This has been a sad fortnight. It began with the death of Gary Gygax, who, though I never met him, I’d spent enough time corresponding with over the internet (thanks, EN World!) to consider a friend… not to mention one of the most influential people in my life.

Then, last weekend, I was informed that one of my good friends, Rob Reid, had collapsed and passed away. He was 39, and we’d spent a lot of time over the past two years gaming together. Rob joined my Living Greyhawk campaign when I was running it at Card Crazy, and he’d later joined my Paizo Adventure Path campaign that I ran on Friday nights. Rob was someone that you delighted to have gaming with you; he was funny and kind, and, most of all, he was good company. I miss him terribly.

Amongst all this, the games have gone on. There’s this odd dichotomy: what you’re feeling about your friend, and then the joy you feel when playing the games. Life goes on, but it’s not quite the same life.

All of this has meant that my planned articles on wargaming for gleemax went by the wayside. Sorry about that, Keithric!

The feeling that it’s the end of an era for my gaming life has been quite strong recently. I got back into regular D&D play when 3rd edition was released in 2000, and although the original group of myself as DM, Ernie, Gofa and Shane (all people I met playing Magic at Card Crazy) has long since dissolved, I’m still playing with people who joined that group. My faltering first steps with Living Greyhawk allowed me to meet Martin, Peggy and Bradford, and though we decided not to pursue LG together, we did keep meeting for other RPGs… and it’s been a great few years that looks like continuing for a while yet. We did all of Age of Worms together, and we’re now in the middle of Savage Tide and Dawn of Defiance.

Living Greyhawk did continue at Card Crazy, however, and more friends were made there, including, and especially, Rob. But the Living Greyhawk campaign is now over, and Friday afternoons are mostly game-free.

Card Crazy is unlikely to survive the year, it seems, so the one place I managed to meet most of my gaming friends will soon be gone. Honestly, I’m not surprised – it’s been struggling for the past year or more – but it’s one more sign of the end of an era. Sure, not everything is going away, but it’s been a strange fortnight.