I saw at Uncle’s that Gary Gygax died yesterday.
Anarchangel knew him and has a good remembrance.
I never met the man, and although I enjoyed the original D&D set I got for my birthday in fourth grade, I wasn’t terribly impressed. That all changed when I saw a copy of the original Dungeon Masters Guide, or “DMG” (at the original Price Club in San Diego, of all places) and my parents bought it for me. It’s still an impressive piece of writing.
For one, the vocabulary was not merely adult, but erudite. I learned all sorts of new words — from context, which shows how skilled Gygax was as a writer.
For another, this is the only rulebook I’ve ever read that made you think. This was not merely because of its subject matter (creating worlds; heady stuff) but also because it was written at an adult level, for adults. So I would dare say that all we Dungeon Masters who got our hands on it at a young age shared the experience of having the bar for comprehension set pretty high. (It was a bit more of a puzzle for me, because I didn’t get my hands on the Players’ Handbook and Monster Manual for another three years). All the “revisions” in later years were noticeably “dumbed down,” which was understandable from a marketing perspective, but still a great disappointment.
If nothing else, Gygax’s short paragraphs on alignment in the DMG are little masterpieces. These paragraphs were the subject of much study and musing, and ignited my fascination with philosophy. Yes, AD&D could be characterized as a game about good versus evil (or law vs. chaos), but none of my game worlds were ever that simplistic; nor do I think Gygax intended them to be. The idea that evil (or chaos) had a viewpoint was a new concept for me, but it was critical to good gameplay.
Gygax’s effect on American culture was huge, even though popular culture, and the media in particular, never “got it.” Sadly, they probably never will, either.
Thank you, Mr. Gygax, for sharing your creation with the world.