D&D master Gary Gygax was a nerd's nerd

SFGate ^ | 3/6/08 | Peter Hartlaub

[Teflonic]

Set both of your 20-sided die to 0-0, raise the Monster Manual to half-staff and spend your 14th level ranger's next several turns hoisting a few pints of ale - even if that does mean losing some hit points along the way.

If none of that makes any sense, then you probably didn't take much notice when Gary Gygax died earlier this week. But for those of us who spent our Friday nights huddled around a hexagonal map scattered with lead figurines of dwarves and owlbears, instead of the spiked punch bowl at the junior prom, this is a very mournful week. Our nerd king has fallen.

Gygax was the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and the godfather of role-playing games. The legacy of D&D is most apparent today in its huge impact on video games and social networking. (Don't fool yourself. Dungeons & Dragons and Second Life are a lot more similar than you think.) For many of us who played, however, the name Gygax conjures up the past: a short but meaningful era when we lost ourselves for hours at a time in a fantasy world created with pen and paper and lots of imagination.

[KC_Conspirator]

I caught that as well. WTF?

[Teflonic]

You guys are too funny, I wasted many nights worshiping satin, uh... playing D&D!!!

Old school media manipulation still holds true even for freepers who should know better by now. So the game had devils and demons and evil beasties...what else should a noble holy paladin whet his sword against?

[agere_contra]

The writer doesn’t come across as a player. He’s writing about our hobby as if we were Gorillas in the Mist.

Anyway: God Bless you Gary! You gave a lot of people the key to their own imaginations.

[AD from SpringBay]

And how many Rangers named Strider did you have?

[Shryke]

I noticed -- but that still didn't make any sense. Now, percentile dice can be set to 00, but that usually indicates 100, not 0.

Not true. The original 20 sided dice had 0-9 on them, twice. The 10-20 values were represented by a line under the numeral. Thus, a ten was a "0", and a twenty was a "0"

[Slings and Arrows]

He failed his saving throw vs. Death.

At least he got a saving throw.

[Tzimisce]

RIP Gary Gygax :(

[Hyzenthlay]

The biggest clue was that the comment about Second Life - every decent nerd knows that Second Life is based off the Metaverse in Neal Stephensons's Snow Crash, and that WoW is far more like D&D than most other even relatively well-known MMORPG's. Incidentally, in my history class the other day we were discussing rules for medieval clergy, and my TA pointed out how the ban on priests or bishops carrying bladed weapons (made official by the Fourth Latern Council IIRC) carried over to games like D&D where the 'cleric' class isn't able to use bladed weapons.

[AzSteven]

Not true. The original 20 sided dice had 0-9 on them, twice. The 10-20 values were represented by a line under the numeral. Thus, a ten was a "0", and a twenty was a "0"

And the plastic used in those early dice included in some of the older D&D editions was SO poor. I still have a d12 and d20 from a set I bought in 1977, and they are both worn to nearly perfect spheres - they wobble around forever before they finally settle on a number.

[Dominnae]

Gosh. I still have my blue softcover first edition “Beginner Dungeons & Dragons” that I got my junior year in high school.

And - by the way.. it was a LIGHTNING BOLT!

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ04mfAY2BU

[discostu]

I think the Second Life comparison was more on the metalevel, people creating imaginary versions of themselves to live through vicariously, some while maintaining a healthy real world life some not so much. In that regard the fantasy aspects of D&D and WoW and the “almost real” aspects of Second Life are just trappings, the core concept is the same.

[steve-b]

Let us observe a moment of silence (10’ radius).

[theanonymouslurker]

This might be worth your Xer list...

[rednesss]

That YouTube video achieved a level of Nerdness that I have never encountered before. I’m still speechless. LIGHTNING BOLT.

[TheThirdRuffian]

No, it was a Stoned Golum (yeah, stoned)

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mHl6QkC9__8&NR=1

[Tanniker Smith]

Most of my dice date back to the early 80s ... until I got interested in "Button Men" and suddenly didn't have enough dice!

Then I discovered that I could use my "Teachers Choice" money to buy a Pound o' Dice bag, which was cool (I've even given some of those away to students who liked the pretty colors) and other unusual looking dice. (I do teach probability, so it was connected to the curriculum. And I can take them home over the summer ....)

Too bad I can't get my kids into this stuff. It's computer games for them and that's it.

[Sudetenland]

Nerdness Nirvana! Looks like a bunch of those SCA (Society for Creative Anacronism) fruitcakes.

[Lightfinger]

Some of you may insult, or be amused by your comments. Gary would have laughed at the comedic ones himself.

Consider, mind you, with his political views he’d be very close to many of you who post on Free Republic. With some of the stories he used to send out over his various mailing lists, chances are he was a closet FReeper.

His dislike of Hillary Clinton rivaled that of some of those posting here. He supported the troops, but he also was a strong advocate of libertarian ideals of freedom of speech.

As pointed out, Gary was happily married at the time of his passing, and had six children between this marriage and his previous one.

Losing both William F Buckley and E Gary Gygax in a span of less than a week is really disheartening to someone who listened to both.

[Excellence]

I credit him with getting my son to write between the lines and read. I will never forget the day my 16 year old son dressed in a cape, belt, head sash, sword, and glove, and then proceeded to explain all the powers. Oh, to have had a video camera. Usually imaginations are pretty well buried under the load of being “cool” at 16.

[Free Vulcan]

Very true. I don’t think the computer world would be what it is today had the D&D legacy not occured.