Well I never met the man but growing up a D&D nerd (started with D&D Basic in 1981), nearly every book I owned seemed to have "by Gary Gygax" on the cover (which always seemed like a fantasy name to me 
... "I am Gygax the Wizard!" or "Gygax the Gold Dragon!") and we played the hell out of The World of Greyhawk. Folk can say what they want but if it weren't for him and D&D I would have missed out on a great creative outlet. I might also have never known what a niche was, nor a doppleganger, nor a halberd nor a zillion other words I learned through playing D&D! Not to mention how it helped my math skills. I drew and wrote and arithmetized religiously thanks to him and his geeky game. So I'll just have to miss him since I'm not a cleric and thus can't Resurrect.
I'm a D&D nerd of the younger generation (my dad started me out on 3rd edition in 6th grade), and I, unfortunately, never got to meet him. However, I will mourn his passing; D&D has been one of the biggest influences on my life, only slightly overshadowed by comic books. I would be far less a person today had he never made his wonderful game.
Goodbye, Sir Gygax. You are gone, but never forgotten.
It's true RPGs would be nothing like they are now without his influence. His contributions to the world have definitely improved my life, and though I only started playing D&D last year, brought me closer to several friends.
As long as there are dungeons to loot and dice to roll, he'll be remembered.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
I was at the D&D experience this past week in DC, We just introduced version 4.0 and did open beta play of the new system. We will miss him.
Valor aka
Galdric the Brave lvl 10 Adventurer member of the Black Wheel Clan
Krusha Diskul lvl 10 Half Giant Battle Cleric of the Covent
Quote:
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by Star Ranger 4 WIN LOSE OR DRAW, WE WILL FIGHT. WE ARE HEROES This is what we DO! |
Decide that this will be another day in which you Walk The Talk.
MA #14724 Operation: Discredit @American Valor
Sentinel Of Liberty SG
Yeah, Mr. Gygax was pretty cool.
I remember playing with the boxed set. You could play a hobbit. AND the dragon (if you ever met one) was bad to the bone (read as nearly unbeatable).
Me and the boys will have to get together and play D&D. Not to actually play, just to revisit old adventures.
As long as there are a few good friends, some soda and cheetoes or chips, a few good characters and some multisided dice to use... Gygax's spirit will always be there.. nothing can ever change that simple truth. *holds up glass of soda* To the G-man. Gygax forever!
I was playing this morning with a small team and brought up the topic of Gary's passing. Two of the members immediately chimed in with their stories of meeting the legend and what a nice guy he was. Having met him personally I can testify that he was friendly and eager to share war stories about the grand old game and found him warm and engaging.
I was struck when one of our team mentioned he didn't know who we were talking about so I'm starting this thread to remind all of the CoX community that Gary was an inspiration to all role players as there would've been no role playing without him. He not only inspired a generation of gaming but inspired those who even if they didn't play D&D went on to contibute to thousands of other fantasy and sci-fi games including this one. I'm sure there must be a dev or two who has slung the dice in his time.
So I'm posting this thread for people to pay their respects to the grand daddy of role playing and express their feelings about the fallen hero.