Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Gary Gygax Passes Away

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game passed away this morning at his home in Lake Geneva WI. He was 69. Two generations have grown up playing the games he created, sitting around tables in their parent's basement rolling dice, then in their college dorm rooms, then teaching their own kids how to play. Without the paper RPGs he created, it's doubtful that MMOGs such as EverQuest or WoW would exist, at least in their current format and I certainly wouldn't be in the business I'm in.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gary several times over the years and he was always gracious and willing to talk. I just watched a documentary on the early years of TSR, the company he co-founded to produce Dungeons and Dragons, which he thought would sell 50,000 copies, at most. Over the last 30 years, over $1 billion has been spent on the game.

Rest easy, Gary.

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Comments:
What a waste of good talent, creating such a useless game such as D&D. Hope he has fun playing in the "dungeons" now!
 
I played D&D through my teen years, had a great time, learned great skills, made great friends. The people skills I learned playing D&D in the Student Center in the late 70's and early 80's were the core of my success in business later.

Never forget seeing a zealot complaining about D&D's link to the DEVIL on a Christian TV show. My brother and I just about laughed ourselves silly.

SIU was a hot bed of D&D development in the early days, with close links to TSR. Bard's, Cold Sword and Magic Hole were all invented at SIU. Tom Wham was a student, before becoming a published game designer. The good old days.

I hadn't heard the news, it takes me back.
 
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