I Rolled a Critical Hit! Today is Gary Gygax Day!
I Rolled a Critical Hit!
My fellow nerds, it’s Gary Gygax Day! There are few things on this planet I could discuss more than Dungeons and Dragons and Gary Gygax is the grandfather of it all. From Stranger Things to Game of Thrones, all of these would not exist without the imagination of D&D and Gary Gygax.
According to Nationaltoday.com, Ernest Gary Gygax and his pal, Dave Arneson first created the game “Chainmail”. This was the groundwork for “Dungeons and Dragons”. Which was named by Cindy, Gary’s daughter.
Gary and Anderson shopped the idea to publishers which were initially rejected by publishers. So Gary printed the books by hand and played in his basement. Eventually, the concept started to spread like wildfire and in less than a year, Gary and Dave would sell the books. 4 years later, Dave founded the Tactical Studies Rules (T.S.R.), which later published the book.
As more and more fans wanted more rules to fix unanswered questions, the advanced version was released “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” (A.D. & D.)
One of my favorite stories about Gary is the creation of the “Tomb of Horrors” module (a one-off adventure usually). The original “Tomb of Horrors” was unveiled by Gygax during a convention in 1975. Skullsinthestars.com quotes Gygax as originally creating the “Tomb of Horrors” to challenge his gaming groups that had scoffed at normal D&D adventures and wanted a challenge. Gygax said:
“There were several very expert players in my campaign, and this was meant as yet another challenge to their skill — and the persistence of their theretofore-invincible characters.”
Dungeons and Dragons spawned into its own multi-verse of worlds from deserts, fairy worlds and even space! And D&D has been on the battle lines of making their game accessible to everyone. Stereotypes are out the window and stories and characters become so much more personal to the individual player.
With Stranger Things, Witcher, and Game of Thrones generating so much interest in Fantasy, D&D has wasted no time capitalizing on the popularity. Famous celebrities like Vin Diesel, Joe Manganiello, The Big Show (a common guest of Joe Manganiello) and even the cast from Stranger Things all play.
Celebrate you Gygaxians with a roll of the dice tonight! Hopefully, your whole party will actually show up! Dungeon Masters, you know what I’m talking about.
