Late last night I discovered that Gary Gygax had died at the age of 69. For those who are unaware, he was a co-creator of the seminal role playing game, Dungeons and Dragons. There's bound to be a lot of commentary about the game and its creator's influence on contemporary culture, but I'd like to pause and reflect on my own role-playing roots.
Being a fantasy reader for some time, I really took to D&D. I remember that it took a while to get a group together, and I only played occasionally in high school. In college, though, I played quite a bit, and it was really fun. But my fun with D&D led directly to my exposure with the White Wolf brand games. These are far more mature, dark, and thematic.
Aside from the games, though, my role playing hobby had a far more significant effect. And I'm not talking about the rather large amount of money that I sunk into the various books over the years--my collection is worth a small fortune. It's also not the voluminous detailed rules, and my role as a rules-lawyer, which probably had some influence on becoming a real lawyer.
Instead, I've met some of my oldest and closest friends while gaming, and many of my fondest memories are gaming-related. Aside from our various in-game antics, which were considerable, I recall coming home in the wee hours of the morning after being up for hours with my friends, drinking bad coffee at the local greasy spoon truck stop after marathon sessions, and many other fun times.
Man, that was fun. Thanks for the great times, Gary.
I wonder if there's a game somewhere nearby?
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