Tag: role playing

Made a donation to the Gary Gygax Memorial Fund

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Gary Gygax at Gen Con Indy 2007. Gygax is stan...

Image via Wikipedia

Their website does a terrible job if helping you understand why you might consider donating and what they’ll do with the money, but I still gave $20 to the Gary Gygax Memorial Fund this week. Gygax is one of the creators of Dungeons and Dragons, originally a set of miniatures supplements he wrote with his friends that grew into a global brand. He also founded one of the earliest gaming magazines (Dragon Magazine), launched what became and remains the US’s largest gaming convention (Gencon), produced a hit animated television series (Dungeons and Dragons), and more. Gygax’s games and company played a huge role in my middle childhood, and I still have a stack of his books and supplements tucked into my basement rec room’s game cabinet. The intent is to build a statue commemorating his life on parkland in downtown Lake Geneva, WI, where he lived and worked for most of his life. He deserves the recognition.

The memorial is going to be in downtown Lake Geneva, in this park.

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Tip of the cap to Dave Arneson

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Dave Arneson passed away yesterday. He played a critical role in the development of Dungeons and Dragons and role playing games in general, though he never received as much of the credit as Gary Gygax did. Both he and Gygax died relatively young. I spent my formative years playing games inspired by the work Arneson did, and to this day the fantasy computer and strategy games I play owe a debt to his imagination. My thoughts to his friends and family, and thanks for a life well lived. There’s a nice obit/writeup over on the escapist, and here’s Dave’s entry on wikipedia for those curious about his work and life.