Here's to You, Gary

Just a brief post to note that which I wasn't around to acknowledge a year ago today, the passing of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. Like so many of us, D&D had a profound effect on my life in 1978, and was the gateway to whole other ways of enjoying life and downtime. It fired my imagination and was actually my entry to the fantasy genre as a whole.

I was never actually a huge fan of D&D itself, but I might never have discovered other RPGs such as The Fantasy Trip, Tunnels & Trolls, Call of Cthulhu, Traveller and (of course!) Star Trek if not for that Holmes Basic D&D set. I was so "hardcore SF" (for a snotty 13 year old) that I might also have missed the works of Tolkien, Leiber, Howard, Lovecraft and others had it not been for D&D. It was also my portal to other hobbies such as painting miniatures and contributed to my artistic and writing talents that were developing at the time.

I actually "left the hobby" long ago, or rather took a place far on the sidelines by the mid-80s. It was only the hubbub over the pending release of 4E that really made me take a closer look at the hobby again. And it was shortly after I "came home" that Gary died. Fortunately, I've seen his spirit live on and grow through the old school renaissance, a place in the hobby where I feel quite comfortable. Sure, much has evolved since then and I find myself as enamored with games such as CthulhuTech, Thousand Suns, Hot War and Mongoose's Traveller as I do Swords & Wizardry and Spellcraft & Swordplay. And (of course!) Star Trek RPGs, old and new.

But, for me, it all goes back to those after school and endless summer sessions of Dungeons & Dragons, and that all started with Gary & TSR.

So here's to you, Gary. Thanks -- far too belated -- for everything!