E. Gary Gygax – 27 July, 1938 – 4 March 2008.

I’ve just learnt the news. I’m in somedegree of shock. I first became aware of Gary through his work, primarily the Dungeons & Dragons game. Later, much later, I got to know him through his e-mails and messageboard posts. We exchanged several posts on EN World over the past six or seven years.

He was always terribly kind to his fans; there was a thread on EN World devoted to a Q&A with him that lasted for years. I am sadly amused to see that his last post asserted that dwarven women had beards; an ongoing “argument” he had maintained for the better part of thirty years.

Although Gary was no longer directly connected with Dungeons & Dragons, by no means had he left gaming altogether. He ran sessions of Original D&D for his friends and fans, continued to work on his Lejendary Adventures RPG, designed and played card and boardgames, and otherwise found gaming-related things to do. Tracy Hickman has posted that Gary came to his last Killer Breakfast at GenCon and that his last memory of him was Gary “sitting at my gaming table, surrounded by fans and having a great time.”

I’m terribly sad that I’ll never be able to know Gary in person and never have him as a DM. When I design D&D adventures for my friends, the classic adventures that Gary designed are never far from my mind, inspiring me many years after they were first written.

Goodbye, Gary. I’ll miss you.