Sorrowful news for the nerds

And we will now hold a reading from the Book of Odad.

What level do you suppose he was at?

Sad news indeed.

"Hey, Gary, wait up! I rolled an Elf Ranger!"

I pillage his gold.

So now I'm not a nerd? News to me.

It is always a loss when a fellow human leaves us. I wonder though, if he would even be mentioned if he had died before Gygax died.

Either way, last night his passing was mentioned and briefly discussed.

After that, a character turned ethereal to bypass a prismatic sphere, and then enter a dragon's stomach hiding in the sphere. He then planned on killing it from the inside.

The dragon, aware of the entry into his belly, waited for the character to materialize. At the moment of materialization, the dragon used a Statue spell and turned into solid stone.

That prompted the lot of us poring through books to find a relevant rule to see what has happened to the character.

Good times.

Game Over.

Thanks for all the good games, Dave.

No kings,

Robert

I play tested some of the original D&D with tim kask. The game was not just a game but a vehicle the which some of us learned to expand our imagination. All computer game designers need to acknowledge the paper and pencil gamers. Imagination is more important than knowledge; for knowledge is finite, but imagination can take you around the world.

Non-overlapping melee.

I blame 4e.

D&D helped me learn to socialize when I went from a poor town down south to an Ivy League university. Thanks for everything, Dave and Gary.

One of the last (perhaps THE last) interview with him was done in this issue's "Kolbold Quarterly" which just came out this week.

Coincidentally, I've just recently started playing RPGs again (specifically Pathfinder)in the past few months. It's a fun way to get together with creative people and do some collabrative storytelling.

Failed at his saving throw, I guess.

Too bad. My boyfriend just got me into dungeons and dragons. We'll carry on in his honor.

Time to break out this xkcd comic again

I owe a lot to D&D, not just the social time spent with friends (which I cherish), but playing that game was great for my vocabulary and basic math skills development.

Plus, killing monsters with axes and magic, then taking their stuff: what's not to love?

No kings,

Robert

Sorrowful news, indeed. I have a lot of fond memories of playing D&D with friends during my otherwise painfully awkward teenage misfit years--I even have the full set of dice I used back then (20+ years ago) around here somewhere.

I haven't played D&D or other dice-and-paper RPGs in a long time, but I'm still grateful to Gygax and Arneson for creating it.

I never understood the obsession with games like D&D or WOW, etc.

There is a very rich life to be lived in the reality of the sciences, arts and social interaction to be wasted on fantasy games (or other fantasies like religion).

It's a pity that some problems can't be solved with the help of a 10,000 gp diamond.

#10: Imagination is what makes human beings great. Of course, imagination without a foundation in reality takes us to pretty strange places. . . .

The worst thing about D&D is that most of us started playing it just as we were entering puberty, and as much of a distraction D&D could be, it never really could take your mind off what we were really obsessed with: boobs and pussy. And it certainly didn't aid us in our quest for boobs and pussy. In fact, it was more like a -10 Nerd Death Spell.

NewEnglandBob at #20:

There is a very rich life to be lived in the reality of the sciences, arts and social interaction

Indeed. I find that time spent with friends gathered together, laughing, talking, and creating a fun scenario of (admittedly fantastic) imagination to be a rich experience of life involving sciences (the math required to play the game), arts (the imagination and expression of that imagination), and social interaction (I tend to play with groups of people).

At the end of the game, we gather our things, laugh about our common fun, and go home, recognizing one and all that it was indulgence in fiction, nothing more.

But I totally get that it's not to everyone's taste.

No kings,

Robert

I never understood the obsession with games like D&D or WOW, etc.

There is a very rich life to be lived in the reality of the sciences, arts and social interaction to be wasted on fantasy games (or other fantasies like religion).

Don't you ever read books or watch movies?

D&D is like reading Lord of the Rings, where as WoW is like watching the Lord of the Rings movies. D&D requires more imagination, but both involve significant social interaction. D&D is a lot like a poker game... lots of snacking, joking and chit chat, with a little bit of game play too.

"I never understood the obsession with games like D&D or WOW, etc."

I don't understand the 'obsession' either. A moderated amount of such activity spent meeting with long time friends and others in a community is a great way to spend a few hours a week.

Though, neither do I understand those who manners allow them to freely declare what activities others find permissable are 'wasting' time.

So, I guess we both have things we don't understand.

"And we will now hold a reading from the Book of Odad."

That is really funny.

Has anyone located his phylactery?!

Posted by: NewEnglandBob | April 10, 2009 1:19 PM

I never understood the obsession with games like D&D or WOW, etc.

There is a very rich life to be lived in the reality of the sciences, arts and social interaction to be wasted on fantasy games (or other fantasies like religion).

Oh, I see. So you don't watch movies, or watch TV, or read, right? Especially if it is "fiction" or "fantasy". No Star Trek for you! No To Kill a Mockingbird! Everything must be about reality!

i played d&d back when it was just the basic set (blue cover with red dragon on it). we had a lot of fun. Dave and Gary had a lot to be proud of, and made a lot of people happy.

on a side note, i know what the "Tasha" in "Tasha's Hideous Uncontrollable Laughter" spell refers to. what a nerd, eh?

Oh, and no poker games, or gaming in general for you, NewEnglandBob! Don't want to seem like a hypocrite, right?

Was Tasha one of the test groups character names?

No One of Consequence @ #25

D&D is a lot like a poker game... lots of snacking, joking and chit chat, with a little bit of game play too.

Agree completely, especially if you get a good, fun-loving group of gamers together. I've actually gone as a tag-along to a couple of gaming sessions with a friend of mine (how big a nerd am I?) and had a great time just hanging out and watching them play.

RIP Dave.

I've not played DnD much, but I've read dozens of the sourcebooks, and from what little experience I have its a wonderful game.

In honor of Dave's and Gary's memory, I think I'll change my screen name here to Erevan Soveliss.

Also, isn't Tasha's hideous uncontrollable laughter actually called Tasha's hideous laughter (no 'uncontrollable')?

"Also, isn't Tasha's hideous uncontrollable laughter actually called Tasha's hideous laughter (no 'uncontrollable')?"

Ahem, newb. :)

In the older editions, the title included "uncontrollable".

Tasha was the person who came up with the idea for the spell and submitted it. it was for some contest i think. (maybe in Dragon magazine.) we were all impressed that she got it added to the rules!

Wow...both of the creators of D&D go, both before their time, and both within the space of months.

Very sad.

I met them at an early GenCon. They were pretty nice, but Gygax was getting really testy with people who had xeroxed blank character sheets.

I met Mr. Arneson once. His friend introduced him to me and said, "Dave is working on a new book about elves! Tell her about your new book, Dave!"

Dave replied, "I'm not talking about my new book until it's published."

And that was that. No wait. Then we played Tunnels & Trolls. And THAT was that.

RIP, Dave. And, I'm sorry that I still haven't read your elf book.

Oh, and I've not played much D&D, but I think it's a wonderfully creative game. The fact that they were able to basically create a new world for people to delve into is pretty awesome. I have friends who LOVE the game. I just don't have the patience for gaming in general.

Nooooo!

*Rolls a will save to avoid depression, getting a natural 20*

....Yes!!!!

Pox on your bones mortality, you are killing off my youth.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't the reason some nerds didn't get "boobs and pussy". Reducing young women to "boobs and pussy" and coming across as complete misogynist is the repellent.

We girl gamers were happily playing AD & D and, of course, Call of Cthulu with boys who treated us as equals and had gorgeous eyes (an extra plus to the GMs' Charisma).

#42 Samantha,

My reference to boobs and pussy was tongue-in-cheek language to comment upon the pubescent mindset of the day. I suppose I could act all proud and pretended that 30 years ago, I was a young gentleman who, while obsessed with Gelantinous Cubes and 20 sided-dice, was outwardly chivalrous towards real girls in middle school.

But I was 13. Hormones were raging. It was boobs and pussy. And I vaguely recall one or two kids in 8th grade who may have acted chivalrous towards girls, were handsome, no zits, and didn't play dungeons and dragon, but I guarantee you their biology was doing the thinking, and they were thinking about mammary glands and vaginas too.

oh, and by the way, come on....

Boris Vallejo artwork, which was VERY associated with D&D....?????

If that wasn't all about boobs and pussy, and I don't know what is.

Yeah, now THAT's what I'm talking about!

http://www.imaginistix.com/details.cfm?Id=577

I ran across this yesterday:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/04/07/dandd-co-creator-dave-arneson-has-die…

So perhaps he isn't dead yet? Unless he died between April 7th and today... Does Monica Guzman list a source with a date that I missed?

That's the problem with us being atheists. None of us are 9th level clerics with a Resurrect spell.

Ahem, that would be "Raise Dead" for a 9th level cleric.

/relurk.

Captain Kendrick, I have to say that my interest in "boobs and pussy" ranged only from "moderate" to "almost nil" - definitely not as interesting as AD&D. Actually, that is still true. No, I am not gay (NTTIAWWT), I just am not that interested. And people's minds (both genders) are more interesting than physical attributes.

NewEnglandBob @ 20:

I never understood the obsession with games like D&D or WOW, etc.

There is a very rich life to be lived in the reality of the sciences, arts and social interaction to be wasted on fantasy games (or other fantasies like religion).

Well, I've never understood the obsession with football, or flyfishing, or NASCAR, etc. Different strokes, dude.

Part of the attraction of D&D was finding---at last!---a peer group; a bunch of people with interests that more-or-less overlapped your own. Sci-fi and fantasy, yes, but also frequently straight real-world science; and you haven't lived until you've sat through (and participated in) a three-hour mobius argument on how to calculate falling damage to better reflect real-world physics! The Game also attracts a fair number of artists (of various types) and history enthusiasts.

Also, re the "or other fantasies like religion"; there's a crucial difference, here. Apart from a very, very few unstable individuals, FRPGers know that the game is not real. Theists, to varying degrees, not so much.

Last February at Con of the North, a gaming convention here in St. Paul, one of the events was an adventure using D&D Basic. Dave spent some time watching and kibitzing. At the time he was using a walker and looked a bit gaunt.

Like many others his creation has provided me with years of entertainment. I've DMed for my children and now my grandchildren. What fascinates me is seeing how the game makes them think and calculate.

bellab@46--Check this link:

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/sadly-this-is-accurate.html

Damn, Dave's gone too.

The first time I played D&D was a demo game in 1974 at La Belle Alliance, the wargame shop in the Minneapolis area. It was a run through Castle Blackmoor, run by Dave himself! (No, I had no idea I was in the presence of greatness...)

My 3rd-level Thief hit a teleport trap and wound up 20 feet above Lake Blackmoor and falling...

Been playing ever since.

Rest well, Lord of Blackmoor!

I think the proper way to acknowledge the man is to roll some 20s and drink some 40s.

Boris Vallejo artwork, which was VERY associated with D&D....?????

Please, let us not revisit the testy days of the Vallejo/Frazetta schism. BOTH of these artists' ouvres are equally appropriate for airbrushing on the side of a van.

Did he drop any good loot?

I'd rather be a roleplaying nerd any day of the week than an antievolutionist or a religious extremist. OD&D rules!

Thanks Stardrake...
It is indeed sad news

Wow. reminds me of how damn old I am.
I wonder if I've gained that +1 wisdom bonus yet?
We'll miss ya,Dave.