Its OK, Gary Sent Us

Tribute to the creator of DnD and the RPG hobby

I won’t hide the fact that the passing of Gary Gygax influenced the choice of game world. He was after all one of the founding fathers and, for a long time, its premier spokesperson. In a sense Gary led all of us to the world of gaming. It seemed fitting I used his world this time.

I have fond memories of getting my 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books. The sense of wonder. The sense of adventure. The sense of confusion at the words. Hey, it wasn’t a perfect system. And it seems Gary was equally quirky. I reread his “Up on a Soapbox” columns from Dragon Magazine. Some of those stories make me shake my head. Melf turning dual classed midway in an adventure. The adversarial GM mindset. Heck, he admitted he used house rules. [And I forced myself to use “weapon speed”!]

But looking back, he understood then what it was all about. Sometimes you just have to cut and paste, hack and sew at the rules and traditions. It’s because there are no standard players. The individual quirks and passions will always come out.

So here’s to you Mr. G. Thanks for showing the way.