On the death of Gary Gygax

Like most geeks, I grew up awkward.
I loved chess and programming computers. I had my own TRS-80 Model 4 (That was one of the first home computers.) I made electronic kits.
I was the ultimate underachiever.

Somewhere around 1982, a friend of mine named Tom introduced me to a game called Dungeons and Dragons that changed my life forever. It was pretty complicated. It involved dice, but it didn't have a fixed playing board. You made up your own character and they existed in this other world.

I vaguely remember asking Tom what my character could / should do, and he said "whatever you want to do".
Anything?
A game where your character could do anything?

Dungeons and Dragons was the ultimate game that ever existed. It was only limited by the imagination of the "Dungeon Master" and ourselves. And if the Dungeon Master was feeling uninspired, he could buy an adventure (called a module) and let you explore that world.

It was a game that Gary Gygax had invented.

For the rest of my high school life, I spent way more time creating campaigns (worlds) for my friends to go through then I did on any of my homework. I created short programs on my computer to help me do the grunt work of creating monsters. At lunch, in the Cafeteria, my friends and I would play short adventures on graph paper, until our high school outlawed D&D. (They later overturned that ruling.)

Because of D&D, I knew at least five words on my ACT test that I wouldn't ordinarily know. I knew how to add and subtract extraordinarily quickly, because it was part of the game. I became adept at performing multiple characters, because as the DM (Dungeon Master) I was responsible for helping create the world that my friends entered.
I also got horrible grades because I was spending so much time on D&D.

For a number of years, my friends attended Gen Con (a convention of game players up in Wisconsin.) When I could afford it, I would go with. That became our pilgrimage. A "guys weekend" for us guys who were more geeky then the rest.

I learned of Gary Gygax's death through those friends. Although we no longer play Dungeons and Dragons on weekends, we still get together to play video games on occasion. That's been our social gathering for about 20 years.
Those weekends formed some of the most fun I've ever had with friends. We ate bad food, made stupid jokes, and argued about stupid things. But in the end, it was just a good time.
I owe Gary a thank you for a really good time.
...For the idea that I could go in any direction that I wanted on a map of a place that didn't exist.
...For the concept of a world where the good guys usually won, at least if they used their brains.
...For the notion of creating an adventure for my friends, and telling a story that they could take part in.
...For giving a creative outlet to a very quiet guy, who wasn't always the best at social interactions.
...For making me take pride in owning a set of "crystal" plastic D&D dice.

Its amazing to me how many of "us" know who Gary Gygax is.
I doubt that the World Of Warcraft would exist without him, or the game Hexen or Heritic which came before WOW. In my opinion, Gary started it all.

You can read the moving tributes of other fans here.
My friends are making the pilgrimage to Wisconsin for his funeral over the weekend. Once again, I can't go make the trip up North because of previous commitments. Which I suppose is fitting, but still bittersweet.

Gary, I had a hell of a lot of fun because of you and your game.
Thank you.