So, as you’ve probably read on a multitude of nerd blogs and gaming sites, Garry Gygax, co-creator (but come on, as far as everyone is concerned, pretty much the creator) of Dungeons & Dragons, died today.
A lot of D&D and RPG fans are expressing, not surprisingly, a great deal of genuine sadness. I personally don’t feel much of anything, which is kind of weird as I played D&D for probably about eight years as a kid, dabbled in it again every few years since, and never really lost my love for the game. Hand me a monster manual or a DM guide and I can happily sit for hours reading and reminiscing. Seeing graph paper still gives me that urge to start drawing little rooms and doors and tunnels. It’s the best game ever made, because you make so much of it yourself.
It’s weird, but I guess I just don’t connect Mr. Gygax to his creation the way I would, say, a fantasy writer I enjoyed. Take Terry Pratchett, for instance. Hearing the Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few months ago made me honestly sad. I don’t know the man, just his work, but the enjoyment his books have given me, I guess, give me some sort of emotional connection to him.
I don’t really feel that with Gygax, though I don’t know why. I really know nothing about him other than the game he created, so I don’t know how much of his personality carries over into it. Despite the incredibly strong nostalgia and affection I have for D&D, his death doesn’t really hit me the way it might with other people who have had an indirect impact on my life through their creative works. I can’t really explain why that is.
Anyway, by all accounts he seemed like a really good guy, and he was only 69, so that sucks. I’m incredibly grateful to him for his game, as it did a lot for me and my life as a kid. I started playing D&D in the third grade after moving to a new town and starting at a new school. I got to know some kids but didn’t really become good friends with them until they invited me to play this game that I’d heard them describe. I really didn’t get it at first — you sit around rolling dice and talking?
Then I got it. You sit around rolling dice and talking, and you have the best goddamn time and the most goddamn fun. I got it, and it’s still sort of with me. The creative freedom of D&D is still something I look for in video games, I think, and why even a glimmer of that freedom — in Oblivion, for example — stands out so brightly to me, and it goes without saying how much current games owe to Gygax for Dungeons & Dragons.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Shane // Mar 4, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I think you answered your own question. The reason you don’t feel anything for him is because he merely provided you with rules, and if you used them, then the setting. You provided the story and interaction and ultimately, the fun. You’re far more nostalgic for the stories you created and the fun you had than you are for some random guy who created the rules for a game (probably) before you were even born.
2 Christopher // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Yeah, that’s a very good point.
And, looks like he created the game in ‘74, so I was 2.
3 MadTinkerer // Mar 4, 2008 at 8:59 pm
For a good sample of GG’s personality, you should check out the Dragon Magazine Archive (OOP, but available on Ebay) or some other source of Dragon PDFs (http://www.rpgnow.com is good).
Rules-wise, AD&D1 in particular is GG’s baby. GG wrote most of the important AD&D1 books himself and came up with most of the best and worst ideas from that era. A lot of “sacred cows” from AD&D1 survive even into current editions.
Also, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere:
D&D inspired the Ultima series.
The Ultima series (overhead massive RPG) inspired the Ultima Underworld (First person less massive RPG) series.
The tech behind the UW series directly inspired Wolfenstein 3D.
Wolfenstein 3D is a direct ancestor of Quake.
TF2 and HL2 are sequels of games based on the Quake engine.
Now while there are a lot of games that are more directly related to D&D (such as World of Warcraft and essentially any MMORPG), even TF2 has D&D waaay back in the family tree.
Just thought you might like to know that. ;)
4 Phil // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:10 am
Perhaps you don’t feel the emotional attachment because Gygax completed his masterpiece; I’ve never played D&D but the concept seems complete. Terry Pratchett (a lovely guy by the way, met him once in a service station - just randomly) is still working and has much more to offer, so to hear of his illness is saddening since it may impair him from working on his best ever book.
To be honest though, the man is strong and I don’t see much getting in the way of his work :)
5 chris12 // Mar 5, 2008 at 3:09 pm
thats sad that he died. bad thing is, i never played dungeons and dragons, and what i knwo most is by descriptions.
also, i may add that i like games taht give you loat of freedom, like oblivion, and DD gave the inspiration for that
6 Piklemeup // Mar 5, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Garry Gygax was a pretty cool guy. eh invented D&D and doesn’t afraid of anything.
7 mattias // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:24 pm
No, he didn’t afraid of anything.
/mourn
8 drunkymonkey // Mar 6, 2008 at 5:26 am
I, myself, have never sat down to play any D&D, so I can’t really say much on the matter. However, I do know that without Gygax, we wouldn’t have half the RPGs we play today, or, like Tinkerer points out, many other games. He’s been an inspiration to so many developers (World of Warcraft’s site has a news story up about his death, for example) and so many gamers too. Though I haven’t played D&D, I still crave the dungeon-crawling and heroics that are integral to it.
And yeah. It really sucked about Pratchett too. He’s my biggest inspiration to become a writer, and reading all his books in a matter of two years made said years really important to how I see myself and others around me, too. That, and he’s created so many memorable characters (Cut My Own Throat Dibbler, for one) that his mind is something to be admired.
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