I've just learned (via TobyToby's Facebook status update) that Gary Gygax, the father of fantasy roleplaying, has died aged 69.
Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, which despite its flaws and faults, provided me with countless happy memories from the age of 15 onwards. While I don't play D&D any more, having moved on to other games and more flexible systems, I mourn his death all the same.
D&D taught me a lot about collaboration, creativity and communication; indeed I'd go so far as to say that without it, I would have had a much more miserable, poorly-socialized adolescence.
And that's just the impact the game had on me personally. On a wider scale, we probably wouldn't have the range of roleplaying games, including popular computer games such as World of Warcraft, that we have today had not Gygax and his co-founder Dave Arneson fleshed out their game's rules back in 1974.
Yes, life goes on, but right this moment, I'm remembering being in high school again, and getting together with my old friends in the Latrobe Valley on weekends for an afternoon of rolling dice, fighting monsters, casting spells and gaining treasure and experience points...
2 comments:
That's sad. Thanks for noting it, Richard. I was the only girl I knew who played D&D, which maybe explains a whole lotta stuff...
He did leave quite a big impact on the worlds of gaming, roleplaying, boardgames and computer games.
It reminds me of all day D&D sessions. Ah to have that much free time again.
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