Gary Gygax is Gone

[rabidsamfan]

He died this morning.

Count me among the "geeks" who will raise a glass in his honor. If it hadn't been for odd shaped dice I doubt I'd have half the friends I do.



I'd always "storytalked" with my sister and friends, playing elaborate games of make-believe, but it wasn't until I was in the Air Force, at technical school, that I had a chance to play D&D. One of my fellow airmen -- a girl named Deb whose red hair and personality has me remembering her like a force of nature -- had curled xeroxes of lots of the tables, and I made myself a halfling thief. I don't remember much about the game, except I was a rules lawyer. After much persuasion I convinced the other players that my halfling could carry acid filled glass pellets for her sling as well as silver pellets.

This proved vital. One night, on a series of dice rolls that will live in infamy, a baby red dragon mysteriously failed to flame me and the rest of my party to death and my halfling somehow managed to hit it in the eye with one of the glass pellets, killing it instantly. The dragonskin armor I got from its belly was one of my proudest "possessions".

As you can tell, since I'm boasting about it so many years later.

I seldom played D&D after that -- moved on to Warhammer, where I found the calculations simpler -- but the idea stayed the same.

Thanks for the memories, Gary.

Comments

[shirebound]

That makes me sad. :(

[belleferret.livejournal.com]

Very. I played for a while, many years ago.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

oh wow. :-( I never played but I knew a lot of people who did.

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh, do I remember playing D&D in high school and college!

*pours a glass in Gygax' honor*

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Cat Tech every Saturday for a couple of years. Mid-'70s.

And almost certainly one of the inspirations for Diana Wynne Jones's 'The Homeward Bounders'. Probably William Saylor's 'Interstellar Pig' and who knows how many others.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Alas, I only played two games of D&D in my life -- and both times the DM earnestly told me afterward that they weren't always that deadly boring.

My Paladin pallbearer has a casket-bearing strength of 15 and a eulogy strength of 3 -- better let the cleric do the honors.

[gloryunderhill.livejournal.com]

Farewell and fair journey to the Wizard Gygax. He gave me a lot of friends and fun over the years as well! *teardab*

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Aw. I was a big D&D fan for many years, and we have still occasionally played it in our adulthood as an excuse to get the old gang together. Gygax was the inspiration behind my first novella. In my first sf novel to be published, my characters played that game-- it sets off the entire action.

Wow. What a neat contribution he made to the world and our culture. Thank you, Gary.

[aeb.livejournal.com]

Still play weekly. Current project: integrating a new player. It's interesting... she's an autistic teenager who's new to the game. The rest of of the players are myself, both of my parents, and a former colleague of Dad's who we've been playing with for... {blink} about two decades now. My, how time flies. He started about the time I graduated to a grown-up game. {smile}

Gygax's game is still much better suited to table-top play than post-2nd edition. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

It's funny; I've never played D&D, but it's shaped my life; I've hung out with friends who played, played games based on it, have it in my vocabulary... I still say I failed or made my wisdom roll to do /not do various things.

So long, Mr. Gygax, and thank you for all the fun.