Some of my fondest memories were when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and, believe it or not, when I was in the Army serving in the first Gulf War. D&D was how I and 5 or 6 of my buddies passed the time while we either waiting for things to start or waiting for our plane ride home (that was between the times when we were either practicing shooting stuff or actually doing the real thing).
So when I learned that Gary Gygax had passed away yesterday, I was sore wroth. Those games required so much invention and imagination for the creators and the players. I still have my Dungeon Master’s Guide, and I look at it with a smile and a recollection of an easier and more imaginative time (even if that time was in a desert a few thousand miles from home). Gary made life tolerable by helping me and my friends escape from our reality and enter a world of our minds. I believe D&D was a huge catalyst for my mind in the developing years (and I also believe those years go WAY beyond early childhood - and you can form your own opinions on whether that was a positive or negative).
For a VERY good article on Mr. Gygax’s passing, go read here.
Thanks for all the memories, Gary.
Vet
