In Memoriam -- Gary Gygax -- Ten years later

[EricKei]

Originally posted by a friend of mine on another board; let's call him "Doc." These are his thoughts on the anniversary of the passing of Gary Gygax, one of the founders of what we now call "Dungeons & Dragons."

Names redacted, natch

======================


So, yesterday was Gary Gygax's birthday. I can't believe it's already been 10 years since his passing.


For those of you who don't know, Gary Gygax (along with Dave Arneson) created the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and pretty much pioneered the hobby of tabletop gaming.


It's funny; I have never met the man, but I owe him so much. My lifelong hobby has been gaming. I have so many fond memories from my childhood, into my teens, and now well into my adult years because of this man. To be certain, some have called it a "waste of time," or a "useless hobby." Some have even called it "evil; a tool for Satan to tear you away from the faith." (I must have been playing wrong this entire time, as I am an avid gamer with a very healthy faith)


Reflecting on it, I might even think it strange that I admire and look up to the man quite a bit. He is, after all, what I want to "be when I grow up." I want to design games that people enjoy. I want to contribute and expand upon a hobby that means so much to me. I want to pass my hobby along to my children someday. I want to expand and spread love for a hobby that I share with my closest friends, some of which have been my friends for more than 20 years!



Role-playing games connected me to my lovely and adoring wife, whom I love more than anything else in the world. I came to know and love my friend R and his wonderful wife D, through them I met J, R2, P, B, and so many more. I've also made so many wonderful friends in just the past few years, like our friends M and JA. I've been blessed with so many wonderful people in my life, and they all have one thing in common...


....one "silly" hobby.


I laugh every time I hear that D&D (or most all tabletop gaming) is an "anti-social" hobby. It's ironic, considering that this anti-social hobby is how I met 90% of my closest friends. Are they really just my "friends," though? I think not. They're family. It's often said that friends are the family we choose for ourselves. I can look back with confidence and see that as far as families go, I chose well.


It all comes back to Ernest "Gary" Gygax. Pioneer of my hobby.


Thank you, Gygax, for all of the wonderful adventures, and the hobby that gave me the friends and family that I have today. I hope that one day, I can help drive that hobby as a game designer in the same way that you did. I hope that in some small way, I can bring folks together in the same way you did for me.


Roll in Peace, friend.

[Racket_Man]

and years later this D&D phenom moved over to the rising PC market including games such as Wizardry to all of the other games and MMO's we see today.

I play a bit of D&D in the late 1970's via the SciFi Fantasy club at the Univ. I went to back then. Got more interested when I got my first PC an Apple][+ and the first two Wizardry games. Played the crap outta them for enough years.

There is are local chain of Mom and Pop type game shops in my area that is exclusively board/tabletop games. I deliver to them occasionally and the people who order are the nicest politest and great tippers.

D&D is still alive and doing well

[LadyofArc]

I love the way that The Order Of The Stick handled the send-off. It was very beautifully done and it was also done in a way that fit into the story seamlessly.

A Brief Tribute.

[EricKei]

RM - There's a place in my wee town that's half bookstore and half board game store (a couple of friends own it)...with a pie & tea shop in the back. Half of the board game stuff is shrinkwrapped for sale, and the others are available for free play in-store or rentable to take home for cheap. Only been around a bit longer than a year, but they're doing well. Lots of events like D&D, CAH nights, trivia night, all sorts of cool stuff.

[Nunavut Pants]

and years later this D&D phenom moved over to the rising PC market including games such as Wizardry ...

As far as I can tell, Wizardry was actually based very heavily on a multiplayer dungeon crawl game called "Avatar" that was written in the 1970s. It ran on a university computer system called PLATO, which had very advanced (for the time) terminals with 512x512 individually addressable pixels, an 8x8 IR-based touch screen, and more.

Players in the game all saw the same dungeon and the same monsters at the same time. You could follow another player, slaving your movement to theirs, and travel as a party slaying monsters together. There was a three- or four-line chat interface as well.

I was a HS kid who spent way too much time playing that game....

Some reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(1979_video_game)