:-( RIP Gary Gygax

Digital Download By David M. Ewalt

The father of D&D, Gary Gygax, passed on.

To paraphrase the Futurama episode he appeared in:

I'm [rolls dice] ...sad... to hear it.

It is indeed a sad day.

I think that sums it up very well... I know so many people who owe him at the very least many hours of pleasure. May he rest in peace, or not, whatever he would have preferred.

I have to admit when I saw the thread title I had no idea who he was... but I've also never played D&D. Not that I have anything against it but I have the feeling that your supposed to play against others and I never had anyone to play with *sob*

His legacy will live on...

Both my D&D groups on campus are planning on holding a vigil this Friday. Nothing fancy, just a massive rolling of d20's and a moment of silence.

As I have D&D to thank for my circle of friends, my latest idea for a novel and my current boyfriend (who I would not have met if not for the fact that he was DM'ing a group I was asked to join due to a dire need for a heal-bot character), it is therefore thanks to Gary Gygax that I have anything remotely resembling a social life.

*Bows head*
May he rest in peace.

With others.
Small but significant diference. I played D&D against others once and I hated it. The whole game is centered about working together to achieve your goal. If you have PC's working against you it becomes a whole different game.

Eric Burns said it better than me here but I agree with him that without Gygax's ideas and influence we might not have had a Lord of the Rings movie (and maybe Pratchett would not have been this successful...)

RIP. I've been playing D&D since I was nine years old. Somehow it amazes me to realize that someone had to invent it.

Here's a couple of links from Giant in the Playground, in tribute:

In words:
Giant In the Playground Games

In his comic:
Giant In the Playground Games

With Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax created a monster. - By Erik Sofge - Slate Magazine

I found a link to the following article in one of the blogs I read (Rantings of a Sandmonkey). Icredibly bitter and spiteful, in my opinion. I may expand on that further when I have the time.

Here's my take:

I didn't like the article. Not in the slightest. The short version is that while I can understand people who don't like games of shallow hack and slash, I stop understanding when it turns into senseless bashing of the game system that not only spread tabletop role-playing far and wide - but was also immensely instrumental in its evolution.

Now the long version.

The first thing in the article that flipped the alarm in my head was the following:

I chuckled at first, but I then saw that the tone of the article was going to go from bad to worse. The arguments followed the same line.

The first attack on D&D and Gary Gygax claimed that it was merely nostalgia that made people remember the game fondly, that Gygax was far outclassed Steve Jackson (GURPS is good system, could be better, and it's not the game books that were Jackson's best creation) and Gred Stafford ("Who?" was the first thing that came to my mind at seeing that name), and that D&D is pathetic even by geek standards.

Perhaps playing 1st Edition games in purely dungeon hack and slash form is pathetic, but so far D&D is a constantly evolving and expanding system - having more spinoffs and 3rd party addenums than the eye can see, sheer hordes of players worldwide, and a seamless transition into computer game format (be it the Golden Box games, Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, Planescape: Torment, the Neverwinter Nights games, and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games).

Yes, many people seem fond of online games these days. This why Neverwinter Nights (which allowed people to create their own game modules and run games in them) is such a fine example of how D&D is making the transition into the age of online games with graphics - the same can't really be said of other roleplaying game systems.

A search for game sessions online (roleplaying sites, Yahoo groups, search engines to find tabletop games near you) reveals a clear majority for D&D and D20. And the games are far from being shallow, cut-'em-up-and-take-the-loot-from-the-still-warm-corpses games.


And then Mr. Sofge started the rant about experience points. Pathetic, in my view. Is experience merely awarded for hacking things apart (and for that matter, is experience value *fixed*? Not for a long time.). You can play a D&D game with little combat, focusing instead on innovation, rolelpaying, using the complex system to your best advantage and playing your character to the very best edge. Solving quests and excellent roleplaying awards you experience, and merely taking the "kill 'em" approach will eventually bring your party to swift death. Experience is far from being just about the number of critters whose hides you collect.

If the DM is a good DM, and the players are good and serious players, then all will be well. So-called hobgoblin holocausts and no-mercy throat-slitting is frowned upon by any decent D&D roleplayer. Combat is part of the game, and it's a fun part of the game, but it's not *all* the game. The twists and turns of the story are far more central to it.

As for GURPS being the epitome of versatility... To each his own, but D&D today evolved into something so big that D20 (the generic D&D) has handed GURPS its own head on a platter as far as versatility is concerned. D&D and its variants offer so much complexity today that one can spend a week just staring at the various options available to you, possibly being reduced to a drooling brain-dead shadow of yourself just because you can't decide how to create your character.


Sure, the D&D that Gygax brought into the world wasn't that complex. But it was just starting out, and was simple enough and fun enough to keep on playing. And Gary Gygax did his very best to keep on adding to the game - especially when it came to encouraging people to make their own campaign settings and game worlds. Gygax quite literally wrote the book on gameworld-building.

And most importantly, D&D spread tabletop roleplaying far and wide.


Overall, looks like someone's a bit bitter about how his game system of choice (GURPS) didn't get as much appreciation as D&D. Very bitter, in fact.

While I don't play RPGs very often I do enjoy them when I play them. I think that Roman is correct with his assumption that Erik Sofge is just bitter. It's one thing to not like a game or gaming system, but he took it to a whole new level. I wish I knew of a local D&D group or even Gurps group. I'd like to try playing and meet some new people, but I don't know how to find out if there is even a Roll playing group in the area.

Isn't that what Google's for?

When looking to get in touch with people the first thing you must do is cloister yourself away in front of a computer and search out the right people to get in touch with, and then check all references to them on the internet and then look at their Myspace/Facebook pages, chat with them for a while on AIM/Messanger and only after months of writing about random and mundane things must you arrange to meet in person in a public place over a non-threatening cup of coffee...

Then you may meet people in real life...

D&D Players, Dungeons & Dragons Meetups, events, clubs and groups in your area - Meetup.com

Redneck, maybe the above will help, and there are many other sites that may prove useful. Hsing did give the best advise though - find the nearest geek store, and through it find players and groups. Roleplaying resources shops are often the local nexus for meeting groups, and the shops themselves operate as a kind of Geek Exchange, actively linking between groups and players, and/or running games for beginners. The store owners are often active DMs themselves, but this tends to vary. My own local roleplaying store sadly is located a city away (not that far, but still), but I still feel great whenever I visit.

I played a version of D&D in college, it was one of the things i liked best about my Junior year, I never thought I'd be doing that again nearly 30 years later but, Scott has a gameshop in the Launderette and I at least go watch the gaming, when Tim was here we'd play with his friends up in Bemidji, they play the AD&D version 2, in PR they play 3.5 and I was advised to wait until 4.0 comes out this spring. I have a mini and a set of multi sided dice and a couple of character sheets, If I do join a campaign here I will be playing Roywyn Garrick, a female Gnome wizard.
So D&D has been very very important to me, I have played probably just 20 hours total in my life but I have to say, this is not a game that is falling by the wayside nor is it limited to just geeks, it can be something people of many ages and backgrounds can do together for years even. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet Gary Gygax, I did meet John Kovalic and I joined with him the memorial group on Facebook, and my mom read about Gary in the Fargo Forum and asked if I had heard the news, D&D is a bigger part of the world culture then even most players realize, far from being a despised activity thet sets people apart, I think it is something that has brought the talents of "geeks" to the awareness of more mainstream folks, it is something to be sort of proud of that people get together and dream of something more than just everyday life. It is still cool.