…and this is a 
The Dungeon Master fails his saving throw
Category:
Posted on: March 4, 2008 4:41 PM, by PZ Myers
Nerds everywhere will be grieving: Gary Gygax has died. I haven't played the game in a long time, but I had a lot of fun with it in my undergraduate years — if they haven't succumbed to mold and decay, I have the original manuals somewhere down in my basement. I also had a set of miniatures, but those definitely got battered into shapelessness by my kids playing with them (but I win in the end, since my oldest son left a huge collection of his fancy miniatures at my house. Maybe I won't give them back.) My thanks to Gygax and his colleague Dave Arneson for some good old fun times with my geeky pals.
One weird thing: it looks like a lot of Gygax's fans think he's just gone on to a new fantasy game — which is strange. Most of the role-players I know were good about telling the difference between the fantasy world and the real world, and the real world doesn't include deities.
Comments
Most of the role-players I know were good about telling the difference between the fantasy world and the real world
I dunno about that. Most of the guys I RPG'd with expected they'd one day have girlfriends.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 4, 2008 4:48 PM
Q: How many D&D players does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 1d6
Jesus saves! And takes half damage!
Posted by: The Barefoot Bum | March 4, 2008 4:56 PM
Meh; my experience/impressions of Gygax are of terrified intransigence, elitism, and pointless Edition Snobbery (mostly from his loyal horde, of course). They'll have deified him by now, the poor saps.
Posted by: stogoe | March 4, 2008 4:59 PM
My parents, the religious type, once offered to buy all my AD&D books from me so they could burn them. I still have them 20 years later now, although it's been almost that long since I played. Thanks for some fun times Gary.
Posted by: Dahan | March 4, 2008 5:01 PM
I fail at nerdity — never played D&D, never wanted to. However, I might win at a meta-nerdishness level, because I learned who Gygax was from Futurama.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | March 4, 2008 5:05 PM
Could someone please explain this? I feel so left out.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | March 4, 2008 5:05 PM
Dude, get it right: Geeks will also be grieving. I get laid, so that makes me a geek. :)
And Gary Gygax of all people got caught without a cure serious. What is the world coming to?
Posted by: Ric | March 4, 2008 5:06 PM
"Most of the role-players I know were good about telling the difference between the fantasy world and the real world"
Most of the role-players I know about haven't a clue about the difference between fantasy and reality. Furthermore they worship, speak with, and even kill for their deity quite frequently. But then again, to them a game like D&D is "evil". Now that's irony.
Posted by: Alex | March 4, 2008 5:08 PM
The face results of throwing one six-sided die.
Since D&D uses a variety of polyhedral dice to simulate random events with various probabilities, this notation is used to simplify writing.
For example, throw two six-sided dice and sum the results: 2d6. Throw one twenty-sided die: 1d20.
The joke is that it would take between 1 and 6 D&D players to change a lightbulb, depending on the dice roll.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 4, 2008 5:11 PM
Oops. I meant to quote David M as his comment is what I was responding to.
The joke is that it would take between 1 and 6 D&D players to change a lightbulb, depending on the dice roll. Actually, the joke is an in-joke referring to pen & paper RPG players' notation for dice rolls.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 4, 2008 5:13 PM
Thanks!
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | March 4, 2008 5:14 PM
One weird thing: it looks like a lot of Gygax's fans think he's just gone on to a new fantasy game -- which is strange. Most of the role-players I know were good about telling the difference between the fantasy world and the real world, and the real world doesn't include deities.
Noo.... Arrgh... my cognitive dissonance is cracking!
Posted by: Trent Eady | March 4, 2008 5:15 PM
Most of the role-players I know were good about telling the difference between the fantasy world and the real world, and the real world doesn't include deities.
Relentless! The militant atheist never sleeps.
Posted by: Great White Wonder | March 4, 2008 5:20 PM
Jesus saves! And takes half damage!
he needs to take some levels in rogue to get the evasion skill.
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 5:22 PM
Blake Stacey:
You have some good company in your meta-geekery! I also first learned about Gygax on Futurama... And until now, that was the limit of my Gygax experience.
Posted by: Avekid | March 4, 2008 5:32 PM
Did anyone catch the quotes in the signature line of the poster that PZ links to?
1) No mutual exclusivity there!
2) Did Mr. Gygax not trust his own philosophy?
Posted by: defectiverobot | March 4, 2008 5:33 PM
Am I reading that forum posting correctly? Gygax himself says he found the lord?
"All I am is another fellow human that has at last, after many wrong paths and failed attenpts, found Jesus Christ.
Via con dios,
Gary"
(Can't resist another gaming joke, since Ichthyic is showing up-to-date, first-hand knowledge: He must've failed his will save.)
Posted by: Jim S | March 4, 2008 5:35 PM
(Can't resist another gaming joke, since Ichthyic is showing up-to-date, first-hand knowledge: He must've failed his will save.)
the question really is:
Did he fail his fortitude save before or after he failed his will save?
I'm guessing before.
...another deathbed convert.
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 5:40 PM
oh, and for those unfamiliar...
DnD has been translated into dozens of popular computer role-playing games over the years, so familiarity with the system doesn't necessarily imply PnP (Pen and Paper) players.
I can find 10 years olds who know DnD rulesets far better than I do, and they've only ever played computer RPG's.
It's not just for geeks and nerds any more.
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 5:43 PM
Was he Christian? If he wasn't religious, it would be sick to say he's in heaven with Jesus, like the nutters were saying on that forum. And I don't mean sick in the cool kid skater sense.
Surely they'd have some respect for his beliefs (or lack of).
Posted by: Matt | March 4, 2008 5:48 PM
It's not just for geeks and nerds any more.
yeah it is.
geeks and nerds are just cooler than they used to be.
Posted by: CJO | March 4, 2008 5:49 PM
I figure if we all pool our resources and sell a few magic items, we can afford to have him resurrected.
PZ, you still got that +2 Blog of the Unbeliever kickin' around?
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 4, 2008 5:49 PM
Sad news.
Posted by: IanR | March 4, 2008 5:51 PM
Nah, geeks and nerds just write the play-aids, books, computer game spin-offs and play WoW now.
Sorry to hear Gygax failed his system shock roll.
I'll get me coat ...
Posted by: AllanW | March 4, 2008 5:55 PM
I believe he did claim to be born again late in life.
It's funny... looking back, I think I can credit the 1st edition Deities and Demigods for the beginning of my fascination with mythology and an interest in comparative religion.
Posted by: CJO | March 4, 2008 5:57 PM
Very sad.
The beauty of D&D is in the eye of the beholder.
Posted by: Ted D | March 4, 2008 5:59 PM
[blockquote]I figure if we all pool our resources and sell a few magic items, we can afford to have him resurrected.[/blockquote]
But where are we going to find a diamond worth at least 5000gp?
Posted by: G | March 4, 2008 6:04 PM
Yeah, but you don't want to be looking into the eye of a Beholder, it tends to be bad.
Honestly, Gygax hasn't been very important in the gaming world for a long time, since he left TSR and it got bought by Wizards of the Coast. While he deserves credit for getting the RPG industry started, certainly he hasn't done anything lately to deserve accolades.
Posted by: Cephus | March 4, 2008 6:04 PM
I don't know what his personal religious beliefs (if any) were, but within his World of Greyhawk setting he was a demigod: the Mad Archmage Zagig Yragerne.
Game owner from the days of the original edition blue cover Basic D&D set, back when halflings were still called hobbits...
Posted by: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. | March 4, 2008 6:11 PM
As mentioned above, Gygax hasn't been active in the modern gaming industry in a significant way for a long time.
That being said, beyond creating the entire PnP fantasy games -- he has had a profound impact on computer games, fantasy literature, and other PnP games as well.
His ideas have inspired the last 40 years of fantasy games of all types -- and his work has touched 10's of millions (World of Warcraft alone is 10 million).
He will be missed.
Posted by: Dan R. | March 4, 2008 6:17 PM
With many apologies to Auden :
Stop all the die rolling, Stop all the saving throws,
Prevent the door from opening, stop taking +2 blows,
Silence the wandering monsters, with a muffled spell of Calm Emotions,
bring out the oaken chest, let the wizard use his potions.
Let Dire Bats circle squeaking overhead,
With wraiths mouthing silently that he is Dead,
Put beholders away with dragons and Kobold,
Let the Dungeon Master tell of adventures old.
He was my North corridor, my South, my East and West,
my +5 broadsword, my Mithral vest.
My Pack, my spells, my gold pieces and Bard's countersong,
I thought that the adventure would last forever, I was wrong.
The character sheets are not wanted now, shred every one,
Pack up the 8 sided die, stop all the fun.
Put away the monster manual, and the figures as you should,
For not ever again will my world be aligned Lawful Good.
In memory of a childhood hero, Gary Gygax.
Posted by: Monkey's Uncle | March 4, 2008 6:20 PM
But where are we going to find a diamond worth at least 5000gp?
This is why magic doesn't work: people forget to adjust spell component quantities for inflation. Nowadays you'd need at least $10k worth.
You also need to watch out for the people who only claim to be 9th lvl clerics.
Posted by: Jim S. | March 4, 2008 6:33 PM
Peculiarly enough, while I've always been an atheist.. all but a few of the longest-played D&D characters I've had were clerics.
Posted by: BruceJ | March 4, 2008 6:43 PM
For computer games designers such as myself, Gygax has left a terrible legacy. Too many game design conventions and techniques derive from D&D and I find it stifling. Its influence is overbearing.
Full disclosure: I have shipped a D&D title on the Sony PlayStation Portable, so I have a small amount of responsibility for this mess.
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | March 4, 2008 6:44 PM
Gary who? Oh! The D&D guy?
Then I offer my condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Mr. Gygax. I have never played, but I think I may (have) enjoy(ed) it. I never got past playing "Hero Quest" with mom, dad, and the brothers when we were little.
Oh, wait, yes I did. I played Gemstone III for a while. AS + AvD - DS + d100 = ...
Posted by: Kseniya | March 4, 2008 6:48 PM
Too many game design conventions and techniques derive from D&D and I find it stifling. Its influence is overbearing.
not to mention how overbearing WOTC is in and of itself.
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 6:49 PM
I always thought Dungeons and Dragons was for the theists, what with that silly alignment system. Skeptics and atheists used Steve Jackson's GURPS books:
http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=2977
We threw out the alignment system.
Posted by: Norman Doering | March 4, 2008 6:52 PM
And to think that Gary succeeded where my grandmother never did: He made me into a cleric (for a while, anyway).
Posted by: Zeno | March 4, 2008 6:53 PM
I've had the original AD&D manuals since I was eleven, and still have quite a few of them.
Gary and his crew were largely responsible for introducing this literature/mythology-geek girl to the joys of ancient myth cycles, fabulous creatures and arcane vocabulary.
Farewell Col. Playdoh--you will be missed. May your dweomer forever shine on our milieu.
Posted by: Sarah_D | March 4, 2008 6:59 PM
I'm with you, PZ, except that as I'm still involved in the hobby, the flood of maudlin and mystical bullshit now oozing out of every related forum is threatening to wreck what positive experiences I have with gaming. People who yesterday seemed perfectly rational are now crafting syrupy odes Gygax and placing him firmly at the right hand of the one true Dungeon Master.
I'm going to go puke now.
Oh, and Norm? When Steve kicks it I guarantee we'll see the same crap in spades.
Posted by: BMurray | March 4, 2008 7:00 PM
"It's not just for geeks and nerds any more."
This could not be further from the truth, it's just that, because of Gary, we geeks and nerds WON! Along with the other members of the Holy Trinity of Geekdom, Lucas and Roddenberry, Gary geekified the whole culture! Movies, television shows, computer games... we now "pwn" popular culture. Gotta bust out a couple of bottles of Tullamore Dew, some polyhedrals, and have a "Keoish" wake for the great man.
Also, if he did become "born again", it's a shame. Those fundamentalists hounded people involved in the industry. If he was religious, I sincerely hope he was a communicant in the "Church of the Big Gamble".
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | March 4, 2008 7:05 PM
Meh; my experience/impressions of Gygax are of terrified intransigence, elitism, and pointless Edition Snobbery (mostly from his loyal horde, of course). They'll have deified him by now, the poor saps.
I'd have to say my experience was similar. Along the lines of, he was kind of a jerk. Shame he died, but wont be traveling to "the shrine" any time soon.
Posted by: dogmeatib | March 4, 2008 7:07 PM
Who was it Gygax was supposed to have ripped the idea of D&D from? (sniker) Makes sense he was a Christian.
Posted by: Bob L | March 4, 2008 7:21 PM
Bruce, I'm the same way. Most of my favorite characters in D&D have been clerics and paladins, as it's a way to explore that side of life in a realm where it's actually real and the deities more consistent with their proclaimed alignments. It's rather refreshing for that.
Posted by: Shar | March 4, 2008 7:25 PM
Sad to hear of his passing but he was an old fart...
D&D isn't as tied to atheism so much as is it to being considered a nerd of the highest order.
Posted by: Matt LaCrosse | March 4, 2008 7:29 PM
well d&d was bought out by a christian organization back in the 80's wasn't it?
there was a period that they had to remove references to demons and devils because of it.
Posted by: peter | March 4, 2008 7:36 PM
Poor guy, finally gotten by the gazebo.
Posted by: Dave Godfrey | March 4, 2008 7:43 PM
As much as I agree that religion is a silly thing, can we please not use a man's death as the springboard for this discussion?
Posted by: Kesh | March 4, 2008 7:55 PM
But then again, to them a game like D&D is "evil". Now that's irony.
Uh, who thoughtit was "evil"?
Around that time my parents said: "OK, it's Saturday night, and you know exactly where your teenager is, what they are doing and who they are with. This is a problem, how?"
And our games had girls. That gamed. Yes!
Posted by: Graculus | March 4, 2008 7:57 PM
I never was a gamer, but I hung out with a lot of them (and still do), so you could say that for me Gygax was the guy who built the world next door, and I owe him a debt of thanks for that. My world wouldn't be nearly as interesting if he hadn't done what he did, even though I've never played a paper RPG in my life.
Posted by: Interrobang | March 4, 2008 7:57 PM
Who cares if he became a Christian late in life, he created a lasting hobby and cultural phenomenon of which I'm still a part. The roleplaying hobby has changed a lot in the last 30 years but it would be hard to tell where it would have been without the beginning contributions by Gygax and Arneson. D&D also provided the blueprint for the reward-cycle in MMORPGS and other adventure-like computer games.
That gamers talk about Gygax "rolling dice in heaven" etc is just a poetic expression and I found Prof. Myers comments a bit sour.
Posted by: HOT | March 4, 2008 8:03 PM
As an artist, all I will add is that I remember pouring over the many many D&D manuals in a local toy store, salivating at the quality of all the dragons. I'd go home, and draw and draw.
Gygax might not have created the art, but he made a wonderful fantasy place for peoples' creativity to shine.
Posted by: The Flying Trilobite | March 4, 2008 8:14 PM
I still have all my dice. Who's up for a game? :D
Posted by: speedwell | March 4, 2008 8:20 PM
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/04
Thanks, Gary. You made many of my years much more interesting.
Posted by: Ragutis | March 4, 2008 8:30 PM
It's the main conversation topic in the places I tend to hang out.
I played 1st edition AD&D on the weekend (yes, I'm an old, old roleplayer), and updated my character sheet on Tuesday. We hadn't played in ages but just started again a few weeks back.
Posted by: efrique | March 4, 2008 8:38 PM
not for the first time, I recommend The Order of the Stick for some humorous DnD pun.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html
might be a bit hard to get in there today.
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 8:52 PM
heh, the latest is of course, topical...
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 8:53 PM
One weird thing: it looks like a lot of Gygax's fans think he's just gone on to a new fantasy game -- which is strange.
I'm pretty sure Gary was Lawful Neutral, so that'd put him in Mechanus now.
...Oh, that's not what you meant?
I figure if we all pool our resources and sell a few magic items, we can afford to have him resurrected.
Even True Resurrection doesn't overcome death from old age. You need Wish for that. Any 20th-level wizards, sorcerors, clerics, or bizarre prestige classes feel like sacrificing some XP?
Posted by: Carolyn | March 4, 2008 8:57 PM
Game Over.
Posted by: Skeptico | March 4, 2008 9:13 PM
I dreamed I died and went to heaven, and was escorted by the heavenly gate keeper into the courts of paradise. There I beheld a magnificent, deific old man occupying the place of honor on the celestial throne.
He was just as I'd pictured him...except for the monogrammed "GG" on his robes.
So I asked St. Peter "Is that really him?"
St Peter replied "No, that's just God. He only thinks he's Gary Gygax."
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 4, 2008 9:22 PM
My dad was given the original D&D boxed set in 1975 (but never played) and I built a dungeon in '78, soon after starting to play in my sister's boyfriend's world. My character more or less retired in the mid-80's (after too many Constitution hits from resurrections, and me living in different cities), but still sometimes gets taken out as a npc when my nephews and neices hit the same old dungeon. AD&D was for newbies; I designed a new magic system that was more logical than anything of Gygax's, and it's still being played in a couple of worlds.
Posted by: John Scdanlon, FCD | March 4, 2008 9:27 PM
Crikey, I misspelled my own name. No autofill.
Posted by: John Scanlon | March 4, 2008 9:29 PM
I once heard an evangelical preacher say that D&D actually made a fetish out of the number "666", since one used three six-sided dice to "roll-up" characters.
Way back in the day, I went to GenCon--back when it was in the American Legion Hall in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin--and had a grand old time. Gygax was getting pissed off at all of people who'd made xerox copies of D&D character sheets, telling them they were ripping him off!
I was always more into Traveller and super-heroes, myself. But I spent many an evening playing D&D!
Posted by: Robin | March 4, 2008 9:43 PM
Goodby Gary. The party will save a slot in our (body) bag of holding for you. You gave a lot of people some very enjoyable hours. Even though by all accounts you were a bit of an ass in person. You were not an idol or a role model, but I still owe you a "thank you" for having a good idea and sharing it with the rest of us.
Posted by: Devin | March 4, 2008 10:18 PM
I still have my dice too, and I still keep them right here next me. Should I admit that in public? Well ... I guess it is OK today ... here's to Gary Gygax.
Posted by: mdowe | March 4, 2008 10:23 PM
http://www.xkcd.com/391/
Posted by: РИП | March 4, 2008 10:25 PM
I see a number of people are taking certain comments a bit too seriously. Gamers as a group tend to have a strange sense of humor. Humor is also a coping mechanism. Even with Gary's bad health in recent years, losing him at 69 comes as a surprise. People are cracking wise about what Col. Pladoh is doing now in order to gain the emotional distance they need to properly process the event.
Gary was always a Christian, though he did become more serious about it after his first stroke. He was always a libertarian as well. We all contradict ourselves, for we all contain multitudes.
And no major contributions after D&D? Say rather his contributions never got the chance to be major, either due to active opposition (on the part of TSR Inc.) or thanks to the industry's fundamental misunderstanding of what they produce and how to present it to potential users. (Much like our misunderstandings of how best to present science subjects to the general public.)
You wish to see where his RPG work had taken him after TSR, look into the Mythus books (available on PDF), and the Lejendary Adventures RPG from Troll Lord Games (misspelling of 'legendary' deliberate for trademarking purposes). In both cases you'll see games 180 degrees from the present incarnation of D&D.
I knew Gary Gygax, Gary Gygax was a friend of mine. Gary, what he did and what he was involved with is much more complicated than you'd think.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | March 4, 2008 10:28 PM
Gygax was some kind of Adventist or Jehovah's Witness for life, so far as I know. It considerably influenced the game's assumptions about morality and so forth.
Posted by: Samnell | March 4, 2008 10:29 PM
Speedwell @ 52: Dude, I'm up for a game. In fact I'm playing this Sunday. If I may take this opportunity to offer a small plug:
http://www.farlandworld.com/
Yes, at least one regular pharyngula reader is a hardcore DnD player, and then some.
Posted by: Ric | March 4, 2008 10:40 PM
I've been playing since I was 10 or 12 or so and I don't like to go anywhere without my dice. Though I haven't played much in the past few weeks :(
Posted by: Kimbits | March 4, 2008 10:56 PM
I shall play a game this week to honor his memory. >
Posted by: Scrabcake | March 4, 2008 10:57 PM
"...if they haven't succumbed to mold and decay, I have the original manuals somewhere down in my basement."
Hey, PZ, can I have your old manuals, please?
Posted by: Me | March 4, 2008 11:22 PM
To #34: Cool. Nice to see another dev here.
DnD tactics, right? Fun game.
I don't know if you pin that on DnD. Publishers are notoriously conservative. They'll pick recognition over innovation every time.
He'll be missed. Honestly, I couldn't care less about deathbed conversions.
Posted by: Joe | March 4, 2008 11:40 PM
Oh yea, the D&D equals Satanism was a big theme back when I started playing in the late 70's. I remember the news doing several stories equating D&D with Satanism, murder, and suicide.
I vividly remember one incident when some kids tried to give me a rough time because they found out I played. They literally ran screaming when I pretended to cast a spell on them. Probably not the wisest thing I've ever done, feeding their misconceptions. But it saved me from a beating. So I don't feel too bad about it.
Even as late as 1991 the hoopla was alive. I went off to school and left my gaming books to my little brother. He went to live with an aunt of ours shortly after that and she burned all the books, claiming that they were demons. Not just blasphemous mind you, actual demons in physical form. Or would that be daemon? ;)
...
Wow, what do you know? The insanity is still going. Here's what that bastion of truth, Chick has to say on the subject.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 4, 2008 11:51 PM
Gary essentially invented the role playing genre. While I hesitate to make the comparison, saying he didn't influence recent games is sort of like saying Einstein didn't influence Quantum Physics. The dude created the role playing phenomena. I don't think I will ever do anything nearly as influential, and I am sorry to hear he died even if I didn't like all his creations. It makes me want to go to GenCon again this year.
Don N.
Posted by: Don N | March 4, 2008 11:56 PM
actual demons in physical form. Or would that be daemon?
lawful evil or chaotic?
Posted by: Ichthyic | March 4, 2008 11:57 PM
When I was in Uganda, I tried to commission a local carver to make a few sets of dice out of ebony as souvenirs for friends back home. He thought I was completely crazy, and did end up making a few mock-ups out of some regular wood. I never did get the ebony ones, but I've still got a hand-carved 6-sided, 8-sided, and 10-sided.
But I've still got my regular set, and still use them for all kinds of things (boxers or briefs today? Let's let the dice decide!)
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 5, 2008 12:02 AM
He's clubbing angels with a +3 mace now.
Posted by: Eric Paulsen | March 5, 2008 12:03 AM
I was enough of a geek that I couldn't make friends with the kids who played D&D in school. I don't think I'm missing much, in retrospect.
Besides, I win: I first learned about Gygax on a D&D-derived-game modding board.
Posted by: Azkyroth | March 5, 2008 12:04 AM
Yet another thread where I prove my non-geekiness. Somebody gave me some D&D thing once, but I thought it was just fun to make drawings on the grid.
Never got anything else about it.
Shit, pretty soon and y'all are gonna ban me as a normal or something.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | March 5, 2008 12:06 AM
@#77
I converted a Magic 8-Ball into a d20 (the polyhedron is in fact 20-sided), and I find it perfect for just that sort of thing :D
Posted by: Kimbits | March 5, 2008 12:11 AM
Shit, pretty soon and y'all are gonna ban me as a normal or something.
And I thought it was just the fundies who engaged in such delusional wishful thinking ;-)
Posted by: Brownian, OM | March 5, 2008 12:11 AM
I never did ask. I'd find out for you. But that would mean speaking to her, a thing to be avoided. I'm sure you understand.
Ah, the joy of dice. My most unusual dice are a couple of d6 made from revolutionary war musket balls.
I used to move around a lot after school. When I moved to a new town I'd wander around the streets and base all my decisions on dice rolls. Come to an intersection; roll a die. Should I check out that bar; roll a die. Not the most efficient way to learn the area. But it was fun and I defiantly found some interesting places I never would have investigated were it not for my dice. Yea, I was a hardcore gamer.
Looking back, I can't imagine my life without gaming. Though I haven't played for a few years, it was really a central part of my life for ages 13 to 30. Most of my closest friends I met through gaming. While it wasn't the only thing we did by any stretch, it kind of bound us together. And when I was down and out, it was the gamer network that gave me couches to crash on instead of shelters and park benches. I must say, gamers as a whole are a great bunch of people.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 5, 2008 12:37 AM
Yes sad news. We heard he fail his saving throw and ran out of hit points.
No resurrection is planned, but I wonder if his brain might be used to make an arcane object of great power?
I spend to many weekends in my youth playing that game. Yet out of it came an understanding of Engineering, math and science. I still remember the church people of the day screaming how it was an evil game and all those you played were under the spell of Satan, but I always had my +5 Bible to help make my saving throws ;-)
Posted by: Zorpheous | March 5, 2008 1:31 AM
Samnell wrote:
I think you're talking about what I had a problem with, the alignment system. The original DnD had a three alignment system of Law, Neutrality and Chaos, something like Michael Moorcock's Order and Chaos in his Eternal Champion books, like Elric. Later it became a two-dimensional grid, one axis measured good and evil, and the other law and chaos. Thus, players could be chaotic-good, lawful-evil, and such things. It wasn't well thought out and caused a lot of confusion and arguments among players and DMs because no one was quite sure in any circumstance how that was to constrain behavior.
With Steve Jackson's GURPS good and evil were both classed as "mental disadvantages." Good or evil personality traits were disadvantages because they did constrain and limit your options. Other mental disadvantages included honesty, curiosity, phobias and mental illnesses with delusions and hallucinations. There were also self- or externally-imposed limits like vows and "codes of honor" and addiction. You got extra points by taking disadvantages, allowing you to buy other advantages and skills.
Posted by: Norman Doering | March 5, 2008 4:40 AM
I always wondered why the churches got so vocal over D&D in my formative (and christian) years. I think, now, that I know why. In D&D, prayers work. Well, 1d8+Wisdom times anyway.
Posted by: Armchair Dissident | March 5, 2008 6:15 AM
OMG! Somebody else reads OOTS!!!!!!!!! Woot! Woot! Woot!!!
I am not the only nerd...
Posted by: Moses | March 5, 2008 7:35 AM
@Norman #85
That's a good system, though I never minded D&D's grid. Of course, almost all my most successful characters were Chaotic Neutral, which puts virtually no roleplayng contraints of any kind on behavior. It was behave how you want, when you want. If you play a character as functionally schizophrenic, there's not a lot the DM can say about your behavior being out-of-character.
Posted by: Ranson | March 5, 2008 7:37 AM
The geek in me weeps.
The D&D "loved-the-game-before-but-now-hates-all-the-revisions-and-damns-it-all-to-hell" girl in me still doesn't smile.
Posted by: Michelle | March 5, 2008 8:59 AM
As the Knights of the Dinner Table say, "The Game Must Go On."
Posted by: Samantha Vimes | March 5, 2008 9:39 AM
BTW, if you're curious about what alignment you are, here's a short test that will tell you:
http://easydamus.com/alignmenttest.html
Turns out I'm Chaotic Good. Strange, I usually come out Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral on these type things. I must be getting soft in my old age.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 5, 2008 9:46 AM
Full disclosure: I have shipped a D&D title on the Sony PlayStation Portable, so I have a small amount of responsibility for this mess.
Was that D&D Tactics? I just got that game on teh advice of a friend. Weird coincidence running into you here.
Posted by: Chris Gruber, FCD | March 5, 2008 11:19 AM
Hmmm.
Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
Posted by: Kseniya | March 5, 2008 11:31 AM
Wow! I can't believe no one has made a reference to that 1982 Tom Hanks TV movie "Mazes and Monsters"! Anybody remember that one?
Posted by: Randy | March 5, 2008 11:34 AM
Thank you, Gary, for many agreea