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Topic: RIP the First DM
Subject: RIP the First DM
>
>
> MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy
> game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the
> role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his
> home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.
>
>
> He had been suffering from health problems for
> several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said
> his wife, Gail Gygax.
>
> Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons
> in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical
> creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice
> became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and
> eventually was turned into video games, books and
> movies.
>
> Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion
> of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the
> family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles
> southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his
> declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons
> & Dragons as recently as January, she said.
>
> "It really meant a lot to him to hear from people
> from over the years about how he helped them become
> a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them,"
> Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
>
> Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional
> characters and carry out their adventures with the
> help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek
> pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and
> later inspired a whole genre of computer games
> that's still growing in popularity.
>
> Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and
> moved to Lake Geneva at the age of 8. Gygax's
> father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the
> Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to
> his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax
> said.
>
> Gygax dropped out of high school but took
> anthropology classes at the University of Chicago
> for a while, she said. He was working as an
> insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began
> playing war-themed board games.
>
> But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more
> fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left
> the insurance business and became a shoe repairman,
> she said.
>
> Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of
> fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of
> adventure novels.
>
> Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his
> weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder
> on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The
> beauty of the game is that it's never quite the
> same, he said.
>
> Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife,
> Gygax is survived by six children
>
Posted on 2008-03-06 at 01:59:17.
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