Today is Gary Gygax's Birthday

[Thorsson]

And due to the fact that he once bought me a pint of beer I shall be raising a glass to him tonight. Feel free to join me...

[Herisheft]

[Blame The Rogue]

brilliant with numbers

lover of medieval fantasy

i hope all gamers understand how much we owe him

[sir_blacksoutalot]

And due to the fact that he once bought me a pint of beer I shall be raising a glass to him tonight. Feel free to join me...

Seriously? Thorsson, you lucky bastardo you - okay, I'll join you!!

[Maecius]

We'd all have to be playing outside or something if it wasn't for Gygax!

May he rest in peace among the gaming gods.

[Lockonnow]

Maecius there nothing like a good play like the out side if the weather is with us

[Nyeleni]

Ken St. Andre, the inventor of Tunnels & Trolls, said it best when he stated "what a great idea and what a lousy execution" about Dungeons & Dragons.

Sure, we owe Gygax and Dave Arneson for the pnp version of roleplaying, but unfortunately they invented levels and alignment too. And Thac0, what a wasted combat system. Three things I really don't care about.

For me the Basic Roleplaying System from Chaosium, used in RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu e.g. is the epitome of this genre.

[Thorsson]

Yes, seriously sir_blacksoutalot. It was at a D&D convention back in 1979. We'd played a module he'd written for the convention and the remains of my group were having a late beer (most people had already gone to bed) when GG joined us and bought a round. We had quite a long chat about D&D, which TBH has informed my thinking about it ever since.

Nyeleni - you have to remember that GG & DA were adapting an existing game when they made D&D, so it's not the same as for the imitators. Nevertheless, which game has more players? Which game has had more 'video game' franchises? Which has had several (albeit dreadful) movies? D&D must have got something right...

[Nyeleni]

Oh, I don't dispute the success. First in the niche usually does have an advantage over the competitors.
And it certainly helped that AD&D did have very interesting campaign settings. E.g. Forgotten Realms, but Birthright, Greyhawk, Dark Sun and Dragonlance were very entertaining too. I even liked the Lankhmar material.

Even after the failed last years of TSR and the botched episode of Wizards of the Coast and then the rule of Hasbro D&D is still the most known and most succesful game around. Although for me RuneQuest is ages better. Just the rules, I don't like Glorantha that much.

[Deathgrowl]

We'd all have to be playing outside or something if it wasn't for Gygax!

*shudder*

[fearknight2003]

We'd all have to be playing outside or something if it wasn't for Gygax!

*shudder*

We don't talk about that place anymore. Not since... the Druid Wars. *shudder*