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Fan Forums => The Official Amber DRPG, Erick Wujcik, and Lords of Olympus Forum => Topic started by: finarvyn on June 09, 2008, 12:32:46 AM

Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: finarvyn on June 09, 2008, 12:32:46 AM
I read this on the Dragonsfoot boards:

Quote from: Kevin Siembieda
My friend, Erick Wujcik, has passed on

“Erick passed away as gentle as a snowflake.”

That’s how Kay Kozora, Erick’s ‘Beautiful Kate’ of nearly 30 years put it when she called with the sad news. She and other loved ones were present when Erick passed away, Saturday evening, June 7, 2008. A Press Release with more details can be found on the main page of Palladium's website. These are my personal thoughts.

I took the initial news pretty well, but an hour or so later I wept. I was glad two of my other best friends, Kathy and Alex, were at my side.

After the tears, I found myself smiling and even laughing at times, as I retold stories about Erick or thought about the many real world adventures he and I have shared. We were best friends – practically brothers. We inspired each other, pushed each other, and loved each other for nearly three decades. Even now it makes me smile to know that Erick donated his body to science. Of course he did. It’s so like him.

Ultimately, the tears I shed are for myself, because I already miss him so much it hurts. I’m selfish. I want my friend to be around for another 50 years, sending me emails, offering gaming ideas and sharing the laughter. Yup, that’s the selfish me. Ah, but the smiles and laughter, that’s Erick Wujcik. Though gone from this mortal coil, his presence is still deeply felt and making me grin so broadly that it hurts my cheeks. And that’s the way he’d want it.

What else is there to say about Erick Wujcik?

A million things! But don’t worry, I won’t write them all. Not here, not now. You can catch a glimpse of Erick’s life and beautiful spirit by reading the hundreds upon hundreds of accounts from people around the world on the special blog we started back in December, 2007 – erickwujcik.com

As for me, I’ll be fine. You see, I have a network of loving friends all ready to lend an ear or offer a shoulder to lean on. Thanks guys and gals. Most of all, I have the memories of my brilliant, fun, funny, and joyful friend Erick to make me smile. That part of Erick Wujcik remains alive, locked deep inside my heart, forcing up the smiles.

Yep, Erick makes me smile. Right now, I envision Erick tooling around Heaven, bouncing from cloud to cloud to see who might be available to chat with. I can see him hunting down his old pals, Dan La Flesh and Roger Zelazny, and then grabbing Leonardo Da Vinci, Gandhi, Confucius, a few Roman Emperors, some saints, sinners, and Chinese Geomancers, and sitting them down to play test a new game idea. And when they are done, they’ll take a walk and discuss the I Ching, game theory, nanotechnology and time travel. And knowing Erick, he’ll eventually turn the topic around to, “So guys, what can we do about helping out Palladium Books?”

With love and smiles,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and Friend

© Copyright June 8, 2008 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

This makes me so sad. One of the great highlights in my gaming life was being able to play in games run by Erick one year when he visited Chicago. He ran an Amber game and one of his "experimental role playing" scenarios. Erick was always energetic, creative, and found clever ways to keep his players guessing. His diceless RPG system was (to me) one of the greatest innovations the gaming world has ever seen.

Erick will truly be missed. :(
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Zachary The First on June 09, 2008, 01:41:59 AM
We lost a genius.

And to many, a friend and inspiration.

We'll miss you Erick, but bless you for legacy of friendship, games, inspiration, and fun.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Silverlion on June 09, 2008, 02:11:14 AM
May you reach the stars in the hereafter.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Trevelyan on June 09, 2008, 12:25:15 PM
RIP Erick :(
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Jefferson Krogh on June 09, 2008, 12:37:23 PM
Farewell, Erick.  Thanks for giving us so many memories.  Thanks for being so easy to deal with on those few occasions I got to interact with you.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Pete on June 09, 2008, 12:45:30 PM
You're already missed, Erick.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Uncle Twitchy on June 09, 2008, 02:05:47 PM
May he rest in peace, and my sincerest condolences to his family and loved ones.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Abyssal Maw on June 09, 2008, 02:13:22 PM
Vaya Con Dios, Erick.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: JongWK on June 09, 2008, 02:29:00 PM
Why is it always the best ones who leave first? :(

Thank you, Erick, for all the good times I enjoyed with your creations. That's one hell of a game table you will have with Gary Gygax up there.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Blackleaf on June 09, 2008, 02:47:59 PM
Very sad news.  He leaves a wonderful legacy though -- having created games that made so many people happy.

I feel like getting out TMNT and rolling up some crazy Kung-Fu mutant Critter.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Rel Fexive on June 09, 2008, 02:59:35 PM
Good-bye and hello, as always.  Condolences to his loved ones, it is a sad time for us all but for them especially.




I wish Mr Siembieda could have stopped mentioning his company's woes and putting 'TM' against the names of his games in these messages.
That is all.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 09, 2008, 03:23:42 PM
:(
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: RPGPundit on June 09, 2008, 05:04:28 PM
Quote from: Rel Fexive


I wish Mr Siembieda could have stopped mentioning his company's woes and putting 'TM' against the names of his games in these messages.
That is all.


Rel: Kevin has a certain way about him, and you could certainly say that he's probably not expressing things in a very good way when it comes to Erick & Palladium, because the way he's saying things leads some people to feel that he's being exploitative or something.

But I know for a fact from my own interactions with Erick that he was very sincerely concerned about these sort of things. That's the kind of guy he was.

Consider this: Erick had not only given his name and the authorization to make this forum the OFFICIAL Erick Wujcik and Amber DRPG forum, he also agreed to be a moderator here.  Now, when I offered him that job, I assumed that he what he would do with it is basically be on here talking a lot about Amber or his current projects or whatever.  As it turns out, he didn't do too much of that; I certainly wish he'd have had time to do more of that sort of thing.

But you know what he did do? Everytime I came onto this forum, I'd see (with my super Admin-vision) a bunch of spam threads with the marker "Deleted by Erick Wujick". Instead of lording around on here and giving sage advice, as he certainly had EVERY right to do, and no doubt many of us would have loved for him to do; Erick was humbly and modestly deleting spam messages to make sure that his forum didn't have any ugliness to it. He knew that I would be doing that same job, or if not me any of the other mods, and he knew that it was NEVER assumed he'd have to do that kind of work here, but he did it anyways, as though he was just some everyday volunteer mod for this site and not Erick motherfucking Wujcik.

And he kept doing it; right up until the last time he ever logged in here, on May 29th. Yes, about one week before he died, when he was already in hospice care, dying of cancer, Erick Wujcik was logging on, coming to this forum on theRPGsite, and deleting spam messages. Why? Because he cared about this site, and wanted to help out, and he was my friend, and this place and the people in it mattered to him.

That's the kind of guy he was.

So you can have some issue with Kevin Siembieda's choice of words, but don't doubt for a second that he's telling the truth and that what he's expressing is not some kind of wishful thinking on his part; its what Erick was really like, and the way he really cared.

RPGPundit
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Rel Fexive on June 09, 2008, 05:23:37 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit
Rel: Kevin has a certain way about him, and you could certainly say that he's probably not expressing things in a very good way when it comes to Erick & Palladium, because the way he's saying things leads some people to feel that he's being exploitative or something.

But I know for a fact from my own interactions with Erick that he was very sincerely concerned about these sort of things. That's the kind of guy he was.

Consider this: Erick had not only given his name and the authorization to make this forum the OFFICIAL Erick Wujcik and Amber DRPG forum, he also agreed to be a moderator here.  Now, when I offered him that job, I assumed that he what he would do with it is basically be on here talking a lot about Amber or his current projects or whatever.  As it turns out, he didn't do too much of that; I certainly wish he'd have had time to do more of that sort of thing.

But you know what he did do? Everytime I came onto this forum, I'd see (with my super Admin-vision) a bunch of spam threads with the marker "Deleted by Erick Wujick". Instead of lording around on here and giving sage advice, as he certainly had EVERY right to do, and no doubt many of us would have loved for him to do; Erick was humbly and modestly deleting spam messages to make sure that his forum didn't have any ugliness to it. He knew that I would be doing that same job, or if not me any of the other mods, and he knew that it was NEVER assumed he'd have to do that kind of work here, but he did it anyways, as though he was just some everyday volunteer mod for this site and not Erick motherfucking Wujcik.

And he kept doing it; right up until the last time he ever logged in here, on May 29th. Yes, about one week before he died, when he was already in hospice care, dying of cancer, Erick Wujcik was logging on, coming to this forum on theRPGsite, and deleting spam messages. Why? Because he cared about this site, and wanted to help out, and he was my friend, and this place and the people in it mattered to him.

That's the kind of guy he was.

So you can have some issue with Kevin Siembieda's choice of words, but don't doubt for a second that he's telling the truth and that what he's expressing is not some kind of wishful thinking on his part; its what Erick was really like, and the way he really cared.

RPGPundit


I don't doubt Mr Siembieda's sincerity of feeling in the slightest, and I certainly do not question Mr Wujcik's commitment to his friends and humbleness of spirit.  It's just even when posting about the passing of a great friend Mr Siembieda seemed unable to let go of his TM and (c) and (R).

"Never mind, let it go, let it be."

Sorry for the temporary derailment, folks.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Warthur on June 09, 2008, 07:40:44 PM
Quote from: Rel Fexive
I don't doubt Mr Siembieda's sincerity of feeling in the slightest, and I certainly do not question Mr Wujcik's commitment to his friends and humbleness of spirit.  It's just even when posting about the passing of a great friend Mr Siembieda seemed unable to let go of his TM and (c) and (R).
To be honest, I think it's more important that Kevin is going to be trying to make sure Erick's legacy stays in print. If he does that, I think we can forgive him a few TMs and (c)s.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: KrakaJak on June 10, 2008, 02:06:52 AM
I think I may just Pearl Harbor my vampire game (which was supposed to start tmorrow) and suprise my players with a TMNT game :D
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 10, 2008, 03:42:41 AM
Quote from: KrakaJak
I think I may just Pearl Harbor my vampire game (which was supposed to start tmorrow) and suprise my players with a TMNT game :D



Do it, dude. That game rocks!
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Croaker on June 10, 2008, 07:31:37 AM
:( :( :(

And thank you for your anecdot, pundit, it is very touching.

Although this was only a matter of time, this is very sad news indeed, I couldn't help but hope.

Rest in peace, erick
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Norbert G. Matausch on June 11, 2008, 01:08:54 AM
Erick, you were a really nice guy. Thanks for keeping up the (albeit sparse) contact with me all those years. You introduced me to diceless roleplaying, and this is what I'm still doing.

Thanks, man. And have fun, wherever you are.

Aloha
Norbert
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Seanchai on June 12, 2008, 12:52:48 PM
Fair travels.

Seanchai
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: sufirjp on June 13, 2008, 12:14:09 PM
Erick Wujcik was one of the true greats. His vivid imagination and enthusiasm for the games he was designing jumped off the page at you. He had a tremendous impact on me as a young GM, and the lessons I learned (especially) from Amber Diceless continue to shape how I run games today. Both his work for Palladium (especially the absolutely beautiful Mystic China) and Phage Press are some of my most prized gaming artifacts. I can say with absolute sincerity that, although my personal relationship with him was practically nonexistant (composed of only a handful of e-mails), that I will never forget Mr. Wujcik and it absolutely breaks my heart to hear of his passing.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Syzygy on June 16, 2008, 02:25:12 AM
End of an era for me.

Amber and the associated RPG has taken up a huge portion of my thoughts, time, energy, and soul.

I've got that bitter, hollow nostalgia feeling, the one you get when confronted by something that makes you think you've gone past your own time.

Goodbye, Erick.  You will be missed.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on June 19, 2008, 01:17:48 AM
I came across a long podcast interview with Eric. Despite the atrocious sound quality it's very interesting and engaging.

Part 1 (early years in Detroit, brief but brilliant game mastering advice)

http://www.echoesfromtherifts.com/?p=12

Part 2 (Amber and China, thoughts on game design)

http://www.echoesfromtherifts.com/?p=16
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Imperator on June 19, 2008, 06:57:13 AM
Rest in peace, Eric.
Title: Quite possibly the best of us all.
Post by: gabriel_ss4u on July 15, 2008, 04:17:54 AM
Sadness permeates the soul
He will be missed, but preceeds us all to that great gaming-room in the sky.
Prayers and blessings to his family & close ones.
I wish I were counted among them, sad I never met him, yet he still inspires me.
Steve
aka
Gabriel
Title: In memory
Post by: Evermasterx on March 09, 2010, 05:28:14 AM
So many live, and deserve to die
So many die, and deserve to live
This is hard to understand
But one thing we can do
Never forget
Until someone is playing Amber
Until someone is reading the Books
Nor Roger, neither Erick are really dead.
Title: Il 7 di giugno
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2011, 01:26:28 AM
Una rosa d'argento
Sulla tua tomba depongo.
Addio, Maestro.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2012, 03:13:31 AM
In memoriam.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2013, 03:23:20 AM
Il tuo ricordo è ancora vivo.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2014, 03:48:21 AM
The torch is still burning. Twice.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: RPGPundit on June 09, 2014, 02:48:04 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;756211
The torch is still burning. Twice.


It sure is, and let's hope it keeps going.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2015, 05:39:01 AM
Long live Amber!
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: finarvyn on June 06, 2016, 11:52:12 AM
Hard to believe that in two days it will mark 8 years since Erick's passing.

I think back to all of the ADRP stuff that he contributed, and all of the ideas that he had planned to develop ... well, it's still so sad.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2016, 04:11:23 AM
Great man, great designer, great GM.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2017, 04:06:55 PM
One more year.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: crkrueger on June 07, 2017, 06:28:24 PM
I'll read Ninjas and Superspies and Mystic China again, two of my favorite RPG books.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: White Dragon on May 10, 2018, 04:00:25 PM
I remember many years ago at a small convention in Windsor, Ontario, Erick had done a seminar on how to roleplay a character well. This was my first introduction to him, and this was long before the Amber Diceless roleplaying system was released.
I had played in a couple of game run by him-Entropy (unpublished SF RPG), and Amber. This was before the game was published as well.
I have tried to emulate him, but feel that I fall short of this standard.
One thing that I do have is a copy of the Amber RPG, signed by BOTH Erick Wujick and Roger Zelazny. Roger was surprised when I showed up with this at a World Fantasy Convention.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: finarvyn on May 11, 2018, 06:32:20 AM
Quote from: White Dragon;1038473
...long before the Amber Diceless roleplaying system was released.

I had played in a couple of game run by him-Entropy (unpublished SF RPG), and Amber. This was before the game was published as well...
I got to play in a couple of Erick's unpublished "experimental" games and they were a blast, but I didn't discover the Amber game until after its publication.

Can you share some insights about the pre-publication Sorcery system? I've talked with several of the original playtesters and they all remember that Sorcery was different but none of them can seem to remember enough give me specifics or saved the early docs they got from Erick. :(
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: White Dragon on May 12, 2018, 08:26:03 AM
Quote from: finarvyn;1038545
I got to play in a couple of Erick's unpublished "experimental" games and they were a blast, but I didn't discover the Amber game until after its publication.

Can you share some insights about the pre-publication Sorcery system? I've talked with several of the original playtesters and they all remember that Sorcery was different but none of them can seem to remember enough give me specifics or saved the early docs they got from Erick. :(

One adventure that I remember playing with Erick was one called Ghost Ship. This was science fiction based, and we played characters exploring a derelict space ship. It was not diceless-but very limited use of dice. All of the players were good roleplayers, and we had a 100% survival rate. If you remember what Erick was like as a game master, you had to be good to survive in his games.
He did have a saying that he would only let players die for only two reasons-character action, or combat. But his scenarios were so difficult that surviving surviving them was very difficult.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: Evermasterx on June 07, 2018, 04:23:10 AM
It was today.
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: finarvyn on June 07, 2018, 08:50:31 AM
Quote from: Evermasterx;1042715
It was today.
Yeah, a whole decade now. Really sucks. :(

I know that we have LoO and LoGaS, but it's also sad that in ten years the DBD crew has been able to do nothing with the "real" ADRP game other than sell a few PDFs. :(
Title: Erick Wujcik passed
Post by: RPGPundit on June 10, 2018, 11:37:02 PM
Yes. But, 10 years after Erick's passing, we're starting a brand-new campaign of Lords of Olympus. The beat goes on...