PopTen's Top 10 Geek Gods Includes Gygax, Salvatore, and Livingstone

PopTen posted a list of the Top 10 Geek Gods, and with entries like Gary Gygax, Ian Livingstone, and R.A. Salvatore, the tabletop gaming industry is well represented, joining literary luminaries like Tolkien, LeGuin, and Howard, or cinematic creators like George Lucas. It's a fun list, but who would you have included in a tabletop gaming list?

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The PopTen list:

• H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds, etc.)
• J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)
• Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian)
• Ralph Baer (first home video game console)
• Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea)
• Gary Gygax (Dungeons & Dragons)
• George Lucas (Star Wars)
• Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson*, John Peake (PopTen calls them "anonymous", but by name)
• R.A. Salvatore (a Drizzt)
• Richard Garfield (Magic: the Gathering)

*No, the other Steve Jackson

 

[77IM]

How is H. P. Lovecraft not on there? It seems like you can't take a 5-foot step without bumping into some Cthulhu mashup or derivative.

Really, if you read the fine print, this list is not the Geek Gods, it's the Fantasy-Gaming Gods, which explains the absence of more widely-known geek luminaries such as Gene Roddenberry and Stan Lee. Consequently, I rate this list's title 45% clickbait.

 

[Maggan]

For table-top list:

Greg Stafford
Dave Arneson
Gary Gygax
Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson
Ian Livingstone
Bryan Ansell
Richard Halliwell
Rick Priestley
Marc Miller


Also I think Mary Shelley should be in there if we include literary giants.

 

[RevTurkey]

I very much approve of LeGuin making the list

 

[Anthro78]

Hey, I only know these ten guys, so they're my top ten! seems to be the reasoning behind that list. Lovecraft, Poe, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling, are just a few who should at least merit mention. That's the problem with these 'top 10' style lists - they just reflect the slice of the genre that the writer is aware of.

 

[Ace-Azzameen]

How is H. P. Lovecraft not on there? It seems like you can't take a 5-foot step without bumping into some Cthulhu mashup or derivative.

Really, if you read the fine print, this list is not the Geek Gods, it's the Fantasy-Gaming Gods, which explains the absence of more widely-known geek luminaries such as Gene Roddenberry and Stan Lee. Consequently, I rate this list's title 45% clickbait.

Lovecraft is very "problematic" for some people, so for that reason only, he is denied kudos. Perhaps not in this particular case, but others.

 

[Askaval30]

Frank Mentzer should be an auto include in any rpg list!

 

[Ghal Maraz]

Salvatore? Salvatore??? Really? Well... no. Not at all.

 

[cuscus]

Michael Moorcock!!

 

[choam10191]

Salvatore doesn't even remotely belong in that company.