RIP Gary Gygax

It’s going around the Internet that E. Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, has passed away at age 69.

The man’s work certainly made a major impact in my life. I spent hours of my early teenaged years rolling odd dice at the kitchen table with my friends, and designing ridiculously labyrinthine dungeons for our overpowered characters to run through. I moved on in the 90s to more story-based RPG systems, but my First Edition Advanced D&D books remain on my game shelves, just in case.

Certainly, the World of Warcraft owes a great deal to the man, as does the Munchkin card game. Because of his work, many game stores have seen a fine profit from me over the years.

I think I should dig out an old module or two of his, and see about hosting a run in memoriam. I’ve always wanted to try “Expedition to the Barrier Peaks” again in a setting such as Earthdawn, Hercules & Xena, or perhaps even Deadlands (where it would fit awfully nicely, with certain tweaks. Hmm…)

Thanks for many lovely evenings, Mr. Gygax.

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One Comment

  • shrewlet says:

    How about something when Rhaps and I come down in April? I think I have a bag of die “Somewhere”.

    But yeah, I remember seeing the first D&D in its first run when I was in middle school some 30+ years ago. A sad day for gamers of all ages across the world.

    šŸ™

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