
That fucking halfling thief. (Random memory).
Hey KMc. I was at the store the other day looking for the second installment in the WebMage series. When’s it on the shelf. (I think I’ve told you this already, but that first book was awesome — and if GG helped inspir that world — well kudos to him, too).
Best.
Hey BostonJoe,
Long time no see. The second book is actually out and about (Cybermancy) and the third (CodeSpell) hits shelves at the end of May. I’m actually putting the polish on four right now–literally, I’m playing hooky from the last three chapters in this thread.
I’ve never played D&D, but I did get to meet him. He had a game shop in my hometown*, my dad took me there when I was 11 to buy a new Risk set. Nice guy, as far as I can remember.
*Little-known fact: the ‘Gen’ in Gencon comes from Lake Geneva, my Wisconsin tourist trap of a home.
I’m at a loss for words. I knew Gary from my SCA days back in the mid 70’s. He was such a nice man – both he and Dave. I’m so sorry to hear this.
I met my ex husband D&D’ing. Yup, married the DM, I did. :>) My ex wanted to sell Gary a bunch of monsters he created, so he sent him a sample one. While he never did hear back from them, his monster was used in the next compendium.
My daughter now plays with a group of her friends every day at lunch.
D&D is a brilliant game and the loss of GG is truly sad.
Stephen Colbert closed out his show tonight with a brief mention of Gygax’s passing (he even rolled a D20 for ‘how much he’ll be missed’…).
A nice gesture, I thought. (Though not exactly what you’d expect to be “in character” for his usual on-air persona….!)