Blog de Puree

It was a sad day on Tuesday for gamers worldwide when Gary Gygax, the inventor of the renowned role playing game Dungeons & Dragons, passed away. Rest in peace, Gary.

CNN.com reports that Gary and Dave Arneson developed the game in 1974. Miraculously, despite his declining health, Gary hosted D&D games at his home right up until January this year.

“Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that’s still growing in popularity.”

I happily count myself among the millions of worldwide fans who have played in the past. In Junior High, myself and a bunch of friends would huddle at a table in study hall creating character sheets, then spend entire weekend and vacation days and nights, regardless of the weather, playing out our adventures. I made some great friends through D&D and the game was a fantastic imaginative outlet for someone like myself. I even took it as a day camp activity one summer!

Now, I humbly admit that I play Magic, the Gathering, a fantasy card game, similar to the D&D concept—a spinoff game type, if you will—with some colleagues at work. Just like D&D, Magic players cover a wide spectrum of males from teen to ages 40+. And yes, there is a geek factor there too. But I’m OK with that.

I can’t wait for my son to be old enough so we can play D&D, Magic or some other game together. And when he becomes too cool for this old man, I’d rather see him hanging around the local gaming/hobby shop, The Toy Soldier, than on the street or looking for mischief.