Gary Gygax

I've heard the news that Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D, and founder of TSR, died this morning.

I have nothing very deep to say on this. I feel that many other blogs have said much more than I could. The Wizards of The Coast D&D site has an obituary on it's welcome page. Paizo's Blog has a post from their head publisher remembering him. Kenzer and Company has posted their "Eulogy for a Gamer" on their site as well. No doubt countless other sites and blogs across the net have also made posts, comments, etc.

For me, I will say that he did not simply create a game and found a company, but helped start a whole genre in gaming that has survived, grown, and created new genres itself. Without D&D, there would be no other role-playing games, likely no collectable card games, and no World of Warcraft. But more than just a genre, it kicked off a whole community of gamers of all ages. One thing I don't often think of from my past days of working in a comic book and gaming store, is just how wide a range of people came in who played RPGs.