Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69

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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:18 pm

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69

By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer

Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

Copyright � 2008 The Associated Press.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Chibuike wrote:

It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman,

And a baiter. Cheers Gary; Rest in Peace.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:51 pm

Gary will be missed. I still love his cameo on Futurama.

Quote:

Hi I am Gary Gygax co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. I am *rolls dice* pleased to meet you.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:59 pm

Very sad. I haven't played in a while now but I used to love my weekly D&D games.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:53 pm

I didn't play the game but knew it well because of a guy I dated. He loved wearing a costume when he played. In fact I think he still wears his costume around the house.....one reason I didn't marry him. Laughing

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:16 pm

^^^Thank ya! Laughing

419Eater is my life Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 476

oh my god. I cannot describe the shock. Never met the guy. But so many years (11 actually) of my life devoted to rolling those 6 oddly shaped dice.

His best creation: The gelatinous cube. a 10 x 10 x 10 foot cube of gel that eats the player alive. Love using that one.

I remember reading somewhere a Gygax quote

"I want to be remembered as a guy who shared his love of gaming with the world."

I hope they put that on his gravestone

RIP Gygax Crying or Very sad

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Chibuike wrote:

He loved wearing a costume when he played.

This one?... Laughing

(That picture always makes me laugh)

I can remember summer nights in the early 80's, in the basement, with Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in the background while playing D&D with a few buddies. Back in the day when kids used their imagination. (Yes, PF was a D&D geek) There was also a role playing game that you created your own "custom" car that had all sorts of weapons...I forget the name now, but we played it for hours upon hours.

419Eater is my life Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 476

^^^

Not to get off topic PastorFrank, but that would be Car Wars.

Sgt Cho doesnt even bother to hide the fact he is a huge geek.!

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

@SgtCho

Yes! Car Wars, I remember the endless debate on spending your money on weapons and armor instead of on suspension, engines and maneuverability. I always ran with a heavily armored van with the biggest gun I could afford, it was a big slow pig, but quite the battle wagon. Laughing

Edit:

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:21 am

A real pity I had an email corresspondence going for about a month with him about 7 or 8 years back, discussing all sorts of things from archaeology to D&D. As a D&D player for 15 years I will certainly throw my next d20 in his honour

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:51 am

Pastor Frank wrote:

@SgtCho

Yes! Car Wars, I remember the endless debate on spending your money on weapons and armor instead of on suspension, engines and maneuverability. I always ran with a heavily armored van with the biggest gun I could afford, it was a big slow pig, but quite the battle wagon. Laughing

My one-time flatmate was an avid Car Wars player - when he and an equal fanatical went to a Car Wars convention in the US, they were the only non-American players... and they came second and third out of twenty or so finalists.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Ah yes, Car Wars. A great game. Where you can not commit suicide using a Magnum .44 ... unless you are wearing body armour.

A person has 3 hit points, and is unconscious if he only has 1 remaining. A handgun removes 2, so if you shoot yourself then you are unconscious and can't finish the job. Body armour adds another 3 points, so you can shoot yourself three times and die.

Some more old systems:

Traveller: the game where you often died before even starting to play, and from where Elite stole it's trading modalities. About the only game ever where the characters are not all young-adults, but tend toward middle-age.

Gamma World: a post-apocalyptic world where nearly everything is mutated.

Paranoia: where every character had six lives - and needed them.

Call of Cuthulhu: Where 90% of characters didn't die, they just ended up in an insane asylum.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:00 am

Pirates and Plunder - a pirate game without sea combat rules, where player characters could be killed by single shots or hits but NPCs were immune to that possibility.

419Eater is my life Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 476

Your exposing the flaws in mechanics of other RPGs only proves what I have been saying for years

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS UBER ALLES!

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:39 am

^^^^
The game which nerfed the crossbow and the longbow?

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Ah yes. Dungeons and Dragons. Where a war horse costs 20 lbs of solid gold, even a bud of garlic or a silver cross costs 2.5 lbs of gold and an advanced character can fall just about any distance and survive.

You've got to love it.

Edit: vvvv A 15th level fighter with +3 HP per level will on average have 127.5 HP, which will be done by an average fall of 364 feet. A 30th level fighter of course could fall twice as far. vvvv

419Eater is my life Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 476

^^^
I dunno 1d6 per 10 feet of falling seems good enough for me!

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:14 pm

Anyone else remember Rogue Trader, before GW went on a quest to screw people out of as much money as possible.

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:02 pm

bump

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0644.html

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