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Posted: **2008-03-04 02:16pm**

March 4, 2008 10:21 AM PST
Gary Gygax, 1938-2008: Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master
Posted by Will Greenwald

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of the fathers of tabletop role playing games, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. He had suffered from heart problems.

The news was first announced on the message board of Troll Lord Games, the publisher of Gygax's most recent works. It has since been directly confirmed by the company, which will post an announcement on its web site later today.

Gygax was best known for helping create Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and pioneered tabletop role playing games. The first D&D rulebooks were released in 1974 by TSR, Inc, and since then produced three full-fledged sequels, numerous revisions and updates, and dozens upon dozens of additional rulebooks, settings, and campaigns. While Gygax hadn't had much direct involvement with D&D for many years, he developed and contributed to many role playing games, Troll Lord Games' Gary Gygax's Fantasy Worlds.

If not for his contributions, video games and geek culture would probably look much different than it does today. Beyond jokes about "d20s" and "saving throws," D&D's systems and mythos have spawned many excellent games, including Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment.

Dungeons & Dragons continues to develop. Since TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, the game has seen even more expansions and updates. The company released Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition in 2000, and Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 is scheduled to ship in June. Though he didn't actively produce the latest editions of the game, neither they nor the countless video games, books, and other media that carry the D&D name would have been possible without him.

Link

Rest in Peace.

Posted: **2008-03-04 02:53pm**

I (and many others) have to thank him for having a lot of fun.

RIP

Posted: **2008-03-04 04:03pm**

Rest in peace, Gary.

Posted: **2008-03-04 04:33pm**

He should have had another decade or two on him.

RIP.

Zor

Posted: **2008-03-04 04:58pm**

I probably owe hundreds of hours of my misspent youth to Gary.

I guess we all eventually fail that saving throw.

Posted: **2008-03-04 06:57pm**

Always did think the rules for inescapable death did ruin some of the fun of the game.

RIP

Posted: **2008-03-04 07:33pm**

SCRawl wrote:I guess we all eventually fail that saving throw.

CLASSIC!

RIP You made all our lives a little more enjoyable.

Posted: **2008-03-04 07:35pm**

I used to talk to him quite a bit over at Dragonsfoot. He had been in bad health on and off for a few years. It probably didn't help that T$R and Wankers of the Coast went out of their way to screw him every chance they got (imagine if George Lucas had somehow been screwed out of the rights to Star Wars and the new owners went out of their way to ruin every last vestige of what he created).

I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.

Posted: **2008-03-04 07:40pm**

Archaic` wrote:Always did think the rules for inescapable death did ruin some of the fun of the game.

RIP

Are you kidding? Fear of sudden death in Old School D&D was half the fun! Tomb of Horrors is the best adventure module ever.

It's the newer versions where everything is nerfed that takes away the fun.

Posted: **2008-03-04 07:45pm**

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm breaking out my old books and dice for a weekend long tribute game with my friends, most of whom I met gaming.

RIP

Posted: **2008-03-04 08:26pm**

Elfdart wrote:
Archaic` wrote:Always did think the rules for inescapable death did ruin some of the fun of the game.

RIP
Are you kidding? Fear of sudden death in Old School D&D was half the fun! Tomb of Horrors is the best adventure module ever.

It's the newer versions where everything is nerfed that takes away the fun.

Because Rock falls everyone dies is such a classic line

RIP Gary

Posted: **2008-03-04 08:26pm**

RIP, Gary.

He did have the best name for a fantasy game developer, though. Gygax sounded like it could have been a Barbarian's name. And seconding Asdeed, it's time for a tribute game.

Posted: **2008-03-04 09:37pm**

Thanks Gary, you and Greenwood, and Hargrave had a very strong influence on me. and I do morn your passing, despite the fact that I had met you in person once.....

Posted: **2008-03-04 09:51pm**

As for a tribute game, I think 1st edition is required. The one where Elf is a class.

It is sad to see you go, Gary, though I imagine you haven't had much work since Dick Cheney took over the Vice Presidential Action Rangers. Something about him doesn't make me think he has preserving the well-being of the space-time continuum high on his list. Probably the opposite.

Posted: **2008-03-04 10:00pm**

...damn.

Gary, thank you. Thank you for D&D. Thank you for everything D&D spawned. Thank you for the entire hobby.

Rest in Peace.

Posted: **2008-03-04 10:46pm**

Elfdart wrote:I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.

Ah, but instead of playing D&D, you could have been engaging in "real man" activities, like street racing or getting into fistfights at bars.

Posted: **2008-03-04 11:00pm**

Darth Wong wrote:
Elfdart wrote:I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.
Ah, but instead of playing D&D, you could have been engaging in "real man" activities, like street racing or getting into fistfights at bars.

I should have spent more of my time on things like school. But that's easy to say now -- it was too damn much fun to not play AD&D.

Posted: **2008-03-04 11:26pm**

Darth Wong wrote:
Elfdart wrote:I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.
Ah, but instead of playing D&D, you could have been engaging in "real man" activities, like street racing or getting into fistfights at bars.

Who says I didn't? I could find time to be a juvenile delinquent when I wanted to.

I don't know where the stereotype of gamers being pencil-necked geeks or fat sissies with asthma came from. Most of the people I gamed with in junior high and high school were jocks, metal heads (before hair mousse), and guys who went on to become soldiers or Marines -or more than one category. I doubt anyone I gamed with got beat up or pushed around.

Posted: **2008-03-05 01:00am**

Here's 1d6 moments of silence.

Posted: **2008-03-05 01:44am**

Elfdart wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:
Elfdart wrote:I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.
Ah, but instead of playing D&D, you could have been engaging in "real man" activities, like street racing or getting into fistfights at bars.
Who says I didn't? I could find time to be a juvenile delinquent when I wanted to.

I know I did, but I wasn't a "hardcore" player like some. You can even add girls to the list, although not to many gamers I knew could even get into a bar.

I don't know where the stereotype of gamers being pencil-necked geeks or fat sissies with asthma came from. Most of the people I gamed with in junior high and high school were jocks, metal heads (before hair mousse), and guys who went on to become soldiers or Marines -or more than one category. I doubt anyone I gamed with got beat up or pushed around.

These are the types of players I knew as well. I didn't even see the steroetype until I went to a couple of comic book conventions.

Posted: **2008-03-05 01:45am**

Nephtys wrote:Here's 1d6 moments of silence.

Oh, these jokes are going to just keep rolling.

C'mon though, he at least deserves a 1d20 roll.

Posted: **2008-03-05 01:58am**

Civil War Man wrote:As for a tribute game, I think 1st edition is required. The one where Elf is a class.

It is sad to see you go, Gary, though I imagine you haven't had much work since Dick Cheney took over the Vice Presidential Action Rangers. Something about him doesn't make me think he has preserving the well-being of the space-time continuum high on his list. Probably the opposite.

I've got a near mint edition copy of 1st Ed, even, so I'm good.

Posted: **2008-03-05 02:01am**

Elfdart wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:
Elfdart wrote:I don't consider the time I spent playing his games "misspent" at all. I enjoyed them immensely and made several lifelong friends because of them. I miss him already.
Ah, but instead of playing D&D, you could have been engaging in "real man" activities, like street racing or getting into fistfights at bars.
Who says I didn't? I could find time to be a juvenile delinquent when I wanted to.

I don't know where the stereotype of gamers being pencil-necked geeks or fat sissies with asthma came from. Most of the people I gamed with in junior high and high school were jocks, metal heads (before hair mousse), and guys who went on to become soldiers or Marines -or more than one category. I doubt anyone I gamed with got beat up or pushed around.

I don't know if I would equate people who don't street-race or get into bar fights with "pencil-necked geeks".

Posted: **2008-03-05 02:08am**

I may not have played the pencil and paper game, but I must say that the PC RPG games by Bioware and others were excellent.

RIP Gary.

Posted: **2008-03-05 02:43am**

Penny Arcade's tribute comic: