Quote from: Old GeezerI also miss playing miniatures games with him.  He was tenacious and devious on the battlefield, and when he was the referee, you could be sure the scenario was never a bog-standard "meeting engagement".

Like Swiss Pikemen trying to cross a narrow bridge while under partial fire from Turkish archers....

Geezer,

 Remember the good times, just remember the good games and good times.

- Ed C.

The last and only time I saw Mr. Gygax in person was at GenCon the year they released the AD&D Dungeonmasters Guide.  He was signing copies and the line of drooling fans was huge.

I'm sad to hear he has passed but it is a little easier to bear knowing that he got to spend a good portion of his life doing what he truly loved and had such a positive influence on so many people.  There aren't that many people who can say that.  He will certainly be missed.

I don't know if anyone else has made a similar comment, but Gary Gygax dying feels, to me as a Catholic, like the Pope's passing.

My wife didn't really understand how I felt about his death, till I said the name 'Jerry Garcia'.

I'm not making a comparison at all. It's just that my wife really understood how I felt after that, she spent a time trailing after the 'Dead'.

San Francisco Chronicle has a decent column related to Gary Gygax:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/06/DDSCVE5B2.DTL

One cool paragraph of that :

QuoteBut, in 1974, when D&D was invented, and later in the 1970s, when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons became immensely popular, it was a unique form of entertainment made by intelligent outcasts for intelligent outcasts who previously had little or no foothold in popular culture. As much as Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas, Gygax helped muscle fantasy into the mainstream.

- Ed C.

Quote from: darMy wife didn't really understand how I felt about his death, till I said the name 'Jerry Garcia'.

I'm not making a comparison at all. It's just that my wife really understood how I felt after that, she spent a time trailing after the 'Dead'.

It's a good comparison. my wife heard the news and was as touched as she would be at the death of anyone. but to me it was surreal and personal. You guys would understand, but not everyone out there would until you draw a comparison to a beloved figure or icon.

I can't imagine how Old Geezer feels about this loss.  I only exchanged a couple of e-mails with Gary Gygax, many years ago, and I am saddened by the loss.  I am grateful for the e-mail exchange I had and it left me feeling good about being able to express my appreciation for D&D and the hobby, while gaining some insight about the hobby from one of the men that started it all.

My next D&D game should have a huge bag of valueable sugar guarded by six Giant Killer Bees, in his memory.

Quote from: joewolzI don't know if anyone else has made a similar comment, but Gary Gygax dying feels, to me as a Catholic, like the Pope's passing.

Jews have this tradition of when they visit someone's grave, putting a small stone on it to mark their visit, show they've been there.

I imagine Gygax's grave will have all these d20s on it in years to come.

Quote from: PaladinCAI can't imagine how Old Geezer feels about this loss.

Blessed.

Because I heard in mid February that Gary was "in failing health".  I Emailed him to let him know he was in my thoughts and prayers.

I received back a brief note of thanks.  The brevity let me know how grave it was -- Gary never used one word when 150 would do.

But I made contact with him, and he knew how I felt.

That eases the pain more than I can say.

This sort of shit pisses me off:

http://www.chimera.info/2008/03/06/a-guy-who-made-a-game-the-end/

Yeah, you don't have to grieve with us.  But that's not needed.

EDIT: But here's an excellent rebuttal.

Guy is too busy not giving a damn by blogging bitterly about it. Film at eleven.

It´s an self proclaimed "indie gamer". Nuff said.

I read the first few sentences, and scrolled down.

I saw "nerd shame" somewhere there.

Why is it, that these indie folks bring up nerd-shame so often?

Ron Edwards calso constantly talked about such stuff when we talked.

I dunno, don´t see much nerd shame  or self loathing going on. O wait, it´s on Story Games, riight?

Damn, no need to bring in this partisan bickering, but someone insisted on it.

BTW, one could actually write a dsimissive article, which would actually further the debate and remembrance of Gary´s work. Criticism is good.

Snyder wrote a few not very successful indie rpgs. So a significant part of his identity and reason for writing is to establish something New! and Different! from "trad gaming". He thus cannot be sad about the death of Gygax any more than Luther could have been sad about the death of the Pope; maybe he was, but he couldn't let himself be.

And in his response, Kuma speaks truth when he says - as I read it - that as a social creative hobby, there are worse things to have part of your identity wrapped up in.

Settembrini, this "nerd-shame" stuff is just an extension of that American cultural thing of, "what happened in high school defines my entire life."

Quote from: Kyle AaronHe thus cannot be sad about the death of Gygax any more than Luther could have been sad about the death of the Pope; maybe he was, but he couldn't let himself be.

He grew up around a funeral home. That does have an effect on people's attitude towards death of others. It has to or you start drinking.

P.S.  Yes, apparently funeral directors do have/had(?) a high rate of alcoholism. I know a couple of guys from highschool that become funeral directors at they were warned very sternly about that during training.

Sure. But he had the same indifference and/or scorn towards Gygax and "trad" games before the old fellah dropped off. The death's just another excuse to express it.

"Like, totally, I don't care, dude. Who was he? No-one."

A bit like when that cocksmock Kiero on rpg.net, cocksmock because he'd said, "I don't consider myself a gamer", pretended not to know who Monte Cook was - despite having discussed his work just a day or two ago. It's a conspicuous show of indifference such as you get... well, in high school.

"Geek shame? How can I have that when I don't consider myself a geek?" There's no shame greater than when you claim you're not even that thing. The guy writes rpgs and has a blog discussing their design. That's geeky as all fuck.