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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8135998" data-attributes="member: 7023840">On this, it is exceptionally difficult for someone today to understand just how important Gygax was in terms of creating what we think as D&D.First, I don’t want you to think that I am trying to ascribe some sort of “great man” historical attributes to him. He was not a perfect individual, and his output after 1984 was ... uneven at best.Then there are three other categories of people to consider when it comes to historical D&D.1. Arneson. This has been done to death, but briefly he and Gygax are rightly credited with creating the field. But Arneson was really the spark when it came to RPG - the individualistic aspect of it.2. The original collaborators. From Kask to Kuntz, from Blume to Ward, there was other people the worked with Gygax at the beginning. Even things that are quintessential Gygax, like Greyhawk, had indispensable contributions (Darlene).3. Everyone else. From the artists that gave early D&D it’s distinctive look, to the employees of TSR, to the people whom Gygax collaborated with (Ranger, Thief).So why does Gygax, IMO, rightfully get so much credit? Because for ten years, he WAS D&D. He got the game published. He started the company. He made the decisions. He wrote and wrote and wrote, from Dragon Magazine articles to the core three books of AD&D to the most beloved modules of all time - which continue to get reused to this day. He created (or borrowed, or stole) the lingo, the lore, and the monsters that we use today.If you combined Mearls and Crawford and Mercer and Colville and, heck, Monte Cook into one person .... and had them design a new game in 2010 that we were playing today ... that’s Gygax.When it comes to the new player - Gygax doesn’t mean much, because he’s dead. He’s not on YouTube. He will never livestream a game on twitch. But every time a player chooses to play a fighter, and rolls a d20 to see if his two-handed sword hits (against the mind flayer’s AC) ... or, heck, rolls a saving throw, or sees a drow, or asks what a sphere of annihilation is ... somewhere Gygax is grinning.</blockquote>

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