Mar
5
5
Gary Gygax Runs Out Of Hit Points
The man who invented Dungeons & Dragons has died at 69. He pwn3d pen-and-paper gaming.
Above: Missed saving throw
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The man who invented Dungeons & Dragons has died at 69. He pwn3d pen-and-paper gaming.
Above: Missed saving throw
SamFromUtah said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:00
RIP, Gary.
Not you, fake Gary.
Jennifer said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:04
I never played D&D, but remember well the hysteria that it generated among the repressive elements back in the late 70′s/early 80′s. Kind of like both the PMRC(late 80′s and anti-Harry Potter(late 90′s/early 00′s) hysterias.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:11
I don’t think I ever played DnD meself, although I did waste a huge amount of time on Whitesands MUD at one point. (If you can call a number of years a point. Shoulda bought the condo I was renting in Manhattan instead, etc.)
Jon H said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:19
Anyone in Cambridge up for a memorial game of 1st ed sometime? I’m tempted to dust them off after 20 years.
kenga said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:36
Saving throw … teh funny.
another jim said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:37
I lost several months of my life to a D&D text game called “Angband”. It was so primitive, even then (1994), that the characters were actually little letters moving along an ASCII-character environment. The main character was an ‘h’, small dragons were ‘d’, large dragons were ‘D’, and if a dragon hid around a corner it looked exactly like this:
___________________| D |______________
h
___________________ ______________
| |
Fun, fun times. Thanks, Mr. Gygax. Sorry your life was so short, and hope it was filled with all the fun you helped others have with your game.
Dhalgren said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:40
Can you imagine the little shits today playing a game that had multiple rulebooks?
Smiling Mortician said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:43
You kids get offa Dhalgren’s lawn now.
Jon H said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:44
“Can you imagine the little shits today playing a game that had multiple rulebooks?”
I dunno. Things like Pokemon and Heroclix are pretty damned complex.
Legalize said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:44
His memory lives on via fantasy baseball. Shit, I have to give my dungeon master* – er league commissioner – my keepers by Friday!!
________
*I have no idea what this means.
Eric (An Halibut) said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:52
Sad news. I was a fairly serious D&D player for a few years, back in my wayward youth, and it was a lot of fun.
RIP.
Djur said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:52
Angband still exists, and it’s got little tiled graphics now if you’re a lamer. I’m more partial to NetHack myself.
goat or panic said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:54
R.I.P. Gary Gygax.
still have my dice…..
Heretic said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:54
Damn, no religion on this site. Where’s our high-level cleric? Somebody ressurect this guy as a satyr or something right now!
jharp said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:58
I used to work for them.
It was one hell of a good run. I made some money and TSR made mountains of money.
Rest in peace. Gary. And thank you for everything.
kmeyer said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:03
Oh, you be nice.
At least he never decided to apply the rules of fantasy-land to politics, after all. Can you imagine MP Gygax?
Not bloody likely.
Lesley said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:06
“Gygax” – sounds like one of Righteous Bubba’s endangered pets/strange recipe ingredients.
Dorothy said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:14
Several of my friends want to collect money for a Raise Dead spell.
Of course, Resurrection is cheaper, but then you’ll never know what he’ll come back as.
spencer said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:21
I played a lot of D&D when I was a kid.
Probably explains a lot about how I turned out, really.
mikey said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:21
I guess it pretty much goes without saying that my world and this world did not find an opportunity to coincide.
But I sense the joy and love, the happiness of a childhood gone forever, a lost innocence and the sweet peace and safety that we, as adults owning responsibility for us and our tribe can never enjoy again.
What you’re missing is freedom. Freedom in that sense that you could do what you wanted, that all things were possible. For many of you, this “game” represents so much more. It represents a time in your life when so many options were not closed off, when the future was rich with possibility, and your friends and your loves and those special times simply cannot be measured against the place you live now.
So make me a promise. Sure, I know, you’ve got a life, you’ve got a job, you’ve got kids and a mortgage and commitments and a freakin four oh one kay.
That’s ok. Nothing wrong with growing up. It happens, honest, no matter how hard you resist. But promise me. In the next couple weeks, you’ll go to that place, the beach, the mountain, the park, you’ll play that game, call that old friend, do that thing, NOT to try to recapture your youth, just to make certain that part of you is still alive.
Promise…
mikey
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:41
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were locked in too-close-to-call races in Texas and Ohio Tuesday night, races that could vault Obama into a nearly insurmountable lead or reignite Clinton’s struggling campaign.
Obama was aiming to continue a month-old 11-contest winning streak, and he extended it to 12 early Tuesday when he won Vermont.
On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain was inching close to the 1,191 delegates he needed to clinch the nomination. He won Ohio and Vermont, and he hoped to triumph in Rhode Island and Texas — wins that would give him enough delegates to claim the nomination.
In Ohio, though, there were still signs that some conservatives aren’t completely enthralled with McCain. Exit polls found that among people who attend church more than once a week — about one-fifth of the state’s electorate — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was the choice of about 57 percent of such voters.
Sadly, So! mikey.
The Cleric Class has no time for Gary Gygax.
They’re too busy waking the dead.
Ugluks Flea said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:42
I do not doubt that I am not the only supergeek on the internets who’s online handle derives from the name of a beloved D&D PC from their misspent pimply youth.
RIP, Gary. How should we divide his stuff? I could really use a bag of holding… You know, just until he gets back.
mikey said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:52
What is it with McCain and all that blinking?
Is it code?
Or is he simply crazy?
Inquiring minds want to know…
mikey
D. Aristophanes said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:59
Promise? Ha! I’ll do more, Sir Mikey! I, Gimlegoth Orcsbane, Ranger of the Aquëlúthlorîanuviëlvallonemuinsmuinbuinånæn Nordlands, pledge to fulfill the oath you require, by the blade of my +2 Dwarven War Hammer, Guttrender, and by the mane of my enchanted steed Blüddfastspeed, until mine own death in battle or the wealth of my Pouch of Many Plentiful Useful Handy Potable Things should run dry!
EdsAppliance said,
March 5, 2008 at 5:02
Sad news to hear. My dice are on my desk at this very moment. Haven’t thrown them in years. Nobody else knows what they are for. I love that. Every day they remind me of the primacy of probability. Thanks Gary.
Fats Durston said,
March 5, 2008 at 5:12
Pffft. Poseur. Everyone knows the Lucern Hammer is the one with the blade….
Fats Durston said,
March 5, 2008 at 5:17
Ahem. Reincarnation.
Dan Someone said,
March 5, 2008 at 5:45
This is from near the end of the L.A. Times article on Gygax’s death:
I read that and all I could think was “And you can bet it was already plenty sad to begin with….”
(Then again, I have been playing those games almost as long as Gary Sandelin has been alive — and I still play similar games, though not D&D itself — so who am I to snark?)
nyarlathotep the crawling chaos said,
March 5, 2008 at 5:59
I hate to say it but when I heard this one of the first things that I thought was: “geez, there’s going to be a massive TROVE of cool gamer stuff popping up on eBay soon when his collection gets sold,” and I felt bad for thinking something greedy. But then I realized that whenever anyone’s character got killed during an AD&D game, pretty much the first thing all the other players would should would be “dibs on his stuff!”
Since Gary was apparently (choke, gasp) a wingnut libertarian, I’m sure he’d appreciate that I’m displaying the “virtue of selfishness” here.
nyarlathotep the crawling chaos said,
March 5, 2008 at 6:00
“would should”: should be “would shout”
ben said,
March 5, 2008 at 6:29
Mikey:
That’s pretty much it. Lots of people spend their time making other folks miserable. This guy figured out a way to make a lot of people– kids, even– really happy. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Cheers Gary.
John Witherspoon said,
March 5, 2008 at 7:24
Wow, now my D4 is really only good as a caltrop.
dAVE said,
March 5, 2008 at 7:54
runs out of hit points… heh.
Yeah, I was into D&D for a number of years – pretty much 6th grade – peaking in 9th and fading by 10th grade ’82-’87. And tons of other role playing games as well. (Hell, even now when I hear RPG – I don’t immediately thing Rocket Propelled Grenade)
Damn good times. I was the only one who had the patience to read all of the damn books so I ended up being DM all the time.
Lotsa fun coming up with puzzles and scenarios for people to try to figure out.
Well, he made his mark in the world and overall, I’d say, made it a better place.
Teaflax said,
March 5, 2008 at 8:22
You know, I’ll probably get castigated for being crude enough to say so in a thread about the man’s death, but D&D etc. would not only have happened without Gygax, it would probably have been better without him.
His book on how to *really* play RPGs is one of the most obnoxious and wrong-headed tomes I’ve ever bothered to wade through.
Dan Someone said,
March 5, 2008 at 8:42
Teaflax, he recanted that attitude later in his life. He never gave Dave Arneson sufficient credit for contributions to the original D&D, but I understand he eventually felt bad about it.
Strange Forces said,
March 5, 2008 at 8:58
Mikey – Thanks for that.
Hell, back at the ISP I used to work for D&D was used for intra-office social networking instead of golf. Golf? Who the fuck wanted to golf when you could sit around, eat pizza, drink beer and pretend to stab things?
Sjofn said,
March 5, 2008 at 9:23
My husband has been playing D&D since he was 8 (he’s currently 33), and credits Mr. Gygax for his giant vocabulary. Seems the guy would do his damnedest not to use the same word twice if he could help it, which made quite the impression on young Mr. Sjofn.
Our weekly game is tomorrow night. I’ll have to roll a 20 in his memory.
Moxie said,
March 5, 2008 at 9:31
I never actually played D&D, but I did once work in a hobby shop owned by my brother when we lived in San Antonio. We sold a lot of D&D stuff, including the lead miniature figurines. I remember that we were pretty down on the stuff, and thought the people who came in to buy it were a little “off.” (Which, to be fair, they sometimes were). And most of the “normal” people that would come in seemed to share that opinion (one of the investors that got my brother going, an old carpenter, used to look at the miniatures on their racks and smirk. “How’re the fishin’ weights selling?” he would ask).
I remember my opinion changing over time, though, as I noticed the young people who played it seemed to be rather more eloquent than the usual specimens their age. I remember one day watching, with jaw slightly agape, a couple of kids having a rapid-fire conversation about something-or-other D&D related. I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, but it involved a lot of 3- and 4-syllable words. I remember thinking how adult they sounded, although they couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12. I had graduated from “high” school a couple of years before, and I knew quite a few people my own age that couldn’t talk or read with that facility (such as, for example, half of my graduating class). That prompted me look through the D&D rulebooks, and I later decided that, whatever else it was, it wasn’t a game for stupid people. In fact, it occured to me that this stuff might actually be making kids smarter.
So good on you, Gary Gygax. I’d say you did more for education than most teachers have, and certainly more than any politician you could name (in fact, just imagine if GWB had gotten hooked on D&D instead of booze. World=better place, no?).
Anne Laurie said,
March 5, 2008 at 12:35
Except… back in the late 1970s, when that RPG stuff was still confined to college kids wearing pocket protectors, the man who’d eventually end up as my Spousal Unit tried to DM a quick round for me and two other newbies in the post-college rooming house. When he killed my character — which didn’t take long — I responded by calling him a very bad name & storming off in a huff.
I suspect the young Commander Codpiece would also have kicked over the hexboard, and possibly set fire to the room on his way out.
One reason D&D took off when it did, and for the people it did, was that it gave people with above-average IQs and below-average EQs (emotional-intelligence quotients) a non-threatening way to help each other learn the primate socialization skills they failed to pick up automatically. From everything that’s been said by his friends — well, his syncophants & business partners — as well as his enemies, the Oval Office Occupant is not (interested in being) smart enough to play a game that doesn’t guarantee him a Big Win within a predetermined (very short) period. The RPGs were (are) about figuring out that you can’t always have *everything* you want, immediately, even if you’ve got a closetful of science-fair and debate-club trophies… but that you’ll have a lot better chance at Everything if you can negotiate with other humans.
Teaflax said,
March 5, 2008 at 13:00
Glad to hear that, Dan. I haven’t really followed GG:s doings over the last two decades or so.
OB-GYN Kenobi said,
March 5, 2008 at 15:20
One reason D&D took off when it did, and for the people it did, was that it gave people with above-average IQs and below-average EQs (emotional-intelligence quotients) a non-threatening way to help each other learn the primate socialization skills they failed to pick up automatically. From everything that’s been said by his friends — well, his syncophants & business partners — as well as his enemies, the Oval Office Occupant is not (interested in being) smart enough to play a game that doesn’t guarantee him a Big Win within a predetermined (very short) period. The RPGs were (are) about figuring out that you can’t always have *everything* you want, immediately, even if you’ve got a closetful of science-fair and debate-club trophies… but that you’ll have a lot better chance at Everything if you can negotiate with other humans.
Dead on.
Gawd, has it really been over 30 years since Gygax started taking my money? How wretched am I?
I got started on tabletop wargaming and Avalon Hill releases in junior high, in the early 1970s. When Steve Jackson’s releases like Ogre and GEV came out, I was all over them. But when an college-age gaming friend said, “hey, you should check this out” and introduced me to the Original D&D rules (plus Greyhawk and Blackmoor), it was all over for me. I got nose-deep in D&D and never looked back.
When the 1st Edition AD&D Players’ Handbook came out, I was waiting at the game shop door on the release date. I’ve still got a copy of the 1st Edition Deities and Demigods book with all the copyright infringements (Lieber and Zelazny and H. P. Lovecraft) intact. I can’t count how many dice and miniature figures I’ve got. And I can’t guess how many high school allowances I blew on ‘just one more sheet of that polycarbonate hexagonal overlay for my maps.’
Cokes and nachos and Lay’s chips. New dice and missed saving throws. Defeating the big boss monster and scoring the vast treasure after a two-year campaign.
But also being the only character left standing after the monster’s relatives tracked us down and took their revenge.
D&D was a great way to socialize, to share creativity, to (as Anne Laurie said) learn negotiating skills, but also to entertain ourselves without TV or a couple of rolls of quarters down at the pinball arcade. It didn’t matter that we were geeks — it just mattered that there, around the gaming table, everyone fit in despite their differences.
Tonight I shall drink to EGG; he shall be sorely missed.
Rest in peace, you magnificent bastard.
mds said,
March 5, 2008 at 16:15
Right on, Fats Durston. By Grabthar’s Hammer, Dennis Prager actually has the right idea. He needs to add “Do they teach the correct definitions for D&D spells at your college?” to his list.
Robert M. said,
March 5, 2008 at 16:35
I certainly remember more of my first D&D game than, say, my 2000-level circuit analysis class.
Dorothy said,
March 5, 2008 at 17:33
Of course, Resurrection is cheaper, but then you’ll never know what he’ll come back as.
Ahem. Reincarnation.
Which edition are we talking about?
Girl from UNCLE said,
March 5, 2008 at 17:54
I got the Red Box Basic D&D set in 1980, and have played on and off for years. I’ve been an “on” period for over 2 years with a great group.
My D&D game is on Saturday night (yes, we’re *that* old and geeky,) we’ll pour out a bit of ale on the table in honor of the Original DM.
Or, maybe we’ll run “Tomb of Horrors.”
NobodySpecial said,
March 5, 2008 at 18:15
May his body rest peacefully in the City-State of the Invincible Overlord.
nick, with an i said,
March 5, 2008 at 18:21
One reason D&D took off when it did, and for the people it did, was that it gave people with above-average IQs and below-average EQs (emotional-intelligence quotients) a non-threatening way to help each other learn the primate socialization skills they failed to pick up automatically.
I understand — and agree with — the larger point you’re trying to make (Shrub can’t make nice and therefore could not possibly have ever played this particular game), but I cringe at your wording here.
I, too, started playing RPGs in the late 70s, and my group was a pretty normal looking and behaving group. None of us wore pocket protectors or eyeglasses held together with scotch tape and paperclips. None of us snorted when we laughed. None of us bore even passing resemblance to Prof Frink or Robert Carradine. (I myself bore a striking resemblance to a young Robert Redford… Two eyes, male, bipedal…. It was uncanny.)
Like 99.999% of role playing gamers, we were just folks who liked to get together and play a game. We didn’t need to learn socialization skills–the fact that we already had those skills drew us to the game and made it playable and enjoyable.
In fact, it sounds to me like the person with the below average EQ would be the one calling others bad names and “storming off in a huff” just because a character got killed…..
Just sayin.
Albatross said,
March 5, 2008 at 18:50
Fortunately Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D, is still around, as is M.A.R. Barker, creator of Tekumel, and the ‘Empire of the Petal Throne’ RPG that was the second game produced by Gygax, hot on the heels of D&D.
Gygax and Arneson took inspiration for desktop roleplaying from Barker’s tabletop wargames, based on the creatures and nations of his world of Tekumel (http://tekumel.com ). Their tabletop army battles started to get down to the individual personalities of the soldiers and generals involved, and so roleplaying games were born. Gygax and Arneson placed their game within the much more culturally accessible environment of Tolkein’s European mythology, and D&D was born.
Chunklets said,
March 5, 2008 at 19:25
RIP Mr. Gygax!
I think I’ll have to dig out my original set of dice for gaming next week…
Phillip T. Alden (Draken) said,
March 5, 2008 at 19:41
I started playing D&D and later we switched to DragonQuest and GURPS, but I’ll never forget the man who did for role-playing what Tolkien was to fantasy novels.
The games we play today, like those addicted to World of WarCraft, owe their invention to GG and TSR. The guys who invented WoWC were no doubt young nerds playing D&D in their parent’s garage before they became hotshot programmers.
RIP Gary. May the next world be as exciting as the one you invented for all of us.
BTW – Draken is the name of an elf character I’ve been playing for over 25 years now, and my best friends are the guys I’ve been playing the game with for all that time.
t4toby said,
March 5, 2008 at 19:41
I pestered a family friend to teach me how to roll up characters when I was 6. The next 7 years were all RPGs, all the time.
I gleaned the the idea that all people have the same value, just with the points spread around differently, from D&D. I was taught compassion and tolerance from a game.
RIP, Gary.
Eric Martin said,
March 5, 2008 at 20:32
Is there a cleric in the house to resurrect him?
Duros62 said,
March 5, 2008 at 20:45
“Gygax” – sounds like one of Righteous Bubba’s endangered pets/strange recipe ingredients.
“I am the Gygax! I speak for the dweebs!”
Just kidding. Never played it myself, but I could see I would have enjoyed it.
Also, mikey continues to be my hero.
Duros62 said,
March 5, 2008 at 20:48
The guys who invented WoWC were no doubt young nerds playing D&D in their parent’s garage before they became hotshot programmers.
That’s true. It could be argued that none of us would be here (on the Intert00bs) without them. Hotshot programmers and D&D d00ds, I mean.
Senator Ted said,
March 5, 2008 at 21:01
Damn Mikey! As always another brilliant comment. This has been a tumultuous few months for me, but reading your comments keep putting it back in perspective.
As for Gary and D&D, yep I played, and honestly I wish more kids today would pick it up. Besides all of the game, and fun, and hanging out busting on friends, old school D&D forced you to use math skills (“hit points”, “roll for success”), to learn how to chart things (“where the hell are we”, “how do we get back to that room”), to learn how to cooperate (“look we need to figure out what we’re going to do”), and most importantly it taught us to use our imagination. In the age of Xbox (and yes, I have one) and DVDs I’m not sure kids are getting that anymore and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
bjacques said,
March 5, 2008 at 21:10
Gygax’s politics were pretty much in the mainstream for role-playing gamers. D&D got me through a difficult time (high school, that is, and mostly self-inflicted) and prepared me to join the IT crowd decades in advance.
Mr. Gygax, may you out-roll the Cacodemons and Demogorgons, at least when it comes to deciding who has to get up and make the beer run. Or fix the iced tea, if they’re djinns and efreets.
dalton periphery said,
March 5, 2008 at 21:21
Damn, Gary Gygax… met him once, at a gaming convention in Lake Geneva, back during the Carter administration… i remember he seemed like the realest person there…of course, that was during the summer that i dropped acid every day for a month, just lived on acid and speed and weed.. used to play those Avalon Hill type things as an adolescent, hence the convention…went there with my oldest friend, who joined the American Nazi Party after i moved away, haven’t heard from him in over 30 years, now…goddamn if life can’t get weird.
Go ahead and play on the lawn all you want, kids. Oh, and Mikey? You are a fine man. Annie Laurie? Where does such eloquence come from?
Hysterical Woman said,
March 5, 2008 at 21:38
I’ve never played D&D or any dice-based table top games (well, I played Neverwinter Nights but that doesn’t count). Not out of any shame, but only because I’ve never had the chance.
Still, I’ll give a nerd salute to Gary.
Hysterical Woman said,
March 5, 2008 at 21:40
I am currently playing a historical roleplaying game in English class based on the Trial of Anne Hutchinson. Today there was an argument with the GM on whether people who moved to Rhode Island can vote in the General Court.
moondancer said,
March 5, 2008 at 22:29
I met him years ago. Nice guy enjoyed many roll playing games over the years none of which would have been without him.
Duros62 said,
March 5, 2008 at 23:58
Today there was an argument with the GM on whether people who moved to Rhode Island can vote in the General Court.
And? Can I? don’t leave me hanging like that. Not after yesterday.
Hysterical Woman said,
March 6, 2008 at 1:03
Yes they can. They can also instantly travel back to Boston.
EdsAppliance said,
March 6, 2008 at 5:48
Still, I’ll give a nerd salute to Gary.
*pushes up glasses*
dailey said,
March 6, 2008 at 10:24
And the most important thing he gave us was IMAGINATION.
kids don’t know what that is today.
chris V said,
March 6, 2008 at 20:00
Gary, its sad to hear your gone.
But in memory of you my next character i play will b a cleric till i hit lvl 17 and can cast true resurection on you…i have only been playing for 3 years now and only have played 3.5.
P.S. i hope god doesnt get angry when you DM for him and jesus, rest in peace garey.you will be missed