Gary Gygax, the man who co-created Dungeons and Dragons, died today. Another piece of my happily misspent preadolescence and early teen years gone… I'm going to have to dig my copy of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide out of whatever box of books it ended up in a have a toast to Gary while I leaf through it… There are few games that stimulate the combined imagination and intellect in the way that Dungeons and Dragons did …
UPDATE: Damon sent me a link to this story on Slate — Jonathan Rubin sums up nicely what the game is and what it could mean to a life: "A dedicated bookworm, I devoured D&D's rule books. It was more important for me to know how to repel the undead or make a flesh golem than to watch baseball or learn karate. Becoming a dungeon master, the equivalent of a Ph.D. in geekery, gave me a sense of mastery and accomplishment, not to mention my first real leadership experience."
"A Ph.D. in geekery." I love it. Makes me wonder though, do I have Gygax to blame for the fact I still bear the social stigma of being a non-baseball-watcher in Red Sox fanatical New England?
