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Gary Gygax, Dungeons and Dragons Co-Creator, Dies, 69
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Considered “the father of modern gaming,” Gary Gygax died of an abdominal aneurysm on March 4. Gamers reflect on the legacy of a geek icon.
30-Second Summary
An enthusiast of fantasy novels and storytelling by night and insurance underwriter by day, Gary Gygax, the co-creator of multimillion-dollar gaming empire Dungeons and Dragons, passed away on March 4.
With his collaborator Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax helped create the famous role-playing game in 1974. Players create fantasy characters whose various attributes are determined rolling dice.
An estimated 20 million people have played Dungeons and Dragons, spending over $1 billion on products for the game.
The game has become synonymous with the socially inept class of young people whose eccentric enthusiasms define them as geeks.
Long fascinated by fantasy and science fiction, Gygax surprised no one when he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, his local paper, that he and Arneson were unquestionably “influenced by Tolkien.”
Steve Jackson, the curator of Games Daily Illuminator, a Web site for role-playing enthusiasts, writes that without Gygax’s Dungeons and Dragons, “fantasy fiction would still be a backwater” and that March 4, already celebrated as “Game Master’s Day,” will be remembered as “the day when the best-known Game Master of all time put down his dice.”
With his collaborator Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax helped create the famous role-playing game in 1974. Players create fantasy characters whose various attributes are determined rolling dice.
An estimated 20 million people have played Dungeons and Dragons, spending over $1 billion on products for the game.
The game has become synonymous with the socially inept class of young people whose eccentric enthusiasms define them as geeks.
Long fascinated by fantasy and science fiction, Gygax surprised no one when he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, his local paper, that he and Arneson were unquestionably “influenced by Tolkien.”
Steve Jackson, the curator of Games Daily Illuminator, a Web site for role-playing enthusiasts, writes that without Gygax’s Dungeons and Dragons, “fantasy fiction would still be a backwater” and that March 4, already celebrated as “Game Master’s Day,” will be remembered as “the day when the best-known Game Master of all time put down his dice.”
Headline Link: ‘Dungeons and Dragons Creator Dies’
Gary Gygax died at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis., at the age of 69. Some 20 million have played the game since its creation, with over $1 billion spent on books and paraphernalia.
Source: The BBC
Biography: Gary Gygax (1938–2008)
Chicago native Gary Gygax grew up in Lake Geneva. “Kind of a maverick,” according to his wife Gail, he dropped out of high school. He took some college classes and worked as an insurance underwriter and cobbler. In 1974, he and Dave Arneson began to develop Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game that involves group storytelling, problem solving and the enactment of gruesome violence using paper and pens. Gygax also founded GenCon, the annual role-playing conference, in 1967. Originally held in his basement, the convention grew so large it had to be moved to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, then to Milwaukee’s MECCA Convention Center.
Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Related Topic: The musings of a geek
Blog Comedy Central Insider republished part of an interview with Gygax conducted by Joel Johnson of Web site Boing Boing. Johnson asks Gygax, “What does the word ‘geek’ mean to you?” Gygax responds, “The term ‘geek’…at least infers lack of popularity, social graces, and general appeal. It can also mean someone with an obsessive interest in something, as is demonstrated by the cable TV station, Comedy Central.” The blog has a video clip from Gygax’s appearance on Futurama, where he appears as one of Al Gore’s “Vice Presidential Action Rangers.”
Source: Comedy Central Insider
Opinion & Analysis: ‘Fantasy fiction would still be a backwater’
Gaming enthusiast Steve Jackson writes on his blog that without Dungeons and Dragons, “fantasy fiction would still be a backwater … For the last few years, role-players have celebrated March 4 as ‘Game Master’s Day.’ And now it's the day when the best-known Game Master of all time put down his dice.”
Source: Steve Jackson Games Daily Illuminator
Gary Gygax’s obituary takes the form of a graphic novel on Giant in the Playground Games. A Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast runs into Gygax in heaven. Says the gamer, “Those of us lucky enough to spend their time kicking down doors and slaying down dragons for a living owe you an extra debt.” In the next frame, Gygax responds, “Figured I’d take a grand tour of all the planes before settling down somewhere—I was considering rolling on a chart to figure out where.”
Source: Giant in the Playground Games
Blog Making Light writes that Dungeons and Dragons provided a healthy outlet for teens the world over. The game “fostered an international social network for bright, quirky kids where they could find praise (and even get paid work) for their wit and creative work at an age when adults were more likely to ignore them or treat them as threats.”
Source: Making Light
Wizards of the Coast, the official Dungeons and Dragons Web site, calls Gygax a “grand storyteller” who inspired “generations of players, designers and authors.”
Source: Wizards of the Coast
Reference: Gary Gygax’s works
A full list of Gygax’s game, magazine and book credits is available at Pen & Paper RPG Database.
Source: Pen & Paper RPG Database
The basic Dungeons and Dragons starter set is available at findingDulcinea’s bookstore.
Source: findingDulcinea’s Bookstore
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