Ur-nerd Gary Gygax, creator Dungeons and Dragons has passed. Nerd World links to an excellent Believer article on Gygax and the D&D phenomenon. While Star Trek and Star Wars are obviously critical in the growth of mass nerd culture, Gygax is their equal in importance. Because his influence took place behind closed doors and not on the big screen, he won't get the same recognition, which is too bad.
The article wonders whether D&D will become a passing thing in the coming years. I doubt that is the case, with over $1B in sales in recent years. And one of our female friends is making up for being excluded by the boys by serving as the Dungeon Master for her son.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I've got the Dungeon Master's Guide
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The name Gygax brings back memories of playing D&D -those are good memories. But I seem to remember enjoying the game but not liking Gygax very much. I don't know if it was the novels he wrote or what, but I seem to be conflicted on how I feel about Gygax.
He did write a few books that sound like transcriptions of actual games, didn't he? A little like Salvatore in that respect.
Yes it would appear he wrote such novels.
http://paizo.com/store/paizo/planetStories/v5748btpy80hs
I have to admit that I would not want
to read a novel with a "cunning detective-sorcerer."
It shouldn't be too surprising that someone who built a stat heavy game didn't win any Hugos or Nebulas for his writing.
Post a Comment