LJ Week 17 Open Topic:The Dice are Silent
Mar. 4th, 2008 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerI found out through a friend that Ernest Gary Gygax had lost his saving throw verse death (2nd edition rule of course). This news stunned me. I knew through the grapevine that he had been in poor health for a while now. He had some serious medical problems that he seemed to be dealing with for the most part but still considering the number of medical problems that he had been having, it surprises me that I am not writing this sooner.
This is not really about Gary Gygax. I met him a couple of times over the years. I was inarticulate the first time because he was fri'king Gary Gygax. I was better subsequent times that our paths crossed. He loved the fans and listened to so many tales told of things that happened in people's campaigns and to their characters. I admired his patience with people even when you could tell he was really tired.
This is about what Gary Gygax did for me. The first game I played that he created was Chainmail which was the precursor to D&D. I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons through my high school science fiction club and a party that we threw that some gamers came to by invitation and we all arranged to get together and game. They brought the box set of D&D and ran us through the basic rules. My first character was a pretty generic fighter that got killed about half way through the dungeon. But I had a lot of fun. We agreed to get back together in two weeks and try it again. And we started gaming about every two weeks.
I remember the excitement when we found out about Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. We went to the "Sword of the Phoenix" when the books were released and got a set. Which put a gamer back a pretty penny but the system was a beautiful thing. We passed the books around and learned the new rules and got out our dice to try it. That was the real beginning of my love for role-playing games.
Gaming became a touchstone for me. I can't tell you how many friends I have made over the table. I can't tell you how many games or campaigns I have been a part of. Gaming became a part of me and still is.
One of the longer campaigns that I played, I had a ranger who was pretty kicking stats-wise. But he had no luck what so ever or rather my dice hated me for a time. He ended up with a dragon shaped scar on his face and left arm which was critical for an adventure but really knocked the hit points down. Then there was the night that we were talking about homosexuality because of some stuff that had happened on campus that week. So we figured out the statistical probability of being gay and rolled for each of our characters. And all of the sudden I was running a gay ranger. I still have a fondness for that character. Heck, I probably still have his sheets. But that is D&D, you create and play in the world of your creation with the rules as set down in the rule books.
Yes, I made the dice bag that my original dice are still housed in. I branched out from D&D and did some play testing over the years for GuRPs and the original Vampire; The Masquerade way back in the late 80s and early 90s. I have played a lot of different role playing games in my day but it all comes back to D&D for me. That was my first love.
My sympathies are with Gary's family and extended family.
I got to thank him for giving me such a wonderful creative outlet and for that I am grateful. I think I'm going to see if I know where my dice bag is and, if my brother hasn't already taken them, get my books from my parent's house which included the Deities and DemiGods that was recalled along with the original box set and a very old copy of Chainmail. He created something very special that will live on far into the future.
Game On!
This is not really about Gary Gygax. I met him a couple of times over the years. I was inarticulate the first time because he was fri'king Gary Gygax. I was better subsequent times that our paths crossed. He loved the fans and listened to so many tales told of things that happened in people's campaigns and to their characters. I admired his patience with people even when you could tell he was really tired.
This is about what Gary Gygax did for me. The first game I played that he created was Chainmail which was the precursor to D&D. I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons through my high school science fiction club and a party that we threw that some gamers came to by invitation and we all arranged to get together and game. They brought the box set of D&D and ran us through the basic rules. My first character was a pretty generic fighter that got killed about half way through the dungeon. But I had a lot of fun. We agreed to get back together in two weeks and try it again. And we started gaming about every two weeks.
I remember the excitement when we found out about Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. We went to the "Sword of the Phoenix" when the books were released and got a set. Which put a gamer back a pretty penny but the system was a beautiful thing. We passed the books around and learned the new rules and got out our dice to try it. That was the real beginning of my love for role-playing games.
Gaming became a touchstone for me. I can't tell you how many friends I have made over the table. I can't tell you how many games or campaigns I have been a part of. Gaming became a part of me and still is.
One of the longer campaigns that I played, I had a ranger who was pretty kicking stats-wise. But he had no luck what so ever or rather my dice hated me for a time. He ended up with a dragon shaped scar on his face and left arm which was critical for an adventure but really knocked the hit points down. Then there was the night that we were talking about homosexuality because of some stuff that had happened on campus that week. So we figured out the statistical probability of being gay and rolled for each of our characters. And all of the sudden I was running a gay ranger. I still have a fondness for that character. Heck, I probably still have his sheets. But that is D&D, you create and play in the world of your creation with the rules as set down in the rule books.
Yes, I made the dice bag that my original dice are still housed in. I branched out from D&D and did some play testing over the years for GuRPs and the original Vampire; The Masquerade way back in the late 80s and early 90s. I have played a lot of different role playing games in my day but it all comes back to D&D for me. That was my first love.
My sympathies are with Gary's family and extended family.
I got to thank him for giving me such a wonderful creative outlet and for that I am grateful. I think I'm going to see if I know where my dice bag is and, if my brother hasn't already taken them, get my books from my parent's house which included the Deities and DemiGods that was recalled along with the original box set and a very old copy of Chainmail. He created something very special that will live on far into the future.
Game On!
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 09:27 am (UTC)I wasn't a big D&D player, I found my favourites to be Vampire the Masquerade, Cyberpunk, MERP (Gotta love those critical hit tables), and MechWarrior.
But back to the lousy dice. I went through a period where my dice rolling was atrocious. Nine times out of ten, I'd be rolling crap scores (low when I needed high, high when I need low). So, during a game of Cyberpunk (IIRC), I took... steps.
I applied a pair of Mole grips to one particular D10. It shattered into a bajillion (well several) pieces. I then sprinkled the pieces into my dice bag (in reality, an old Kodak camera bag). I went to my game club the next week and showed them the pieces. That night, ny dice were unbeatable. The faces around the table were astounded and I was victorious!
Make dice afraid! Crush their brothers!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-07 09:49 pm (UTC)A friend of mine has notoriously terrible dice- UNLESS his character is by himself doing something for which their are no witnesses. Over two years gaming with this guy and it was that way consistently! Same friend who hosted the game, and through which I met my hubby...
no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 02:59 pm (UTC)Love the cat armor! Used to have that site bookmarked but lost it long ago, never think to Google it. (Memo to me: Google it.)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 03:11 pm (UTC)Game on indeed!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 06:55 pm (UTC)So many years, and so many games later, I am a DM in my own right... but I still tell 'war stories' about those first days of gaming with love... My first AD&D character ever, a druid, still holds a special place in my now overloaded cast of PCs... we have revived an old adventure from many years ago and are breathing new life into it... my husband even made the whole group some very nice chain mail steel dice bags to commemorate our years as a group...
*raises dragon beer stein*
To Gary!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 05:08 am (UTC)Cool entry!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 04:02 pm (UTC)I think that somewhere in my parents' house is an original box, opened once, and never used. I couldn't find anyone to play with me back then, and by the time I did meet people to play with, we were well into other editions :)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 04:28 pm (UTC)He would love this entry (I know this because I'm by no means a gamer (much to his chagrin) and I thought it a lovely tribute)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-07 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-07 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-07 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-09 03:38 am (UTC)Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-10 01:54 pm (UTC)