A Tribute to Gary Gygax

IGN’s Vault Hub has put together a tribute to Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax (here and here), which includes comments from several prominent figures from the tabletop and video game industries. Some of the comments to follow:

Wizards of the Coast: His innovation created an entirely new type of hobby that now attracts millions of players worldwide to face-to-face and online role-playing games,” a company spokesperson said. “Gygax was a grand storyteller renowned for his unique style, sprawling ‘Gygaxian’ adventures, and the fantastic World of Greyhawk. He inspired generations of players, designers, and authors, and he will be sorely missed by legions of fans. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka: It would be hard to imagine where role playing games would be without the direct influence of Gary Gygax and his work on D&D. There would still be a BioWare, but there wouldn’t be games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, both set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. What Gary Gygax did with his part in the creation of D&D was to help to ignite the imagination of an entire generation and inspire us to pass on the experience of exciting exploration, gripping combat, engaging progression and great stories and characters to our fans. I remember one time many years ago when I was demoing a BioWare product at a tradeshow, and I had the pleasure of meeting both Gail and Gary Gygax, and had the honor of signing Gary’s copy of Baldur’s Gate and I still have his signed business card from that meeting, proudly displayed on my office wall! He told me in that meeting how he and his family were all playing through Baldur’s Gate multiplayer together, which was a huge thrill for me to hear.

BioWare President Greg Zeschuk: Without D&D’s direct influence it would be hard to predict if role playing games as we know them would exist at all. For the ancient Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds, to the Eye of the Beholder series and finally to BioWare’s work on Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights we have Gary Gygax to thank. If it wasn’t for him an entire swath of classic computer games wouldn’t exist. Thankfully the seeds he planted many years ago have led to a vibrant and exciting genre of games that still command attention and fans from around the world.

Videogame Developer Warren Spector: Gary Gygax. Gone. The news that he had passed hit me harder than I expected. Like most folks in the game business, my introduction to the hobby was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I learned more about medieval history as a result of that game, more about my friends, maybe even more about myself, than I did from most anything else I’ve done in my life. And, like most folks in the game business, I owe my career to Gary and his co-author, Dave Arneson — I truly believe that. Look at the history of the electronic games and you won’t find many non-D&D’ers among the pioneers.

I spent a couple of years at TSR, working on, among other things, the 2nd Edition of AD&D. It was a while after Gary’s departure from the company, so I never actually worked with him. But our paths crossed a few times and he was always gracious and brimming with creative energy — no surprise that he helped create a game and a hobby built around collaboration, designed to encourage unfettered player creativity. D&D has had its enemies over the years, but what most folks don’t appreciate is how special, how ground-breaking it was as the first medium of expression to turn anyone who played into a storyteller, into an author, into a creator. Not a bad legacy for a pioneering game guy…