All Things Patrick - Working Hard to be Lazy!

I was catching up on my Order of the Stick (aka oots) reading and noticed a In Memoriam: E. Gary Gygax post under their News section. I couldn't believe it so read through it and ended up at a Wired article Gary Gygax, 'Father of D&D,' Dies at 69.

I got to meet E. Gary Gygax at 1 of the 2 GenCons I was able to go to (back before they moved it to Indianapolis). He was a surprise guest speaker at 1 of the Greyhawk discussions I went to. I was simply yet another fan asking him to sign whatever I had. Which as luck would have it... I only had a copy of Greyhawk Adventures, not even written by E. Gary Gygax, but instead written by James M. Ward. Several people gave me a bad time about it, but I pointed out that had I known he was going to be there I would have brought my World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting folio and boxed set (yes, I have both) for him to sign. I didn't want him to sign something that might disappear or get tossed later (like the GenCon flier) & the Greyhawk Adventures is a hard cover sourcebook.

Whether you knew him (by reputation or in person) or not he has affected the gaming industry as a whole - directly & indirectly. Because of the influence of the gaming industry on the TV shows and movies available today, I'd also say he's indirectly responsible for this as well. And no, I'm not referring to the absolutely hidious and irresponsible movie entitled Dungeons & Dragons...

I hate to start listing all the people who I think have had an impact on today's gaming geek as I'm afraid I'll miss somebody... I can however list a few major influences that I think almost everybody shares - J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard (and L. Sprague de Camp), Fritz Leiber, Isaac Asimov, C. S. Lewis, Robert A. Heinlein, Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas, and E. Gary Gygax.