For those of you who do not know, Gary Gygax, the father of D&D, died at 69.

Like many great people throughout time, he did not invent something from scratch. He created the world of Dungeons and Dragons from the archetypes that J.R.R. Tolkien imagined. This in no way diminishes his achievements, for millions of lives have been affected.

To me, and plenty of other kids who preferred brain over brawn, he gave us an outlet for our creativity. He created a world where the only limit was your imagination. A world where guidelines were given, you fleshed out the details, and was created with a simple 5-word magical incantation; “You are in a bar…”

I’m sure there will be many other posts like this (but this one is mine) around the Internet today, and my self-serving nature merely wants to contribute. Boring you with details on how he affected my life would be completely pointless; those of you who played Dungeons and Dragons understand, those of you who didn’t, won’t.

To Gary, let’s just hope the deity you meet in the after-life isn’t begrudging you for being left out of Deities and Demi-Gods.