Remembering Gary

[Morrus]

Today, March 4th, is the fourth anniversary of the passing of Gary Gygax. Gary, often described as "the father of role-playing games" co-created Dungeons & Dragons back in 1974 along with Dave Arneson. The initial run of 1000 copies was assembled in Gary's home and sold out in a year.

Gary passed away in 2008 from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. His wife, Gail, has since spearheaded the Gygax Memorial Fund, set up to raise money to build a statue of Gary in Lake Geneva in memory of his contributions to the development of role-playing games. Amongst other fund-rasing efforts, the fun released the book Cheers Gary (currently out-of-print, but expected to be reprinted) at GenCon 2011, which compiled his many thousands of posts right here on EN World.

WotC will be donating a part of the profits from the upcoming limited re-release of the 1st Edition AD&D core rulebooks to the Gygax Memorial Fund (you can see the covers here).

I hope you'll take a moment today to remember Gary's contribution to the games we all play and love.

 

[gdmcbride]

From one Gary to another, I cannot possibly express the impact that Gary Gygax had on my life both personally and professionally.

I have no idea what my life would like in a non-gygaxian world and I'm so glad I don't have to find out.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Thanks Gary.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games: maker of the only evil adventure path "Way of the Wicked"

 

[Lwaxy]

Can't imagine either. I probably wouldn't be married to my now husband, for one.

Thanks for a world of adventure. No, for endless worlds of adventure.

 

[Roland55]

Indeed I do remember.

Each and every year.

His crazy game has kept me quite a bit saner than I would otherwise be.

Cheers, Gary!

 

[Henry]

I celebrated yesterday by having a game session with a group of friends I care about - probably his favorite way to celebrate anything.

A toast to Gary Gygax -- you will always be missed as long as there is any gamer alive who was privileged to know you.

 

[Mark CMG]

He is truly missed.

 

[Tayne]

Kiss a Valkyrie for me, Gary.

 

[CleverNickName]

Thank you, Gary, for everything.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Gary is still and will always be, the guv'nor. I couldn't repay him in a hundred lifetimes.

 

[casteffens]

I wonder what advice he would have given WotC on DnD Next...