1938 – 2008

Last week a light went out in the world of gaming. Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons died on March 4th, on a Tuesday. He was 69. Many gaming tables will be silencing their dice for a moment and raising a tankard of ale in honour of the man who gave us the first RPG. Gamers everywhere should take a moment to appreciate the impact Gygax has had on your life. Even if you never played D&D, if you play video games, Gygax made a difference.

In 1974 the first edition of D&D was published and the world of gaming changed forever. Gygax and co-creator Dave Arneson brought elements from established wargaming and added fantasy elements such as elves, orcs and giants. Players were lead by a Dungeon Master and controlled individual characters as opposed to armies. Thinking it would only appeal to a niche market, the first print run was very small, but D&D was pretty much an instant hit, spreading from wargaming tables to any large flat surface you can think of.

Unlike most roleplayers, I didn't come across table top gaming as a teenager. In fact, I've only been dabbling in the world of dice and pencil and paper for two or three years. However, the influence of Gygax had touched me long before, when I opened the pages of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, by Steve Jackson and even later when I played Final Fantasy VII and the like.

Without the vision of Gygax, many of the video games we know and love today would not have been made. D&D may be in the realm of the geeks and weirdoes, but take a look at the games you play and if they include, Mass Effect, World of Warcraft (in fact any MMORPG you may care to mention), Fable, Final Fantasy or even Metal Gear Solid and GTA, you're playing something that uses narrative and character as the backbone of the game. And that my friends, is the lasting legacy of D&D.

Face it, you owe Gary Gygax a moment to sit and think, "what if he hadn't given us this great gift? Without Gygax, who would have inspired the countless people, in this industry alone, that count D&D as a major influence?"

I really don't think I can say it better than Schlock Mercenary did in their tribute to the original Dungeon Master:

"As for me" I believe that Gary has gone to a place where his imagination can be writ large, and where mere dice and tables can't describe the outcomes. That God who gave us all life, and who invites us to choose wisely as we write the stories of our lives must certainly smile when a universe-builder like Gary finally comes home. He's probably got pencils and paper spread out already."

You can read the whole piece here.