To the Great D&D Module in the Sky

I learned today from SF Signal that Gary Gygax has passed away at the age of 69.* Gary's games and adventures certainly set the tone of my childhood and early adulthood years. I can say without a doubt that I would not be here (in publishing) if I had not been inspired by the works of Gary Gygax.

If you didn't know, Gary was co-creator for the Dungeons & Drgaons role-playing game, something I can say quite literally changed my life. Prior to D&D, my life had been all comic books and hmm, tether ball? Four square? But in second grade, my brother convinced me that I should ask for D&D for my birthday. So I did.

I've never been the same since. It was one of the few things my brother and I did together. I got all my friends into it. There were always new supplements, and particularly when you got to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), more rule books, modules,** dice, etc. so every holiday there was something to ask for.

AD&D also led to joining the Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) and the beginnings of a life-long love of science fiction and fantasy. I think it's fair to say that Gygax and AD&D had a huge impact on modern fantasy, as many of its writers were certainly players back in their formative years.

I played AD&D through college, but sadly sold all of my books when we moved out east. I still have a giant bag of dice, and some days still yearn for a couple hours to spend throwing six sided dice to generate characters.
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*I actually learned via IM from Scott Lais, former Asimov's/Analog/Alfred Hitchcock/Ellery Queen rights agent, but this was the first official notice I saw.

**with particular favorites being S1 Tomb of Horrors, S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, D1 - 3 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, The Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, Vault of the Drow, and G 1 - 3 Against the Giants. We had most of the modules that came out in the late 70s/early 80s, but shortly after then we started to make own adventures, which was the true power of the game.