RIP, Gary Gygax

Various sources are sadly reporting the death today of D&D co-creator, Gary Gygax. From the Star Tribune, sent in by Avantenor:

MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.
He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.
Gygax and co-creator Dave Arneson developed the fantasy role-playing game in 1974. It became one of the best-selling games ever and influenced video games, books and movies.
Gygax' wife said he always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans about how Dungeons & Dragons influenced their lives. Many would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, which is about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, she said.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

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Thanks also to Alrik for a similar submission.
More information.

RIP, everyone on this board owes this man a lot!

From the peak of Mt Gigas to the reaches of the Xagyg Dust Cloud, his influence will not be forgotten.

I grieve for this on several layers.
Wish he could just roll up another one...

Without getting overly sentimental, it's hard to underestimate the effect of Gygax' work on my life. D&D (and the associated gaming sessions and friends) are some of my best childhood memories and ultimately lead to my love of CRPGs and gaming.

Gygax started his own publishing company to create D&D. It was very low budget. But his game was a brilliant idea that instigated this whole genre. Let's hope his memory continues to inspire.

May he turn up in Sigil. I think he'd enjoy that.

The man is the creator of the industry really not just DND.

I'm sure I've spent weeks of my life just rolling the contents of monster treasure piles (DM guide). Ah good fun. Thanks Gary.

Definitely a sad passing!

I hope they have D&D where he is going. If not, then he should create D&D there!

D&D for all eternity. Sounds like "heaven" to me.

NO WAY!!!!!!!

He was like a father to me.

I am really saddened.

May he RIP and find the way to Shangri La!

Very sad news. When I was between the ages of 10 and 15 years old I read more words credited to his name than those of any author I was supposed to be reading in school...

Rest in Peace, Mr. Gygax...

*note* re-post from an earlier thread, but Gygax deserves the thanks and sentiment *note*

I didn't know the name "Gary Gygax" (and what he had done) before I became part of the german D&D crpg fansite network. But I've known D&D for a long time - unintentionally. Although D&D isn't that popular in germany and no one of my family did ever play any kind of RPG, we had some D&D books from the endless quest series. I think that was my first contact with RPGs. I loved these books for children. And so it became clear that I wanted to play all the infinity games, when I found out that they also belonged to the same universe like these books. I've had a lot of fun since that time. Without D&D I would never have read these books in my childhood, and I would never have played Planescape: Torment. I would really miss that. Kudos to Gary Gygax for his work and his influence.

Did he drop any good loot?

When we were designing Wyvern Crown of Cormyr, I had decided early on to base our jousting rules upon the same rules that Gygax created for Chainmail - the precursor to Dungeons and Dragons.

It became clear as I was examining Gary's old matirx for jousting that it wasn't very balanced and could easily be exploited by a player. I contacted Gary Gygax by e-mail about it and he agreed with me. I suggested fixes to the matrix and he told me that he had made similar changes after he had exploited it in many jousts with fellow gamers.

So, with Gary's input, we modified the jousting rules in Wyvern Crown to reflect his later unpublished changes to those rules. To be able to work on an official D&D computer game product and get the assistance of the Old Man himself with our designs was a special ubergeek moment in my life - and one I will always treasure.

I thanked him personally for that kindness when I met him briefly last summer at Gencon. The man truly enjoyed the thanks and admiration of his fans. Most of all, he liked hearing about how his game had been the sinew that preserved so many friendships over the course of decades.

Let's face it - there isn't much any of us will ever do in this life that could ever hold a candle to a claim as great and substantial as *that*.

Once again Gary - thank you.

Sad news...

Gary Gygax's "Night Arrant" (a collection of Gord the Rogue stories in Greyhawk)
was what got me started in RPGs (I wasn't even aware of the term before)...

R.I.P

I am sad to hear of his passing but he certainly left behind an impressive legacy that many will be enjoying for many years to come.

Rest in peace, Gary Gygax.

At first I thought: I can't believe it. It can't be true. But since *several* sources report this ...

Like woges, I believe he was rather the creator of a whole industry. What would be LARP without him ?

Okay, the concept of RPGs evolved around that time - he was just one of many people who developed it into an own system (and maybe he and his companion were the first ones, I'm not that deep into RPG history), so he doesn't stand alone, but the works incarnated as "D&D" influenced everything in this industry so much.