Longwing (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} longwing) wrote,@ 2008-03-06 12:46:00 |
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Gary Gygax passed away.
This being the internet, you've doubtless already heard. I'll not trouble you with his personal history, or with explaining why he's so important to gaming others have said it better. Nor will I try to explain how I feel about it that's been done too.
In 6th grade, I visited my local library and sheepishly asked the man at the counter if they had any books on D&D. The librarian helpfully informed me that they didn't. They used to, "this stuff was huge about ten years ago", but most of those books had been lost, or sold, or to damaged to circulate. I was crestfallen, and the librarian helpfully ran an interlibrary search (This was in an era before you could check your state library circulation online). He turned up one book: Role-Playing Mastery, by Gary Gygax. He put it on order, and I marched back two weeks later to pick it up.
I read it, in the library, before even checking it out. Then I checked it out, and read it again. I reordered that book two times, having it transferred to my branch from the main branch at Wheaton Regional for each rereading. I got into an argument with a librarian at Wheaton, because they refused to permanently switch it to my local library's collection. "How many times in the past five years has that book even been touched!" It was the first time I'd called a stranger an idiot.
The irony is, I didn't believe he co-created D&D. When I read that claim in Role-Playing Mastery, I went back and checked my copy of the 2nd edition PHB, and noticed, quite smugly, that his name wasn't on the list. This fit with my understanding of Gygax; The author of Role-Playing Mastery was smart, funny, and insightful, but he was also very very full of himself. I just figured he made up that part about D&D to impress people.
Cut me some slack, I was 11.
Despite the flaws I saw in the book, despite the complaints I had about some of his thoughts and observations, it was Gygax that taught me the importance of character motivation. It was Gygax who convinced me that Worldbuilding was about details. He taught me that minor characters could make or break a story, and he taught me that not everyone needed to be an epic hero. I didn't learn roleplaying from him, I learned storytelling. It was an earthshattering paradigm shift for an 11 year old. I still owe him for that.
Gary Gygax is dead. Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master.
This being the internet, you've doubtless already heard. I'll not trouble you with his personal history, or with explaining why he's so important to gaming others have said it better. Nor will I try to explain how I feel about it that's been done too.
In 6th grade, I visited my local library and sheepishly asked the man at the counter if they had any books on D&D. The librarian helpfully informed me that they didn't. They used to, "this stuff was huge about ten years ago", but most of those books had been lost, or sold, or to damaged to circulate. I was crestfallen, and the librarian helpfully ran an interlibrary search (This was in an era before you could check your state library circulation online). He turned up one book: Role-Playing Mastery, by Gary Gygax. He put it on order, and I marched back two weeks later to pick it up.
I read it, in the library, before even checking it out. Then I checked it out, and read it again. I reordered that book two times, having it transferred to my branch from the main branch at Wheaton Regional for each rereading. I got into an argument with a librarian at Wheaton, because they refused to permanently switch it to my local library's collection. "How many times in the past five years has that book even been touched!" It was the first time I'd called a stranger an idiot.
The irony is, I didn't believe he co-created D&D. When I read that claim in Role-Playing Mastery, I went back and checked my copy of the 2nd edition PHB, and noticed, quite smugly, that his name wasn't on the list. This fit with my understanding of Gygax; The author of Role-Playing Mastery was smart, funny, and insightful, but he was also very very full of himself. I just figured he made up that part about D&D to impress people.
Cut me some slack, I was 11.
Despite the flaws I saw in the book, despite the complaints I had about some of his thoughts and observations, it was Gygax that taught me the importance of character motivation. It was Gygax who convinced me that Worldbuilding was about details. He taught me that minor characters could make or break a story, and he taught me that not everyone needed to be an epic hero. I didn't learn roleplaying from him, I learned storytelling. It was an earthshattering paradigm shift for an 11 year old. I still owe him for that.
Gary Gygax is dead. Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master.
