OoTS memorializes Gygax

Aaaaaawwwww

:frowning:

Full Frontal Nerdity did as well.
http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2008-03-04

Something Positive had it’s own spin on it.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03042008.shtml

Dork Tower
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=1347

Brian

Penny Arcade

Very nice.

The SDMB readership is going to be skewed towards the geek/gamer crowd sympathetic to, if not enthusiastic for RPGs… But has anybody run across any NEGATIVE obits? I remember about 25 years ago there was a lot of old fashioned hand-wringing about how “Satanic” D&D was from the fundies. Wouldn’t be surprised if somebody took the widely reported passing of Gary Gygax to get back on that soapbox.

If I recall the ‘Satanic D&D’ crowd, in addition to being totally humilated in the late 80’s, was never keen on pointing to the inventors of these games, who were usually bearded nerds who looked fairly harmless. It was much better for them to paint D&D as being played and invented by hooded black robe wearing faceless beings who silently laughed at the youth of America being corrupted into playing the games.

Seriously, I think they only ones who might make a negative obit abot Gygax would be the ones who Gygax targeted in his ‘Sorcerer’s Scroll’ rants and managed to hold a grudge for 25 years.

I lived through the 80s and played D&D in the 80s, and remember having to verbally defend myself from Bible totin’ nuts on the NYC subway in the 80s while reading a newly purchased copy of Deities and Demigods (eventually just getting off the train and taking the next one)… And yet, I must have missed this “humiliation”. What event or events are you referring to?

I remember in the '80s when I was in college there was an organization (I don’t know if it was a joke or not) called “Gamers Against Gary Gygax.” You could buy “G.A.G.G.” hats at conventions, but that was about as far as I ever saw it going. I think whatever negative feelings the gaming community might have had about him blew over fairly quickly, though, and he went back to being regarded as everybody’s favorite crazy uncle with dice.

I know I’m sorry to see him go. I was never a big fan of D&D, but the impact he had on a hobby that has shaped the biggest part of my life can’t be denied. :frowning:

Gu Comic’s tribute was excellent.

Nemi Comics

Eric Burns posted a lengthy obit on Websnark that’s mostly glowing, but does touch on the controversies stirred up by Gygax’s sometimes abrasive personality. He also mentions that the various “Stananic/suicidal” controversies had been “wholly debunked,” but doesn’t elaborate.

I wonder how Tin Kask is doing.

The Pulling Report

OK, I got the date wrong (it was 1990) And it didn’t stop the fundies from shrieking, but they found other things to shriek about and the more serious ‘concerned mother types’ were pretty effectively shut down.

Shame that Eric burns doesn’t have the quotes from The Sorcerers Scroll, I’d love to have seen the one where Gygax tries ineptly to separate D&D from Tolkein. It includes such blunders as ‘The One True Ring was nothing more than an Invisibility Ring!’ (quote not exact).

Still you had to take the bad with the good.

XKCD too

I too mourn Gary’s passing. He’s touched so much that I enjoy today, it’s hard to imagine what my life, and pop culture/gaming, would be like without D&D.

I have to wonder, though: will there be this level of mourning when Dave Arneson passes? Probably not, which may be a shame…

Wait, you can multiclass in mourning?

Yes, but not in knight.

(sorry)

Don’t need to. The prestige class in question is Creator Mourner, and the class abilities apply equally to either of them. You can either take all 5 levels of the class now, with Gygax, or take 3 with Gygax and defer the final 2 to earn when Arnesen’s gone.

Now, when Mark Rein(stupiddotthing)Hagen goes, you may want to wait a while before taking any levels in Mourner For The Darkness. Just to make sure he doesn’t end up Embraced. It’s embarrassing to mourn someone who’s actually spending his nights jumping around on rooftops.