# Gary Gygax Dead at 69.



## arnisador (Mar 4, 2008)

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69



> 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.



I started playing around 1980, and though I don't anymore, I really enjoyed it at the time!


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## MA-Caver (Mar 4, 2008)

Beat me to it... I remember playing it as well... as a Paladin... it was fun. Now there's dozens of computer versions ... the guy really started something. 
:asian:


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## Flying Crane (Mar 4, 2008)

wow.  I think I was about 5 or 6 when I started playing, with the original set.  That would have been about 1976 or so.  I remember when the Advanced Set came out.  It seemed so much more complicated at that time.  

RIP.


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## Empty Hands (Mar 4, 2008)

I see he failed his Saving Throw Vs. Death.  *sniff* We'll miss you Gary.


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## Flying Crane (Mar 4, 2008)

Empty Hands said:


> I see he failed his Saving Throw Vs. Death. *sniff* We'll miss you Gary.


 
damn, that was perfect.


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## Doc_Jude (Mar 4, 2008)

Empty Hands said:


> I see he failed his Saving Throw Vs. Death.  *sniff* We'll miss you Gary.



No, no, no, no, NO! He Ascended!!!!

There will be mourning from the Moonshaes to Greyhawk to Krynn & back. May Wee Jas gather him into her dark embrace.


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## DavidCC (Mar 4, 2008)

It's a sad day for nerds everywhere.  I sometimes wish I still had a life that would allow me 20 hours per week of AD&D.

I wonder if my autographed mint condition Dungeon Master's Guide will be worth anything now?


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## Blindside (Mar 4, 2008)

DavidCC said:


> It's a sad day for nerds everywhere. I sometimes wish I still had a life that would allow me 20 hours per week of AD&D.
> 
> I wonder if my autographed mint condition Dungeon Master's Guide will be worth anything now?


 
Big red demon on the cover?  According to ebay, about a buck. 

'Tis a sad day indeed for people searching for over powered characters and under powered monsters, of dungeons that are filled with evil critters, but whose only exit is covered in grey ooze.  Giants that are twice as tall as the hero fighters but hit half as hard.  Ah, those were the good old days.


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## cdunn (Mar 4, 2008)

Time to find 5kgp worth of diamonds.


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## Andy Moynihan (Mar 4, 2008)

Usually the passing of someone i don't know isn't very upsetting, but I will mourn the person who created the series of games I have loved for over 15 years and will continue to love until I, too, in time shall fail my own Last Great Fortitude Save.
Next time you roll a D20, do it for GARY!


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## Sukerkin (Mar 4, 2008)

I absolutely and completely agree, Andy.

Why the games came to be seen as nerdy I'll never know - perhaps because you have to be a touch on the bright side to create and play?  Then again, I once ran a game for a group of 'rough' sorts (those people who've seen life from the wrong side of some bars) and they loved it too.  

All you need is imagination and Gary sparked that for millions.

Not a bad legacy for a man don't you think?


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## terryl965 (Mar 4, 2008)

So sad to hear this.


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## Flying Crane (Mar 4, 2008)

Sukerkin said:


> Why the games came to be seen as nerdy I'll never know - perhaps because you have to be a touch on the bright side to create and play?
> 
> All you need is imagination and Gary sparked that for millions.
> 
> Not a bad legacy for a man don't you think?


 
full agreement here.  I thought the game was the coolest thing ever created.  I had no idea I was being such a nerd.  But then again, I could never understand why my friends couldn't get thru the Lord of the Rings either.  I couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with them...

None of the other role playing games built upon the same model quite did it for me either.  Something about the original D&D and it's elaborate follow-ups that really captivated the imagination.  But I just couldn't get the same "feeling" from the others, like Top Secret, or Boot Hill, or Villians and Vigilantes and such, the stuff that came later.


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## MA-Caver (Mar 4, 2008)

Flying Crane said:


> full agreement here.  I thought the game was the coolest thing ever created.  I had no idea I was being such a nerd.  But then again, I could never understand why my friends couldn't get thru the Lord of the Rings either.  I couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with them...
> 
> None of the other role playing games built upon the same model quite did it for me either.  Something about the original D&D and it's elaborate follow-ups that really captivated the imagination.  But I just couldn't get the same "feeling" from the others, like Top Secret, or Boot Hill, or Villians and Vigilantes and such, the stuff that came later.


I remember my oldest brother used to play in the RPG games known as Jutland, and Tobruk, games that could grow to be so large that they could cover an entire basketball court ... especially the sea-war-games. So how nerdy is that?


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## tshadowchaser (Mar 4, 2008)

I have played the game he created form the day it hit the shelves.

May he rest in peace


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## Doc_Jude (Mar 5, 2008)

I think I'll make some phone calls & gather the crew to run through some old modules, for old times' sake.


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## Cryozombie (Mar 5, 2008)

Order of the Stick (a D&D parody webcomic)  did a tribute page in their storyline to Gary yesterday:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html


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## stickarts (Mar 6, 2008)

I started playing sometime around 1981, first as a player and later as a dungeon master. I had lots of hours of enjoyment. I am sad at his passing.


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## jks9199 (Mar 6, 2008)

I've gotta admit; I played D&D (and others) when I was younger.  Unfortunately, I had some friends who kind of got more wrapped up in fantasy than the real world...  This led me to stop playing many years ago.

That said -- I had lots of fun hours spent playing on either side of the DM's screen...


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## Andrew Green (Mar 6, 2008)

from xkcd.com


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