Gary Gygax, 1938 to 2008 > Previous Editions General > GROUP

D&D was not my first RPG. Although I was aware of it, it did not introduce me to Role-Playing. Palladium's Robotech and TMNT did that. Villians and Vigilantes followed and then I got my hands on the Red Box and while I had dallied with RPGs up to then, I really fell in love with the hobby at that point.

It grew out of my burgeoning interest in fantasy and science fiction lit, and comics. This was the time when I read Dune and the Hobbit and Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I had Splinter of the Mind's Eye and loved it. I was 12 and I had my imagination was being fueled by the wonder of all these fantastic and thrilling stories and I was looking for an outlet.

At the time, I was also deep into Choose Your Own Adventure books. They were like the books I was reading but they were interactive. I got to choose what the heroes did next, so I was part of the story. I loved it. I got to be Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in Transformer books and Snake-Eyes and Flint in GI Joe. Then I got my hand on some that were inspired by AD&D and then I got to cast spells and fight dragons.

Little did I know I was playing roleplaying games. I just didn't have a group of friends to play with or dice to roll. They'd come later and by then, my allowance was squarely split between AD&D rulebooks, comics, books, and Transformers.

I spent some time in Krynn at first, when I got some friends together to play AD&D. I DMed at first, and we didn't do a great job of playing by the rules, but we enjoyed rolling up characters, drawing dungeons on graph paper, and just making it all up as we went along. Eventually, I made my own worlds to play in, as did my friends. We all took turns DMing and we'd make up our own games after a while, but we'd always come back to AD&D. Krynn had a special place in my heart then, and it still does though I have not visited in some time.

Eventually, my friends and I drifted apart. The games stopped, but I was still interested. AD&D lost its sparkle for a while as I found other games and past times to occupy my time. New friends joined the circle and we found other things to do with our time. Then there were other RPGs and video games, and graduation then college. I lost touch with AD&D for a long time. Then 3rd Edition came out and it was like finding a long lost friend. We bought the new books and we played it I felt like I was home.

I don't play as much as I used to. In fact, it's been dry for years, but I have the books and I remember and I continue to dream and imagine great evil that needs to be vanquished by mighty heroes and I know I'm going to play again and I can't wait.

Gary Gygax was a part of making this all happen. For that, I owe him many thanks. I grieve that he has left us, but I take heart that the game that is such an important part of my life thrives and that we can all let our imaginations flourish at the kitchen table.

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