Gygax gone. 1938-2008

[claidheamhmor]

Last night at D&D, we toasted Gary Gygax for making it possible for all of us to be there.

I first started playing D&D back in 1983, using the red book Basic D&D set; my parents had brought it back from the UK for me. I involved classmates at boarding school, and on holiday, friends of my father. My grandmother went overseas, and brought back from me all the original AD&D rulebooks, plus 20 or so modules, and 13 boxes of miniatures; I started in the World of Greyhawk, Gygax's creation, and loved it. When I went to university, I played with other students, and friends and I played too. I've been playing D&D virtually continuously for a quarter of a century.

I've made many friends through D&D, many of whom are still good friends, and many I still keep in contact with. In many ways, I owe my friendships with greywand, ereneth, ihlanya, fsnut, and ticktock_za to D&D, not to mention friends I may have met through LJ, but stay in contact with because of D&D.

Years and heaps of my money, have been dedicated to D&D. It's fair to say that my whole life has been changed by D&D. All of that is because of a man named Gary Gygax.

I think this cat says it well:

Fare thee well, Gary, and thank you.

Comments

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

Amusingly enough, last night was also my gaming night, and despite the majority of us being either underage (about half the group) or non-drinkers (the other half), those of us who could, still went for a toast in his honor before beginning.

I have to admit, one of the hardest things about his death has actually been reading many people's stories about how his creations, and he himself, changed their lives. It just serves to drive home how wonderful of a person we lost.