http://www.wbay.com/global/story.asp?s=7963395
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax
Gary Gygax has passed on today. A man with a simple desire to make people happy that changed the world in ways that will never be fully appreciated. A man that made it “okay” for grownups to play pretend.

Roleplay In Peace.

Even though he had nothing to do with the newer editions of D&D, I think it is fair to credit him as one of the most important people in the role playing world.

Here's a lovely tribute.

He failed his fortitude save… :(

Well at least he died doing what he loved.

Some people were harsh and said his ego was too large, but I like to stop for a moment and consider what the entire roleplaying world would have been like without him. Boring and most likely nonexistent. D&D was the first, and everything from Final Fantasy, to the Elder Scrolls, owe a lot to Gary Gygax.

I never really played D&D, but like Steely said, he played a big role in…roleplaying…

I mades a funny!

good night sweet prince ;-;
As a DnD player myself, I'm sad to hear about this.
but at least he seemed happy in the end.

I had no idea who Gary Gygax was until I read this… it is an awfully heavy loss, isn't it? :( And I totally agree with what Steely says. The world would be a totally different place without Role-Playing…

At least he died at age 69. lol! (sorry, my mind was in the gutter)

69 is like that. ;)

Ah, without Robert E Howard and Tolkien Gygax would never have done the RPG thing, hahaha.

I'm not a D all forever redefined and refined along with new ones created.

For much of pop-culture D&D became the new primary source for all fantasy lore. That's a pretty big thing.

If they're the 1st to come up with the concept of characters attacking each other's health points by rolling dice modified by attack/defense ratings, then they certainly influenced my life.

I never cared for D&D, but after learning the basic concepts behind the battle system, I started designing and having fun with my own rudimentary ones. Many hours of fun with childhood friends.

mlai
I never cared for D&D, but after learning the basic concepts behind the battle system, I started designing and having fun with my own rudimentary ones. Many hours of fun with childhood friends.

Sweet. I'm not the only one who did this. :)

Well now he's rolling D10s in that big dungeon in the sky. Farewell, brave knight. I'm sure you saved many a world in your time.

I was telling my World of Warcraft guildmates about Gygax's passing and they said, “…Who's Gary Gygax?”

…Blasphemy. Pure blasphemy. Even Blizzard posted news about it on their official website, so the kiddies could know who he was.

Were you talking to the Alliance or the Horde? Everyone knows that all the brains and wisdom are in the Horde. Alliance is full of 12 year olds.

OotS had a pretty nice tribute to him.

He's one of my biggest heroes. In respect for his passing, my group's pulling out an old 1E adventure for our next session.

mlai
Were you talking to the Alliance or the Horde? Everyone knows that all the brains and wisdom are in the Horde. Alliance is full of 12 year olds.

Unfortunately I was talking to Horde guildies. My server (Mok'Nathal) is also full of 12 year olds, no matter what side you're on. Really sucks.

Cool comic from Penny Arcade today:

-6 Happiness

Always sad when a geek dies.

I thought this was also an appropriate tribute…

GU Comics

:)

He's gaming in heaven now…

comic by: Dueling Analogs
he will be missed

This just sickens me….of course they have to release his new book at the most inconvenient time. Bunch of money-sucking f**kers.

Lonnehart
I thought this was also an appropriate tribute…

GU Comics

:)

Aww… this one was actually pretty moving.

xkcd has a tribute as well… nicely done.

Fenn
xkcd has a tribute as well… nicely done.

I don't normally care for xkcd, but that one made me laugh. Simply wonderful.

Truly, we mourn the loss of the first and greatest among us. Where would our bespeckled, pock-faced, and overweight brethren be without the solace of Dungeons & Dragons? I know not and I fear what the answer might have been. So, light a candle, my friends, and roll your d20s for the man without whom our lives would have been that much bleaker.

I posted this to my blog on March 5:

For those of you who didn't know, possibly the greatest creative mind of our time passed away yesterday, March 4. This is a man responsible for an entire generation of nerds spending time in their parents basement instead of going out to meet girls. People who consumed mass quanitities of pizza and Mountain Dew and stayed up until 5am or later throwing dice and arguing about character actions based on allignment (myself proudly included among them). Imagine a time pre-internet where the only thing to do was table-top gaming.

This man inspired an entire genre of gaming, and set the standard for countless spin-offs and entire series of multi-media (we're talking billions and billions of dollars in industry) that all spawned from a franchise that he no doubt came up with while, well…sitting in his parents basement. His passing marks a sad day indeed, especially for those among us who consider themselves a member of the table-top gaming community (and fans of RPG games in general). Without the ideas that spewed forth from this mans mind, our world would be a very different place today.

Matt Forbeck has a nice write up of the memorial service.

Seems many people there started referring to it as Gary Con 1… which I think is very cool.

Steve Colbert and his tribute to Gygax

No… :( (And I've never even played D talk about influential!)

How come I haven't seen anyone mention this elsewhere?
Uhh… and just who is he?