Journal Entry
Gary Gygax
March 5th 2008 at 1:34 am
Okay, so I think, judging by my rss feeds, that I’m the only person in the SF/F world who didn’t play Dungeons and Dragons (and still haven’t played any sort of game like it). When I heard that Gary Gygax died my only thought was “that’s a weird last name, who the hell is he?”
The depths of my ignorance are boundless.
Nonetheless, even though his passing went unnoticed by me, many, like David Louis Edelman have penned some heartfelt remembrances to the impact this one individual had on their lives:
I think it was a combination of Gygax’s boundless enthusiasm, his slightly cornball sense of humor, and his ability to gleefully cannibalize any piece of film or literature in the service of adventure. It wasn’t armor classes and spell requirements that I was learning by reading those books. I was learning how to turn life into an adventure that would never end no matter how good you got at it. I was learning how to size up the world around me with a rigid set of rules and statistics and dice rolls. I was learning a handy set of moral rules in the alignment chart, which taught me more about human nature than eight years of Hebrew school ever did.
Detractors of D&D often stereotype RPG fans (as well as SF fans) as people with poor social skills. (And I suppose one must admit that there does seem to be some kind of correlation.) But to me, the hallmark of the D&D player is the tendency, on unfolding a map of Greyhawk, to look at those peculiar countries on the edge, the ones with the strange names about which the accompanying booklet simply says “not much is known about this land,” and instantly want to be there, to yearn beyond all else to jump into that map and be the first one to trek through it and map it out and provide a complete description of its history, customs, and politics for the world’s edification.
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1. Joe Sherry on Mar 5th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Would you believe the other geeks in elementary school didn’t let me play with them?
I never played D&D (let alone AD&D), so I didn’t understand the impact, but I know that D&D was important in shaping some of the writers of our genre, so for them, I’ll add my condolences to the family and to the fans.
2. Chang on Mar 5th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Well, FWIW, I never played D&D though I am not in your strata of the SF world. I played a training version of it once but never got to play the full game.
I bought Gamma World but couldn’t figure it out and could find no one to play with me.
Now I will re-enter my world of sackcloth and ashes,
3. Pablo Defendini on Mar 5th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Chiming in as another geek who’s never Role-Playing-Gamed.I’ve never been much of a gamer, in general. My roomates are avid (read: obsessive) video gamers, and while I can enjoy sitting there watching them play, I’d rather read a book. Unless it’s Guitar Hero we’re talking about. . .
Regardless, I recognize Gygax’s contribution, and mourn his passing as well.
4. Aimee Payne on Mar 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
When I was fifteen, my cousin made me play D&D. He said, “You like to write stories. You’ll love it!”
I didn’t. I got frustrated with the dice. I just wanted to make up a story.
Last year, I played a Call of Cthulu game with Will and his friends that was much better.
5. Simon Owens on Mar 5th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Yeah, I was one of those people who had no idea who he was. Someone even IMed me some kind of humorous anecdote about his death and I replied back, “Sorry, I don’t get the joke because I never played D&D.”
6. Ken McConnell on Mar 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I never played D&D either, despite living not far from where the game was created and even having driven by the home office in Wisconsin.
I did however make a short film about a kid who plays D&D. You can read about that on my web site. http://myview.w0pht.org/
7. Mary Kay on Mar 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Oh look, I’m another non-D&Der. We should, like, form a club or something. I did watch a few games though. Role playing games have never held any appeal for me though I do like board games and card games. By that latter I mean games like canasta and pitch and bridge. Not Magic the Gathering. An old boyfriend once told me I had the most iron grip on reality he’d ever seen and I suspect that has something to do with it.
MKK
8. Wyman Cooke on Mar 7th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Well I never played D&D or AD&D, but I had heard of Gary Gygax. I’m sorry he’s gone.
9. Patrick Nielsen Hayden on Mar 10th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I never had the gaming bug. Never had the right kind of patience.