ps238principal ([info]ps238principal) wrote,
@ 2008-03-04 14:59:00
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Entry tags:dungeons & dragons, gary gygax, passed away

Gary Gygax has run out of hit points






Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D with Dave Arneson, passed away today at the age of 69. Born in 1938, he helped to create the hobby that so many of us still enjoy today, as well as the various works inspired by it. I still have my original three-book set of Dungeons & Dragons, along with some of those first plastic dice that have started to crumble in recent years.

Coverage of Mr. Gygax's passing has been remarkable, as I think the industry he worked with touched more lives than many would care to admit. I'm putting up FFN a day early as a meager tribute. I once got to talk with him at a convention, but the conversation was him asking where someone at our booth was, and me telling him that the person in question was in the bathroom.

I did get to see him in Milwaukee during the big D&D 3E announcement, which was pretty thrilling. I'd never seen the man in the flesh before and knew him mostly as the guy who put "EGG" in the middle of one of the maps in "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" and did the "Up on a Soapbox" column for Dragon (back when it had staples!).

If nothing else, I'm glad he got to see his work flourish and spawn many children. I don't think MMOs would be what they are without those early books, misprints and all. Thank you, Gary Gygax, for you and your friends leading us to that fabled 10' by 10' room with an orc guarding a chest and helping us to find a little piece of glory, if only for an evening over pizza.

For a more complete overview of Mr. Gygax's career, Wikipedia has a pretty good summary.

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[info]misatokatsuragi
2008-03-04 09:46 pm UTC (link)
Oh, my goodness. That's left me fairly speechless. I'll always fondly remember him, and thank our lucky stars for his involvement in the gaming world.

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[info]ffutures
2008-03-04 09:48 pm UTC (link)
I seem to have spent most of the evening commenting posts like this. He was enormously important to the hobby, and he'll be greatly missed.

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[info]agent_23
2008-03-04 09:52 pm UTC (link)
We almost had him as a GOH at VCon in Vancouver BC a few years ago but he had to cancel because of health reasons. RIP Gary. I hope your trip to the outer planes is a smooth one.

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[info]hexar_le_saipe
2008-03-04 10:09 pm UTC (link)
The Fark.com headline was "Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has failed his saving throw vs. death"

RIP

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[info]st_evil
2008-03-04 10:51 pm UTC (link)
:(

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(Anonymous)
2008-03-04 10:51 pm UTC (link)
Rest in peace, old man. You brought something beautiful into this world. May the next one will be nice to you for it.

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[info]ps238principal
2008-03-04 11:11 pm UTC (link)
Wizards of the Coast has modified their home page in tribute: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome

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(Anonymous)
2008-03-04 11:53 pm UTC (link)
So, who else is doing a special D&D session in his honor this weekend? We're doing a module or two of his converted to 3.5.

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[info]haesslich
2008-03-05 12:32 am UTC (link)
Yeah. Gary Gygax has, as a coworker put it, 'failed his saving throw versus Death'. At least he was hale and hearty.... right up till the past month or so, if I remember it right.

I guess he's gone off to see the Great Dungeon Master, and will be rolling ten-sided die wherever he's gone off to. My condolences to his wife and family.

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Goodbye Gary
(Anonymous)
2008-03-05 03:36 am UTC (link)
... whichever Pantheon you go to.

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[info]thunderheavyarm
2008-03-05 05:37 am UTC (link)
My friend told me about Gygax before I saw the site and i was in disbelief. I mean...this is one of those guys you think will out live you. I honestly don't know what to say but, [opens a pepsi] Here's to Gygax. One of the greatest men this generation has ever known.

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[info]spiritbw
2008-03-05 06:05 am UTC (link)
He might not but his influence definatly will. Even people who have never heard of him before now are taking a moment all over the net to note his passing and just how much he impacted gaming. Really, without D&D, would there have been RPGs in all thier varieties? heck with Father of Dungeons and Dragons. he was the father of Roleplay, creater of worlds, muse of epics and heros. I'm hard pressed to find a corner of fantasy or even sci-fi that doesn't ahve some of his touch somewhere.

I may have to book my time now at the table in the sky for when i get there in 30+ years.

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Good by Gygax thanks for everything.
(Anonymous)
2008-03-05 12:09 pm UTC (link)
If it had not been for starting DnD I would probly not be alive right now. I grew up in a bad area the only thing keeping me from street corner was Dungeons and Dragons. It taught me team work responsiblity to think on my feet and also that a man like me could be something more then I was born into. I am now a succesful man all thanks to this man rest in peace dungeon master rest in peace.

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[info]myrystyr
2008-03-05 12:41 pm UTC (link)
I Roll to Disbelieve!!!!!

:(

I don't know who I'd be, if not for D&D... or even if I'd still be here. Wanting to get back to my friends and complete Keep On The Borderlands (the second module I ever played) with them, when I was 14, was a major motivating factor in recovering from heart surgery faster than expected.

Long live Gary Gygax!

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[info]matrixviking
2008-03-05 12:51 pm UTC (link)
*bows head for a moment*

Fare thee well...Dungeon Master.

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[info]bayushisan
2008-03-05 02:09 pm UTC (link)
I didn't come to Dungeons and Dragons until I was in college. I'd always been an outcast of sorts and through that game I finally found where I belonged and fit in. Thank you for that Mr. Gygax, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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(Anonymous)
2008-03-05 03:13 pm UTC (link)
Dungeon Master my Dungeon Master.

It's hard to believe he's gone. This was (it hurts even to type that word) who gave so much to rpg's, and gaming in general, that I find it difficult to think of a world without him.

I bet everyone of us here has had a moment when flipping through a gamebook and saying, I wonder how Gygax would have done this? You know, the What Would Gygax Do? moment...

He was a gentleman, a scholar, and a genius. He will be more than missed and always remembered. Let's hope WotC give an in memory credit to Mr Gygax in 4e. It would be only right.

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This man..
[info]chadhulhu
2008-03-05 06:07 pm UTC (link)
.. was a gawd amongst our gaming group, sure we swayed from 2 ed. But first was by far the most fun. Again, as i mention in other sites. To sit in on a game with him GM'ing would of been my biggest wish.
We miss you Mr. Gygax, we will game on the other side. :)

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RIP
(Anonymous)
2008-03-05 06:55 pm UTC (link)
I may have never played D&D, but I owe the existance of all my favorite games, like KotOR, and pretty much every rpg videogame I have already played. Condolences to his family.

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[info]spineywolf
2008-03-05 07:16 pm UTC (link)
As it happens my gaming group met the same day he died cause that was our night. Two of the group knew already and informed the rest of us. We were saddened, and proceeded to send text messages to our other friends we thought would care. One response was "That's too bad, but is he dead dead? like -10 dead?"

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Gary Gygax passing
(Anonymous)
2008-03-05 09:53 pm UTC (link)
Thank you Gary for sparking the imaginations of people world wide. I dedicate all of my dice rolls to you.

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[info]dannyboy2k
2008-03-05 11:22 pm UTC (link)
Nearing the journey's end, the companions find themselves in a sun-washed glade. Enemies far behind them, a collective sigh pays homage to the welcome respite. As the sun nestles down to its own slumber, the night transforms glory to solemn retrospect.

Riches and acclaim have they gained in plenty, but a dear fiend has been loston the path from home to here. In the flicker of firelight, stories of a life well lived brings laughter and tears. Sorrows price is payed in their remembrance.

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[info]dice_collector
2008-03-06 03:19 am UTC (link)
I met Gary in person for the first and unfortunately last time ... at GenCon Indy last year ... as a matter of fact ... he was wearing that very shirt (IIRC) ...

As I believe that celebs deserve to have private lives (ie no fawning or you are so great's) ... I only identified myself as one of the many with whom he had conversed on Dragonsfoot ... He was quite charming in the few minutes we had together in line at that sandwich shop in the lobby of the Hyatt

He will be missed

RE the aforementioned dice set ... I believe this may be the type of set
http://www.dicecollector.com/diceinfo_dnd_cheapo.jpg

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[info]agent_23
2008-03-06 07:15 pm UTC (link)
Before some jackass stole my dice bag many years ago, my d20 (from that set you posted a pic of) was almost round because of all the rolls it had done. There was only one d20 in that set so you had to roll twice if you needed to roll 1-100. Also painted the corresponding 10 sides with a marker to distinguish between 1-10 and 11-20. Fun times... :)

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RIP
(Anonymous)
2008-03-06 04:34 am UTC (link)
I owe Gary Gygax my life as well, though in a bit of a different way. My parents met playing D&D...Without Gary Gygax, it's doubtful I would be here.

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Ah, the stories over a tankard of ale . . .
(Anonymous)
2008-03-06 06:14 am UTC (link)
I remember the many sleepovers with friends, playing AD&D (1st ed) and hanging out. We never quite followed all the rules, but that was OK. We had fun, and sometimes the dice would rule our fate, sometimes the DM would tell us what happened, in favor of weaving a "grand adventure". Characters would take over, developing their own personalities and quirks, with disastrous or hilarious results. My wife and I still refer to each other with the names of our most memorable characters.

RIP, Gary Gygax. There's a legion of paper PCs toasting you in "the bar".

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And so it came to pass, that the great Gary Gygax reached -10 hp for the last time.
(Anonymous)
2008-03-06 09:37 pm UTC (link)
Gary Gygax dead.. (At least untill someone whips up a raise dead spell.)

I just found out about his passing. It's sad, but death is one of the three most vital parts of life.

The other two are birth and gaming. :-)

Rest in peace, mr Gygax.

Thank you for the memories and your great work. You enhanced many lives and all our dice roll in your memory.

-Doc

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