Gary Gygax passes on

From various online sources:

Reports from numerous sources are that Gary Gygax, one of the pioneers of the RPG genre, has passed away. Monte Cook and others have posted their thoughts about the man and his impact.

Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American writer and game designer, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founding the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye in 1974. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of the role-playing game.

Gygax died the morning of March 4, 2008, at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was in semi-retirement, having almost suffered a heart attack after receiving incorrect medication to prevent further strokes after those on April 1 and May 4, 2004. He was diagnosed with an inoperable abdominal aortic aneurysm. Even while his health failed, gaming remained very much a part of his life. Gygax was still active in the gaming community and had active Q & A forums on gaming websites such as Dragonsfoot and EN World.

"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

Unlike a lot of the people who posted on Monte Cook's blog, I had no personal affiliation with the man. But all they said were true -- he was the Father of RPG. Having played Dungeons & Dragons from the red basic set, I can credit much of my personal character from the games I ran (as a DM) and the roles that I played (as a player character). A lot of the better personal aspects in that matter.

Many of my random encounters will stop harassing PCs for the moment, and pay their respects to a great man.