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Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69
By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 4, 3:39 PM ET
MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.
He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.
Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.
Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.
Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and moved to Lake Geneva at the age of 8. Gygax's father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax said.
Gygax dropped out of high school but took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago for a while, she said. He was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began playing war-themed board games.
But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman, she said.
Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.
Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The beauty of the game is that it's never quite the same, he said.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.
Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax dies
Agence France-Presse
CHICAGO - Gary Gygax, co-creator of the iconic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game and considered the father of modern role-playing gaming, died in his home Tuesday, his wife said.
Gygax had been suffering from a number of health problems including an incurable heart aneurism, Gail Gygax said. He was 69.
First published in 1974, the Dungeons & Dragons game, in which players create magical and heroic characters and guide them through a series of adventures, soon became a cultural phenomenon.
There was no game board in this interactive, imaginative adventure: just paper, pen, the dungeon master's rule book and a set of multisided dice.
D&D spawned a booming industry and has inspired a generation of writers, video game designers and filmmakers.
Gygax's cult hero status among self-proclaimed geeks is so intense that one fan even named a strain of bacteria after him.
But he faced intense criticism in the 1980s when the game became a target for cultural conservatives who blamed it for causing teen suicides, murder and devil worship.
"That really pushed the sales up," Gygax joked in an interview with GameSpy.
"What bothered me is that I was getting death threats, telephone calls, and letters. I was a little nervous. I had a bodyguard for a while.
"I'm glad that most people have been able to separate the fantasy of the game from the reality of real life -- games have nothing to do with real life. There are no real dragons, there's no real magic, no real magic swords, and certainly no real treasure... or I would have retired at home by now."
The popularity of Dungeons and Dragons faded in the 1990s as the video games boom began, but Gygax's influence in the gaming world continued through his columns and the more than 80 games, game products, and books he created.
A voracious reader with an unfettered imagination, Gygax worked intensely until his health deteriorated in 2004.
"He would be in a daze," Gail Gygax said. "Especially when he was creating a new world. One time he was painting a globe for two weeks."
She said that while he used computers to help speed up the designs for his games and the writing of his books, he never really got interested in video games.
"He liked the group environment where you were with people," she said.
"He played all kinds of games ... we would have a game of cribbage on our front porch every night in the summer."
Roleplaying Game Credits:
Living the Lejend (Lejendary Adventure) (2006)
Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy (d20 System (generic) wink (2003)
Gary Gygax's Necropolis (d20 System (generic) wink (2002)
Slayer's Guide to Dragons, The (Slayer's Guides) (2002)
Slayer's Guide to Undead, The (Slayer's Guides) (2002)
Relics and Rituals (Scarred Lands) (2001)
Beasts of Lejend (Lejendary Adventure) (2000)
Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1999) TSR, Inc.
Enclave (Lejendary Adventure) (1999)
Lejendary Rules for All Players, The (Lejendary Adventure) (1999)
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands (Greyhawk) (1999) TSR, Inc.
A Challenge of Arm's (Generic Fantasy) (1996)
Mythus (Dangerous Journeys) (1992)
Necropolis (Dangerous Journeys) (1992)
Realms of Horror (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1987) TSR, Inc.
Queen of the Spiders (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1986) TSR, Inc.
Isle of the Ape (Greyhawk) (1985) TSR, Inc.
Oriental Adventures (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1985) TSR, Inc.
Temple of Elemental Evil, The (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1985) TSR, Inc.
Unearthed Arcana (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1985) TSR, Inc.
Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (Greyhawk) (1984) TSR, Inc.
Dungeonland (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1983) TSR, Inc.
Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, The (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1983) TSR, Inc.
Monster Manual II (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1983) TSR, Inc.
World of Greyhawk (1983) TSR, Inc.
Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, The (Greyhawk) (1982) TSR, Inc.
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, The (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1982) TSR, Inc.
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, The (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1982) TSR, Inc.
Against the Giants (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1981) TSR, Inc.
Descent into the Depths of the Earth (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1981) TSR, Inc.
Fiend Folio (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1981) TSR, Inc.
Keep on the Borderlands, The (Dungeons & Dragons (classic)) (1981) TSR, Inc.
Legion of Gold (Gamma World) (1981) TSR, Inc.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1980) TSR, Inc.
Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1980) TSR, Inc.
World of Greyhawk, The (1980) TSR, Inc.
AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1979) TSR, Inc.
Village of Hommlet, The (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1979) TSR, Inc.
AD&D Players Handbook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Descent Into the Depths of the Earth (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Hall of the Fire Giant King (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Tomb of Horrors (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Vault of the Drow (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (197 cool TSR, Inc.
Monster Manual (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (1977) TSR, Inc.
Eldritch Wizardry (Dungeons & Dragons (classic)) (1976) TSR, Inc.
Greyhawk (Dungeons & Dragons (classic)) (1976) TSR, Inc.
Boot Hill (1975) TSR, Inc.
Dungeons & Dragons (Dungeons & Dragons (classic)) (1974) TSR, Inc.
Magazine Credits:
Dragon #42 (Oct 1980)
Dragon #41 (Sep 1980)
Magazine Article Credits:
"Canting Crew Excerpt, The" in Gaming Frontiers #2 (Feb 2002)
"Founding Greyhawk: The Creation and Development of the GREYHAWK Campaign, 1972-75" in Dragon Annual #2 (1997)
"From the Sorcerer's Scroll: Making Monsters Meaningful" in Dragon #42 (Oct 1980)
"Hey, Rambler, New in Town" in Game Trade Magazine #11 (Jan 2001)
"Maure Castle" in Dungeon #112 (Jul 2004)
"Swords and Sorcery - In Wargaming" in Dungeon #112 (Jul 2004)
"Tome of Horrors Excerpt" in Game Trade Magazine #31 (Sep 2002)
Fiction Credits:
Death in Delhi (Dangerous Journeys) (1993)
Samarkand Solution, The (Dangerous Journeys) (1993)
Anubis Murders, The (Dangerous Journeys) (1992)
Artifact of Evil (Greyhawk) (1986) TSR, Inc.
 Irahatam · Wed Mar 05, 2008 @ 05:03am · 0 Comments |
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