Its been 3 Years......

[Thunderfoot]

Gary sent my son an electronic letter to congratulate him on attaining Eagle Scout in October of 07'. He wanted him to hunt him down at GenCon the next year so he could sign it and make it "official". Of course, Gary never made it, but I think it speaks volumes, he was still planning on going regardless of his health concerns. Gary was always thinking about the gamers he helped inspire, most people don't realize this, but GenCon usually fell on his wedding anniversary. If I remember correctly the great ENWorld moderator game that Gary ran fell on his anniversary at GenCon 07.

Gary wrote some incredible stuff, and some not so incredible stuff, regardless, he inspired at least two generations of gamers to sit down and play and a legion of game designers to stretch their imaginations and turn a niche gaming market into a legitimate business industry (although still small with that mom and pop feel.) It was probably apropos that he died on March 4th - GMs day.

 

[nerfherder]

Wow - it doesn't feel like three years. My first Gencon was Gary's last - I wish I'd gone up to him and said hi.

 

[alms66]

Gary sent my son an electronic letter to congratulate him on attaining Eagle Scout in October of 07'. He wanted him to hunt him down at GenCon the next year so he could sign it and make it "official". Of course, Gary never made it, but I think it speaks volumes, he was still planning on going regardless of his health concerns. Gary was always thinking about the gamers he helped inspire, most people don't realize this, but GenCon usually fell on his wedding anniversary. If I remember correctly the great ENWorld moderator game that Gary ran fell on his anniversary at GenCon 07.

I didn't know any of that. That does show that he was truly a man that cared about his fans - and that's always a great thing.

Gary wrote some incredible stuff, and some not so incredible stuff, regardless, he inspired at least two generations of gamers to sit down and play and a legion of game designers to stretch their imaginations and turn a niche gaming market into a legitimate business industry (although still small with that mom and pop feel.) It was probably apropos that he died on March 4th - GMs day.

... and that's incredibly well put as well. I'll add my +1 to that. The only minor exception being that I've personally never run across anything he ever wrote that I thought was "incredible" - what would you recommend some of those incredible titles being? I'll try and check some of them out and see if they don't change my opinions of his stuff.

 

[nedjer]

The dude made many contributions in many ways, but the genius - for me - lay in the 1e Player's Handbook. Pulling together everything that went before into a coherent whole, that structured the future of the hobby long after TSR was over, was a colossal, and genuinely intellectual task, which brought an inspirational response.

 

[JoeGKushner]

DMG for AD&D still gets a read and a chuckle.

Perfect he was not but an inspiration for years he was.

Although the whole celebrating his death as opposed to his birth... seems odd?

 

[Thunderfoot]

I didn't know any of that. That does show that he was truly a man that cared about his fans - and that's always a great thing.

Yeah, he didn't really care about the spotlight, just the folks that wanted to game.

... and that's incredibly well put as well. I'll add my +1 to that. The only minor exception being that I've personally never run across anything he ever wrote that I thought was "incredible" - what would you recommend some of those incredible titles being? I'll try and check some of them out and see if they don't change my opinions of his stuff.

For me, The Temple of Elemental Evil is probably one of the most incredible modules ever written, especially the Village of Hommlet. I use this so often I nearly have it memorized. It was well written in that it was open enough in the descriptions that players could play it multiple times, and not get to the same place the same way twice. It was minimalistic in its entirety while also having a very big story to tell. I also enjoyed Against the Giants, literary genius, no, gaming perfection, probably not, but it definitely set a high standard. Of course, The Tomb of Horrors is the greatest module ever, but then again, I'm a DM.

Of course, YMMV. I think that's true of most any piece of gaming literature. I can't stand Dragonlance, with the exception of the well written history, the whole setting is shoddily written IMO. However, I know I am in the minority there, so by way of example, there you go.

 

[Lanefan]

The dude made many contributions in many ways, but the genius - for me - lay in the 1e Player's Handbook. Pulling together everything that went before into a coherent whole, that structured the future of the hobby long after TSR was over, was a colossal, and genuinely intellectual task, which brought an inspirational response.

Agreed, but with this caveat:

The 1e PH is to the 1e DMG as the Hobbit is to Lord of the Rings: merely an introductory indication of the true genius to come.

Lan-"wandered into 1e once and never left"-efan

 

[alms66]

Well, I've given it a while for "good" Gygax books to be pointed out and quite frankly at this point I have to say that if that's the best he's ever written/designed, then it's no wonder I couldn't find anything I liked by him - all of that stuff is horrible, IMHO.

So once again, I'm simply left with good riddance and RIP.

 

[Lanefan]

Well, I've given it a while for "good" Gygax books to be pointed out and quite frankly at this point I have to say that if that's the best he's ever written/designed, then it's no wonder I couldn't find anything I liked by him - all of that stuff is horrible, IMHO.

So once again, I'm simply left with good riddance and RIP.

Other than the RIP sentiment, I very highly suspect that in these opinions you're a minority of one.

Lanefan

 

[Drowbane]

Since he died, every year on March 4th I roll a set of stats using 3d6 in order. Its not much, just something I do to remember the man.

I rolled the last set between turns during a 4e session.