Gary Gygax Passes Away - 3/4/08

Gary Gygax has passed away - see here. For those who may read my mumblings here and have no idea who Gary was, he pretty much invented Dungeons & Dragons. See here for more about him from some random people who may or may not have credibility.

Anyway, I had to take 4d6 minutes to sit and write this.

I first played D&D back in 1982. A casual acquaintance at High School offered to show me how to play, and out of those late night gaming sessions, a friendship that would span nearly three decades was born.

Now, 25 years later, we're still friends and see each other daily (he works for me).

After about a ten year hiatus from gaming, I only recently began digging around to see what the state of D&D these days was. Wizards of the Coast did a good job getting me psyched about 4th Edition, and though the jury is still out there, it did rekindle a nostalgic longing for the hobby.

I started looking around for a local gaming group that might need a rusty D&D vet. I only recently suggested to my 13 year old daughter that we get some of her friends together and have a D&D session.

So many of the good memories from my adolescent years revolve around playing D&D. Often we would play late into the night. Sometimes we'd hold marathon overnight sessions with people who were my best friends at the time (and some who still are).

They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. Through it all, D&D served to spark my imagination, lead me in part in my becoming a writer, and helped introduce me to people who otherwise I would not have met (and that is the part that really gives me the creeping willies).

Gary was an amazing, creative force in gaming. You can read some interviews with him here (part 1), here (part 2) and here. Wil Wheaton put a great post up about this. See here.

You will be missed, Gary. Rest in Peace. I guess even the best of us roll a 1 from time to time.