WWFC, Gary Gygax, and B5

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Thanks so much to mickeydaily for the inspiration! Printed cards available in my Cafepress shop.

In case any of you haven't heard yet, Gary Gygax died on Tuesday; he was 69. Gygax helped create the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons.

My D&D characters back in my university days:

Rowena, a magic user: My very first D&D character. Somewhat wimpy because I didn't really know what I was doing. Tom West's campaign.

Charity, a hobbit thief: Andy Beaton's campaign.

I also had characters in campaigns by John Chew (took place in Japan), Reid Ellis (a Heroes campaign), and Mark Thompson (Xlaw game, I think). My favourite campaigns were ones with a strong storytelling element, rather than the "kill lots of monsters and get gold" focus.

Anyway, I added a short message to the BoardGameGeek thread about Gary Gygax. Reading through all the posts, including some of Gary's friends, it's clear that his death has affected many.

Here's an excerpt from my own post:

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I still remembering eagerly waiting for my copy of the original D&D boxed set to arrive in the mail when I ordered it after reading about it in Games magazine. I also still have my original players' manual.

I tried playing with my family (I was the DM, though I didn't really know what I was doing) but it was too scary for my younger brother and sister so we never played it again.

I went to my high school Games Club because I heard they were playing D&D, but quit when it became clear that the guys were incredibly uncomfortable with having a girl playing with them. It was only in university that I started actually playing the game on a regular basis.

Like many others who have already posted, D&D was a big influence in my life in my younger years, both in the friends I made -many of whom are still my friends- and the worlds it opened up for me in terms of storytelling and personal growth; I was pretty shy; roleplaying helped me come out of my shell.

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Condolences to Gary's family and friends.

B5V Updates:

Warning: The following posts contain -many- Babylon Five spoilers.

Season 1, Episode 19: A Voice In The Wilderness (part 1)

Season 1, Episode 19: A Voice In The Wilderness (part 2)



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