End of an era.

[wendyzski]

Gary Gygax is dead.

No matter how you may have felt about how things developed, the fact remains that for most of us of a certain age, D&D *was* gaming. The hours we spent around the table with graph paper and dice, learning that D4s hide in the rug and are pointy...Ah good times. I remember when D&D came in a BOX!

And indirectly, D&D was responsible for my chosen career/passion. My D&D group decided that it would be a lot of fun to go to this Renaisance Faire thingie....

Comments

[ladyariyana.livejournal.com]

heheeh I love it when that picture comes out!! and this time? I showed it to Breena.. "look Breena, thats Aunt Wendy" "ooh Aunt Wendy is a princess, she is sleeping beauty, she is beautiful"

uh yeah.. she thinks you need to dress like that again lol or at elast help her to lol... well she does seem to perfer plastic crowns to tall pointy princess hats, easier to wear I guess...

I love it.. she was just in awe of the picture of her Aunt wendy as a girl and a princess hehehehe

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

So she's willing to admit that princesses are girls now?

[ladyariyana.livejournal.com]

probably not, at first it was hard to convince her that was Aunt wendy... lol so I told her it was aunt wendy when she was a young girl. it still took a bit of convincing... ahh well...

[stormdog.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, that makes me sad. About Gary Gygax, not the picture. The picture is kind of cute. *grins*

I only met Gary once, and I didn't know who it was 'till someone told me that I'd just bee juggling for Gary Gygax's granson. I just remember thinking, 'ooh, neat ponytail!'. My dad and some of his gaming group were vaguely acquainted with him though.

It always makes me sad when such well-known names from the beginning of a movement are no longer with us.

[surlywench.livejournal.com]

there is much sadness about the passing :( I can't imagine popular culture with the gaming element/presence...nor can I imagine what I'd do with my time...

i love that picture so much :) and for a first attempt at a renfaire, honestly, ya'll did pretty damn well!!!

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

*I* think that's a cute picture!

[jamdin.livejournal.com]

Goodnight, Gary :(

[capi.livejournal.com]

Pink, Wendy????

But you're right; gaming meant DnD to a lot of us. Still does, really.... A lot of nostalgia in these thoughts.

The King is dead....

[train-gamer.livejournal.com]

But his legacy lives on.

The Gods alone know how big an influence he was, in how many people's lives. But he was huge. I actually gamed with him once, at a Winter Fantasy con in Lake Geneva (back when TSR still existed, and was based there). That was an unforgettable experience.

Holy Sh*t! I just counted it up, and I've been playing RPGs for more than 2/3rds of my life! And D&D was the granddaddy of them all. There are other games I like more, and there was a time when it was considered gauche to admit to playing it, rather than the newer games.

But I'll always remember the time when my high school principal wanted to ban playing D&D during lunchtime, because it had demons and devils and 'real spells'. So I invited him to attend a session (carefully scripted beforehand, but he didn't know that) and see what D&D was really about. And had him watch a group take a trip down to the Nine Hells and demolish the horde of Baalzebub! It's really amazing how many people didn't get that the powers of evil were there to serve as adversaries, not as allies!

I'm rambling. We'll all miss him, but what he helped start has grown beyond the point where any one person's death could kill the industry.

Bright Blessings, Gary! And may your God(s) welcome you home with joy and open arms.

(Now, where'd I put that Reincarnate scroll?)

[sisucore.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't know you found faire through gaming. I myself faound gaming through faire. I went home with a guy I met at renfaire and all of a sudden the doors open and in walks some guys with large mugs of Mt. Dew and they have notebooks and pencils. I should write a narrative about this in my journal....
Fun pict!

[axegrrl.livejournal.com]

> Holy Sh*t! I just counted it up, and I've been playing RPGs for more than 2/3rds of my life!
Yowza. Me, too. First game was ca. 1978 or 79, using the 3 small beige books. Then we got Basic and Expert boxed sets for Christmas -- my parents purchased them from the Sears WishBook.

I have been playing D&D, in various incarnations, since before one of my coworkers was even a gleam in his parents' eyes.

[train-gamer.livejournal.com]

One of my current GMs saw a news story that mentioned that Gary was running a weekly game, even with his declining health, as late as January.

Dennis' response: I want to be gaming two months before I die, too!

I can definitely second that.

And, even as he passes from this mortal coil, he sets the bar for the rest of us! :-)

Regardless of what his detractors would say, he had a true love of the game.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I sort of played D&D ONCE. Loren walked me through a very basic scenario one evening back at home. This had to be something like 1974-5. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been turned into a spider by some nasty that one time.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

GM: You're in a cave, being chased by evil vampire bats. There's a giant chasm ahead of you. You can't fly or levitate fast enough, assuming you even had the ability.

EX: Crap. I'm an earth elf. Let's fill in that chasm. Oh, lady of the earth, who hast not blessed me recently... Oh pleasepleaseplease, I could REALLY use some help right now!!!

GM: *rolls* Congratulations, she hears your prayer!

EX: Yay! Now what...

GM: Well, you might only be level 4, but you've managed to cast a level 18 spell!

EX: Whaa??? But how?

GM: She liked your style.

EX: Wait... liked? Past tense? What spell did I just cast?

GM: *evil grin* Earthquake, of course. The whole cave just collapsed on top of the party.

EX: D'oh!

GM: Don't worry. Your goddess clearly liked you enough to help you cast the spell. I'm sure you'll have a good home in... wherever it is dead Earth Elves go. Come on, time to make a new character...

EX: Damnit...