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Gary Gygax Passes Away

Started by National Acrobat, March 04, 2008, 12:39:11 PM

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National Acrobat

Gary Gygax, the Father of DnD, has passed away at 69 years old today.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=999549

Sad news indeed. I thank Mr. Gygax for bringing me to this hobby, for the years of enjoyment that I have received from it, and for the friends that I have made along the way via learning to play Dungeons and Dragons.

You sir, will be missed greatly!

Jefepato


HairyHeretic

Condolances to his friends and family, who will miss him a lot more than any of the rest of us.

*Raises a mug* Hail to the honoured dead.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Vekseid

* Vekseid gives a moment of silence.

Something should probably be done, dunno whats. : /

Spookie Monster

Ah, good ol' Gary Gygax.  When I first started roleplaying I dreamed of getting involved in one of his gaming sessions; I'm sure that I wasn't the only one!

Oh, and I really enjoyed his appearance on Futurama.

R.I.P., Gygax; thanks for everything.  Here's to your greatest adventure yet!

Spel
Like Elliquiy?
My ONs and OFFs
~ R.I.P., Cam ~ ~ R.I.P., Judi ~ ~ R.I.P., Steph ~

kongming

Many don't agree with his DMing ideas (he enjoyed killer dungeons, traps that just equate to "You didn't search that square? You die." and monsters that mess the party up, with very combat-heavy games), he still played a major part in making D&D (and as a result, a large part of gaming) what it is today.

Now he can roll in his grave when 4E is released.

Speaking of rolling, to Gary.... 8 on 1d20
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.

Ons/Offs:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=9536.msg338515

Jeramiahh

I quite enjoyed the tribute by Rich Burlew, author of The Order of the Stick; it says everything I could say, and much, much more. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

And I hope, somewhere out there, some great deity's having a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl with him.
I'm not shy. I'm silently stalking my prey.
There are two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not quite sure about the first one.

Elven Sex Goddess

I  can remember sitting at a table at GenCon Milwaukee.  Playing in a game he was DMing.   Back before it moved from Milwaukee to Indianapolis.  But then my dad and his friends they go back to when it started at up in Genava, and the old church.  Where they first held the first GenCons. 

So is sad to hear of the passing of Gary Gygax, my deepest sympathies.

Humble Scribe

I'm a sad panda today. I've been playing roleplaying games for... nggg... is it really 30 years? Jesus. And D&D was the one that started everything. Of course it sucked. No-one would try to fly in the Wright Brothers' plane today either. The important thing is that he and Dave Arneson did it first. Stupid tables full of unpronounceable polearms and all.
Glaive-glaive-guisarme-voulges all round!
The moving finger writes, and having writ,
Moves on:  nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Ons and Offs

RubySlippers

Well this was a loss if it wasn't for this big nerd- there would be no Dungeons & Dragons although I think his original rules in many ways are better than what they are coming out with now, wouldn't be any role-playing games or ccg's he single handedly created the hobby not to mention the many on-line and computer games.

I vote we make Gary Gygax an honorary member of this site in memorium to be honored for his ideas and innovation that filled the nerd world with countless hours of fun, be that in role-playing games or collectible card games. And if it wasn't for his work most retro games now coming out going against the modern mess of many role-playing games would never be happening he showed us the earlier and simpler times where rules were easy and fun for games.

After all like we Highlander CCG players are fond of saying at the peak time in a match: "In the end there can be only one!" Surely this man was the One of the entire gaming world.

occ: And the original bona fide D&D game does not suck poeple STILL play it around my area.


Neptune

I owe so much to GG. He's probably one of the biggest influences in my life. My circle of friends, my hobbies, my reading interests, all have their roots on that day that I first threw my 20-sided die to attack an orc.

I agree 100% that something should be done. Maybe an honorary 1st Ed D&D game with an E-twist or two?
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
-Shakespeare, the Tempest
---------------------------
My ons and offs: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=13289.0

Spookie Monster

Quote from: Neptune on March 05, 2008, 11:07:03 AMI agree 100% that something should be done. Maybe an honorary 1st Ed D&D game with an E-twist or two?

Well, the bravest souls among us could run through Tomb of Horrors, heh...

Spel
Like Elliquiy?
My ONs and OFFs
~ R.I.P., Cam ~ ~ R.I.P., Judi ~ ~ R.I.P., Steph ~

MadPanda

Like many others, I do not like many of the rules he co-authored, nor the general approach embodied with such things as 'levels' and 'classes'.   That said, I do not and cannot deny the pure nostalgic joy of a quick, mindless dungeon crawl...and without him, the hobby we all know and love would have been much poorer.  (And, in all fairness, I was able to buy up a whole batch of 1st Ed AD&D books that I never had when I was younger--parental disapproval of the hobby and all that--and was delighted to find that so many things I did not like about the genre were against the designers intent!)

Some time ago, Mr. Gygax wrote a brief article for the Excellent Prismatic Spray, a fanzine that supports the Dying Earth RPG.  In this piece he explained the influence that the works of Jack Vance had on his game (guess where IOUN Stones came from).  Towards the end, he mentioned that he would be delighted to play DERPG, if only Jack Vance himself could be persuaded to run the darn thing...I should like to think of him somewhere, sitting around a table with Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and Roger Zelazny as they have one whale of a good time playing whatever suits their mood.

My profoundest and most respectful condolences to his family and his friends for their loss.
Voluptas ailuri fulgentis decretum est!
Omnis nimis, temperantia ob coenobitae.
(Jes, tiuj frazoj estas malĝustaj. Pandoj fakte ne komprenas la latinan!)

One on Ones Suggestion Box
Group Game Suggestion Box
Pandariffic Ons and Otherwise
In Memory of Bishrook

Reshki

Quote from: Neptune on March 05, 2008, 11:07:03 AM
I agree 100% that something should be done. Maybe an honorary 1st Ed D&D game with an E-twist or two?

It wouldn't be much of a stretch, apparently:

The main ways of this ancient and depraved city are thronged with as unlikely a mixture of creatures as can be imagined...  Beggars of all sorts are seen, and half-Drow thieves, pimps, and harlots are as common as the enslaved human and elven prostitutes displayed before certain establishments.  Between 8,000 and 9,000 Drow live in the city, and double that number of half-casts, servants, and slaves.  To this permanent population can be added a thousand or so creatures visiting for purposes known only to themselves.  The tiers and dungeons of Erelhei-Cinlu reek of debauchery and decadence, and the city's inhabitants are degenerate and effete.  (Those with any promise and ability are brought out of the place to serve the fighting societies, merchant clans, or noble houses.  The rest are left to wallow in the sinkhole of absolute depravity with is Erelhei-Cinlu.)  The most popular places in the city are the gambling dens, bordellos, taverns, drug saloons, and even less savory shops along the two main streets.  The back streets and alleyways too boast of brothels, poison shops, bars, and torture parlors.  Unspeakable things transpire where the evil and jaded creatures seek pleasure, pain, excitement, or arcane knowledge, and sometimes these seekers find they are victims.  All visitors are warned that they enter the back streets of the city at their peril.

- From "Vault of the Drow"
by E. Gary Gygax

Apple of Eris

Gary Gygax mention on Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report!

It wasn't even mean.
Men are those creatures with two legs and eight hands.  ~Jayne Mansfield
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, then call whatever you hit the target. ~Ashleigh Brilliant

Ons/Offs
Stories I'm Seeking

Vekseid

Quote from: appleoferis on March 05, 2008, 11:04:14 PM
Gary Gygax mention on Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report!

It wasn't even mean.

Colbert is a well known fan of D&D

NightBird

It's difficult to say, and I've fought with the right words, so I hope these come across as I intend.

I didn't like Gary Gygax as a person. The few times I met him, he was rude to every woman in the vicinity, and crude to the better-looking ones. That may have been a reflection of age, fatigue and the convention atmosphere, but it was enough to leave me more than willing to keep my distance. There are elements of his approach to gaming that I don't personally favor, too, but what matters, now that it's only his legacy that remains with us, is that he was a major part of the group that originated the idea that's grown to become so incredibly much to an amazing number of people. It was his determination and persistence that took the idea of the RPG from a small group of wargaming and writing friends through the first stages of marketing, when it was questionable at best if it would ever amount to much.

But has it ever. As a result, it's been surprising me how much my negative memories have been made irrelevant by the greater debt of inspiration and hours of joy his creation has given to me and to so very many others. That's actually a rather powerful legacy for any individual to have, where one's gifts to the world outweigh small personal dislikes.

I like to think he's out exploring the planes, now that he's free of this one...