Gary Gygax 1939(?)-2008

Yesterday Gary Gygax died. Gary was one of two creators of Dungeons & Dragons or D&D to those of us who do that sort of geeky thing. It felt a lot like when Gene Roddenberry died back in the mid 1990's. It hits closer to home than when a famous athlete or actor dies for some reason, maybe because science fiction and RPG's are more a part of who I am than baseball is. I dunno, it's weird.

Gygax was 69.

I have a couple of responses to that. First, that is only a year older than my Dad who just had his birthday yesterday. My Dad's not old and people his age have no business dying.

Second, the creator of the game that got me into all of this, that I was playing and painting miniatures for when I was 12, was my Dad's age. That rather changes the perspective on things. It would be like having your Dad be a rock star. Intellectually, I know that there are, in fact, rock stars who are Dad's age or older. Jagger isn't a spring chicken anymore. Still, I don't think of rock stars or gamers as being... in their late middle age.

To add a little levity to this otherwise dark topic...