It's interesting to realize just how much of an impact he had on pop culture. Dungeons and Dragons influences are all over a zillion different media and subcultures, both content and (generally for the worse) style.
* pours bottle of Keoghish Amber on the ground *
Dungeons and Dragons influences are all over a zillion different media and subcultures...
When I was going to school in Providence in the '90s, it was notable how many of the Fort Thunder art-punk/noise bands (including, of course, Lightning Bolt) were using clip art from the Fiend Folio and such in their posters.
I played and played, but only with one friend who lived out of town. When he came over we stayed up all night. I was DM, he had four characters at a time, which is deprecated but inevitable. The version of the game where all the dorky enthusiasts broke through their sportsless isolation to find one another and play regular, world-building games should be regarded as apotheoetical, not as standard.
My friend's characters were named "Spyro", "Gyro", "Clytt", and "Ass Bladder" (an assassin, of course). I recently included those in a toast to him at his wedding.
I never really played; in theory, I'm the sort of person who should have, but I didn't have any friends who did.
No more necromancing to Gary Gygax.
Oh, wait.
Nice headline.
Although when we played, we generally considered 0 HP to signify unconsciousness.
Cease the romancing! Begin the necroromancing!
Seriously though, I never knew anyone who played Dungeons and Dragons. I thought it was obsolete by the mid-90s. This turned out not to be quite true, though.
I only knew people into Magic: The Gathering, and to a lesser extent Vampire: The Masquerade. Games without colons in the title just couldn't cut it.
Aw, man. I always thought he got screwed out of TSR.
Wow. My life would have been very different had I not been introduced to D&D by a friend in the fourth grade.
For instance, I probably would have had a girlfriend in high school.
Gary Gygax, level 21 cockblocker, rest in peace.
Speaking of D&D, anybody who played, or knew people who played, might enjoy The Order of the Stick, if it happens to be unknown to them.
Do you know, it's interesting that back in hs the D&D crowd were the untouchables, and yet as an adult, y'all are the cool guys. How'd that come about?
I think it came about in part through the assumption of facts not in evidence, and in part through the increased economic status of actual nerds causing those who merely like nerdy things to shine with a reflected light.
Now the news is saying that the Egg of Coot got 'im.
My best friend in High School ran an awesome Greyhawk campaign one summer. He was still is a naturally gifted storyteller, actor, and all around funny guy. He would act out the part of every non-playing character, usually providing different voices for each. I'm sure that summer's acquired the glow of nostalgia in my memory, but I remember it as one of the best vacations ever.
For instance, I probably would have had a girlfriend in high school.
I knew several girls who played with us. One of them was another friend's sister. Very cute--and once she and I made out while our party was traveling through the Bandit Kingdoms.
According to one of the links, he made a saving throw against an abdominal aneurysm, which is pretty lucky.
14: Dude, most of us are still nerds, we just talk politics now.
I knew several girls who played with us. One of them was another friend's sister. Very cute--and once she and I made out while our party was traveling through the Bandit Kingdoms Canada.
Fixed.
I knew several girls who played with us
IYKWIM.
Damn, that's the best Unfogged headline ever.
I loved D&D (not surprising) but got too embarassed to play it sometime after puberty.
It was great training for becoming a scriptwriter -- half the fantasy, S/F, and horror movies and TV shows seem to show signs that the authors were role-players during their formative years.
For instance, I probably would have had a girlfriend in high school.
Gary Gygax, level 21 cockblocker, rest in peace
That made me laugh.
assumption of facts not in evidence??
FWIW, I did actually date D&D geeks in hs. But you guys are much cuter than they were.
What is the point of an NPC left unperformed? I ask you!
My dad bought me a D&D box set for beginners when I was about eight, but as I had no one to play with and no idea quite what the concept was, it gathered dust. In college, however, I spent a good bit of time swanning around pretending to be a vampire and that sort of thing.
Can't none of us roll 20s forever. See you at tha crossroads, son.
No more necromancing to Gary Gygax.
Also, no more masturbating to Brett Favre's football career.
But you guys are much cuter than they were.
Ah, the magic of lowered standards.
#19. Have you known the sweet delights of the Rift Canyon, Flippanter? Have you?
27: Or possibly late-onset puberty.
Have you known the sweet delights of the Rift Canyon, Flippanter? Have you?
Not for a couple of weeks now, and it's getting on my nerves.
14: We're the cool guys? When did this happen? I wish someone would tell me these things.
My group will know the sweet delights of the Rift Canyon on Thursday night, when they wade into the midst of a giant vs. dragon war.
FWIW, I did actually date D&D geeks in hs.
Aren't you currently married to one? I doubt Mr. B plays now, but surely he must have at some point?
Knew a quite a few guys who played, probably because I was in band. I never did. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
32: Totally. My boyfriend, however, never played D&D in his life. Nor has he ever seen Star Wars.
This is pretty much ot, though it's about sex, but you guys really should watch this video. Sexual content by implication, but totally SFW.
Robert? Don't you have a funny story about a date vis à vis D&D?
CA and I recently found stacks of graph paper on which he had designed dungeons in middle school.
A particularly charming episode of Freaks and Greeks was about the geeks teaching super hott freak James Franco how to play D&D. (He loved it.)
(Additionally, I feel comfortable saying that 90% of male classicists in my age group got into myth-stuff and later Latin, etc. because of D&D.)
35: Do I? I can't think of one. I've got plenty of pathetic geek stories relating to my D&D experience, but I can't think of which one you are referring to.
The Wiki article says that Gygax got frozen out of TSR b/c he was devoting too much time to the D&D cartoon series, which suggests a staggering lack of judgment.
It's a kitschy pleasure I guess, but his personality is all over AD&D, and it was striking how the terrible 2d ed. bled that out without replacing it with any soul whatsoever. The current Wizards of the Coast (= "revenge of Magic: The Gathering") version seems pretty cool, but my prospects as a 38-year-old lawyer and father of two seem pretty g.d. slim.
My brother played but I never learned properly. He let me read some books like the Fiend Folio but never the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Freaks and Geeks: Carlos the Dwarf
I was a Dungeon Master in late elementary school/middle school, starting with D&D and then moving up to AD&D soon after.
I remember taking a peek at the "2nd edition" rules later on and what struck me is how the new books lacked any of the mystery and intrigue that those big old hardcovers had back in the day. RIP, Gary.
People, I'm not kidding. Click on the link in 34.
38: That is awesome. The Dungeon Master Guide was too intense and too powerful for you to see, SP!
Gary Gygax was worse that Bill Clinton.
I last played in high school, in the classic friend's basement on the classic plywood-over-sawhorses table. The DM was a massive Duran Duran fan who, according to my younger sibling, has come out in later life. I was so naive that at the time I had no clue. The other players included another wuffly-haired wuss-band enthusiast who carried a knife, a friend of mine with whom I've lost touch since we went off to different colleges, another guy who was arrested for bringing a gun to school after I graduated, and a friend of the DM's who seemed to me the very model of an '80s ladies' man, for what reasons I cannot recall but probably because he had a girlfriend and a car. We spent a lot of time arguing about what do after our characters were arrested upon leaving the inevitable start-of-adventure tavern: Break out of jail? Teleport? Bribe the guards to restore our thief's lockpicks?
Not bad memories, exactly, but my memories of the game are a little thin compared to the recollections of people who went to high schools where nerds and geeks were thicker underfoot.
Cucumbers are illegal in Texas. How will this affect tonight's results?
Gary Gygax is the reason any of us knew what the word "charisma" meant long before we met Bill Clinton.
I remember considering my own personal S-I-W-D-Co-Ch scores as a scrawny eleven-year-old. "I'm not very strong," I said, "but I bet I have high dexterity." My friend swung a pull-up bar at me and hit me in the leg.
March 4 is in fact World Game Masters Day. I pour out a potion of Cure Light Wounds in his honor.
I consider gaming one of the joint activities important to my and Rah's relationship success.
I have to say, though I started out playing AD & D, Gygax isn't a particularly strong figure for me.
I have much more of a sense of Steve Jackson, for example, as a personality. In part because he has much more of an on-line persona.
8: Yeah, isn't death -10 HP?
Anyway, RIP.
Woot has a bunch of Gygax jokes that are good enough to almost make you feel bad for the guy.
I remember considering my own personal S-I-W-D-Co-Ch scores as a scrawny eleven-year-old.
For characters, I would constantly reroll these scores until most were good and one was exceptional. I often had occasion in later years to reflect that nature does not do this with us.
I pour out a potion of Cure Light Wounds
Cure light wounds is indeed indispensable.
My brother-in-law, and I'm sort of jealous.
Does anybody still game as an adult?
Now we blog.
I left the last incarnation of my D&D group in high school when the truly dedicated (and cute!) DM moved on for some reason and it became a bunch of truly geeky guys who were too distracted by the presence of two girls (me and my friend) to play properly. They sniggered, they postured, and good lord, one of them fancied himself a ladies man. Too bad!
Now we blog.
or worse, comment on blogs.
My brother-in-law, and I'm sort of jealous.
I'm vaguely jealous as well. I loved the mapping and world-creation part of DMing. Doubt I'd have time today though.
55: Wow, it's really weird to see that linked anywhere at all.
I consider gaming one of the joint activities important to my and Rah's relationship success.
I should clarify, on seeing that again: it's not that I only love him for gaming, it's that (a) he doesn't mind and in fact likes that I game and (b) it's something creative and fun we get to do together and with our friends. It's a great way for us to step out of the world together without having to find someone to sell us acid.
They should totally create a "Gygax" creature for the next edition of the Monster Manual. It even sounds monstery.
Okay, this is the funniest D&D-related video ever. End of story.
This is a true story, no shit. The guy who introduced D&D to my prestigious boarding school way back in 1976 (!) had learned from a guy who had learned from Mr. Gygax (allegedly). This friend told me if I ever wanted to date a girl again, never admit that I played D&D. I was the only "jock" that was in our group, and of course the rest all became software pioneers, etc. We wasted many hours, none of which I would trade.
I loved the mapping and world-creation part of DMing.
That was actually the part I loved the best, too; I learned a lot of history and cartography that way.
Does anybody still game as an adult?
The friend I mentioned in #17--he and his wife are still my best friends--still runs games now and then. But now he has a basement to devote to them. The idea still appeals to me, but I don't have the time or the space to do so. I'm jealous of people who do.
Does anybody still game as an adult?
I only ever gamed as an adult. The rules are somewhat complex for children, no?
I used to play D&D up until I was 14 or 15 and discovered "advanced getting hella wasted all the time". even after that I guess I would DM for my brother and his friends. making fantasy worlds up: fun!