I remember the first time a friend explained D&D to our friends and me and I was intriguiged from that moment. I didn't end up playing all that much compared to some but I recently started playing WoW. Call it nerdy but it's super cool and D&D spawned multiple industires, including of course MMORPGs so I will always remember Gary with honor when doing battle in any format of game!
D&D how you made life so much more fun. I dont know where i would be now if it wasnt for my time playing D&D with my high school friends and Army buddies when we were in Iraq.
RIP Gary. Though I never have met you, i feel as if i lost a close friend.
So much to be said and so little that can be put into words.
Yours is a legacy that will live on through the ages. You are the Father of RPG's, The Grandfather of MMORPG's.
You opend up a door way that has lead to many worlds and will yet lead to many more. You influenced a genre , much the same as Einstein, and Darwin Influenced modern Science. A Mozart of imagination and creativity. Your legacy has become ingrained in modern society as is evident in our ever growing gaming culture, and that has done more to unite peoples from all over the world in friendship than anything that has come before it.
Rest in peace Mr Gygax you may be gone from this Earth, but you will never be forgotten.
At university I was intrigued when a friend told me about this Dungeons and Dragons game he played. He set up a one off dungeon bash for a few of us. That was me hooked for life.
Genius often seems simple in retrospect. The closest thing to a role playing game that existed before D&D was war gamming and maybe your local theatre troupe. This weird hybrid concept which combined the worlds of fantasy literature, the rules of war gamming and playing a role like an actor was revolutionary.
The roleplaying concept has had many spin offs, MMO’s being one of them. But if you have never done table top, give it a try, you will be blown away by your own imagination, your own skills in acting, improvisation and creativity. And that is what he gave us all.
15 years ago, I was playing a lot of D&D. We were gathering in a basement with friends, not getting into any trouble and enjoying long long long hours of this game. A lot of new people were joining our gaming session every weeks ( I even meet my wife there! ). Since that time, I've always play RP games ( D&D online for 2 years ). For us it's a sad news and we will always remember that man.
You took me from High School to college. I explored the USA by going to RPG conventions. Both my husbands were gamers, one a DM. What you created was worlds to explore that enlarged my life.
For over 30 years you have been a part of my life.
Being a 2nd grader and using the word antipathy, and knowing what it meant. I cannot express how much this great person has affected my life and so many others. R.I.P.
You provided a world where my dreams and imagination could live and grow. I will probably never forget when I met Aleena and Bargle in that first adventure in the red book! The friends I got from that time 20+ years ago, is still in my my life. A testament to the power of your creation!
Thank you!
--- And when we got more women on the team, it was like No, no, no. We need puppies and horses in there. John Smedley, SOE
We know AD&D was unwieldy and incoherent and we wondered why you put morale rules for henchmen in the front of the DMG and the THAC0 table on page 81. We didn't mind. We wondered how a human fighter could amass more hit points than a white dragon the weight of two horses but that just didn't matter. We appreciated that you included halfings in the rules even though no-one ever played one as anything other than a joke and we all bought more d12's that we needed, even though they were only ever used for longsword damage vs large creatures.
None of that mattered when balanced against the utter joy of travelling new roads with your best friends and the good times we have all had along the way.
D&D has pretty much been one of my own holy trinity since the age of 11 that has pretty much defined what I read, the games that I play, and the friends I have made, and for that I thank Gary. It wouldnt be going to far to say it has had a large impact on the person I am today. The cultural impact Gary Gygax has made dwarfs many more famous people.
A great man who made an invaluble contribution tomwards the world of RPG. I think previous posts have captured accurately the sense of loss we all feel and the absolute admiration we all felt for this iconic man.I would like to share my experiences with Gart Gygax.I live in South Africa and during the 1980's due to sanctions it was impossible to buy any really good fantasy books or games.My father was a frequent traveler overseas and I was into the famous Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone books and asked him to buy me the latest releases overseas .He returned with something else that he said to me was " really popular in the UK " ..I was disappointed and a little apprehensive at what he had bought me .I still remember the moment he took out the red box with that legendary picture of that terrifiying Red Dragon and that fighter about to do battle with it .It was my first exposure to RPG and it has been one of the greatest loves of my life from an entertainment perspective .I can put no value to the endless joy RPG have bought me through the years .Thank you Gary Gygax for making a difference in all our lives.Your work will live on in the future of RPG. You will be remembered
It was around 1990, I was in my last year of a 4 year apprenticeship as a technical draughtsman and was preparing myself for the 3 years on the institute of technology to become a technical engineer. At that time my life was more or less uneventfull and most of my free time was spent in playing pool billiard in a local club.
Somewhere in the summer of 1990 there was a large tournament in the club is was playing. There I met a very nice and friendly couple and after the tournament was over very late in the evening we just sat together and had a very nice time talking and drinking with some other friends from that club. I think it was well past midnight when we called it quits. Before I left the guy asked me if I would be interested in joining their roleplaying group.
He explained it to me as some sorts of tabletop game with fantasy characters where a group of heroes would play through adventures that are lead by a dungeon master. My interest was piqued and two weeks later I met the DM in a cafe to roll up a new character. Not knowing what I should choose I decided to play a paladin. With a raised brow the DM agreed and we rolled up stats. His eyes grew bigger and bigger with every stat number I rolled and in the end no stat was lower than 12 . I chose my name, my starting gear and told him some ad-hoc background story. Two weeks later I was sitting at the game table and joined the adventure that was 1e AD&D.
And on that day I found 5 people that would I would rank today as some of the closest friends I have. Today we are still sitting around a table and have a great time together. Though we have lost one friend on the road some years ago we are sure he will watch from above and enjoy every second that we are gaming together. You know, I think without D&D we wouldn't remember him so well. When people die the memories you have of them tend to fade away over the years until that person is just a faint name in the back of your head. But when we sit together once every month we would still talk about the crazy things he did at the table and we would laugh about the jokes and fantastic things we've done when he was still around.
D&D gave me a group of people that I can call true friends, it gave me a good time when I was in a low valley, it gave me hours and hours of laughing, joking, playing and fun. And I think it changed me a bit for the better as well.
It's quite remarkable what a simple tabletop game can do to you. And for that I would like to thank Gary.
And I am sure that we will not forget Gary as we will not forget our friend that has passed away years ago. Because every time we sit together we will know who it was that brought us the possibility to play fantastic adventures on the kitchen tables around this world.
*************************** Remember, remember the 5th of November ***************************
I discovered D&D in 1978, and every Tuesday evening since has been in the company of friends playing that revolutionary game. A glass of SCotlands finest was raised in tribute at a special gathering on Sunday.
GG thanks.
Incidently, we've only just moved on to version 2 of the rules.
A truly creative soul has moved on, wherever you may end up Mr. Gygax, your work will always remind me of my youth, innocence, and starry eyed fascination. You gave us something that changed a lot of peoples lives. Hope to see you when I get there. (provided my roll is high enough ^^)
I have fond memories of many rainy days at my parents dining table living out fantasy lives, but more importantly having a great time and a laugh with friends which is what it was all about for us. My own sons now have my old DM's guide, monster manuals and fiend folio's and are enjoying them as much as i did.
The multiplayer gaming world in all it's forms owes so much to this guys vision and imagination.
Thanks for the memories Gary.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
It is good to see this thread. It is good to see so many people pay their respects through story and heartfelt sharing.
AD&D, like the rest of you, impacted my life - socially, mentally, and emotionally. Mainly through the friendships that I still have from 20 years ago.
The stories I have would rival any epic book, campaigns that lasted over a decade. But, ultimately, I just want to pay my respects to the man who thought up this playground for the rest of us.
So many people out there do not know if it wasn't for GG and D&D the gaming world of RPG and the gaming world in general would not be the world it is today.
Comments
I remember the first time a friend explained D&D to our friends and me and I was intriguiged from that moment. I didn't end up playing all that much compared to some but I recently started playing WoW. Call it nerdy but it's super cool and D&D spawned multiple industires, including of course MMORPGs so I will always remember Gary with honor when doing battle in any format of game!
--
See, permadeath DOES suck.
Forum signatures are stupid and annoying. I've turned mine off.
RIP Gary.
mmorpg's flop faster then mcdonalds cheese burgers these days.
D&D how you made life so much more fun. I dont know where i would be now if it wasnt for my time playing D&D with my high school friends and Army buddies when we were in Iraq.
RIP Gary. Though I never have met you, i feel as if i lost a close friend.
So much to be said and so little that can be put into words.
Yours is a legacy that will live on through the ages. You are the Father of RPG's, The Grandfather of MMORPG's.
You opend up a door way that has lead to many worlds and will yet lead to many more. You influenced a genre , much the same as Einstein, and Darwin Influenced modern Science. A Mozart of imagination and creativity. Your legacy has become ingrained in modern society as is evident in our ever growing gaming culture, and that has done more to unite peoples from all over the world in friendship than anything that has come before it.
Rest in peace Mr Gygax you may be gone from this Earth, but you will never be forgotten.
Wolffin
15 years ago, I was playing a lot of D&D. We were gathering in a basement with friends, not getting into any trouble and enjoying long long long hours of this game. A lot of new people were joining our gaming session every weeks ( I even meet my wife there! ). Since that time, I've always play RP games ( D&D online for 2 years ). For us it's a sad news and we will always remember that man.
You took me from High School to college. I explored the USA by going to RPG conventions. Both my husbands were gamers, one a DM. What you created was worlds to explore that enlarged my life.
For over 30 years you have been a part of my life.
Thank you
and you are missed.
TESsie
Being a 2nd grader and using the word antipathy, and knowing what it meant. I cannot express how much this great person has affected my life and so many others. R.I.P.
RIP Gary, he gave so much to me...
The Keep on the borderlands will fly its flag at half mast.....
Truly a great man in the gaming industry, a man that fueled the imagination of a generation. You will be sorely missed.
RIP
Not having played DnD much outside of cRPG's I won't share my stories. (I do own piles of books tho
)
/Salute Gary. May you finally be free to travel the planes...
great man and he will be sorely missed
my guess is he read about what they were doing to 4th edition and it killed him
/holds up a can of mountain dew in honor
You provided a world where my dreams and imagination could live and grow. I will probably never forget when I met Aleena and Bargle in that first adventure in the red book! The friends I got from that time 20+ years ago, is still in my my life. A testament to the power of your creation!
Thank you!
---
And when we got more women on the team, it was like No, no, no. We need puppies and horses in there.
John Smedley, SOE
Bye bye Gary.
We know AD&D was unwieldy and incoherent and we wondered why you put morale rules for henchmen in the front of the DMG and the THAC0 table on page 81. We didn't mind. We wondered how a human fighter could amass more hit points than a white dragon the weight of two horses but that just didn't matter. We appreciated that you included halfings in the rules even though no-one ever played one as anything other than a joke and we all bought more d12's that we needed, even though they were only ever used for longsword damage vs large creatures.
None of that mattered when balanced against the utter joy of travelling new roads with your best friends and the good times we have all had along the way.
D&D has pretty much been one of my own holy trinity since the age of 11 that has pretty much defined what I read, the games that I play, and the friends I have made, and for that I thank Gary. It wouldnt be going to far to say it has had a large impact on the person I am today. The cultural impact Gary Gygax has made dwarfs many more famous people.
Anyhow, in case anyone missed it...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/04
If only he'd written Warhammer FRP then he'd have Fate Points.
Dark skyes
Farewell
Unbroken silence
Farewell
Summer
Farewell
Atumn leaves
That drift by my window
Farewell
Sunshine
Farewell
Today
Farewell
The song that sings inside my heart
I'm playing WYD Global ^_^
A great man who made an invaluble contribution tomwards the world of RPG. I think previous posts have captured accurately the sense of loss we all feel and the absolute admiration we all felt for this iconic man.I would like to share my experiences with Gart Gygax.I live in South Africa and during the 1980's due to sanctions it was impossible to buy any really good fantasy books or games.My father was a frequent traveler overseas and I was into the famous Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone books and asked him to buy me the latest releases overseas .He returned with something else that he said to me was " really popular in the UK " ..I was disappointed and a little apprehensive at what he had bought me .I still remember the moment he took out the red box with that legendary picture of that terrifiying Red Dragon and that fighter about to do battle with it .It was my first exposure to RPG and it has been one of the greatest loves of my life from an entertainment perspective .I can put no value to the endless joy RPG have bought me through the years .Thank you Gary Gygax for making a difference in all our lives.Your work will live on in the future of RPG. You will be remembered
"after the time of dice came the day of mice "
It was around 1990, I was in my last year of a 4 year apprenticeship as a technical draughtsman and was preparing myself for the 3 years on the institute of technology to become a technical engineer. At that time my life was more or less uneventfull and most of my free time was spent in playing pool billiard in a local club.
Somewhere in the summer of 1990 there was a large tournament in the club is was playing. There I met a very nice and friendly couple and after the tournament was over very late in the evening we just sat together and had a very nice time talking and drinking with some other friends from that club. I think it was well past midnight when we called it quits. Before I left the guy asked me if I would be interested in joining their roleplaying group.
He explained it to me as some sorts of tabletop game with fantasy characters where a group of heroes would play through adventures that are lead by a dungeon master. My interest was piqued and two weeks later I met the DM in a cafe to roll up a new character. Not knowing what I should choose I decided to play a paladin. With a raised brow the DM agreed and we rolled up stats. His eyes grew bigger and bigger with every stat number I rolled and in the end no stat was lower than 12 . I chose my name, my starting gear and told him some ad-hoc background story. Two weeks later I was sitting at the game table and joined the adventure that was 1e AD&D.
And on that day I found 5 people that would I would rank today as some of the closest friends I have. Today we are still sitting around a table and have a great time together. Though we have lost one friend on the road some years ago we are sure he will watch from above and enjoy every second that we are gaming together. You know, I think without D&D we wouldn't remember him so well. When people die the memories you have of them tend to fade away over the years until that person is just a faint name in the back of your head. But when we sit together once every month we would still talk about the crazy things he did at the table and we would laugh about the jokes and fantastic things we've done when he was still around.
D&D gave me a group of people that I can call true friends, it gave me a good time when I was in a low valley, it gave me hours and hours of laughing, joking, playing and fun. And I think it changed me a bit for the better as well.
It's quite remarkable what a simple tabletop game can do to you. And for that I would like to thank Gary.
And I am sure that we will not forget Gary as we will not forget our friend that has passed away years ago. Because every time we sit together we will know who it was that brought us the possibility to play fantastic adventures on the kitchen tables around this world.
***************************
Remember, remember the 5th of November
***************************
I discovered D&D in 1978, and every Tuesday evening since has been in the company of friends playing that revolutionary game. A glass of SCotlands finest was raised in tribute at a special gathering on Sunday.
GG thanks.
Incidently, we've only just moved on to version 2 of the rules.
A truly creative soul has moved on, wherever you may end up Mr. Gygax, your work will always remind me of my youth, innocence, and starry eyed fascination. You gave us something that changed a lot of peoples lives. Hope to see you when I get there. (provided my roll is high enough ^^)
I have fond memories of many rainy days at my parents dining table living out fantasy lives, but more importantly having a great time and a laugh with friends which is what it was all about for us. My own sons now have my old DM's guide, monster manuals and fiend folio's and are enjoying them as much as i did.
The multiplayer gaming world in all it's forms owes so much to this guys vision and imagination.
Thanks for the memories Gary.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
It is good to see this thread. It is good to see so many people pay their respects through story and heartfelt sharing.
AD&D, like the rest of you, impacted my life - socially, mentally, and emotionally. Mainly through the friendships that I still have from 20 years ago.
The stories I have would rival any epic book, campaigns that lasted over a decade. But, ultimately, I just want to pay my respects to the man who thought up this playground for the rest of us.
Gary - Thank you....
So many people out there do not know if it wasn't for GG and D&D the gaming world of RPG and the gaming world in general would not be the world it is today.
GG will truely be missed!!!!!