The game Gygax co-created became part of youth sub-culture
Gary Gygax, co-creator of the first role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, has died at the age of 69.
Gygax, who developed the game in 1974 with Dave Arneson, had been suffering from health problems for several years.
Famous for its mythical creatures and odd-shaped dice, Dungeons and Dragons was an instant success that spawned a slew of video games, books and films.
Gygax was also a author who wrote numerous fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.
He died on Tuesday at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, leaving a wife and six children.
Skills and abilities
Without the creation of D&D, the video game landscape would be very different indeed
Technology editor Darren Waters
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Ernest Gary Gygax grew up in Chicago, moving to Lake Geneva at the age of eight.
His father, a Swiss immigrant, read fantasy books that got his son hooked on the genre, according to Gygax's widow Gail.
Gygax was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s when he began playing war-themed board games.
It was these that inspired him and Arneson to develop Dungeons and Dragons, in which players create fictional characters by rolling dice that determine their skills and abilities.
An estimated 20 million people worldwide have played the game, with more than $1bn (£505m) spent on equipment and books.
D&D rules grew out of war gaming in the early 1970s
"I thought we would sell about 50,000 copies," Gygax told the BBC News website in 2004.
Gygax and Arneson sold their rights to Dungeons and Dragons in the 1990s, when the game's popularity began to wane.
According to his widow, though, he hosted weekly games as recently as January.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman," she said.
RIPG Gary , you created a great board game and a Genre of gaming . may you have many D12 's and D20's in your favor now you are rolling with the big DM in the skies .
to you RTS and FPS guys , this is one of the creators that died , its like losing the inventor of chess or wolfenstein . don't care for the game fine , but respect this thread
Raemon | TFL
Bad day for RPG gamers... RIP with a Rose +5
[TFL]Temmu
dam thats sad... a very big loss for all of the RPG and RTS community =\... RIP Gary
Radical_TFL
while this is sad i dont think its going to affect dnd much, considering how little he probably worked on any of the books in the recent years.
[TFL]BigBANGtheory
Indeed a sad loss, as a fan of AD&D 2nd edition and countless RPG games the guy was a true master and set the gaming scene for generations.
well the paladin is good vs the undeath , especially deathknights so MRBones has a challenge .however i would have added a necromancer , he can revive party members
