Gary Gygax Dies

It's all over the net now.  E. Gary Gygax is dead.

Puns abound.  "Beyond the reach of healing spells", "failed his saving roll against death", "quick! get the cleric!" and undoubtedly others.

I worked at TSR for about a year in 1980-1981.  I'm sure I have a different idea about TSR's management (Gygax and the Blumes) of that time than most paper gamers do.  I'm sure I have a different idea about Gary's level of genius as well.

The business conflicts of TSR's early management are pretty well recounted various places on the 'Net.  I was having lunch with Paul Reiche, an old friend and fellow TSR alum, last week, and I mentioned that I thought TSR had a long-term negative effect on me.  It blurred the lines between business and personal (see both The Godfather and You've Got Mail for further discussion) in a big way.  It took years for me to properly separate the two again -- probably not an unusual event for someone who works at something they love deeply.  I know now that part of the reason that happened was the inexperience of the company's upper management, who found themselves riding a big money wave they were completely untrained and unprepared for.

Regardless of his legend versus his actual achievements, the controversy of authorship of D&D, his missteps and mistakes, his humanity cannot be denied.  His effect upon the world was great, and I believe largely for the good.  Chainmail and its descendants D&D, AD&D, and almost every other paper RPG sprang from Gary and his friends and partners, and every creative spark from RPG players owes him something.  It's entirely possible that we wouldn't have the computer games we have today if it hadn't been for Gygax and friends.

R.I.P.

Comments

[Jon]

Thanks for your personal memories, Evan. I'm sure the press is trumpeting Gygax as "the father of D&D" ignoring Arneson. However it all worked out, I am grateful for the end result (as I go play a console-based RPG).

I had forgotten Chainmail -- never played it but the guy who got us into D&D had a copy.

[dave c.]

Wow... I'm behind the times on this, but nice to see a personal perspective.

I saw him speak once and failed to bring my player's manual, so instead I have an autographed pieced of looseleaf paper stuck in the front of said player's manual.

Hard to believe that the D&D franchise was consumed by the company that made Magic the Gathering. It's like... uh... Michael Jackson selling all the Beatles songs to Michael Bolton.