Gygax gone. 1938-2008

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.