By now this is old news around the Interwebs. We, of all people, know Gygax and his legacy. If Tolkien was the oxygen, Gygax may well have been the spark that sent orcs and elves and all the rest exploding into the lives of so many of us. I still remember being nine or ten, and seeing a display for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic game. I can picture the end cap display, the red covered books, the plastic dice and the wax crayon used to color in the numbers.
Having been a gamer for nearly a quarter of a century, it just wouldn’t be right for me to let Gygax’s passing go by without a word of acknowledgment. That game was salvation for a bored kid on summer break away from home. It was at the core of my social life throughout high school and much of college. Even today, though kids and careers make it more difficult, I am still getting together with some of those same guys to hack-n-slash our way through some dungeon. We may have moved from our parent’s basements to our own, but we are still – and always will be – gamers at heart.
It’s nice to see WotC offer up a tribute.
I too remember my first time being exposed to AD&D. I still have a first edition copy of the DM guide my oldest brother bought and tried to teach us to play with (I was 6ish then). I remember when my friends started to talk about it when I was in Jr. High and racing home to pull out my brother’s old books. Without AD&D (I never played just D&D), I would not have had much to do with my free time or anything to do with the imagination which was starving for a way to escape the world I was living in and go off to somewhere else full of problems I could solve with the swing of my fist. I do hope I can continue to play till I get to old to roll the bones and can pass it on to my little one(s?).
Oh, and don’t forget, 4th edition is to come out this summer!
4th Ed. should be named in tribute: AD&D GL Edition (Gygaxian Legacy)
I think that depends on if it’s as big a mess as 2nd edition. Personally I’d still rather play the original rules, but 3rd came closer to to something I’d like to do. From what I heard, Gygax was not too fond of 2nd edition so hopefullly this is closer to the game he created.
Now I have to find time to play a little crawl in his honor.
Hey, Bald One,
As one who has done (admittedly non-D&D) gaming with you, old friend, I feel it is necessary to take note that Mr. Gygax was almost as old as my dad. Nice to know there are radically cool people out there who are – or were – as old as my dad.
Blended,
Cool is attitude, not age, my friend.
Baldie,
Next week. Talk to Grand Martonious. Let’s make this happen!
Rantz,
I’ll see the GM tomorrow evening. We’ll see what we can come up with, though it will be tough to pry him away from March Madness.