King of the Geeks Drops to 0 hp
If you haven't heard by now, I have the sad duty to inform you that Gary Gygax, driving force behind the creation of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away yesterday.
Here's a link.
posted by Ted @ 9:10 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
RIP Mr. Gygax
I haven't been this bummed about the passing of someone I didn't know personally since Mr. Rogers left the neighborhood.
Yeah, that's too bad. We were kids at the right time. What a fun, formative time that was. His work (with Dave Arneson) really struck a chord with a lot of people, and it's amazing to think just how influential D&D was in the field of RPGs, computer games, books, etc. It's interesting to read the BGG threads and see that 1) he was still hosting D&D games even in 2008, and 2) he was really a board gamer, war gamer, and miniature gamer before and after his D&D/TSR work...just like us.
My favorite comment on BGG was "I hope they manage to build him a worthy tomb, with monsters getting tougher as you go down levels...
" How cool.
I still have my thoroughly beaten up copy of Chainmail. They aren't worth playing anymore, but I still like to thumb through them every once in a while. They were an important step in a life destined to be dominated by toy soldiers.
I started playing D&D back in 1976 with 1st Edition (white box; four character classes only: fighter, cleric, magic user, thief). Many a cold and rainy day were spent drawing dungeon maps, playing with lead figures, and rolling polyhedrals.
The game led me to such amazing things as Tolkien, wargames, heavy metal, computer games... the list goes on. I think the last time I played D&D was as a freshman in high school, but a large percentage of the gaming I enjoy today has Gygax's influence somewhere in its DNA.
Now to schedule a memorial game of Descent!
Flipping channels last night and wound up on the Colbert Report... At the end of the show Colbert mentioned the passing of Gygax... there were some chuckles from the audience, and knowing the satiric nature of the show I braced for the worst. Colbert says "you will be missed. How much will you be missed? *rolls two D10* 20. May your prismatic spray always bypass your target's reflex saving throw."
A pretty fitting tribute, I thought...
I too was an avid D&D player. This is too bad. Does anyone remember "The ring of Gax"?
I was very sorry to hear this news. I spent many weekends and Summer nights enjoying Gygax's/Arneson's creation. So many fond memories.
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