Todd and Tyler Unauthorized Forums

ob1 · 03-07-2008

A magazine once placed game designer Gary Gygax #1 on a list of the "50 biggest nerds of all time." In a world where nerds increasingly appear to be not so much a subculture or despised out-group, but rather a prototype for the humankind of the future, this constitutes an impressive accolade. Nerds run the information society: If their pleasures, habits and imperatives are destined to be everyone's, then Mr. Gygax, the Dungeons & Dragons creator who died Tuesday at the age of 69, will only loom larger as time passes.

Gygax was a pivotal figure in the long, long story of how humans spend their leisure time. The years after the Second World War saw the 1930s fad for board games like Monopoly taken up and carried to a new level with the development of sophisticated war-themed games such as Diplomacy and Gettysburg. As a young man, Gygax was part of an international "military simulation" community that played these games, augmenting and improving them with homebr ewed modifications. He noticed -- you couldn't not notice-- that players needed only modest supplements to the imagination in order to submerge themselves thoroughly in whatever role they were playing. Give a grown man a miniature tank and a map of Europe and tell him his name is General Heinz Guderian, and before long he'll be shouting imprecations in a Prussian accent and encircling Smolensk.

Gygax, his co-creator David Arneson, and other contributors learned by trial and error what makes for an entertaining, life-enriching game. Ideally, it has rules for combat and movement that are quickly learned but allow for sophisticated gameplay, and it has pieces that are fun to handle and customize. But gradually, as they worked on what was to become Dungeons & Dragons, they found that their idea of what a game could be was evolving still further. What if the roleplaying that arises naturally in any game becomes the actual object? What if there are no winners and no losers -- just fictional characters, interacting and completing quests? What if we let players create and develop those fictional identities, not just for one night or one adventure, but for an indefinitely long life?

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Full Article: The ultimate dungeon master
News Source: National Post | Canadian News, Financial News And Opinion

iwccgrad · 03-07-2008

Rest In Peace Gary Gygax we are not worthy

dracula · 03-10-2008

Nerds all over the world are wearing new pocket protectors in his honor.....

Thender · 03-10-2008

03-07-2008	#2
iwccgrad Funny Bone Doorman Listens: Z92 - Mornings Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Omaha Age: 28 Posts: 400	Re: D&D creator dead at 69 Rest In Peace Gary Gygax we are not worthy __________________ "I popped one of my balls.....no one of my look balls" - Craig Peters

03-10-2008	#3
dracula Your Mom hates you, she told me so.... Listens: Z92 - Mornings Join Date: Aug 2005 Age: 45 Posts: 1,224	Re: D&D creator dead at 69 Nerds all over the world are wearing new pocket protectors in his honor..... __________________ I just plunked down 5 G's on Puss--ob1

03-10-2008	#4
Thender Always riding the ragged edge of disaster. Listens: Z92 - Mornings Join Date: May 2005 Age: 38 Posts: 18,155	Re: D&D creator dead at 69 __________________ Two in the mouth is worth one in the bush. 4th place, 2008 TNTU.net college fantasy football... Bud came in 6th...

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03-07-2008	#1
ob1 Sith Chef Listens: Z92 - Mornings Join Date: May 2005 Location: CBIA Age: 38 Posts: 5,813	D&D creator dead at 69 A magazine once placed game designer Gary Gygax #1 on a list of the "50 biggest nerds of all time." In a world where nerds increasingly appear to be not so much a subculture or despised out-group, but rather a prototype for the humankind of the future, this constitutes an impressive accolade. Nerds run the information society: If their pleasures, habits and imperatives are destined to be everyone's, then Mr. Gygax, the Dungeons & Dragons creator who died Tuesday at the age of 69, will only loom larger as time passes. Gygax was a pivotal figure in the long, long story of how humans spend their leisure time. The years after the Second World War saw the 1930s fad for board games like Monopoly taken up and carried to a new level with the development of sophisticated war-themed games such as Diplomacy and Gettysburg. As a young man, Gygax was part of an international "military simulation" community that played these games, augmenting and improving them with homebr ewed modifications. He noticed -- you couldn't not notice-- that players needed only modest supplements to the imagination in order to submerge themselves thoroughly in whatever role they were playing. Give a grown man a miniature tank and a map of Europe and tell him his name is General Heinz Guderian, and before long he'll be shouting imprecations in a Prussian accent and encircling Smolensk. Gygax, his co-creator David Arneson, and other contributors learned by trial and error what makes for an entertaining, life-enriching game. Ideally, it has rules for combat and movement that are quickly learned but allow for sophisticated gameplay, and it has pieces that are fun to handle and customize. But gradually, as they worked on what was to become Dungeons & Dragons, they found that their idea of what a game could be was evolving still further. What if the roleplaying that arises naturally in any game becomes the actual object? What if there are no winners and no losers -- just fictional characters, interacting and completing quests? What if we let players create and develop those fictional identities, not just for one night or one adventure, but for an indefinitely long life? --- Full Article: The ultimate dungeon master News Source: National Post \| Canadian News, Financial News And Opinion