As many others have posted, Gary Gygax died earlier this week. For those who still don’t know, Gary was one of the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.
It’s sad news when one of your childhood heroes dies. Especially one that influenced you so much.
When I got into Dungeons & Dragons, it really opened my imagination. As an only child with a lot of time on my hands, I would pour through the books. I would create my own worlds, map them out and create elaborate stories around them. I would role-play my characters with my friends and really try to act out what the characters would do.
The game helped create and build my imagination, my creativity, my writing, my analytical side and my acting skills. I can attribute all of those skills as something that increased exponentially because of D&D and Gary Gygax.
In fact my online persona of Greyhawk is taking directly from the World of Greyhawk mythos that Gygax created. (the 68 is from George Carlin if you know the joke.)
So to say Gygax influenced me is probably an understatement. Even though I haven’t played in years, there isn’t one of those skills that were not enhanced by Mr. Gygax. It’s like he was a +2 ring of intelligence for me. And for that I am so grateful.
Thanks for everything Mr. Gygax. Goodbye, your contributions were more than you probably knew.
