WereCabbages

Ernest Gary Gygax
July 27, 1938 - March 4th 2008

A sad sad day - our beloved Dungeon Master has passed, but his legacy of the game we love, and all of the other games it spawned, lives. Some of the Cabbages remember when Dungeons & Dragons was new on the block, and some of us only recent to the game. Here is some of what the Cabbages had to say about this man that had such an impact on our lives and our favorite hobby.

"..." - Tim Hitchcock

"..." - Michael Kortes

"I remember meeting Gary at my first (and so far only) GenCon experience, back in 2000. I was this long-haired, wild-eyed kid, less than a year out of High School, tooling around Milwaukee in the summer with my best friends, high on the feeling of being at the Con of Cons, my sweaty palms clutching my brand new 3rd Ed. PHB - signed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook & Skip Williams - as I tried to absorb the raw power of Game that was in the air through my damn PORES. While I was crossing the street from my hotel to the convention center, I noticed this older guy -big beard, whole deal - sitting outside and just enjoying the perfect weather. He had this small group of people around him, and he was chatting amicably with them. We wandered over, and basically stepped into the conversation as Mr. Gygax was explaining to a group of people the simplified history of the hobby. Star-struck, we just stood there - and the Stan Lee of D&D talked with every single person there. He signed my 3rd Ed. book, too: front page, where it says 'Based on the original Dungeons & Dragons game created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.' Sleep well, sir. You will be missed." - Clinton J. Boomer

"Meaning no disrespect to all the people wishing you to rest in peace or sleep well, Gary, Don't! Wherever you are, I hope you took your dice. There are a lot of folks there that have been waiting for you to run a game for them. Get behind your screen and roll some bones!" - Craig Shackleton

"I owe so much to Mr. Gygax. Not only did he create my most beloved past time, he helped mold much of the type of man I am today. It sounds a little melodramatic, but it's the honest truth. " - Steve Greer

"Saw the link on the Paizo page earlier at work and have been in a funk all day. And it was a good day, today, too. Im not sure if funk is the right word...more like super-nostalgic. I sat there remembering cracking open the red Basic book (and Keep on the Borderlands) and just finding myself. Id seen the Rankin/Bass Hobbit and RotK and read the Prydain Chronicles by Alexander and probably read 10 or so Savage Sword of Conan comic mags, but nothing transported me as far as those first rulebooks. I know my first copy of that rulebook was shot to hell by the time I bought another! His work probably did kill 50 of my characters (and more of my friends', I usually ended up being DM back then). But it brought so much more to life! So sorry to hear of his passing, but I figure he's free from pain now and thinking up new ideas to incoroprate into an awesome new game system or sitting somewhere with Moldvay and talking over old times." - Rob Manning

An End of An Era. Our Creator Is Fallen. A sad day folks. - Nicolas Logue