[World_of_Warcraft_List] Gary Gygax, 1938-2008 (March 4th): Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master [3 Attachments]

(I was just going through some of my old papers and found this and thought you might find it interesting)

Gary Gygax, 1938-2008 (March 4th): Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master

Shane    

   I was one of the original Dungeons & Dragons players (in fact I seem to recall one of the VERY first D&D games actually took place in our own "Rumpus Room" back in the early 70's) My older brothers were pretty heavily into "war gaming" with miniatures in a game called "Chainmail" and sometimes he would let me join in as he was also baby sitting yours truly! :)  I was very young at that time (about nine or ten I think) but DO remember Gary Gygax (considered the creator of D&D), Dave Arneson and a quiet guy by the name of Don Kaye (who passed away my brother later told me) who sometimes came around.  A bit more trivia for ya - the FIRST Hobbit in D&D was named "Toby"

    and he later would have to be called a 'halfling' and a 'thief' of course as character classes still now go I think. I saw his old yellowed graph paper character sheet laying around relatively recently and will have it scanned and uploaded if/when I find it and if anyone is interested.

I just remembered this.  As an aside my brother informed me once that the reason D&D can no longer use the word "Hobbit" in their publications is because they attempted to sue a company then called "Chaosium" for using stuff from their "Monster Manual" and games et. a.l and somehow "Tolkien Enterprises" got involved and said NO ONE can use the name Hobbit or any other patently 'Tolkien Stuff' such at 'Ents' or something like that.

So you see it sounds almost "biblical" lol  J.R.R. Tolkien begat > "The Hobbit" which begat > "The Lord of the Rings which begat > Dungeon's and Dragons™ which begat> Miscellaneous Role Playing Games which begat > Computerized Role Playing Games which begat > Online Role Playing Games which begat > World of Warcraft™ and the rest of them like "Lord of the Rings Online" and the others you are all aware of.

Kind of came full circle didn't it?  :)


http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/dmiller/raresold.htm



Sorry for any incongruities as this is from vague memory...


  Consequently I guess I have always been and always will be mostly a casual "role player" type player but am pretty diverse otherwise.

Shane/Alastyr

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax

http://www.obit-mag.com/articles/gygax-the-dungeon-master

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69

MILWAUKEE - 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," Gail 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.

Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and moved to Lake Geneva at the age of 8. Gygax's father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax said.

Gygax dropped out of high school but took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago for a while, she said. He was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began playing war-themed board games.

But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman, she said.

Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.

Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The beauty of the game is that it's never quite the same, he said.

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

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax