RIP

[ericcoleman]

Gary Gygax

I was in college and there was this guy who ... well, it was two egos clashing and we didn't get along. At a certain point he asked me along to play this game he and some other folks I knew played on saturday nights. I said I would come and watch, but wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in this. About an hour into the evening I couldn't stand just watching anymore and rolled up a couple of characters, the names of which have followed me ever since, Kriel and Mox The Fool. Both of these have been NPCs in most every game I have ever run, and that is a lot of games.

The guy who got me into the game, Matt Stover, became, and is still a good friend of mine. I don't have a group to play with anymore, a problem with being in Ames, but that game got me into the game store biz (a few times in my life) and into fandom and certainly made my grades MUCH lower in college than they would have been.

All because of AD&D.

Gary was, by most reports, not a terribly nice person, as an example, TSR's treatment of Merle Rasmussen was shameless to say the least. There is some doubt as to whether Gary really wrote much of the original game, although I think his later games perhaps prove that wrong.

Still, he was the one who put it forward for the rest of us to play.

Thank you Gary, RIP

Comments

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

An aside: You know Matt Stover!? Pass on to him that he has a couple of Michigan fans. Anne, who adores Star Wars and loathes the prequel trilogy of films, made me read Mr. Stover's novelization of Ep.3 because it kicked so much ass. I did, and it did.

[ericcoleman]

Did that already for you ... bout a year ago.

I still need to read that, haven't gotten around to it yet.

Still, think ... Matt is probably directly responsible for your meeting me, so you have a lot to blame him for ...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

...

... I thought I had something going on in the back of my head regarding that. Remind me how he's directly responsible.

[ericcoleman]

If he hadn't gotten me into gaming, I would never have gotten jobs at the stores that led me into fandom, which is why you know me.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

In that case, yeah. A double dose o' thanks for Mr. Stover.

[ericcoleman]

Now if I had only gotten into fandom earlier, when all the women I have crushes on were single ...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Bloody. Effing. Word.

you know the same people I do?!?

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

I posted about RPGs on my own LJ, and got a response similar to this, along the lines of "You know the same people I do?!?". I'd imagine we'll be seeing a lot of that now, as people explain how they got into gaming and fandom.

[ka-klick.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if you'd seen and had resolved to post my own post about it (may still). Most of my D&D memories actually revolve around Ames, since the group I gamed with most was based there (at ISU) but that was many moons ago... My first blush at D&D was the little pamphlet edition that some friends of mine had. Good times...