By Matthew
Gary Gygax the co-creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons has just died. D&D was one of the things that orignally developed my interest in the Fantasy genre. I remember there was a great reading list of Fantasy source material in the back of the 1974 edition that I had and I tried to work through those authors. I’ll try to dig it out if people are interested. (Update- Here it is!)
Gygax appeared as himself, along with Stephen Hawkings and Nichelle Nichols, in an episode of Futurama, as a member of the “Vice-Presidential Action Rangers” led by Al Gore. Upon meeting the show’s main character, Gygax rolled a 10-sided die to determine which greeting to use: “Hello! It’s a… pleasure to meet you!”
Here is a fitting tribute to the man.
Joivre on 
Arabella Figg on 
Red Rocker on 
Tom on 
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, Matthew, this was quite a kick in the gut for me, too. I hadn’t realized he was so ill. It’s like the end of an era, even if that sounds cliched.
Dungeons & Dragons was my gateway drug into fantasy rpg’s. And although I moved on to games I got more enjoyment from as far as rules systems goes, like MERP & Star Trek, The RPG, I never missed a chance to play D&D. Indeed some of my fondest gaming memories come from playing a half-ogre cleric & a gnome illusionist. (On a side note, I’m pretty ticked off they took away the gnome race in the new 4th edition.)
I was already big into reading fantasy fiction before I got started in D&D, but it certainly helped me along in finding new stuff to read & in expanding my imagination.
We gamers also were very prepared to become Harry Potter fans. As we’ve spent years putting up with fundamentalist Christian misunderstanding & vilification of gaming. D&D had such a satanic affect on me that I’m now a Christian minister!
Of course, some Christians would say I’m not really a Christian because I’m a Lutheran. Ah well! You can’t win for losing.
Matthew, I don’t know if you’ve heard of The Knights of the Dinner Table comic book. But they have a nice tribute to Gygax as well posted on the company’s website. It’s called An Empty Chair: Eulogy for a Gamer. The website is http://www.kenzerco.com
I asked my wife if I could drive 200 or so miles to the nearest gaming store & spend the rest of the week gaming in tribute to Gygax. Apparently not. Oh well, I’ll think of something.
Thought of you when I read the news, Matthew.
I came to fantasy by a different route. I was a hard-core X-Men fan, and the comic book featured a villain called – Sauron. He was a typical megalomaniacal super villain who looked like a pterodactyl and who named himself after the Tolkien character. I knew nothing of Tolkien, but the obvious respect and even awe of the comic book characters twigged me to the fact that something was going on which I should take a look at. I still have the three paperback volumes of LOTR that I bought out of curiousity. The rest, as they say, is history.
I’ve only began to appreciate the game of Dungeons and Dragons now that I’m in college. Role playing with friends provides a creative outlet and a greatly needed break from the stresses of student life, and I wish I had discovered it sooner.
As far as the religious opposition to role playing games goes, I’ve never understood the distinct difference between D&D and the childhood game of pretend. In fact, actors who perform in theatre and film have the similar task of taking on roles separate from their own identities.
RIP Gary Gygax. I’m sure that your creative inventions will be treasured for many years to come.
Mellie,
I think you’ll find that there’s a long history of distrust of actors & not necessarily in the Christian tradition. Actors had a dodgy reputation in ancient Greece & Rome, too.
Here’s a link to the wikipedia site which has some good information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor#History
Thank you! I believe I heard something along those lines before, I just never understood the source of the suspicion.