D&D Co-Creator Gary Gygax Has Passed Away

Mearlus writes "In the recent past co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons Gary Gygax has worked with Troll Lord Games, a small tabletop RPG publisher. Their forums have up a post noting that Mr. Gygax has apparently passed away. Gygax was known, along with Dave Arneson, as the Father of Roleplaying." Saddened reactions from well-known designers have already begun to appear online. Consider this is an in-memoriam Ask Slashdot question: How has D&D (and tabletop roleplaying) touched/improved your life? Update: 03/04 23:16 GMT by Z : With more time, official announcements have had time to appear. Many sites are featuring posts on Gygax's impact on gaming, including touching entries on Salon and CNet.

Don't Forget His Writing

[TheMiddleRoad]

He wrote wonderful pulp fantasy that my students enjoy to this day.

Missed by all his friends and admiers

[IAmAMacOSXAddict]

I'm currently on the play test team with Jeff T. in Gary's current works (Castle Zagyg). Gary was was the Progenitor of all modern gaming. Imagine a world that did not have D&D. Computer games would not have developed in the way they have, they would be 3d versions of Chess etc. Gary's work, and the work of the people that have followed have entertained us for decades, and through Gary's work we will be entertained for decades and centuries more... Bob H.

Re:This sucks.

[corky842]

How many video games are based off Greyhawk? None, as far as I know.

One, actually. [wikipedia.org]

Re:Farewell Gary, glad I met you.

[KnoxKnight27]

I also had the opportunity to meet Gary this past year at Gen Con Indy 2007. And actually I was lucky enough to interview him:https://owa.bestbuy.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Jvnm9ahJM (I'm the bald one). Gary was by far the coolest person that I have ever met. Today is a sad day for all kinds of gaming. Gary you will be missed.

Re:I don't get it

[Maxo-Texas]

A good D&D game combines sitting around talking with friends about movies, school, your life with
* puzzle solving
* ensemble acting
* lots of calculating
* making moral choices that give you practice for real life
* or just reveling in being bad since it doesn't really count
* painting
* collecting
* drawing
* writing stories
* telling jokes
* a lot of laughter-- sometimes so hard you can't breath.

Even a bad game has most of these-- but often drops the acting part. The worst are where the referee seems themselves competing with the players instead of entertaining them since they can always win by adding more foes or an unsolvable puzzle.

Re:I don't get it

[closetpsycho]

For the uninitiated, I will attempt an explanation of D&D. You and a number of your friends all get together, one of you comes up with an idea for a story, and everybody else plays a character in that story. The actions of the characters in the story are moderated by the person who is telling it (the dungeon master), the choices of the friends acting in it, and the whims of random chance(dice rolls). The reason geeks are so fascinated by it, is it's a chance to hang out with friends, it's a way to be creative and tell a story, it's a chance to let your imagination go wild. In theory, it's interactive story telling with dice rolls. In practice, it's an opportunity for a bunch of friends to get together, and have some fun while exercising their imaginations just a bit. If you've never tried it, I suggest you go to a local hobby shop, and find out if they host any games. You might like it, you might not. But it is the only way to truly understand what D&D is.

Re:Farewell Gary, glad I met you.

[KnoxKnight27]

Sorry that URL should have been http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Jvnm9ahJM [youtube.com]

Re:Appareantly he got a glimps

[sckeener]

of 4th edition.

Nah, he just wanted to go out on His Day. Today is DM's Day! [sjgames.com]

Also thank Dave Arneson

[LordZardoz]

Dave Arneson (that other guy who invented D&D with Gary) actually invented the HP concept as it was used in D&D.

END COMMUNICATION

Re:This sucks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly you need to target something for the magic missile spell to fire... sniff.

Fireballs on the other hand :)

Re:DnD has not improved the life of anyone I know.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anectodal evidence is not what I used in the case. I used personal experience. The difference is huge.

Not to the rest of us, by definition.