Gary Gygax is dead
by Turkana
You might have to be a certain type of person, of a certain era, to appreciate this, but Wired has the story:
Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, according to Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games.Gygax designed the original D&D game with Dave Arneson in 1974, and went on to create the Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventure RPGs, as well as a number of board games. He also wrote several fantasy novels.
"I don't think I've really grokked it yet," said Mike Mearls, the lead developer of the upcoming 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. "He was like the cool uncle that every gamer had. He shaped an entire generation of gamers."
I was never hardcore into D & D, but I did play it enough to appreciate its genius. Our Dungeon Master, who was quite good, mandated that my characters be Lawful Good. He didn't trust me to be anything else...
Condolences to Gygax's loved ones, and to all who loved the alternate reality he helped create.