I was a small withdrawn kid, when I was first introduced to a game that came in a box. My older brother said we're going to play this or I'll tie you up and make you play. It looked interesting anyways so I said i would. it was interesting to see one could be a different race in a game. As I was an Aboriginal kid being raised by Scottish/Italian people, I knew i was different and didn't really understand why. So as I learned the rules of the game and how one......role plays. Life in general made a little more sense. Questioning the rules and stuff made my characters better to understand and play, as well as IRL made my life more comprehensable. The years past, in game and as breaks our crowd of summer friends and family would take breaks from the game running around the woods around our cabins..pretending to be this hero or that race, battling the odds against anouther. Sometimes we would re-inact our scenarios. As the Game progressed so did we in our interest in all that came out for it. Throught highschool acting came easy for me, although i had short term memory problems but found a home in theatre for awhile. as i learned more about theatre, public speaking also became a talent of mine. Still is to this day, in game I used it to raise rebelions.....to persaude crowds of people to act whatever way we would like. mostly distractions for get aways though lol. I started to learn more about peoples way of thinking and the differences as well, which helps me in my carreer as well. I was so interested in this I started to get the idea from watching World of Greyhawk, Forgotten realms, Dragon Lance, Raven Loft. I started creating my own world, at first it was just me then later had multiple friends add peices to it. It started just as a town as I embarked on my Dm escapades. Later it became an area.....then a land mass.....then one continent in a world. All along the way I created races..thier history...land history..personalities...hero's anti-hero's...infamous people...a colourful detailed history going back thousands of years. and of course the maps that went along with all this. IRL I was studying peoples history and see'ing how that could create part of my empires in the world.
In shortening this tale.......D&D inspired me to academic hieghts I would never have gone on my own, and helped my see there was more to the world than my own little hood...which found me see'ing different sides of people the nice and the not so nice (being litteraly stoned by a group of neiborhood kids) but taking that and learning that to be strong for the people it takes experiences of all kinds to become a leader/role model. Thanks Gary......
First time I met RPG was in 1986, when I saw a guy with some AD&D 1st ed rulebooks and got curious. After looking some pages I got hooked and since then I played not only it but several other RPG games. I was already playing some computer RPGs and did not have the idea where I was getting to
My English wasn´t that good but reading the books helped me a lot. I even appeared in a well-known newspaper because many youngies were doing English classes just to play RPGs and I used to hang around the only bookseller (17 years ago) where you could buy the books.
Today I dont go much to the booksellers, but still have some connection to computer games (as I still play then) and still play pen-and-paper RPGs on weekends.
Never had the opportunity to met Gary Gygax, afaik he never came to Brazil, but Dave Arneson came here (he signed one of my DA series modules). Getting the sad news about his passing was a sad thing, because RPG helped me in many things, including making many friends and some of these friendships are more than 15 years old.
I prefer not say he´s dead.. whenever there´s a pen-and-paper group, he´ll be there in spirit. His heart will beat whenever a die rolls.
Like so many players my first impressions of RPG came with ADD and actually my first character was named "Gröm" a good fellow but "dumb-to-death" Chaotic Good Barbarian. So I felt it would be only natural to have the name "Gröm" not only here at MMORPG.com but also in the first MMO I've played.
In the end this is all due to one man, Mr Gary Gygax and this is my small story and contribution to a great visionaire, to a great man.
Me too! The avatar I always use for any game is this one (Arclan). It was the name of my first D&D character; it was probably the first "original" thing I had come up with in my short time on earth.
"Here's to Gary Gygax, the man who created the medium by which we all come
together. You were to gaming what Michelangelo was to painting, what
Donatello was to sculpture. You didn't invent gaming, you simply
perfected the platform and launched it into greatness. "
The poster who said the previous statement is pure genius; I couldn't agree more.
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
(( Though I don't play MMORPGs anymore, this man's creation accounts for a lot of who I am today. Though I did not know anything about him 'til today, his work is appreciated.
Whether people realize it or not, if they've ever played an mmo (or rpg), Gary Gygax has touched their lives. Being a father of the RPG not only laid the foundation of future games, but more importantly, demonstrated how to create a vehicle for people to engage and enjoy their imaginations with. Everyone likes to take a little break from reality. Mr. Gygax gave the greatest gift of all in the form of hapiness and a way to escape whatever reality someone wanted a break from.
On his wikipedia page, he was quoted as saying it made him happy that people enjoyed playing his games and that he wanted to share the joy he had found with them. There are many famous people throughout history, but arguably, the most important are those that touched millions of others' lives, and made them just a little bit better. By that standard, Mr. Gygax is one of the most important and a hero to millions.
Where ever he is, I hope he realizes what a major postive effect he's had on the world, and history itself.
In a way, Gary gave the world +5 happiness.
**Returned SWG Player** Yeah, I used to hate the game because of NGE as much as anyone, but I've been playing the game since Feb. 2008 and have honestly had a good time. If you hate the game, fantastic, move along. Its all been said before and your continuous griefing just makes you look like a sad individual with nothing better to do.
the name that i use here and in many other mmorpgs is also the name of the first char i made in DnD not only that but the many years ive spent playing DnD as well as mmorpgs has lead me to pursue a career in video game development im currently in college studying it and i owe it all it Mr. Gygax it was the game he helped create that helped me grow up not only as a child but also as an adult and that game helped to inspire me to do things i didnt think i was capable of. Thank You Mr. Gygax you will always live on in our hearts and memories!
While I knew people who played D&D in high shcool, I didn't get into it until I was in my mid 20's. I had gotten the 1st edition box when I was about 22 and really wanted to get in a group to play. None of my friends were all that interested in playing. However, there was a couple in our group of friends who lived in the first floor apartment of a house and there was another apartment above them. At the time it was being rented out by a couple of aging hippies. The house had a rather large back yard that my friends on the first floor used.
One afternoon when I was out in the yard with my friends, the hippies from the second floor apartment walked past us to enter the front of the building to go to their apartment. We exchanged greetings since we were told they were a decent bunch of guys. One of them had the same basic 1st edition D&D box that I bought. I caught up with them and asked them if they needed another person for their group. They told me thay were big fans of Tolkien and the Robin Hood series that Michael Pared and Jason Connery stared in back in the late 80's and thought D&D would be a great way to have their own adventures. The very next week I joined their group, rolled up my signature Cleric character (Questor) and played off and on with them for almost 10 years. Needless to say these boys loved to partake in a little Mother Nature and it was interesting playing D&D in a haze of smoke from a hooka. Ahhhhh! Good times indeed!
I stopped playing with them about 12 years ago and played off and on with other groups. I got into MMORPG's for the last 5 years but really missed the fun of sitting around a table with other people and throwing dice. Fortunatly I found another group who plays D&D 3.5 (soon to change to 4.0) and the new Star Wars Saga PnP. Let the good time continue! And it all thanks to the Grand DM Gary Gygax. Thanks Gary for all the fun and good memories and may the hand of Heironeous guide you to Paridise!
I got to know D & D through my son. i am roughly the same age as gary so it is interesting that i grew in to mmorph's. I started playing D&D with my son and then it wasn't long before the whole neighborhood was involved. those were fun days. I was always the DM, i guess because i was able to use my imagination the best. My son and three daughters plus all the surrounding kids played every saturday and sunday and were always wanting more. we had all the figures , all the maps, and other paraphanalia and still have it all packed away.
My son and i eventually grew into computer games and then into mmorpg's. we still play every day. he is in japan and I here in the US.
SO thank you very much Gary for a life full of rewarding experience. god bless you.
The first time I heard about role games was 12 years ago.My uncle showed me his D&D manuals,and started talking about a guy called Gary Gigax,the man who created it.I couldn't believe it.A game like Dungeons and Dragons was created by a group of people?Impossible.That wasn't a possible creation for humans...And then,I realized.Gary Gigax was not a mere mortal,as my uncle said...Gygax was a God!Then it started to make sense...
5 years later,I bought my first 3 manuals...I remember the face of my mother when I said 'Look,mom,I bought a game...' 'Hmmm...let me see...what?Is this some roleplay shit,like the books of your uncle?'I didn't care about what she said,I was so excited about my new books...
Some months later,April the 23th of 2003,I started my first game,me being the DM,of course,and 6 great friends of mine.They were Ecthelion the Elven Druid,Slaighar the Elven Rogue,Summum the human Monk,Lorelai the Human Sorceress,Fye the Half-Elven Cleric and Pata,the Dwarven Warrior.I will never forget that day.I laughed so badly that my gorge hurted for 3 days.Ecthelion tried to speak with a little bush on a road...that ended in the druid kicking the bush,because it was sooooo stupid xDDD And Pata,the dwarf,showed some psychic habilities,like being able to read the future of people in their bowls of soup...xDDDDDD
Our first chronicle was played for 5 months,and many more were played.Some characters died,some became heroes,some of them became legends,and even Lorelai became a goddess when she tricked Corellon Larethian to marry her...:^P
In that years,we laughed,we cried,I got surprised by players,and surprised them...we loved the game,and we still love it,because it's a very important part of our lives.And all of this was made by Gygax.
Early in my life I was not much of a reader and the thought of reading was that it was just a big waste of time and effort, but that ended when I reached sixth grade. Some friends of mine Al, Joe, Scott and Brian introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons. It changed my life, it opened doors to my imagination, along with spending several years of having mis-adventures with my friends and it made me want to read. I remember the first books that I truely read of course those were JRR Tolken's The Hobbit and the three books that followed, then it was the Xanth novels, from then on I have made sure that I have time to read.
Little did I know that several years later I would find myself working for game companies that needed someone with knowledge and experience of Dungeons and Dragons. I worked with Bioware and Infogrames (Atari) on Neverwinter Nights and the game modules that followed, my work was focusing on the Monk class (Monk/Assassin), I was also on the Dungeons and Dragons Temple of Elemental Evil test team and then I worked with Wizards of the Coast and Turbine on Dungeons and Dragons Online (No love for the monks there). Even though I never met Gary Gygax, I feel that I should say thank you to him for creating something that did not require much to play, but it taught me to use my brain and develop communication skills, along with many great memories of my childhood friends that I will have for the rest of my life.
Thank you Gary for teaching me to think on my feet and to have an imagination AND TO USE IT!!!
I had been with a gaming group for several years but went off to get edumacated in college, and was back for a weekend, and called to see if I could get into the game for a couple of hours. One of the guys was going to be late, so I could use his character till he got there.
I was playing a 1st level thief, good stats, but no nice toys as this was the first major encounter they were having. They had played the first session getting the group together and traveling and getting to the Dungeon, and today they were going in. After a few minutes, I started to see a pattern and recognized a dungeon that I had played before. I did not let on, and when I got to an area that I knew had only a couple of skeletons, I decided to play the thief AS A THIEF!
I showed the others that no one but the halfling thief was light enough to go up that set of broken down stairs, and got to go up there by myself. I knew that there was gold and even a MAGIC DAGGER there, which I wanted for myself seeing as I had no magic items! So I fought the skeleton in the hallway, and when I killed it, I continued to make smashing noises and beat on the bones till I had looted the goods, but I made it sound like I was in dire straights in the fight. I then went into the second room, and killed the last monster and continued to beat and smash things, and while doing that, took the gold and silver from the pouches and replaced it with my copper pieces from my pouch. I swipped the magic dagger, as well as the jewels and gems, hid them on me, and then made it sound like THE BATTLE was finally finishing. When I was finished, I "staggered weakly" to the top of the stairs, and threw down the pouch with the copper pieces to my companions, and told them that I had fought valiently, and WE were victorious! I made my way down the rickety stairs, and fell into their arms as if I was completely exhausted.
They were VERY UPSET, and wanted to search the thief!
My explanation of "You just heard a long pitched battle, and your thief won, and then when he comes back he throws the pouch to you with the spoils of combat and the first thing you do is wanna search him?
First you should be grateful he survived, and second he just GAVE YOU the rewards!!! You have NO REASON to question his honor as you have never seen him do anything not right for the group, and he just gave you the treasure without thinking of himself first. The GM had them roll to see if they doubted what had just happened as the TRUTH, and with my bluff, I easily got to have them believe that I had just done what It "sounded like, a long hard fight, and nothing more!". I kept all the spoils of the fight. On top of that they had to share the coppers with me and as I fought by myself, I got half of that loot! I wrote down everything I had gotten in the fight, and when the owner of the character arrived to play, I showed him the list of goods that he had that the other did not know about, as well as the loot that they did know he had.
He was impressed, and was way richer than the others for quite a while.
I later explained my actions as "I am playing a thief.". What would a thief do? out with a new bunch of people but being a thief, I want everything for myself, but if I keep it all they are going to kill me for it, so I gotta give them some. well, give them the crap I don't want... but I have to make it look like I am having a tough time, or they will know I am looting the bodies, and well I want the stuff so if I sound like I am fighting, they will not know the difference, and can do what I want... Smash that sword into the broken bones, break that chair, beat that stuff, and it sounds like I am fighting now doesn't it... ya... that is it ... scoop the goods... hide it, and make it look like I am tired after a LONG fight. and THIEVES are not known for being FIGHTERS after all...
Oh were they mad... but they thought about it and realised I REALLY PLAYED A THIEF!!! I was never able to play with the group again, but the GM still tells the story on how to really get into your character. Not sure they would ever trust me if I played a thief again, but I really did convince them that they had no reason to doubt the thief, and with the thief's alignment, WHAT WOULD HE DO?? He would steal the loot, and screw over the others if there was no way they could find out!
But I would never have thought out of the box had my imagination not been expanded by this game.
Thanks to Gary and his partner for having the imagination to bring so much to so many! World of Warcraft and so many other games would not be out there if not for their pioneering the genre and coming out with D&D! Note that I don't play WOW, I am an Eve Online player.
I still get a kick when some people say that D&D is the devil's game. They really have no clue about reality! And they think we are the crazy ones???
I was greatly saddened to hear of Garys death. He and his creation certainly made an imapct on myself having played D&D in one form or another for nigh on thirty years.
Walk on with your head high Gary cos you have earnt it
Salute !!!
Greatness is difficult to appreciate from close up. The great mountain on the horizon is only the ground when you are standing on it.
The first time I saw an article in a games magazine about D&D (about 25 years ago) I read it at least a dozen times before I got a chance at finally buying the D&D basic set. And this just changed my life. I can't remember the countless adventures I lived, when some just read them in books. That's been awesome, and I hope I can play again for the years to come (be it D&D or any other RPG).
Anyway Mr Gygax changed the face of the whole gaming genre that eventually gave birth to MUDs, then MMORPGs. He changed the whole gaming world actually.
Thank you so much Mr Gygax. One day I'll come to meet you and hope you can find some time to play D&D with me.
a man who brought to this world something that meant alot to me and many others passed away.
His works will live on though.
His creation and the many games it inspired have brought me alot of good times and memories, brought me together with good freinds I may have never met otherwise, and I would like to believe it has done the same for many others.
the sum total of his impact on the world cannot be thought of just as the creations he helped bring forth, but must be seen as not what they were, but what they provided, and how they affected those who experienced them.
Gygax helped make a community, a whole new part of society, one which had no barriers of culture, creed, or nationality. Only a wish to join with others around a table and escape into a mutually created fantasy for a few hours.
Thank you Gary, without your work we may not have had the kind of gamer society we do today, a community of international proportions, sharing both men, women, old, young, every color out there, and in many languages.
We will all miss you.
Wherever you are, may your starting gear alwayse include a +1 mace.
I was in the United States Marine Corps when I first saw a game of D&D. Three Marines were playing something on their bottom bunk and the laughter and yelling drew my attention. I stood behind them and watched for an hour as they rolled dice, made notes on pieces of paper and imprinted me with a whole new concept; that imagination was a great thing.
I remember when i was younger.. I played dungeons and dragons for days on end with my friends.
It was unusual because we didn't join an already existing group, we started from scratch and made sense of the rules ourselves...
Some of my fondest childhood memories were spent travelling Greyhawk with my friends exploring strange new places. Thanks Gary for providing me with the tools to nurture my imagination and make some great friendships along the way.
I tend to play MMORPG's mostly now .. but none of this would have happened if Gary Gygax hadn't had the desire and drive to make his own vision become reality.
Comments
No matter how old I get, I will always want to play DnD. The best part is having DnD (Dunkin' Dounuts) while playing DnD.
The funniest drawing I saw about DnD is servel dragons sitting around a table playing HnH (Houses and Humans).
I was a small withdrawn kid, when I was first introduced to a game that came in a box. My older brother said we're going to play this or I'll tie you up and make you play. It looked interesting anyways so I said i would. it was interesting to see one could be a different race in a game. As I was an Aboriginal kid being raised by Scottish/Italian people, I knew i was different and didn't really understand why. So as I learned the rules of the game and how one......role plays. Life in general made a little more sense. Questioning the rules and stuff made my characters better to understand and play, as well as IRL made my life more comprehensable. The years past, in game and as breaks our crowd of summer friends and family would take breaks from the game running around the woods around our cabins..pretending to be this hero or that race, battling the odds against anouther. Sometimes we would re-inact our scenarios. As the Game progressed so did we in our interest in all that came out for it. Throught highschool acting came easy for me, although i had short term memory problems but found a home in theatre for awhile. as i learned more about theatre, public speaking also became a talent of mine. Still is to this day, in game I used it to raise rebelions.....to persaude crowds of people to act whatever way we would like. mostly distractions for get aways though lol. I started to learn more about peoples way of thinking and the differences as well, which helps me in my carreer as well. I was so interested in this I started to get the idea from watching World of Greyhawk, Forgotten realms, Dragon Lance, Raven Loft. I started creating my own world, at first it was just me then later had multiple friends add peices to it. It started just as a town as I embarked on my Dm escapades. Later it became an area.....then a land mass.....then one continent in a world. All along the way I created races..thier history...land history..personalities...hero's anti-hero's...infamous people...a colourful detailed history going back thousands of years. and of course the maps that went along with all this. IRL I was studying peoples history and see'ing how that could create part of my empires in the world.
In shortening this tale.......D&D inspired me to academic hieghts I would never have gone on my own, and helped my see there was more to the world than my own little hood...which found me see'ing different sides of people the nice and the not so nice (being litteraly stoned by a group of neiborhood kids) but taking that and learning that to be strong for the people it takes experiences of all kinds to become a leader/role model. Thanks Gary......
First time I met RPG was in 1986, when I saw a guy with some AD&D 1st ed rulebooks and got curious. After looking some pages I got hooked and since then I played not only it but several other RPG games. I was already playing some computer RPGs and did not have the idea where I was getting to
My English wasn´t that good but reading the books helped me a lot. I even appeared in a well-known newspaper because many youngies were doing English classes just to play RPGs and I used to hang around the only bookseller (17 years ago) where you could buy the books.
Today I dont go much to the booksellers, but still have some connection to computer games (as I still play then) and still play pen-and-paper RPGs on weekends.
Never had the opportunity to met Gary Gygax, afaik he never came to Brazil, but Dave Arneson came here (he signed one of my DA series modules). Getting the sad news about his passing was a sad thing, because RPG helped me in many things, including making many friends and some of these friendships are more than 15 years old.
I prefer not say he´s dead.. whenever there´s a pen-and-paper group, he´ll be there in spirit. His heart will beat whenever a die rolls.
Like so many players my first impressions of RPG came with ADD and actually my first character was named "Gröm" a good fellow but "dumb-to-death" Chaotic Good Barbarian. So I felt it would be only natural to have the name "Gröm" not only here at MMORPG.com but also in the first MMO I've played.
In the end this is all due to one man, Mr Gary Gygax and this is my small story and contribution to a great visionaire, to a great man.
Thank you GG...
Me too! The avatar I always use for any game is this one (Arclan). It was the name of my first D&D character; it was probably the first "original" thing I had come up with in my short time on earth.
"Here's to Gary Gygax, the man who created the medium by which we all come
together. You were to gaming what Michelangelo was to painting, what
Donatello was to sculpture. You didn't invent gaming, you simply
perfected the platform and launched it into greatness. "
The poster who said the previous statement is pure genius; I couldn't agree more.
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
(( Though I don't play MMORPGs anymore, this man's creation accounts for a lot of who I am today. Though I did not know anything about him 'til today, his work is appreciated.
Whether people realize it or not, if they've ever played an mmo (or rpg), Gary Gygax has touched their lives. Being a father of the RPG not only laid the foundation of future games, but more importantly, demonstrated how to create a vehicle for people to engage and enjoy their imaginations with. Everyone likes to take a little break from reality. Mr. Gygax gave the greatest gift of all in the form of hapiness and a way to escape whatever reality someone wanted a break from.
On his wikipedia page, he was quoted as saying it made him happy that people enjoyed playing his games and that he wanted to share the joy he had found with them. There are many famous people throughout history, but arguably, the most important are those that touched millions of others' lives, and made them just a little bit better. By that standard, Mr. Gygax is one of the most important and a hero to millions.
Where ever he is, I hope he realizes what a major postive effect he's had on the world, and history itself.
In a way, Gary gave the world +5 happiness.
**Returned SWG Player**
Yeah, I used to hate the game because of NGE as much as anyone, but I've been playing the game since Feb. 2008 and have honestly had a good time. If you hate the game, fantastic, move along. Its all been said before and your continuous griefing just makes you look like a sad individual with nothing better to do.
the name that i use here and in many other mmorpgs is also the name of the first char i made in DnD not only that but the many years ive spent playing DnD as well as mmorpgs has lead me to pursue a career in video game development im currently in college studying it and i owe it all it Mr. Gygax it was the game he helped create that helped me grow up not only as a child but also as an adult and that game helped to inspire me to do things i didnt think i was capable of. Thank You Mr. Gygax you will always live on in our hearts and memories!
Space available for rent.
gary's creation will still remain in my memory..
Run a game for me when I get there Gary. Playing my thief. (Thob A Thief) Rest well till then.
S/O Philip Pike
While I knew people who played D&D in high shcool, I didn't get into it until I was in my mid 20's. I had gotten the 1st edition box when I was about 22 and really wanted to get in a group to play. None of my friends were all that interested in playing. However, there was a couple in our group of friends who lived in the first floor apartment of a house and there was another apartment above them. At the time it was being rented out by a couple of aging hippies. The house had a rather large back yard that my friends on the first floor used.
One afternoon when I was out in the yard with my friends, the hippies from the second floor apartment walked past us to enter the front of the building to go to their apartment. We exchanged greetings since we were told they were a decent bunch of guys. One of them had the same basic 1st edition D&D box that I bought. I caught up with them and asked them if they needed another person for their group. They told me thay were big fans of Tolkien and the Robin Hood series that Michael Pared and Jason Connery stared in back in the late 80's and thought D&D would be a great way to have their own adventures. The very next week I joined their group, rolled up my signature Cleric character (Questor) and played off and on with them for almost 10 years. Needless to say these boys loved to partake in a little Mother Nature and it was interesting playing D&D in a haze of smoke from a hooka.
Ahhhhh! Good times indeed!
I stopped playing with them about 12 years ago and played off and on with other groups. I got into MMORPG's for the last 5 years but really missed the fun of sitting around a table with other people and throwing dice. Fortunatly I found another group who plays D&D 3.5 (soon to change to 4.0) and the new Star Wars Saga PnP. Let the good time continue! And it all thanks to the Grand DM Gary Gygax. Thanks Gary for all the fun and good memories and may the hand of Heironeous guide you to Paridise!
I only started gaming out 3 years ago but without Mr. Gygax it never would have been possible.
Thank you E. Gary Gygax RIP
mV
I got to know D & D through my son. i am roughly the same age as gary so it is interesting that i grew in to mmorph's. I started playing D&D with my son and then it wasn't long before the whole neighborhood was involved. those were fun days. I was always the DM, i guess because i was able to use my imagination the best. My son and three daughters plus all the surrounding kids played every saturday and sunday and were always wanting more. we had all the figures , all the maps, and other paraphanalia and still have it all packed away.
My son and i eventually grew into computer games and then into mmorpg's. we still play every day. he is in japan and I here in the US.
SO thank you very much Gary for a life full of rewarding experience. god bless you.
My turn now...
The first time I heard about role games was 12 years ago.My uncle showed me his D&D manuals,and started talking about a guy called Gary Gigax,the man who created it.I couldn't believe it.A game like Dungeons and Dragons was created by a group of people?Impossible.That wasn't a possible creation for humans...And then,I realized.Gary Gigax was not a mere mortal,as my uncle said...Gygax was a God!Then it started to make sense...
5 years later,I bought my first 3 manuals...I remember the face of my mother when I said 'Look,mom,I bought a game...' 'Hmmm...let me see...what?Is this some roleplay shit,like the books of your uncle?'I didn't care about what she said,I was so excited about my new books...
Some months later,April the 23th of 2003,I started my first game,me being the DM,of course,and 6 great friends of mine.They were Ecthelion the Elven Druid,Slaighar the Elven Rogue,Summum the human Monk,Lorelai the Human Sorceress,Fye the Half-Elven Cleric and Pata,the Dwarven Warrior.I will never forget that day.I laughed so badly that my gorge hurted for 3 days.Ecthelion tried to speak with a little bush on a road...that ended in the druid kicking the bush,because it was sooooo stupid xDDD And Pata,the dwarf,showed some psychic habilities,like being able to read the future of people in their bowls of soup...xDDDDDD
Our first chronicle was played for 5 months,and many more were played.Some characters died,some became heroes,some of them became legends,and even Lorelai became a goddess when she tricked Corellon Larethian to marry her...:^P
In that years,we laughed,we cried,I got surprised by players,and surprised them...we loved the game,and we still love it,because it's a very important part of our lives.And all of this was made by Gygax.
Well,having said that,I just want to say...
/salute Rest in Peace,Gary,my hero
To the man who provided entertainment for so many, and for myself and some very close friends every Friday night for many years...Salut!
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
Early in my life I was not much of a reader and the thought of reading was that it was just a big waste of time and effort, but that ended when I reached sixth grade. Some friends of mine Al, Joe, Scott and Brian introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons. It changed my life, it opened doors to my imagination, along with spending several years of having mis-adventures with my friends and it made me want to read. I remember the first books that I truely read of course those were JRR Tolken's The Hobbit and the three books that followed, then it was the Xanth novels, from then on I have made sure that I have time to read.
Little did I know that several years later I would find myself working for game companies that needed someone with knowledge and experience of Dungeons and Dragons. I worked with Bioware and Infogrames (Atari) on Neverwinter Nights and the game modules that followed, my work was focusing on the Monk class (Monk/Assassin), I was also on the Dungeons and Dragons Temple of Elemental Evil test team and then I worked with Wizards of the Coast and Turbine on Dungeons and Dragons Online (No love for the monks there). Even though I never met Gary Gygax, I feel that I should say thank you to him for creating something that did not require much to play, but it taught me to use my brain and develop communication skills, along with many great memories of my childhood friends that I will have for the rest of my life.
Thank you Gary,
R.I.P Dungeon Master
He was the Global Game Master.
I started learning english trying to undestand that "Dragon cover red book" and was open to a full universe of fantastic worlds.
R.I.P. to The Great First One GM.
Que los dados de 20 rueden eternamente!!!!!!
Thank you Gary for teaching me to think on my feet and to have an imagination AND TO USE IT!!!
I had been with a gaming group for several years but went off to get edumacated in college, and was back for a weekend, and called to see if I could get into the game for a couple of hours. One of the guys was going to be late, so I could use his character till he got there.
I was playing a 1st level thief, good stats, but no nice toys as this was the first major encounter they were having. They had played the first session getting the group together and traveling and getting to the Dungeon, and today they were going in. After a few minutes, I started to see a pattern and recognized a dungeon that I had played before. I did not let on, and when I got to an area that I knew had only a couple of skeletons, I decided to play the thief AS A THIEF!
I showed the others that no one but the halfling thief was light enough to go up that set of broken down stairs, and got to go up there by myself. I knew that there was gold and even a MAGIC DAGGER there, which I wanted for myself seeing as I had no magic items! So I fought the skeleton in the hallway, and when I killed it, I continued to make smashing noises and beat on the bones till I had looted the goods, but I made it sound like I was in dire straights in the fight. I then went into the second room, and killed the last monster and continued to beat and smash things, and while doing that, took the gold and silver from the pouches and replaced it with my copper pieces from my pouch. I swipped the magic dagger, as well as the jewels and gems, hid them on me, and then made it sound like THE BATTLE was finally finishing. When I was finished, I "staggered weakly" to the top of the stairs, and threw down the pouch with the copper pieces to my companions, and told them that I had fought valiently, and WE were victorious! I made my way down the rickety stairs, and fell into their arms as if I was completely exhausted.
They were VERY UPSET, and wanted to search the thief!
My explanation of "You just heard a long pitched battle, and your thief won, and then when he comes back he throws the pouch to you with the spoils of combat and the first thing you do is wanna search him?
First you should be grateful he survived, and second he just GAVE YOU the rewards!!! You have NO REASON to question his honor as you have never seen him do anything not right for the group, and he just gave you the treasure without thinking of himself first. The GM had them roll to see if they doubted what had just happened as the TRUTH, and with my bluff, I easily got to have them believe that I had just done what It "sounded like, a long hard fight, and nothing more!". I kept all the spoils of the fight. On top of that they had to share the coppers with me and as I fought by myself, I got half of that loot! I wrote down everything I had gotten in the fight, and when the owner of the character arrived to play, I showed him the list of goods that he had that the other did not know about, as well as the loot that they did know he had.
He was impressed, and was way richer than the others for quite a while.
I later explained my actions as "I am playing a thief.". What would a thief do? out with a new bunch of people but being a thief, I want everything for myself, but if I keep it all they are going to kill me for it, so I gotta give them some. well, give them the crap I don't want... but I have to make it look like I am having a tough time, or they will know I am looting the bodies, and well I want the stuff so if I sound like I am fighting, they will not know the difference, and can do what I want... Smash that sword into the broken bones, break that chair, beat that stuff, and it sounds like I am fighting now doesn't it... ya... that is it ... scoop the goods... hide it, and make it look like I am tired after a LONG fight. and THIEVES are not known for being FIGHTERS after all...
Oh were they mad... but they thought about it and realised I REALLY PLAYED A THIEF!!! I was never able to play with the group again, but the GM still tells the story on how to really get into your character. Not sure they would ever trust me if I played a thief again, but I really did convince them that they had no reason to doubt the thief, and with the thief's alignment, WHAT WOULD HE DO?? He would steal the loot, and screw over the others if there was no way they could find out!
But I would never have thought out of the box had my imagination not been expanded by this game.
Thanks to Gary and his partner for having the imagination to bring so much to so many! World of Warcraft and so many other games would not be out there if not for their pioneering the genre and coming out with D&D! Note that I don't play WOW, I am an Eve Online player.
I still get a kick when some people say that D&D is the devil's game. They really have no clue about reality! And they think we are the crazy ones???
Walk on with your head high Gary cos you have earnt it
Salute !!!
Greatness is difficult to appreciate from close up. The great mountain on the horizon is only the ground when you are standing on it.
The first time I saw an article in a games magazine about D&D (about 25 years ago) I read it at least a dozen times before I got a chance at finally buying the D&D basic set. And this just changed my life. I can't remember the countless adventures I lived, when some just read them in books. That's been awesome, and I hope I can play again for the years to come (be it D&D or any other RPG).
Anyway Mr Gygax changed the face of the whole gaming genre that eventually gave birth to MUDs, then MMORPGs. He changed the whole gaming world actually.
Thank you so much Mr Gygax. One day I'll come to meet you and hope you can find some time to play D&D with me.
Thank you for this legacy.
May it continue to inspire for generations to come.
He made a place where anyone could be themselves, and which everyone could populate with their ideal of beauty. Here's to him!
a man who brought to this world something that meant alot to me and many others passed away.
His works will live on though.
His creation and the many games it inspired have brought me alot of good times and memories, brought me together with good freinds I may have never met otherwise, and I would like to believe it has done the same for many others.
the sum total of his impact on the world cannot be thought of just as the creations he helped bring forth, but must be seen as not what they were, but what they provided, and how they affected those who experienced them.
Gygax helped make a community, a whole new part of society, one which had no barriers of culture, creed, or nationality. Only a wish to join with others around a table and escape into a mutually created fantasy for a few hours.
Thank you Gary, without your work we may not have had the kind of gamer society we do today, a community of international proportions, sharing both men, women, old, young, every color out there, and in many languages.
We will all miss you.
Wherever you are, may your starting gear alwayse include a +1 mace.
I was in the United States Marine Corps when I first saw a game of D&D. Three Marines were playing something on their bottom bunk and the laughter and yelling drew my attention. I stood behind them and watched for an hour as they rolled dice, made notes on pieces of paper and imprinted me with a whole new concept; that imagination was a great thing.
Imagination. Imagine that.
I remember when i was younger.. I played dungeons and dragons for days on end with my friends.
It was unusual because we didn't join an already existing group, we started from scratch and made sense of the rules ourselves...
Some of my fondest childhood memories were spent travelling Greyhawk with my friends exploring strange new places. Thanks Gary for providing me with the tools to nurture my imagination and make some great friendships along the way.
I tend to play MMORPG's mostly now .. but none of this would have happened if Gary Gygax hadn't had the desire and drive to make his own vision become reality.