Dungeons & Dragons RPG

During our early teens (back in the very early 80's) my friends and I regularly sat around the dining room table on Saturday afternoons playing Dungeons & Dragons, commonly known as D&D.

We formed bands of thieves, warriors, wizards and elves, explored miles of subterranean tunnels and set off on adventure after adventure, all presided over by the Dungeon Master, using guides called "modules." Many of these modules, in fact most, bore a name which would become very familiar to D&D gamers everywhere. Gary Gygax.

Gary Gygax (I never did figure out how to pronounce his last name) introduced the first version of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 with Don Kaye, co-founder of TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) and D&D. Through the years D&D would prove to be a popular escape for many kids. Roll playing games continue in popularity today, in the form of video games.

Aside from creating D&D and authoring many gaming modules, Gygax also authored many novels such as the Greyhawk series, Gord the Rogue Adventures, and various short stories and books.

With D&D Gygax captured the imagination and kept kids out of trouble. I can think of a lot of no good we could have been getting ourselves into, instead we became RPG geeks. Still, we didn't care much. We knew the fun we were having; the adventures just waiting within the pages of another module.

It could take a month to get through one of those adventures, and other times we would just make up some of our own rules, and the DM would often be generous, looking the other way if a certain player was about to lose those last 3 hit points, saving his butt so the wizard could cast a restore spell on him. Roll the twenty sided die and we were on our way...

I'll raise a toast to a man who created a game that gave my active imagination a place to run wild. Gary Gygax made an amazing contribution to the world of gaming, and gave millions of us D&D geeks great adventures to keep us occupied and entertained.

Gygax is quoted as saying, "I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

Thanks Gary!

Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008)

More reference:
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax
Wizards.com

Drew Vics — March 4, 2008