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Thread: Gary Gygax, 1938-2008: Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master

  1. #1
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    Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies at 69

    FYI.... latebreaking news as it happens

    MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

    He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

    Gygax and co-creator Dave Arneson developed the fantasy role-playing game in 1974. It became one of the best-selling games ever and influenced video games, books and movies.

    Gygax' wife said he always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans about how Dungeons & Dragons influenced their lives. Many would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, which is about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, she said.

    "It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

    Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters for themselves and describe their adventures with the help of complicated rules and unusually shaped dice.

    The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that are still growing in popularity.

    Gygax had been in declining health for several years but as recently as January he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons at their home, Gail Gygax said.

    Funeral arrangements are pending. In addition to his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.


    By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press
    "Everything happens for a reason..."

  2. #2
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    Gary Gygax, 1938-2008: Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master

    Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of the fathers of tabletop role playing games, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. He had suffered from heart problems.

    The news was first announced on the message board of Troll Lord Games, the publisher of Gygax's most recent works. It has since been directly confirmed by the company, which will post an announcement on its web site later today.

    Gygax was best known for helping create Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and pioneered tabletop role playing games. The first D&D rulebooks were released in 1974 by TSR, Inc, and since then produced three full-fledged sequels, numerous revisions and updates, and dozens upon dozens of additional rulebooks, settings, and campaigns. While Gygax hadn't had much direct involvement with D&D for many years, he developed and contributed to many role playing games, Troll Lord Games' Gary Gygax's Fantasy Worlds.

    If not for his contributions, video games and geek culture would probably look much different than it does today. Beyond jokes about "d20s" and "saving throws," D&D's systems and mythos have spawned many excellent games, including Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment.

    Dungeons & Dragons continues to develop. Since TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, the game has seen even more expansions and updates. The company released Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition in 2000, and Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 is scheduled to ship in June. Though he didn't actively produce the latest editions of the game, neither they nor the countless video games, books, and other media that carry the D&D name would have been possible without him


    He will be missed.

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    "Everything happens for a reason..."

  4. #4

    E. Gary Gygax passed away.

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    The Great Dungeon Master has failed his last saving throw...
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    New Deity for the Pantheon!
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  7. #7
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    Rest in peace, Gary, and thanks for all of it.
    Take care of Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him.

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    Just wanted to say I merged the two threads about this topic.
    We came in peace, for all mankind - Apollo 11

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    Whereever you go within nerddom there are memorials springing up, with people expressing their appretiation for this man, and his creation . . . yet nothing in the regular media . . . whatever happened to the little guy finishing on top.

    Rest in Peace.

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  10. #10
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    Well, it is on CNN.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/04/o....ap/index.html

    Just...in the tech section, which makes no sense
    - Daniel "A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having."

  11. #11
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    I wanna pay my respects here as well.

    I grew up in the time of those real cheesy Sinbad movies, with the claymation looking monsters and sets. Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans were movies that my cousin and I would watch and then pretend to play. We'd fill the golf bag tubes that his dad had with newspaper (to strengthen them) and get trash can lids and reenact our favorite fantastic/medieval movies. I look back and laugh now, but we'd really beat the crap out of each other.

    I was introduced to D&D around this time and the number of hours of enjoyment and the memories that I have because of this game and its creator are impossible to tell in a simple post, but here are some highlights:

    The basic box set of the early 1980's that taught you how to play an Elf, Dwarf, Halfling or Human in one of only a handful of classes - and to take these characters into the Caves of Chaos! The castle of the Keep on the Borderlands was my staple castle for years.

    The expert set that enhanced the rules and also gave us the Isle of Dread! I haven't seen that module in years, but we had great fun campaigning there.

    At long last, Christmas of '82 (I believe it was) I got all three hard bound books and two full sets of Ral Partha mini's. What fun to play the game and paint the lead figures.

    Time passed and I added to this collection the boxed set of Greyhawk and Deity's and Demigods - the one with the Melnibonean mythos before Moorcock had the book re-called. Moorcock's books were fast becomig my interest from Elric to Corum to Ulrich, and it was here I departed the d20 gaming system after buying Chaosium's Stormbringer boxed set.

    Still, even though I now used d100 as my rules of choice, the world of Greyhawk and the many modules that I had on my shelf from the D&D days were the backset I used for the next 20 years of gaming. The slavers campaign on the Pomarj was some of the funnest gaming we had.

    I just boxed up the last of my original D&D books and took them to the local gaming store for trades, but my Greyhawk (original) books and a few game modules I still keep.

    Thank you Gary Gygax for a great means for me and my many players to bring to 'life' our own adventures.
    Last edited by Tomcat; 03-05-2008 at 11:35 PM.

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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Sho-sa Kurita View Post
    Well, it is on CNN.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/04/o....ap/index.html

    Just...in the tech section, which makes no sense
    The intended audience doesn't read human interest stories?
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    Wow, this has not been a good year for old school gameing, has it.

    Erick Wujick is dying, and Gary Gygax, who could be considered intellectual father to the industry, has passed.

    D&D was my first toe into the gaming waters; I bought some books before I even really understood the game. Then that Boxed Basic set (I bought it in the "Toys and Games" section of a hardware store!) Helped me make sense of it all.

    I was hooked; a universe of heroes and villians, of deeds both daring and dark. Had alot of fun making (and breaking)characters, adventuring and learning those little things we pick up from our hobby. Eventually, my interests turned away from D&D, to other worlds, other heroes, but I still looked in on what D&D had become (heck, I'm probably still gonna get a ver. 4 set), if for nothing else but nostalgia.

    So, in a nutshell, thanks Gary, for giving me endless hours of entertainment.
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King View Post
    The intended audience doesn't read human interest stories?
    As in, it's not tech news. It's entertainment news.
    - Daniel "A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having."

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Sho-sa Kurita View Post
    As in, it's not tech news. It's entertainment news.
    Okay, intended audience doesn't read entertainment news then : P
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