Remind Me

Gary Gygax, Creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Dead at 69

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game, and in many ways the father of the roleplaying hobby itself, passed away at his home on Tuesday March 4th.

With a 4th edition of the game he created over 30 years ago set for wide release in June, I think it is only fair to pay tribute to the first Dungeon Master.

Over at the roleplaying news site EnWorld, they have collected tributes from authors, game designers and roleplayers alike. My own will follow after the jump.

I never met the man.

And yet, there are very few people who have left as profound a mark on the man I have grown into. This year will mark my twenty-fifth anniversary as a roleplayer. Granted, more of my early days were spent meticulously crafting maps of the nation of Kalidor than actually fighting monsters, a side effect of knowing no other players in a small town. Still I cannot imagine what my life would be like had Gygax's creation not entered the mix.

For one thing, I find it unlikely that I would have cultivated the same lifelong love of the fantasy genre. After all, other kids were just reading stories about knights and dragons, while I (in a manner of speaking) was able to defeat them myself, and tell my own stories. Creating my own characters led me to have in interest in both art and writing. These, I admit, were traits that were present prior to discovering roleplaying, but would I have continued to pursue them? Who can say?

For those who would dismiss the man, and his creation, I would say: It is not just a fringe of society that have been influenced by Dungeons and Dragons. Computer games such as The World of Warcraft, played by millions all over the world, would almost certainly not exist without the creation of the tabletop roleplaying hobby. And I have heard many fantasy authors say that the first steps towards the creation of their own fictional settings were taken at the gaming table. Gygax had many influences; J.R.R. Tolkien, Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance were probably the most notable, but Gygax certainly reached the lives of many who came after him as well.

I never met the man, but I certainly wish I had.