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Dungeons & Dragons co-founder dies at 69 It’s a sad day in floating castles, cursed forests and Dorito-flecked basements everywhere. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, died this morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69. Together with Dave Arneson and a few others in the early 1970s, Gygax developed an open-ended game that sparked the role-playing phenomenon. The original marketing for D&D left something to be desired, with its bland description of “Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures.” But D&D still exploded in popularity and began sparking copycats within a year of its 1974 release. As you can see from this commercial from the 1980s, D&D was optimistically marketed as a game for the whole family, but it settled into a niche hobby of a certain demographic. Still, there are countless games, movies and books that owe their existence to Gygax. So let us bid him a fond farewell and roll one last 20-sided die in hopes of resurrecting him with only a -1 Constitution penalty. —Posted by David Griner

March 4, 2008 in Griner | Permalink

Comments

I'm as quick to jump on the jokes. But the guy was pretty much a genius. I played D&AD until I was about 12 - when I learned of the stigma. It really required you to use your imagination.

Posted by: Tom | Mar 5, 2008 12:02:32 AM

Guess he failed his saving role.

Posted by: CJ | Mar 5, 2008 9:11:29 AM

Perhaps you mean "roll".

Posted by: | Mar 5, 2008 3:35:34 PM

thats a bit sad. he, along with the other co-creators, made something thats sparked many of the trends someone like me enjoys today on a video game and still with some guys on basements.

does anyone know what level he was when he died?

Posted by: etantao | Mar 5, 2008 8:02:10 PM

This is a sad day. I played it too as a kid -- though it I did more character creation, dugeon building and daydreaming that real playing. I wonder what plane of the afterlife he made it to. I raise my +5 Vorpal Sword in his honor...

On a lighter note, check out that commerical. Both Alan Ruck and Jamie Gertz were in it, talk about before they were stars, heheh.

Posted by: Kort | Mar 6, 2008 8:40:58 AM

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