He can be proud of the legacy he's leaving behind. There was the gaming world "before" and "after" D&D, simple as that.
Creativity : The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods or interpretations; using originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
I was introduced to D&D in elementary school at about age 10 (23 years ago) by a friends brother at his birthday party.
That night , 12 of us unknowingly created a bond that would last to this day. For quite sometime we played as much as possible in the evenings , on weekends etc... As we grew older and a little more distant , and even to different towns , we all grew in to our own, very different identities - VERY different! We were , high school/college football players , wrestlers , metal heads , a hippie , business owners, military lifers , factory worker - all very different - but we still got together to game when ever it is possible - maybe a few times a year - still do. Still very good friends +5.
Kinda sounds like a book or something huh ? heheh
Thanks and RIP Mr. Gygax!
(I still have my 1st set of dice covered in white crayon bits)
I remember being a kid(7years,1985), standing in the book store with a AD&D box in my hands. My eyes went from the cover of the box to my Mothers eyes and back. I turned the box around and looked on the text on the backside.
Knowing that our family couldnt afford to much luxury at the time and being the considerate,courteous kid in the family, I put the box back and said to Mom "I really would like to have it, but maybe we could buy it when it becomes cheaper". My Mom smiled at me and we continued on with the shopping. Half way home in the car my Mom asked me to take a look in the big paper bag in the back seat.
And honest, I didnt have a clue what was in the bag. I didnt even imagine what it was. And as I pulled out the box out of the bag my hands began to shake and I yelled out in happiness. I just yelled. I remember looking into my Mothers eyes and saw that she was as excited as i was, because she knew I was happy. Toys and gifts was not amongst the usually things in our family, and to once be able to give her son a gift must have made her very happy.
I almost jumped out of the car before it was parked at home. Rushed to my room. Laid down flat on my stomach on the floor with the box infront of me. Ripped off the plastic wrapping paper. Pulled off the lid and ... God... the smell in the box was just amazing. Ink, newly printed rule book, glossy paper. I just smelled the inside of the box over and over again without touching the content. Ha ha ha. I still remember how it smelled.
My eyes caught the most peculiar dices I have ever seen. I took them in my hand and just felt them. I have never felt a plastic dice before, and never seen one with 8 sides. I tried to roll it a couple of times on the floor. It felt great! Ha ha.
Later that evening I was lying in my bed and just skimmed through the rulebook back and forth. Very careful to not damage or rip the pages.That day was the start of something amazing. Something amazing I shared with family and friends for many, many years to come.
Being a shy kid when I was young, D&D was amazing to make new friends. Friends that I still have to this day. Remembering my mothers eyes in the car means much to me. She and my father died in a tragic car accident 11 years ago. I was the driver. Vortex500 ended up in a wheelchair for life. To have all those memories of playing D&D together as a family and with friends brighten up even the most sad day here for me.
Well maybe I got a little offtopic, I dunno. All I know is that when I heard Gary Gygax died, I cried like a baby. I have never meet him or talked to him. But somehow he felt like a really close friend of mine. All I know about Gary is from interviews and other stuff I read.
Well that is all I had to say about that. Sure I could write about every single roleplaying session I had. But they are too many and I really remember this memory more. My Mothers eyes. Happiness.
Well enough of my ramblings... ;-)
May the Angels carry you gently to the Elysian fields Gary. Your biggest adventure awaits you there. Godspeed Gary, godspeed. In time we will join you for the greatest adventure of them all, we all meet then.
I heard about it yesterday and was actually a little sad when I first heard it, another legend gone for me. Then as I sat here at work and thought about it I started thking back to that first game way back in 7th grade when my rought this new game to school called Chainmail. We loved board games but all that was ever around back then was monopoly or clue and stuff like that. This was something new and cool. We played that 1st weekend for hours and hours, loving it. For those that don't know it, Chainmail was his first minature wargame and D&D rules were based off that game. Gary was co-maker of Chainmail but all that got me thinking about my friends back then and what they were doing now. We used to spend weekends over someone's house and just roll up characters and play and play for hours on end, sometimes days. I was that nerdy little pale ng mountain dew like on the Doctor Demento show (google it if you've never heard it).
My character was always the rough and tumble drunken dwarf leading with his axe or head and not so much his wits. God I loved those days....we're all old now of course but man that really brings back memories. I'm now working on a mmorpg myself, and my old cronies also work in the IT industry, some of you might know of us but i'll leave out names to protect the guilty parties.
To the man, the myth and the legend! /roll *stands with out falling during the wake
"G'on ye Gary, may yer cup be filt n n'er empty'
Now-Do you have any mountain dew? Where's the Cheetos?
truly a sad day. Gary Gygax has left a mark on all our lives to this day. D&D is his legacy. god bless him and may his family find strength through this hard time in their lives.
I can't count how many times I played P&P D&D back when since I was 8 and stood up late with a couple of my friends creating in our minds a believable world and beliveable characters with this game. He has influenced so many games, genres. he is truly a remarkable human being contributed so much,and will continue to contribute even after his passing. that is the true mark of a remarkablly unique person when even after they are gone, they continue to influence and inspire us.
GOd bless him for living and giving us so much during his time on earth. hes probably up there in heaven already breaking out his 20 headed dice and a D&D board :P he will be missed, and never forgotten.
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
The greatest game I have ever played. 2-3 times weekly for the last 20 years and still nothing has compared. The work that artist's like Brom, Clyde Caldwell and Kieth Parkinson did for D&D in the 80's inspired me to learn to paint. I would be lost without that.
My friend, Mike, got me into D&D when I was 12. My sister was playing too; and I had a magical time that first night. Hours later, my sister killed my character! I was mad but luckily my Mom yelled at her :P. Not really yell, but you get the idea. It was trivial, kid stuff.
What fun I had and what great friends I made through D&D. One of my best friends was first met at a gaming convention that was held monthly in town. That first convention was amazing; 100+ players and some fantastic Dungeon Masters.
As an adult, I was fortunate enough to meet Gary when he attended Rock Con (Rockford, IL). He seemed nice; and when taking a break in the hot dog stand (with that best friend mentioned above), Gary walked up and sat down next to us to eat a hot dog too. He was great to chat with. I told him I had always hoped to see a D&D movie; and he informed me that they had not one, but two motion pictures planned for the 80's, but the drama at TSR killed that. It was a real treasure to have such one on one time with the "master."
Long before meeting him, he was a childhood hero to me even though we knew him only by the name printed on the cover of the game manuals. Thank you Gary; rest in peace. Few of us will have even remotely the impact that you've had on the world.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
D&D and all the Pen and Paper RPG's of the 80's were a huge part of my past. I spent hundreds of hours playing with friends in many worlds. I just found about this and I am really sad to hear that the father of RPG's has passed away. He will be missed and remembered by those of us that grew up enjoying what this legend created. Rest in peace Gary.
i play D&D since i was a little girl with my dad and my godfather..the game become a big part of my life, today im 22 years old and i still playing D&D not only as player, i become a dungeon master my self and many of the best friends i have today, and almost all of my ex bf i meet them thx the game... the day Gary die i was writing my new story and a friend call me to tell me.. and i just cant go on...i leave the map and the pen and start to cry...actualy after reading your tribute i start crying again...
like you sayd i never know that man.. but i see his name for 15 years, and the funniest and almost all the best moments of my life are thx to him...its a very sad lost ..
My most memorable D&D moment is, ironically, not even in "normal" D&D. That's right: I played "Spelljammer". (*brief pause while everyone Wikipedias that to figure out what the hell it is*) It had started as a Forgotten Realms campaign, and segued neatly into Spelljammer once our DM had gotten ahold of the boxed set. No worries, it was loads of fun! I was playing a Paladin of Tymora, who happened to be in command of a Hammerhead. We had a Psionicist, a couple of clerics...maybe a mage, can't remember. Fun times.
The memorable bit? Oh yeah. We were taking heavy fire from an Illithid (mind flayer) vessel, and it wasn't looking pretty. We had taken a brief game recess (bio break, drink/food, etc), during which I was reviewing my character sheet and reminding myself what all my magical items did--hoping, praying, that there was something I could use to pull our collective asses out of the fire. Then it hit me: our psionicist had recently learned a new power, something that let him teleport another person to some other location. Bingo, thought I. I went over my plan with the psionicist's player, who, while he thought I was completely out of my f***ing mind, agreed to go along with it. When the game started back up, I put my plan into motion: I asked the DM if the psionicist would be able to locate the helm of the Illithid vessel. He replied yeah, sure...why not? I then had the psionicist teleport me--the paladin--to the helm...which, by the way, was surrounded by surly (and startled!) mind flayers. I raised my Hammer of Thunderbolts (augmented by my Girdle of Storm Giant Strength) and smashed it down on the helm.
The result was predictable to everyone /but/ me. The helm exploded, taking the ship--and Yours Truly--with it.
Fortunately, my loyal crew recovered my mangled corpse from the phlogiston and used the scroll of Resurrection I'd squirreled away in my pack to bring me back.
Isn't it funny? We played for years and years, but that remains the most memorable moment in my tabletop D&D career. (Most memorable tabletop /overall/? That would be in MERP: Middle Earth Role Playing...and a story for another time. )
I hope he knows he leaves us being a maker of one of the worlds great games. and that he will be missed. I played D&D for a long time when I was young teen and it was some of the best Summers me and my freinds had.
Without Gary....I'd have never found out that I have a love for making games and designing systems to run them. I'd also never have had the "joy" of running a campaign with "Crunk"....the Half-Orc Warrior whom (I am NOT joking) always rolled 20's.
Do you people have any ideal how hard it is to balance encounters for a party when one of them always crits? Those poor guys were always fighting things that could one shot each of them. And still win. I hate Crunk. I also never gave crunk any great weapons either...
*sigh*
Such a sad loss. One of the men who gave birth to everything RPG is gone. Without him...we'd never have WoW...never have EQ...no, we'd never have any of the console rpgs we play. Might not even have RTS's either...since a part of the structure TO D&D is based inside RTS idealism. All I'd have left is shooters...BUT no Ratchet and Clank, since that game had rpg elements. I rather like Ratchet and Clank. I suddenly feel sick.
I cried like a lil' girl when I heard the news. Yea, now THATS hardcore!
I've played D&D (boxed set) since the first pink box. Haven't had time to play these games in years.
Anyways, I actually started with "Star Frontiers" in 7th Grade. Moved up to D&D and others. 13 RPGs to be exact.
Recently, I tried to teach my 23 yr old fiancee to play D&D. She's never played "old school" RPG's. We made her a character sheet, filled it out. I started with Dungeon Module B2 "The Keep on the Borderands".
As I described what she saw in the city, I ask her "What would you like to do?"
To which she responds "I dunno. What am I supposed to do?" And it got me thinking that people today are so used to video game RPGs that they no longer have the ability to "think outside the box".
I remember years & years ago, being in a Waldenbooks, looking at the RPG section. Some 10 year old kid comes over with his dad, all excited. The kid points to one of the Dragonlance modules saying "See dad!! If I get this, me & *insert brother or friends name here* can be a Dungeon Master.
What the father said: "I dont want you two buildin' no dungeon in ma house!!!"
Me: biting tongue to keep from laughing.
I barely remember all the times I played when I was younger. I played alot more in High School. Especially at lunch time. The Nuns didnt like that. BUT- they were able to see that the game DID have some usefulness: It brought people together. It kept them out of trouble. It made us think and use our imagination, even had us doing math! While others were outside smoking pot, we were inside behaving. They really couldnt find too much fault with it. Even managed to get one of the stoner's to play.
I have 2 separate degrees in different Arts, I'm a Network Engineer too. I'd like to think D&D had a hand in helping me where I got today.
Death is a part of life. Gary Gygax is gone but he will be always be here. His work is legendary and for all of us is a part of our lifes. RPG and latter MMORPG made us better. D&D is a part of my gaming experience but D&D is the grandfather of all MMORPG.
When I thought my life was at its worst, his creation gave me a place to hide. With characters in D&D I could escape the crap going on in my life. Through him I expanded my imagination, knowledge, and ability to interact with people. Through us and his creations, Gary will continue to live on in the most meaningful of ways.
Thanks for beginning this thread. It's a great way to ease the sadness of his passing and it gives us an opportunity to say "Thanks for the memories!" although belatedly.
There are a very many of us who have never met Gary Gygax and many who never had the opportunity to sit down and play a really good game of D&D, yet, all of us here in these forums owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his vision and it's affects on how we game today. Since J.R.R.Tolkien's novels first brought us the Hobbits and their grand adventures, each of us who grew up with the visions those pages brought us longed to take part in them. Long before video games Dungeons and Dragons allowed us to embark on tales of our own in worlds created by our own imaginings by giving us a doorway and a set of rules to give it all substance. I and many of my friends (some who have passed and are waiting to perhaps play now with Gary himself) have shared in many nights of laughter and adventure that are indelibly carved into memory. Hearing of his passing brought all of them to light again in my mind and with bittersweet recollections of laughing faces I will never see again who took part in so many grand adventures that may never have happened without Gary Gygax... well... all I can say is "Thanks for the memories Mr. Gygax and tell Kim (your greatest fan) I said hello".
My 9th level human ranger, Fenris wolf of the black forest, marchwarden and in latter years and admiral of the first fleet of Coramon, three years of gameplay every Friday night till Saturday morning, I remember one game nite, Fenris had captured an assassin who had the power of invisibility, which was ether a ring or this orb, anyway after Fenris had searched the captive and relived him of such items, he was in the process trying to figure out which item caused the invisibility, the ring he had put on with no results and the only thing he could do with the orb was to give it a squeeze, which he did and ended up being teleported to the throne room of the enemy kingdom, so with a quick response of," I know you!" and the there even quicker response of," GUARDS SEIZE HIM!" Fenris spent the next three months in a cell, while his team mates had to siege the enemies castle,( we were already on the way to do this) moral to this is, Don't go squeezing anybodies balls or orbs of recall, unless you know what it is and where it's going. This Champaign world that I was playing in was created by my friend Rod Vincent Jones who passed away five years ago from cancer, I pretty sure I know what table Gary and Rod are sitting at now, man How I would luv to be in that game.....in time I suppose. Everytime you hear thunder now, thats just gary roll'n the dice.
Can't say much as I am too young to have done role playing and DD at the start but after my sunday school teacher played with us as he was the DM when we played out bible battles i have loved it since.
RIP gary YOU WILL live on forever. your work has brought us all together in atleast one way our love of fantasy or role playing atleast. and you showed us that when we are alone we are losers but together we are heroes!
I have played D&D since it was a sideline in the chainmail rules. I have all of the rulebooks in first additions.
At a convention where Gary Gygax was supposed to talk about new monster manuals and such, I taunted Gary until he joined us in a last character standing contest. After several minutes it was down to Gary and myself. With some very lucky dice for me and lousy for him, I won. He was very gracious.
Later we had a rematch and he cleaned my clock. My turn to be gracious.
I'm not much of a D&D player, I tend to play other systems. But I know the influence it had on my friends, whom were the ones that got me into pen'n'paper rpgs.
I remember a recent adventure I had, playing some D&D with a trio of friends. On the session before that, I had told the DM to just create any character for me, so I don't take ages since I don't really know all the rules (I know how to play, but I take way too long to create a D&D character). He along with another friend created a rogue for me. Funny part ensued on the following session.
Basically, I was a highly skilled cleptomaniac, quite the steryotype. But I was also a gentleman and double-faced bastard with a young heart
In-game: I met the other player's characters by stealing their magical bottomless bag, but I was unable to sell it before they catched up to me (damn mage with magic finding spells!)... They put me inside the bag, much to my protest. Long story short, I was magically bound to their group by an oath I had to made, and we were on a quest to find the lost parts of an armor and the mythical Dragonlance, so we could stop the damn cultists from r***ing our people. One of the funny thing is that I was constantly getting criticals and really good shots, so I dished out a lot of damage. "You guys see a wyvern *shoots wyvern "Damn, nice shot. Ok so you might actually be useful for the group" the warrior of the group joked
We reached a control room filled with gems with spells trapped inside them. I, of course, started to steal them despite what the group said. I accidentally sumoned a dragon that made us fly, then I teleported us around. They got a bit iffy of the silly willy rogue. So they threw me in the bag after one of the gems broke (which teleported us to the other side of the globe). I decided to annoy them by actually singing the Elephant's Song.
"One elephant annoys a lot, Two elephants annoy a lot more!" I think I reached... 13...14 elephants? hehe
We were laughing all the time.
The joy I got from RPGs, from the satisfaction of solving puzzles and coming up with clever solutions, to the belly-hurting laughs, to the elaboration of personas and worlds.
I would probably have never reached W40K: Dark Heresy if D&D hadn't existed. So really, I owe it to Gary that I found my favorite system.
This reminds me of a recent session I had of it, I'll tell it here just because I found it funny.
I was the GM and I tend to act out all the things the NPCs do, from talking to combat actions. The players were walking the streets, 3 of the players were Scums, looking for the riches since there was a recent discovery of imperial relics there. The other 2 players were an adept and a cleric, working together to catallogue and bless the objects. Completely out of the blue, one of the scum players is grabbed by the arms by a homeless guy, who starts screaming that the world is ending.
They get rid of him, and one of the scum players fully intents to rob the cleric. He gets such a massive fail that instead of his pocket he grabs the cleric buttocks. But instead of saying "You fail" to the scum player, I just went ahead and told the cleric player "You feel someone squeezing your butt!". He turns to the scum perplexed, the scum player rolls for an attempt at perfoming, as if he had fallen and was trying to get up. Major fail once again, so I tell the cleric "The guy who was feeling you up closed one eye and is screaming 'I'm blind, I'm blind! I didn't mean to molest anyone! I'm sorry! I'm blind, I'm blind!'... Oddly enough, he is still feeling you up. What do you do?".
We laughed until we cried on that day
I didn't even know who Gary was until these recent sad news...
Now I know thanks to whom all the laughs happened
Thank you very much Gary.
Gygax... That is very fitting
PS: Thanks for the wonderful posts people, really liked reading your stories.
Playing a computer version of D&D -The pools of Radiance - on those big old foppy's (5"something and you could actually bend them) on my father's Apple saved me from a nasty depression that I felt comming on.
I could step out of myself so to speak, and forgot my troubles in the real world. I played that game intensivly for about a week untill my dark tidings passed.
At worst D&D made my life bearable and not so negative but at best that game might have saved my life.
So I thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Gygax for giving me, and lots of other humans, a fantastic world with the greatest playground of them all where we ALL are heroes: our mind.
May a thousand stars light your path, in this world and the next.
Comments
He can be proud of the legacy he's leaving behind. There was the gaming world "before" and "after" D&D, simple as that.
Creativity : The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods or interpretations; using originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
I was introduced to D&D in elementary school at about age 10 (23 years ago) by a friends brother at his birthday party.
That night , 12 of us unknowingly created a bond that would last to this day. For quite sometime we played as much as possible in the evenings , on weekends etc... As we grew older and a little more distant , and even to different towns , we all grew in to our own, very different identities - VERY different! We were , high school/college football players , wrestlers , metal heads , a hippie , business owners, military lifers , factory worker - all very different - but we still got together to game when ever it is possible - maybe a few times a year - still do. Still very good friends +5.
Kinda sounds like a book or something huh ? heheh
Thanks and RIP Mr. Gygax!
(I still have my 1st set of dice covered in white crayon bits)
I remember being a kid(7years,1985), standing in the book store with a AD&D box in my hands. My eyes went from the cover of the box to my Mothers eyes and back. I turned the box around and looked on the text on the backside.
Knowing that our family couldnt afford to much luxury at the time and being the considerate,courteous kid in the family, I put the box back and said to Mom "I really would like to have it, but maybe we could buy it when it becomes cheaper". My Mom smiled at me and we continued on with the shopping. Half way home in the car my Mom asked me to take a look in the big paper bag in the back seat.
And honest, I didnt have a clue what was in the bag. I didnt even imagine what it was. And as I pulled out the box out of the bag my hands began to shake and I yelled out in happiness. I just yelled. I remember looking into my Mothers eyes and saw that she was as excited as i was, because she knew I was happy. Toys and gifts was not amongst the usually things in our family, and to once be able to give her son a gift must have made her very happy.
I almost jumped out of the car before it was parked at home. Rushed to my room. Laid down flat on my stomach on the floor with the box infront of me. Ripped off the plastic wrapping paper. Pulled off the lid and ... God... the smell in the box was just amazing. Ink, newly printed rule book, glossy paper. I just smelled the inside of the box over and over again without touching the content. Ha ha ha. I still remember how it smelled.
My eyes caught the most peculiar dices I have ever seen. I took them in my hand and just felt them. I have never felt a plastic dice before, and never seen one with 8 sides. I tried to roll it a couple of times on the floor. It felt great! Ha ha.
Later that evening I was lying in my bed and just skimmed through the rulebook back and forth. Very careful to not damage or rip the pages.That day was the start of something amazing. Something amazing I shared with family and friends for many, many years to come.
Being a shy kid when I was young, D&D was amazing to make new friends. Friends that I still have to this day. Remembering my mothers eyes in the car means much to me. She and my father died in a tragic car accident 11 years ago. I was the driver. Vortex500 ended up in a wheelchair for life. To have all those memories of playing D&D together as a family and with friends brighten up even the most sad day here for me.
Well maybe I got a little offtopic, I dunno. All I know is that when I heard Gary Gygax died, I cried like a baby. I have never meet him or talked to him. But somehow he felt like a really close friend of mine. All I know about Gary is from interviews and other stuff I read.
Well that is all I had to say about that. Sure I could write about every single roleplaying session I had. But they are too many and I really remember this memory more. My Mothers eyes. Happiness.
Well enough of my ramblings... ;-)
May the Angels carry you gently to the Elysian fields Gary. Your biggest adventure awaits you there. Godspeed Gary, godspeed. In time we will join you for the greatest adventure of them all, we all meet then.
The Second Day Vet
I heard about it yesterday and was actually a little sad when I first heard it, another legend gone for me. Then as I sat here at work and thought about it I started thking back to that first game way back in 7th grade when my rought this new game to school called Chainmail. We loved board games but all that was ever around back then was monopoly or clue and stuff like that. This was something new and cool. We played that 1st weekend for hours and hours, loving it. For those that don't know it, Chainmail was his first minature wargame and D&D rules were based off that game. Gary was co-maker of Chainmail but all that got me thinking about my friends back then and what they were doing now. We used to spend weekends over someone's house and just roll up characters and play and play for hours on end, sometimes days. I was that nerdy little pale ng mountain dew like on the Doctor Demento show (google it if you've never heard it).
My character was always the rough and tumble drunken dwarf leading with his axe or head and not so much his wits. God I loved those days....we're all old now of course but man that really brings back memories. I'm now working on a mmorpg myself, and my old cronies also work in the IT industry, some of you might know of us but i'll leave out names to protect the guilty parties.
To the man, the myth and the legend! /roll *stands with out falling during the wake
"G'on ye Gary, may yer cup be filt n n'er empty'
Now-Do you have any mountain dew? Where's the Cheetos?
http://www.forceofarms.com/index.php
truly a sad day. Gary Gygax has left a mark on all our lives to this day. D&D is his legacy. god bless him and may his family find strength through this hard time in their lives.
I can't count how many times I played P&P D&D back when since I was 8 and stood up late with a couple of my friends creating in our minds a believable world and beliveable characters with this game. He has influenced so many games, genres. he is truly a remarkable human being contributed so much,and will continue to contribute even after his passing. that is the true mark of a remarkablly unique person when even after they are gone, they continue to influence and inspire us.
GOd bless him for living and giving us so much during his time on earth. hes probably up there in heaven already breaking out his 20 headed dice and a D&D board :P he will be missed, and never forgotten.
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
The greatest game I have ever played. 2-3 times weekly for the last 20 years and still nothing has compared. The work that artist's like Brom, Clyde Caldwell and Kieth Parkinson did for D&D in the 80's inspired me to learn to paint. I would be lost without that.
My friend, Mike, got me into D&D when I was 12. My sister was playing too; and I had a magical time that first night. Hours later, my sister killed my character! I was mad but luckily my Mom yelled at her :P. Not really yell, but you get the idea. It was trivial, kid stuff.
What fun I had and what great friends I made through D&D. One of my best friends was first met at a gaming convention that was held monthly in town. That first convention was amazing; 100+ players and some fantastic Dungeon Masters.
As an adult, I was fortunate enough to meet Gary when he attended Rock Con (Rockford, IL). He seemed nice; and when taking a break in the hot dog stand (with that best friend mentioned above), Gary walked up and sat down next to us to eat a hot dog too. He was great to chat with. I told him I had always hoped to see a D&D movie; and he informed me that they had not one, but two motion pictures planned for the 80's, but the drama at TSR killed that. It was a real treasure to have such one on one time with the "master."
Long before meeting him, he was a childhood hero to me even though we knew him only by the name printed on the cover of the game manuals. Thank you Gary; rest in peace. Few of us will have even remotely the impact that you've had on the world.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
D&D and all the Pen and Paper RPG's of the 80's were a huge part of my past. I spent hundreds of hours playing with friends in many worlds. I just found about this and I am really sad to hear that the father of RPG's has passed away. He will be missed and remembered by those of us that grew up enjoying what this legend created. Rest in peace Gary.
This video reminds me of some hilarious nights playing with my friends. Thanx Gary you were one of the greats.
www.youtube.com/watch
i play D&D since i was a little girl with my dad and my godfather..the game become a big part of my life, today im 22 years old and i still playing D&D not only as player, i become a dungeon master my self and many of the best friends i have today, and almost all of my ex bf i meet them thx the game... the day Gary die i was writing my new story and a friend call me to tell me.. and i just cant go on...i leave the map and the pen and start to cry...actualy after reading your tribute i start crying again...
like you sayd i never know that man.. but i see his name for 15 years, and the funniest and almost all the best moments of my life are thx to him...its a very sad lost ..
My most memorable D&D moment is, ironically, not even in "normal" D&D. That's right: I played "Spelljammer". (*brief pause while everyone Wikipedias that to figure out what the hell it is*) It had started as a Forgotten Realms campaign, and segued neatly into Spelljammer once our DM had gotten ahold of the boxed set. No worries, it was loads of fun! I was playing a Paladin of Tymora, who happened to be in command of a Hammerhead. We had a Psionicist, a couple of clerics...maybe a mage, can't remember. Fun times.
The memorable bit? Oh yeah. We were taking heavy fire from an Illithid (mind flayer) vessel, and it wasn't looking pretty. We had taken a brief game recess (bio break, drink/food, etc), during which I was reviewing my character sheet and reminding myself what all my magical items did--hoping, praying, that there was something I could use to pull our collective asses out of the fire. Then it hit me: our psionicist had recently learned a new power, something that let him teleport another person to some other location. Bingo, thought I. I went over my plan with the psionicist's player, who, while he thought I was completely out of my f***ing mind, agreed to go along with it. When the game started back up, I put my plan into motion: I asked the DM if the psionicist would be able to locate the helm of the Illithid vessel. He replied yeah, sure...why not? I then had the psionicist teleport me--the paladin--to the helm...which, by the way, was surrounded by surly (and startled!) mind flayers. I raised my Hammer of Thunderbolts (augmented by my Girdle of Storm Giant Strength) and smashed it down on the helm.
The result was predictable to everyone /but/ me. The helm exploded, taking the ship--and Yours Truly--with it.
Fortunately, my loyal crew recovered my mangled corpse from the phlogiston and used the scroll of Resurrection I'd squirreled away in my pack to bring me back.
Isn't it funny? We played for years and years, but that remains the most memorable moment in my tabletop D&D career. (Most memorable tabletop /overall/? That would be in MERP: Middle Earth Role Playing...and a story for another time.
)
I hope he knows he leaves us being a maker of one of the worlds great games. and that he will be missed. I played D&D for a long time when I was young teen and it was some of the best Summers me and my freinds had.
Without Gary....I'd have never found out that I have a love for making games and designing systems to run them. I'd also never have had the "joy" of running a campaign with "Crunk"....the Half-Orc Warrior whom (I am NOT joking) always rolled 20's.
Do you people have any ideal how hard it is to balance encounters for a party when one of them always crits? Those poor guys were always fighting things that could one shot each of them. And still win. I hate Crunk. I also never gave crunk any great weapons either...
*sigh*
Such a sad loss. One of the men who gave birth to everything RPG is gone. Without him...we'd never have WoW...never have EQ...no, we'd never have any of the console rpgs we play. Might not even have RTS's either...since a part of the structure TO D&D is based inside RTS idealism. All I'd have left is shooters...BUT no Ratchet and Clank, since that game had rpg elements. I rather like Ratchet and Clank. I suddenly feel sick.
I cried like a lil' girl when I heard the news. Yea, now THATS hardcore!
I've played D&D (boxed set) since the first pink box. Haven't had time to play these games in years.
Anyways, I actually started with "Star Frontiers" in 7th Grade. Moved up to D&D and others. 13 RPGs to be exact.
Recently, I tried to teach my 23 yr old fiancee to play D&D. She's never played "old school" RPG's. We made her a character sheet, filled it out. I started with Dungeon Module B2 "The Keep on the Borderands".
As I described what she saw in the city, I ask her "What would you like to do?"
To which she responds "I dunno. What am I supposed to do?" And it got me thinking that people today are so used to video game RPGs that they no longer have the ability to "think outside the box".
I remember years & years ago, being in a Waldenbooks, looking at the RPG section. Some 10 year old kid comes over with his dad, all excited. The kid points to one of the Dragonlance modules saying "See dad!! If I get this, me & *insert brother or friends name here* can be a Dungeon Master.
What the father said: "I dont want you two buildin' no dungeon in ma house!!!"
Me: biting tongue to keep from laughing.
I barely remember all the times I played when I was younger. I played alot more in High School. Especially at lunch time. The Nuns didnt like that. BUT- they were able to see that the game DID have some usefulness: It brought people together. It kept them out of trouble. It made us think and use our imagination, even had us doing math! While others were outside smoking pot, we were inside behaving. They really couldnt find too much fault with it. Even managed to get one of the stoner's to play.
I have 2 separate degrees in different Arts, I'm a Network Engineer too. I'd like to think D&D had a hand in helping me where I got today.
Death is a part of life. Gary Gygax is gone but he will be always be here. His work is legendary and for all of us is a part of our lifes. RPG and latter MMORPG made us better. D&D is a part of my gaming experience but D&D is the grandfather of all MMORPG.
Gary Gygax thank you.
RIP
EVE ONLINE: AleXinO GARDON
EVE ONLINE: Hopeless EQUILIBRIUM
PS: Sorry for spelling
AleXinO GARDON
I feel like a god has took flight on this plane of existance, and left a void in all the souls who looked to him.
I will pay homage to your grave by leaving the first dice I owned to keep you company.
Godspeed Gary Gygax..
I heard they found him slumped over his desk in a game of WoW.
When I thought my life was at its worst, his creation gave me a place to hide. With characters in D&D I could escape the crap going on in my life. Through him I expanded my imagination, knowledge, and ability to interact with people. Through us and his creations, Gary will continue to live on in the most meaningful of ways.
An awesome man.
He is the reason that we can play the games of today.
Brilliant mind.
Thanks for beginning this thread. It's a great way to ease the sadness of his passing and it gives us an opportunity to say "Thanks for the memories!" although belatedly.
There are a very many of us who have never met Gary Gygax and many who never had the opportunity to sit down and play a really good game of D&D, yet, all of us here in these forums owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his vision and it's affects on how we game today. Since J.R.R.Tolkien's novels first brought us the Hobbits and their grand adventures, each of us who grew up with the visions those pages brought us longed to take part in them. Long before video games Dungeons and Dragons allowed us to embark on tales of our own in worlds created by our own imaginings by giving us a doorway and a set of rules to give it all substance. I and many of my friends (some who have passed and are waiting to perhaps play now with Gary himself) have shared in many nights of laughter and adventure that are indelibly carved into memory. Hearing of his passing brought all of them to light again in my mind and with bittersweet recollections of laughing faces I will never see again who took part in so many grand adventures that may never have happened without Gary Gygax... well... all I can say is "Thanks for the memories Mr. Gygax and tell Kim (your greatest fan) I said hello".
May he rest in peace.
My 9th level human ranger, Fenris wolf of the black forest, marchwarden and in latter years and admiral of the first fleet of Coramon, three years of gameplay every Friday night till Saturday morning, I remember one game nite, Fenris had captured an assassin who had the power of invisibility, which was ether a ring or this orb, anyway after Fenris had searched the captive and relived him of such items, he was in the process trying to figure out which item caused the invisibility, the ring he had put on with no results and the only thing he could do with the orb was to give it a squeeze, which he did and ended up being teleported to the throne room of the enemy kingdom, so with a quick response of," I know you!" and the there even quicker response of," GUARDS SEIZE HIM!" Fenris spent the next three months in a cell, while his team mates had to siege the enemies castle,( we were already on the way to do this)
moral to this is, Don't go squeezing anybodies balls or orbs of recall, unless you know what it is and where it's going.
This Champaign world that I was playing in was created by my friend Rod Vincent Jones who passed away five years ago from cancer, I pretty sure I know what table Gary and Rod are sitting at now, man How I would luv to be in that game.....in time I suppose.
Everytime you hear thunder now, thats just gary roll'n the dice.
Can't say much as I am too young to have done role playing and DD at the start but after my sunday school teacher played with us as he was the DM when we played out bible battles i have loved it since.
RIP gary YOU WILL live on forever. your work has brought us all together in atleast one way our love of fantasy or role playing atleast. and you showed us that when we are alone we are losers but together we are heroes!
and your voice will live on...
I have played D&D since it was a sideline in the chainmail rules. I have all of the rulebooks in first additions.
At a convention where Gary Gygax was supposed to talk about new monster manuals and such, I taunted Gary until he joined us in a last character standing contest. After several minutes it was down to Gary and myself. With some very lucky dice for me and lousy for him, I won. He was very gracious.
Later we had a rematch and he cleaned my clock. My turn to be gracious.
He was a fun competitor and a great gamer.
Rest in Peace.
I'm not much of a D&D player, I tend to play other systems. But I know the influence it had on my friends, whom were the ones that got me into pen'n'paper rpgs.
I remember a recent adventure I had, playing some D&D with a trio of friends. On the session before that, I had told the DM to just create any character for me, so I don't take ages since I don't really know all the rules (I know how to play, but I take way too long to create a D&D character). He along with another friend created a rogue for me. Funny part ensued on the following session.
Basically, I was a highly skilled cleptomaniac, quite the steryotype. But I was also a gentleman and double-faced bastard with a young heart
In-game: I met the other player's characters by stealing their magical bottomless bag, but I was unable to sell it before they catched up to me (damn mage with magic finding spells!)... They put me inside the bag, much to my protest. Long story short, I was magically bound to their group by an oath I had to made, and we were on a quest to find the lost parts of an armor and the mythical Dragonlance, so we could stop the damn cultists from r***ing our people. One of the funny thing is that I was constantly getting criticals and really good shots, so I dished out a lot of damage. "You guys see a wyvern *shoots wyvern "Damn, nice shot. Ok so you might actually be useful for the group" the warrior of the group joked
We reached a control room filled with gems with spells trapped inside them. I, of course, started to steal them despite what the group said. I accidentally sumoned a dragon that made us fly, then I teleported us around. They got a bit iffy of the silly willy rogue. So they threw me in the bag after one of the gems broke (which teleported us to the other side of the globe). I decided to annoy them by actually singing the Elephant's Song.
"One elephant annoys a lot, Two elephants annoy a lot more!" I think I reached... 13...14 elephants? hehe
We were laughing all the time.
The joy I got from RPGs, from the satisfaction of solving puzzles and coming up with clever solutions, to the belly-hurting laughs, to the elaboration of personas and worlds.
I would probably have never reached W40K: Dark Heresy if D&D hadn't existed. So really, I owe it to Gary that I found my favorite system.
This reminds me of a recent session I had of it, I'll tell it here just because I found it funny.
I was the GM and I tend to act out all the things the NPCs do, from talking to combat actions. The players were walking the streets, 3 of the players were Scums, looking for the riches since there was a recent discovery of imperial relics there. The other 2 players were an adept and a cleric, working together to catallogue and bless the objects. Completely out of the blue, one of the scum players is grabbed by the arms by a homeless guy, who starts screaming that the world is ending.
They get rid of him, and one of the scum players fully intents to rob the cleric. He gets such a massive fail that instead of his pocket he grabs the cleric buttocks. But instead of saying "You fail" to the scum player, I just went ahead and told the cleric player "You feel someone squeezing your butt!". He turns to the scum perplexed, the scum player rolls for an attempt at perfoming, as if he had fallen and was trying to get up. Major fail once again, so I tell the cleric "The guy who was feeling you up closed one eye and is screaming 'I'm blind, I'm blind! I didn't mean to molest anyone! I'm sorry! I'm blind, I'm blind!'... Oddly enough, he is still feeling you up. What do you do?".
We laughed until we cried on that day
I didn't even know who Gary was until these recent sad news...
Now I know thanks to whom all the laughs happened
Thank you very much Gary.
Gygax... That is very fitting
PS: Thanks for the wonderful posts people, really liked reading your stories.
www.MONGBAT.com
Warhammer Guild
Playing a computer version of D&D -The pools of Radiance - on those big old foppy's (5"something and you could actually bend them) on my father's Apple saved me from a nasty depression that I felt comming on.
I could step out of myself so to speak, and forgot my troubles in the real world. I played that game intensivly for about a week untill my dark tidings passed.
At worst D&D made my life bearable and not so negative but at best that game might have saved my life.
So I thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Gygax for giving me, and lots of other humans, a fantastic world with the greatest playground of them all where we ALL are heroes: our mind.
May a thousand stars light your path, in this world and the next.
Vortigen.