Gary Gygax

Biography

His gaming experiences began at the age of five and six with playing pinochle and chess (taught by his mother and brother respectively mid 1940s) as well as early developments of what is now considered to be live action role-playing together with Jim Rasch as referee/game master, John Rasch and Don Kaye as fellow participants. At about the same time Gary began educating himself in Sci-Fi novels with Ray Bradbury's The Veldt in Bluebook and Robert E. Howard?s Conan the Conqueror.

Related Topics:
Pinochle - Chess - 1940s - Live action role-playing - Jim Rasch - Referee - Game master - John Rasch - Don Kaye - Sci-Fi - Ray Bradbury - Robert E. Howard

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"I've been reading fantasy since 1950." {{mn|Gamespy|7}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was in 1953 that Gary Gygax first started playing miniature war games with Don Kaye.

Related Topics:
1953 - Miniature war games

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The game Gettysburg from the Avalon Hill company captured Gygax's attention. It was from the same company that he placed an order for the first blank hexagon mapping sheets that were available. He was also looking for new ways to generate random numbers. Platonic Solids would be his new dice.

Related Topics:
Gettysburg - Avalon Hill - Platonic Solids

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1966, the International Federation of Wargamers would be created by Gary Gygax and others.{{mn|TSRHistory|6}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1967, a 20-person gaming-get-together was organized by Gary Gygax at his home including the basement sand table. This was later called "Gen Con 0" as it led to the start of the annual Gen Con gaming convention the following year, which is now the world's largest and longest-running annual hobby-game gathering. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}} Gen Con is also where Gary Gygax would meet Brian Blume and Dave Arneson. Brian Blume would later enter into TSR as partner with Don Kaye and Gary.

Related Topics:
1967 - Gen Con - Gaming convention - Brian Blume

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"I'm very fond of the Medieval period, the Dark Ages in particular. We started playing in the period because I had found appropriate miniatures. I started devising rules where what the plastic figure was wearing was what he had. If he had a shield and no armor, then he just has a shield. Shields and half-armor = half-armor rules; full-armor figure = full armor rules. I did rules for weapons as well." {{mn|Gamespy|7}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gygax and Jeff Perren wrote Chainmail, a miniature wargame from which D&D was developed, in 1969. {{mn|TSRHistory|6}}

Related Topics:
Chainmail - Miniature wargame - 1969

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Together with Don Kaye, Mike Reese and Leon Tucker, a military miniatures society would be created under the name Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) which at the time also met in Gary's basement. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gygax and Kaye founded the publishing company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) and published the first version of D&D in 1974. For the spell systems, Gygax would be inspired by Jack Vance, but also draw upon such renowned fantasy authors as Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber. The hand assembled print run of 1000 copies would sell out in nine months. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}} In the same year, Gary Gygax hired Tim Kask to help make the transition of The Strategic Review (progenitor of DRAGON magazine) to a the fantasy periodical today known as Dragon Magazine with Gary Gygax as author and later as columnist. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

Related Topics:
Tactical Studies Rules - 1974 - Jack Vance - Robert E. Howard - L. Sprague de Camp - Fritz Leiber - Dragon Magazine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few years later it was time for a new version of D&D, namely Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-9). {{mn|Gamespy|7}} The Player's Handbook would be the first rule book of the new system. The new rules proved not to be compatible with D&D and therefore lead to each having their own expansions.

Related Topics:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Player's Handbook

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gary Gygax left TSR in 1985 during changes in TSR's management. Problems arose while Gary was preoccupied with making the CBS cartoon series Dungeon's and Dragons.

Related Topics:
1985 - CBS

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"I was pretty much boxed out of the running of the company because the two guys, who between them had a controlling interest, thought they could run the company better than I could. I was set up because I could manage. In 1982 Nobody on the West Coast would deal with TSR, but they had me start a new corporation called "Dungeons and Dragons Entertainment." It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get to be recognized as someone who was for real and not just a civilian, shall we say, in entertainment. Eventually, though, we got the cartoon show going (on CBS) and I had a number of other projects in the works."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"While I was out there, though, I heard that the company was in severe financial difficulties and one of the guys, the one I was partnered with, was shopping it on the street in New York. I came back and discovered a number of gross mismanagements in all areas of the company. The bank was foreclosing and we were a million and a half in debt. We eventually got that straightened out, but I kind of got one of my partners kicked out of office. (Kevin Blume, who was removed as TSR CEO in 1984 - ed.. Then my partners, in retribution for that, sold his shares to someone else (Lorraine Williams - ed.). I tried to block it in court, but in the ensuing legal struggle the judge ruled against me. I lost control of the company, and it was then at that point I just decided to sell out." {{mn|Gamespy|7}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After leaving TSR Gary Gygax created Dangerous Journeys, an advanced RPG spanning multiple genres containing almost every rule that Gary could think of. {{mn|Gamespy|7}} He began work in 1995 on a major new RPG, originally intended for a computer game, but in 1999 released as Lejendary Adventure which some consider to be his best work to date. A key part of its design was to keep the gaming rules as simple as possible, as Gygax felt that RPGs were becoming too complex and discouraged new users.

Related Topics:
Dangerous Journeys - 1995 - 1999 - Lejendary Adventure

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gary Gygax married Gail Carpenter-Gygax on August_15, 1987. (The same day of his parent's 50th anniversary) As of 2005, he is father to six children, five from his previous marriage, the last being Alexander Hugh Hamilton Gygax born on October 2, 1986 and grandfather to seven as well; his latest grandson being Jonathan To (pronounced toe, his father being Chinese-Vietnamese). {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

Related Topics:
August_15 - 1987 - 2005 - October 2 - 1986

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He is now in semi-retirement, {{mn|Gamespy|7}} having almost suffered a heart attack after receiving incorrect medication {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}} to prevent further strokes after those on April 1 and May 4 2004. Although working hours declined gaming is still very much a part of Gary's life. Together with James M. Ward, creator of the Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World, thursday night is RPG night. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

Related Topics:
Heart attack - Strokes - April 1 - May 4 - 2004 - James M. Ward - Metamorphosis Alpha - Gamma World

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else." {{mn|Gamespy|7}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Personal

Gary describes his studio in his typical narrative fashion as,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:"a small but sunny upper room?cluttered with books, magazines, papers, and who-knows-what else. Right now, pending the redecorating of that room, I am lodged in the downstairs dining room at a long table that holds two computers and a scanner, with the printer hiding to one side below it. The radio there in the studio was usually tuned to a classical music station, but the station was sold, programming changed, so now I work sans music, or now and then with a CD playing through the computer. While there are bookcases in the upper studio, elsewhere on the second floor, and on the first floor, the main repository of printed lore (other than that piled here and there) is my basement library which includes thousands of reference works, maps, magazines, and works of fiction." {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Honorable Mention

From 1975 to 1994, Gary Gygax received several awards related to gaming ... {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

Related Topics:
1975 - 1994

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Strategists Club's, "Outstanding Designer & Writer" – for creating D&D
• Origin Game Convention's, "Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame"
• Origins Award, "Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame Honors" (2004)
• Four time winner of Games Day's, "Best Games Inventor" (1979-82).

Gary Gygax was tied with J.R.R.Tolkien for #18 on "GameSpy's 30 Most Influential People in Gaming" (Gamespy Magazine, March 2002)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As of March 13, 2003, Gygax is listed under the entry "Dungeons and Dragons",n, in the Oxford English Dictionary.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A strain of bacteria has been named in honor of Gary Gygax, namely "Arthronema gygaxiana sp nov UTCC393" {{mn|PhycoJournal|3}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sync Magazine named Gary Gygax #1 on the list of "The 50 biggest Nerds of All Time".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:1 Gary Gygax Cocreator of Dungeons & Dragons and father of role-playing games. Defining :nerd moment With a last name that sounds like a barbarian warrior from space, is it any wonder :this guy invented the 20-sided die? Between 1977 and 1979, Gygax released Advanced Dungeons & :Dragons for advanced dorks, taking the cult phenomenon to new heights whilst giving himself a +5 :salary of lordly might.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Sync: In the pantheon of nerds, you rule supreme. Long live the nerd king!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Gygax: "That's a pretty big honor! Actually, in my childhood, I had friends who walked around :with slide rulers and pocket protectors, but I also had a friend who wore a motorcycle jacket :that said, "Suicide Squad" on the back. I was happy in both camps?with the hoods or the nerds -- :Quite Equally." {{mn|SyncMag|4}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SFX Magazine listed him as #37 on the list of the ?50 greatest SF pioneers". {{mn|SFXMag|5}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Media Coverage

Gary Gygax appeared on a Futurama episode, "Anthology of Interest 1" (aired in 2000), during which he rolled dice to decide on what greeting to give when introduced to Fry ("It's a... *roll* ...pleasure to meet you."). Later, he gives his "+1 mace" to Fry to fight off the robots of the future. The episode ends with Gary dungeon mastering a D&D game with Fry and the Action Rangers.

Related Topics:
Futurama - Dungeon master - Action Rangers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His aperence along side Al Gore on Futurama was somthing of an inside joke since Gore's wife hates D&D.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His name was also mentioned in honorable mention on the show Dexter's Laboratory for Dexter's character, appeared twice in trivial pursuit and enough magazines and newspapers too abundant to list here. {{mn|GaryLONGBio|1}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~