Posted on 03/06/2008 1:06:02 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I caught that as well. WTF?
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?
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.
And how many Rangers named Strider did you have?
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"
RIP Gary Gygax :(
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.
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
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.
Let us observe a moment of silence (10’ radius).
This might be worth your Xer list...
That YouTube video achieved a level of Nerdness that I have never encountered before. I’m still speechless. LIGHTNING BOLT.
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.
Nerdness Nirvana! Looks like a bunch of those SCA (Society for Creative Anacronism) fruitcakes.
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.
Very true. I don’t think the computer world would be what it is today had the D&D legacy not occured.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.