The Reason You're Here is Now Gone: Gary Gygax, Grandfather of Roleplaying + Creator of D&D is dead.

[ex_amurderofcrows752]

While we have no official news source -- only the Troll Lords forum, where the company head's posted about his death, as he was working for Troll Lord games -- it seems fairly certain that Gary Gygax has left us for GMing in a higher plane.

Now, I know a few people here are going to scoff. They're going to think Dice and Paper games are silly. They're not going to understand clustering around the table is less then the creative writing that comes here to live on a daily basis. -- but I'll say this: Milliways would not be here without Gary Gygax. Roleplaying was nothing until he gave it a few books, mimeographed rule sheets, and some dice. It grew from there. And we wouldn't be here, wearing the skins we are now, if it weren't for him.

So roll some dice, break out the old D&D books, and search for that 1000gp diamond for the resurrection spell...

Edit: Confirmed. It's on Google News and other sites as well. Rest in Peace, Gary. Hope you roll nothing but 20s from here on out.

Comments

[ceitfianna]

Wow. The first roleplaying I ever did was AD&D at summer camp, playing a half elf bard and I was utterly hooked. Sad to know that he's gone and I hope that he knew just how much his vision changed the world.

[camwyn]

... I'm gonna switch out the d20 in my necklace for a black one when I get home tonight.

Enjoy the Planes, Mr. Gygax. And thanks for all you've done.

[moriendi.livejournal.com]

Oh.

Thank you, Mr. Gygax.

You helped to opened my horizons to the wider world of geekery and gamedom.

[sdelmonte]

I never quite got into the D&D style of RPG, but I can say with pride that I was there for the start, when it wasn't AD&D yet, watching classmates scope out the original rules and system in the early 80s. I wish I'd tried it then, before I became more of a LARPer and a freeform RPer.

No one could have guessed that gaming would mean so much more than Monopoly and Scrabble, that Dork Tower and Knights of the Dinner Table and Munchkin would offer loving tongue-in-cheek salutes to a trend, that gaming cons would dwarf other cons. that Dungeons and Dragons would be part of the culture (if a far too misrepresented and malinged part).

RIP, Mr. Gygax.

[jezrana.livejournal.com]

AD&D was my introduction to roleplay, back when I hadn't even hit my teens yet. I haven't played it in years, but there are some seriously good times to remember there.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Gygax.

[hisimprlmajesty.livejournal.com]

The San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/04/national/a103425S84.DTL&feed=rss.news) has confirmed it. = {

I'm sorry to see him go but noting what his health problems were, I think it was for the best.

[mogget_cat]

D&D was my introduction to roleplaying, as well. I hope he had a good life and was happy.

[aberrantangels]

For me, it was the D&D boxed set, then the AD&D books.

See you in the Outer Planes, sir.

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

I've never played a tabletop RPG, but I respect everything that D&D contributed to the world. A tip of the hat and a roll of the dice (http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php) to you, Gary.

[stilljustandrew]

Maybe I should get a dungeon module with the characters predefined
You could really be a great gamesmaster if you stop trying to use your mind
Here's a handy trick that's even cuter: set the dungeon up on your home computer
Good, bad, sane, mad, copied from the Iliad, it's still D & D to me.
-Zander Nyrond


Thanks for everything, Mr. Gygax.

[ostro_goth]

I never did the tabletop version, but 'Moria', a AD&D based ASCII dungeon, was the very first game I role playing game I ever played, on a computer, back in 1991.

I learned about it from a bloke whose lifeblood was AD&D tabletop campaigns; he had been playing with the same people for years, and one of the major tragical events was at the end of one campaign, when the several-years-old character of one of his fellow players lost her life in the cause. He told me about it in great seriousness, and I sekritly wondered how one could be so attached to a character one plays...

Yes, I agree, I am also here because of Gygax.-