D&D General D&D Luminary Jim 'Drawmij' Ward Passes

James M. Ward, writer of Metamorphosis Alpha, co-writer of Deities & Demigods, author of Greyhawk Adventures, and veteran of TSR, has passed away at the age of 72.

Ward was one of the first players in Gary Gygax's early Dungeon & Dragons games in the 1970s--the wizard Drawmij is 'Jim Ward' spelt backwards--and worked for TSR until the mid-1990s. He co-founded Fast Forward Entertainment in the early 2000s. Ward also worked with Troll Lord Games for several supplements.

Jim wrote a column right here at EN World, dealing into various aspects of D&D's genesis and development, and the early days of TSR in the 1970s and 1980s. Amongst the many things he shared with us is a wonderful article where he introduced himself (as if he needed to!) to EN World. I can't think of a better person to summarise Jim's career than the man himself.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family.

 

[aco175]

Titans fall, sadly.

 

[Trailsong]

Best Jim Ward story I have comes from the first Troll Lords Con, in Lake Geneva, WI, back in 2005/2006. It really was best described as the Classic TSR Drinking Tour con-- Gary Gygax, Tom Wham, Jim Ward, Margaret Weis, and maybe 50-100 of us total who happened to stumble across this gem of a con. My wife and I sat and talked with Gary for a couple of hours, him recounting the story of that first Gen Con and how it barely broke even. But one of the best moments for me was sitting down at a table, $20 in hand, and promptly getting utterly wrecked in a few hands of poker against the legend Jim Ward himself, a hero to me not for his RPG work but for the "Pools of.. " trilogy of novels that utterly stoked my teenage imagination. Sitting and picking his brain, just listening to him reminisce about the classic years. And him just taking the time to treat fans like friends.

 

[Lidgar]

Sadly, another icon lost too soon. RIP.

 

[Monte At Home]

Oof. That's a punch in the gut.

 

[Davichon]

Some of my group's fondest gaming memories happened during sessions of Gamma World. Thank for the joy you brought to us, Mr Ward. RIP.

 

[SPECTRE666]

Godspeed Good Sir.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Crap, I hit the wrong emoji, I fixed to to be the sad emojis sorry.

I enjoyed his articles here, my condolences to everyone whose life he touched. He will live on in his writings and the effect he had on others.

 

[DarkCrisis]

RIP sir and thanks for all the games and fun.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Best Jim Ward story I have comes from the first Troll Lords Con, in Lake Geneva, WI, back in 2005/2006. It really was best described as the Classic TSR Drinking Tour con-- Gary Gygax, Tom Wham, Jim Ward, Margaret Weis, and maybe 50-100 of us total who happened to stumble across this gem of a con. My wife and I sat and talked with Gary for a couple of hours, him recounting the story of that first Gen Con and how it barely broke even. But one of the best moments for me was sitting down at a table, $20 in hand, and promptly getting utterly wrecked in a few hands of poker against the legend Jim Ward himself, a hero to me not for his RPG work but for the "Pools of.. " trilogy of novels that utterly stoked my teenage imagination. Sitting and picking his brain, just listening to him reminisce about the classic years. And him just taking the time to treat fans like friends.

I haven't read Pool of Radiance novel in years, but its the first FR/D&D novel that I ever read and it made me an FR novels fan.

I'm still reading FR novels all these years now.

Thanks Jim. You can even still buy his novels in Amazon Kindle, perhaps elsewhere, and the games they were based on on GOG.

 

[Zardnaar]

Dammit he wrote God's and Monsyers for Castles and Crusades.

We are doing ancient Greece. Fighter/Cleric of Artemis and Druid of Gaea.