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Gary Gygax - RIP
Caswynben
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, this is pretty disheartening news. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and a myriad other expansions and books, has died.
http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7963395
Whether you remember him for his games, his appearance on THe Simpsons and Futurama, or because man the dude was awesome, let us have a moment to remember Gary Gygax, fellow nerd.
http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7963395
Whether you remember him for his games, his appearance on THe Simpsons and Futurama, or because man the dude was awesome, let us have a moment to remember Gary Gygax, fellow nerd.
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The one time I "met" him was several years ago almost pre- or at-D20 when was waiting to run a game at GenCON and absolutely ZERO PLAYERS had shown up.
I was on my way to meet a goth chick up in her room, so I couldn't stay to play.
That Cooke guy reacts.
My first gaming started with DnD 3e. I never knew the joys of the red box, or THAC0, but there's a perfectly apt quote that comes to mind:
"Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."
Without Mr. Gygax there'd probably still be RPGs, but the landscape would be very different, and not for the better.
here's to a legend. whenever you roll a natural 20 or kill a grue, think of Gary Gygax, sitting behind the screen at the Next Gaming Table
And dammit, the man created and inspired industries. Thousands of lives owe their primary direction to him, and millions more owe at least some measure of their good memories to him.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
*roll dice*
...upset at this news.
E. Gary Gygax, truly a rock star, a wizard, all that.
While that was *my* first impulse as well, I now prefer to think that his Con had been reduced to 3, and he merely rolled a 19.
I doubt there's a gamer out there that hasn't been touched by the work he did, and in that respect, he is certainly immortal.
That was exactly my first thought when I saw he died.
Big
RIP Gary!
Beautiful
Man... Howard would start all kinds of shit in a gaming group. He'd be the guy who comes back with an actual sword to set the record straight when something went awry for his character. Then he'd call everyone a bunch of pussies and go find some other guys to fight bare-knuckles and eat raw steaks with.
Oh, man. That is such a cool idea.
Do Burroughs and Howard fight over who gets to be the barbarian?
Rouse is quickly becoming my favorite WotC guy.
And a very well done to them, indeed.
I've said it before, but Gygax was an undisputed legend in the social circles I've frequented (well... slightly social trapezoids). He's one of those names that everyone would know, and for good reason.
...and people are already vandalising his Wiki page. How classy.
I often make fun of Gygax. His novel writing was hilariously bad (though I can't bring myself to throw out my Gord the Rogue books), and his mysogyny was disturbing at times... there's a reason girls didn't get into gaming until Vampire was released in 1990. He mostly met with failure in the days after being ejected from TSR, but he kept working regardless.
I wouldn't be the person I am today without Gygax's work. Be at peace, old friend. May Tenser's Floating Disk guide thee to thy rest.
The group had fun with this one... not only was everything in the town all messed up, but I threw in a fake Deck of Many Things. I think one of the exchanges went like this. The barbarian draws a card.
"Ahh... you have drawn The Penguin."
"The Penguin?"
"Yes. This powerful object has bestowed upon you the power to fly at the speed you can run, so long as your feet stay firmly on the ground."
"Huh..." (barbarian draws another card, while the rest of the players scream NO, still worried that it might actually be a Deck of Many Things) "How about this one?"
(The Priest gasps in terror) "Oh, no, not that one!"
"Is it bad?"
"You have drawn... The Cow."
(pause)
"The cow?"
"One must never be an enemy to The Cow, my friend..."
"So I'm the enemy of a Cow?"
"Do not underestimate this Omen! For one to understand chaos one must become one with chaos, and when one is one, that is to say whole, all of chaos becomes one with one, and the singular, that is the "one" of Chaos is quite simple to conjure, for many may be one by severing the 's' and thus the whole of one which one is left to hold... is The Chao. The oneness is won only when its wholeness is holy."
"Uh..."
"Wholly Chao... holy cow..."
"Okay, we're leaving now."
Later on I planned for him to make enemies with an actual cow, but the campaign didn't last long enough.
See ya Gary.
Man I feel old right now....
Rest in peace, Dungeon Master.
Seriously, though, his influence CREATED modern videogaming culture, and without him, we'd have no Penny Arcade.
*faceplant*
Not to be a cynic, but I love how everyone is all "Oh, thanks; we're so grateful to be assured it would be dedicated to him."
It's pretty obvious that the books would have been dedicated to his memory no matter what; if they hadn't been, the powers that be over there would have been lynched by the population at large.
Like it would have required a post at EnWorld to get them to dedicate the books to his memory.
I think that's safe to say.
Though I have little interest in D&D and its successors these days, his influence will be felt in all things geek and fantasy for as long as the human race lives, or the Prime Material falls into the Negative Energy Plane.
I think I'll get a d20 and put it on my desk at work.
RIP Mr. Gygax.
I kinda feel like he was wearing a red robe and just disappeared behind a bush. At least thats how I would like to think he went.
I always admired Gary Gygax's love and advocacy for the pure fun element of tabletops. He made some bad business decisions and wrote some silly books, but I still greatly admire him.
His most important contribution isn't the games he made or the worlds he created. He gave us all the chance to imagine and dream while sharing time with friends. He gave nerds their own tailgate party, their own guild if you will. He gave us the chance to share our imaginations with each other.
Godspeed, Gary Gygax.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules."
"Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game."
Now I want to play a rules-light game full of pure fun in Gary's honor.
Right now, words seem insufficient to describe the collective sadness of the world at his passing.
May all your rolls be natural 20's, Sir Gygax.
He was free.
He wasn't sure when it happened, just that it did. There was a burst of light, and a feeling of utter calmness, and then a moment of understanding.
He looked back only once, but already, what had been was fading away. A part of him longed to return, but a voice whispered to him that his time there was over. Something new lay ahead.
But first, there was something he wanted to do.
They were already waiting for him, smiling, just like he remembered. Sheets of paper with arcane symbols and numbers lay in front of them next to glasses of drink and small, polyhedral shapes that glowed in brilliant colors that no human eye could have seen. Faces long since missed. Friends and loved ones that he'd wished he could have seen one more time, and now he could.
There was one empty seat waiting for him at the head of the table.
He took his seat and cleared his throat. Reaching out a hand, he adjusted the shimmering cardboard screen and glanced over his notes.
"All right, guys. Roll for initiative," he said.
Aww man now I'm all misty-eyed.
He he I kid, that's actually really nice. Did you write that just now?
Also, are we horrible people for making so many jokes about dropped loot and failed saves?
Well said.
Heh. Wow. I've been a little bummed out ever since I heard the news but that actually made me cry a bit. I never knew the guy, and I've never been that much of a fan of D&D, but I know that his influence made the game culture that I love so much what it is today.
And to be blunt, while I don't believe in the afterlife, if there is one I want to be in his game.
RIP, Gygax.
honestly I think the greatest service we can pay this man is reciting incredibly amounts of arcane rules and terms in his honor. Because these are the things that we grew up with, at least I did. And as for the jokes , a man who dedicated his life to the adventures of elves, dwarves, and halflings, gnomes and all sorts of demi human characters has got to maintain a certain humor about life and more importantly his life that must transcend death.