Gary Gygax R.I.P.

OK, so I read the news that Gary Gygax passed away. If you're a nerd of a certain age you'll know who Gary is. If you're not a nerd or too young/old let me just say that Gary is the man who created Dungeon's & Dragons.

When I was about 8 years old my life was composed of four primary elements: Marvel Comics, Dr. Who, G.I. Joe and D&D.

I never actually played very much D&D at that age. Occasionally my older brothers would let me in on a game but they were considerably older and, I imagine, concerned that I'd tell on them for swearing and other such "bad behavior". Of course, not playing much didn't keep me from pouring over the books, especially The Monster Manual, with my friends. I also made endless characters with an assortment of names that only I thought were funny.

The only time I really did role-play regularly was when I was in my late teens in Eau Claire. There was a group of guys who got together weekly. We played Champions, a super hero role playing game and had a great time with it. I wasn't as social of a dude back then as I am now, so every chance to get out was a good thing. It was an odd group composed of uber-nerds and frat boys alike, but it had a good group dynamic.

I had a lot of fun back then and the guy who ran the group was really good. When he moved away my buddy Shawn and I would run a few adventures here and there but mostly we focused on playing Warhammer 40,000 and other board games.

Since then, I've tried playing various Role Playing games a few times but none of the groups I've played with had that "old magic" and, quite frankly, I just don't have the time. These games take a lot of time and I'd rather be playing music, doing yoga, playing Wii, etc.

I did want to write a little note here to thank Gary Gygax for all the joy he brought to nerds the world over!