My story is of having a half-orc that did not have any blunt damage weapons. We come up to an area where all these skeletons pop out. I had a 19 Str (2nd Edition) and made a grapple roll to grab a skeletons legs. I then proceeded to use the skeleton as a club till it broke down as well. My groups always did some outside the box things that I sometimes did not care for and would sit back and just participate but we were also given the ability to use our imaginations without penalty. That leads to a 2nd story with me and my best friend starting with a formed group that were playing Ravenloft. I was playing my first pure mage character. The bad guy had an orb he was using to great effect when I got to within range and cast grease on the object. It failed its saving throw then the bad guy kept doing the same. Everyone was praising me for saving the day when I was just hoping to be a little irritating.

I missed my directorial debut due to the fact that I was playing AD&D with some college friends of mine in another city.  Never again did the managing teacher of the department give me any chance to redeem myself by directing another play.  And yet, I still feel like I won the bargain in the end; because Dungeons and Dragons opened my mind to a world of fantasy and heroic sword and sorcery that I never knew had existed.

My best moment with my first character (a rather humorless fellow named Skuld, an 8th level priest) was when we were in the high outcrop of rock leading to another chamber.  We tried going to the right side and the rock crumbled.  We tried going to the left side and the rock crumbled.  A rickety bridge that looked like it was falling apart was in the center.  Skuld said, "Have faith my sons" and walked across that bridge.  It sagged and groaned, but it held.  At this moment a fellow player said "Yo Skuld, Renegade Priest on wheels"

My funniest moment with this same character is when three ogres were rushing us.  Skuld whipped out his command spell and went "Woogede, woogede, woogede,  Command Spell.  One word, three syllables- COP-U-LATE!"  Then one of the orges tried to do something very silly to one of his comerades; and everyone in the room burst out in laughter.

I wouldn't have such wonderful memories like this if it hadn't been for Gary Gygax and the TSR team.  My friends and I had a lot of fun with the system he invented.  So I have had a wonderful theatre of the mind,instead of an empty stage.  As they say in the theatre, "Good Show, Gary!  Good Show!" 

GW Completed Prophecies, Completed Factions

 My first contact with DnD was at acard & comic store.  My brothers and I rode our bikes to buy some baseball cards (yes, they still had bubble gum in the pack).  We were attracted to the dragon and wizard figurines and paged through the monster compendium.  We were hooked and wanted to try the game out.  A few weeks later after a few yards of raking and mowing, we purcased the books and spent the summer playing.  My first character was a Cleric: Hersaint!  lol  Anyways thanks for the freedom to imagine and innovate, Mr. Gygax.

I am going to inject a personal statement on the passing of Gary Gygax.

  Hope no one minds.  I imagine that there are people here who have had similar experiences and may or may not have the words for them.

Like most people who played D&D as well as all of the offshoot games; including all of the MMORPG's that have come along since, I never met Gary Gygax.   I remember in High School (late 1970's), when I started playing D&D, I never knew who had created the game.  I just knew that it was a fun diversion.

  Through all of the times that boneheads from the fanatical religious nuts claiming that it was "devil worship" and through the times that people kept claiming that it was a dangerous game that drove people to dangerous delusional behavior, I knew that all of those claims were just a load of garbage; that people who claimed that would find something to blame rather than owning up to their own responsibilities.

  It's was game.  Nothing more and nothing less.

  I continued playing while I was in the military, finding people at every base that enjoyed the game on the weekends.

  Even after I got my discharge, I still managed to find people that played the game; as well as other games of other genres that were based on the "role play" idea.

  A few years ago I got into playing computer-based RPG's through games like Diablo, which my wife (then girlfriend) introduced me to, and then we discovered Everquest and began playing that.  Soon another game came along, and another, and another.

  We now play a few different MMORPG's and enjoy them all for different reasons.

  All thanks to a man, who's name I never knew until I heard the news of his passing.

  As I look at what has happened since the first D&D game was released, I realise how much impact that it has had on all of us, all over the world; some of it bad, but most of it very good in a subtle, but real, way.  Like a pebble dropped in a pond:  The ripples got bigger and bigger as they moved out.

I still have my dice as well as many of the books from Both D&D as well as from one of the other games that I have played, Traveller.

   Should I come across anyone that still plays those games, I will dust them off, and if not, they are there to hand down to my grandchildren to play.

  Thank you Gary Gygax for creating a legacy that spans generations and for helping people to learn again how to entertain themselves without having to watch TV.

  Thank you Gary Gygax for creating a world that lead to the creation of hundreds of other worlds that have given so many people so much joy; which have also allowed people from all over the world to befriend fellow enthusiasts and opened lines of communications that have spanned the boundaries of not just the games, but also the boundaries of socio-economic class, race, religion, gender, state and nation.

  You will be sorely missed.

I remember playing Basic set and first edition Advanced DnD when they first came out. I was 11 years old.

The game introduced me to a way to open my mind and imagine. Anything was possible. The inspiration I gleamed then transformed me into a visual artist interested in the primal cause of the worlds, the myths of Gods that inhabit our souls and the desire to express those visions.

Thank You Gary Gygax. Thank you!!

Like so many others i had never met Gary Gygax but still hearing about his death it was like hearing a family member or a close friend had passed. There are a few stories about D&D i could share but i'll stay with three things that will always be with me. I had always had a love of fantasy but had never actually played dungeons and dragons untill Junior High, Still to this day i remember my first charaters name class race and his first and last small adventures. 

The second memory stems from reading an AD&D book back when TSR owned it, The book was about Gnomes and Halflings i stumbled across a name Kepli, which i had used a few times then i started playing Everquest and that name was taken so i switched the vowls and Kiple was born and i've used that name ever since in everything from D&D to WoW for atleast six years now

The Final memory ironically is similar to the Episode of futurama mentioned before, I was in study hall my friends and I planned to play 3rd edition for the first time. i was bored and messing with my dice, without realizing it i was making enough noise to be noticed by the teacher. I hear "MR. Simmons! Put the Dice away or i'll take them away" coming from the end of the table, although i was embarresed at the time i laugh even harder at that line in the episode.

I wish i could have said this in person but Thank you Gary, you helped fill my life with creation, laughter, and help me decided that i wanted to go to school so i could work on games like D&D, you will be missed

He can be proud of the legacy he's leaving behind. There was the gaming world "before" and "after" D&D, simple as that.

I was introduced to D&D in elementary school at about age 10 (23 years ago) by a friends brother at his birthday party.

That night , 12 of us unknowingly created a bond that would last to this day. For quite sometime we played as much as possible in the evenings , on weekends etc... As we grew older and a little more distant , and even to different towns , we all grew in to our own,  very different identities - VERY different! We were , high school/college football players , wrestlers , metal heads , a hippie , business owners, military lifers , factory worker - all very different - but we still got together to game when ever it is possible - maybe a few times a year - still do. Still very good friends +5.

Kinda sounds like a book or something huh ? heheh

Thanks and RIP Mr. Gygax!

(I still have my 1st set of dice covered in white crayon bits)

I remember being a kid(7years,1985), standing in the book store with a AD&D box in my hands. My eyes went from the cover of the box to my Mothers eyes and back. I turned the box around and looked on the text on the backside.

Knowing that our family couldnt afford to much luxury at the time and being the considerate,courteous kid in the family, I put the box back and said to Mom "I really would like to have it, but maybe we could buy it when it becomes cheaper". My Mom smiled at me and we continued on with the shopping. Half way home in the car my Mom asked me to take a look in the big paper bag in the back seat.

And honest, I didnt have a clue what was in the bag. I didnt even imagine what it was. And as I pulled out the box out of the bag my hands began to shake and I yelled out in happiness. I just yelled. I remember looking into my Mothers eyes and saw that she was as excited as i was, because she knew I was happy. Toys and gifts was not amongst the usually things in our family, and to once be able to give her son a gift must have made her very happy.

I almost jumped out of the car before it was parked at home. Rushed to my room. Laid down flat on my stomach on the floor with the box infront of me. Ripped off the plastic wrapping paper. Pulled off the lid and ... God... the smell in the box was just amazing. Ink, newly printed rule book, glossy paper. I just smelled the inside of the box over and over again without touching the content. Ha ha ha. I still remember how it smelled.

My eyes caught the most peculiar dices I have ever seen. I took them in my hand and just felt them. I have never felt a plastic dice before, and never seen one with 8 sides. I tried to roll it a couple of times on the floor. It felt great! Ha ha.

Later that evening I was lying in my bed and just skimmed through the rulebook back and forth. Very careful to not damage or rip the pages.That day was the start of something amazing. Something amazing I shared with family and friends for many, many years to come.

Being a shy kid when I was young, D&D was amazing to make new friends. Friends that I still have to this day. Remembering my mothers eyes in the car means much to me. She and my father died in a tragic car accident 11 years ago. I was the driver. Vortex500 ended up in a wheelchair for life. To have all those memories of playing D&D together as a family and with friends brighten up even the most sad day here for me.

Well maybe I got a little offtopic, I dunno. All I know is that when I heard Gary Gygax died, I cried like a baby. I have never meet him or talked to him. But somehow he felt like a really close friend of mine. All I know about Gary is from interviews and other stuff I read.

Well that is all I had to say about that. Sure I could write about every single roleplaying session I had. But they are too many and I really remember this memory more. My Mothers eyes. Happiness.

Well enough of my ramblings... ;-)

May the Angels carry you gently to the Elysian fields Gary. Your biggest adventure awaits you there. Godspeed Gary, godspeed. In time we will join you for the greatest adventure of them all, we all meet then.

The Second Day Vet

I heard about it yesterday and was actually a little sad when I first heard it, another legend gone for me. Then as I sat here at work and thought about it I started thking back to that first game way back in 7th grade when my rought this new game to school called Chainmail. We loved board games but all that was ever around back then was monopoly or clue and stuff like that. This was something new and cool. We played that 1st weekend for hours and hours, loving it. For those that don't know it, Chainmail was his first minature wargame and D&D rules were based off that game. Gary was co-maker of Chainmail but all that got me thinking about my friends back then and what they were doing now. We used to spend weekends over someone's house and just roll up characters and play and play for hours on end, sometimes days. I was that nerdy little pale ng mountain dew like on the Doctor Demento show (google it if you've never heard it).

My character was always the rough and tumble drunken dwarf leading with his axe or head and not so much his wits. God I loved those days....we're all old now of course but man that really brings back memories. I'm now working on a mmorpg myself, and my old cronies also work in the IT industry, some of you might know of us but i'll leave out names to protect the guilty parties.

To the man, the myth and the legend!  /roll   *stands with out falling during the wake

"G'on ye Gary, may yer cup be filt n n'er empty'

Now-Do you have any mountain dew? Where's the Cheetos?

truly a sad day. Gary Gygax has left a mark on all our lives to this day. D&D is his legacy. god bless him and  may his family find strength  through this hard time in their lives.

I can't count how many times I played P&P D&D back when since I was  8 and stood up late with a couple of my friends creating in our minds a believable world and beliveable characters with this game. He has influenced so many games, genres. he is truly a remarkable human being contributed so much,and will continue to contribute even after his passing. that is the true mark of a remarkablly unique person when even after they are gone, they continue to influence and inspire us.

GOd bless him for living and giving us so much during his time on earth.  hes probably up there in heaven already breaking out his 20 headed dice and a D&D board :P he will be missed, and never forgotten.

The greatest game I have ever played.  2-3 times weekly for the last 20 years and still nothing has compared. The work that artist's like Brom, Clyde Caldwell and Kieth Parkinson did for D&D in the 80's inspired me to learn to paint.  I would be lost without that.

My friend, Mike, got me into D&D when I was 12.  My sister was playing too; and I had a magical time that first night.  Hours later, my sister killed my character!  I was mad but luckily my Mom yelled at her :P.  Not really yell, but you get the idea.  It was trivial, kid stuff.

What fun I had and what great friends I made through D&D.  One of my best friends was first met at a gaming convention that was held monthly in town.  That first convention was amazing; 100+ players and some fantastic Dungeon Masters.

As an adult, I was fortunate enough to meet Gary when he attended Rock Con (Rockford, IL).  He seemed nice; and when taking a break in the hot dog stand (with that best friend mentioned above), Gary walked up and sat down next to us to eat a hot dog too.  He was great to chat with.  I told him I had always hoped to see a D&D movie; and he informed me that they had not one, but two motion pictures planned for the 80's, but the drama at TSR killed that.  It was a real treasure to have such one on one time with the "master."

Long before meeting him, he was a childhood hero to me even though we knew him only by the name printed on the cover of the game manuals.  Thank you Gary; rest in peace.  Few of us will have even remotely the impact that you've had on the world.

D&D and all the Pen and Paper RPG's of the 80's were a huge part of my past.  I spent hundreds of hours playing with friends in many worlds.  I just found about this and I am really sad to hear that the father of RPG's has passed away.  He will be missed and remembered by those of us that grew up enjoying what this legend created.   Rest in peace Gary. 

This video reminds me of some hilarious nights playing with my friends. Thanx Gary you were one of the greats.

www.youtube.com/watch

i play D&D since i was a little girl with my dad and my godfather..the game become a  big part of my life, today im 22 years old and i still playing D&D not only as player, i become a dungeon master my self and many of the best friends i have today, and almost all of my ex bf i meet them  thx the game... the day Gary die i was writing my new story and a friend call me to tell me.. and i just cant go on...i leave the map and the pen and start to cry...actualy after reading your tribute i start crying again...

like you sayd i never know that man.. but i see his name for 15 years, and the funniest and almost all the best moments of my life are thx to him...its a very sad lost ..

My most memorable D&D moment is, ironically, not even in "normal" D&D.  That's right: I played "Spelljammer".  (*brief pause while everyone Wikipedias that to figure out what the hell it is*)  It had started as a Forgotten Realms campaign, and segued neatly into Spelljammer once our DM had gotten ahold of the boxed set.  No worries, it was loads of fun!  I was playing a Paladin of Tymora, who happened to be in command of a Hammerhead.  We had a Psionicist, a couple of clerics...maybe a mage, can't remember.  Fun times. 

The memorable bit?  Oh yeah.  We were taking heavy fire from an Illithid (mind flayer) vessel, and it wasn't looking pretty.  We had taken a brief game recess (bio break, drink/food, etc), during which I was reviewing my character sheet and reminding myself what all my magical items did--hoping, praying, that there was something I could use to pull our collective asses out of the fire.  Then it hit me: our psionicist had recently learned a new power, something that let him teleport another person to some other location.  Bingo, thought I.  I went over my plan with the psionicist's player, who, while he thought I was completely out of my f***ing mind, agreed to go along with it.  When the game started back up, I put my plan into motion: I asked the DM if the psionicist would be able to locate the helm of the Illithid vessel.  He replied yeah, sure...why not?  I then had the psionicist teleport me--the paladin--to the helm...which, by the way, was surrounded by surly (and startled!) mind flayers.  I raised my Hammer of Thunderbolts (augmented by my Girdle of Storm Giant Strength) and smashed it down on the helm.

The result was predictable to everyone /but/ me.  The helm exploded, taking the ship--and Yours Truly--with it.

Fortunately, my loyal crew recovered my mangled corpse from the phlogiston and used the scroll of Resurrection I'd squirreled away in my pack to bring me back. 

Isn't it funny?  We played for years and years, but that remains the most memorable moment in my tabletop D&D career.  (Most memorable tabletop /overall/?  That would be in MERP: Middle Earth Role Playing...and a story for another time. ;) )

I hope he knows he leaves us being a  maker of  one of the worlds great games. and that he will be missed. I played D&D for a long time when I was young teen and it was some of the best Summers me and my freinds had.

Without Gary....I'd have never found out that I have a love for making games and designing systems to run them.  I'd also never have had the "joy" of running a campaign with "Crunk"....the Half-Orc Warrior whom (I am NOT joking) always rolled 20's.

Do you people have any ideal how hard it is to balance encounters for a party when one of them always crits?  Those poor guys were always fighting things that could one shot each of them.  And still win.  I hate Crunk.  I also never gave crunk any great weapons either...

*sigh*

Such a sad loss.  One of the men who gave birth to everything RPG is gone.  Without him...we'd never have WoW...never have EQ...no, we'd never have any of the console rpgs we play.  Might not even have RTS's either...since a part of the structure TO D&D is based inside RTS idealism.   All I'd have left is shooters...BUT no Ratchet and Clank, since that game had rpg elements.  I rather like Ratchet and Clank.  I suddenly feel sick.

I cried like a lil' girl when I heard the news.  Yea, now THATS hardcore!

I've played D&D (boxed set) since the first pink box.  Haven't had time to play these games in years.

Anyways, I actually started with "Star Frontiers" in 7th Grade.  Moved up to D&D and others.  13 RPGs to be exact. 

Recently, I tried to teach my 23 yr old fiancee to play D&D.  She's never played "old school" RPG's.  We  made her a character sheet,  filled it out. I started with Dungeon Module B2 "The Keep on the Borderands".

As I described what she saw in the city, I ask her "What would you like to do?"

To which she responds "I dunno.  What am I supposed to do?"  And it got me thinking that people today are so used to video game RPGs that they no longer have the ability to "think outside the box".

I remember years & years ago, being in a Waldenbooks, looking at the RPG section.  Some 10 year old kid comes over with his dad, all excited.  The kid points to one of the Dragonlance modules saying "See dad!! If I get this, me & *insert brother or friends name here* can be a Dungeon Master. 

What the father said:  "I dont want you two buildin' no dungeon in ma house!!!"

Me:  biting tongue to keep from laughing.

I barely remember all the times I played when I was younger.  I played alot more in High School.  Especially at lunch time.  The Nuns didnt like that.  BUT- they were able to see that the game DID have some usefulness:  It brought people together.  It kept them out of trouble.  It made us think and use our imagination,  even had us doing math!  While others were outside smoking pot, we were inside behaving.  They really couldnt find too much fault with it.  Even managed to get one  of the stoner's to play. 

I have 2 separate degrees in different Arts, I'm a Network Engineer too.  I'd like to think D&D had a hand in helping me where I got today.