******WARNING THE FOLLOWING MAYBE CONFUSING TO NORMAL PEOPLE. IF YOU ARE NOT A GEEK/NERD/DORK I ADVISE YOU TO READ SOMETHING ELSE********************
In case you have not heard, Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, died last week. At first I did not think too much about it. I had never heard of Gary Gygax nor had I played D&D. But, after scanning through Digg, I noticed that there were many articles about Gygax and the influence of D&D on geek culture and the world. This got me thinking about how D&D has affected me.
Like I said before I never played D&D but I was a War Gamer, specifically, Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer fantasy. I played from 6th grade to when I was a sophomore in high school. Both games have you as the general of a made army and you have to lead that army to victory by killing your opponent’s army. Basically D&D except your character “the General” does not appear on the table and you command much more people. I would spend every Saturday from 9:00 to about 2:30 playing in the back of my town’s local hobby shop. I had some really good times and made some good friends.
I think it’s true to say that Gary Gygax and the creation of Dungeons and Dragons gave much to geeks. He gave us that extra boost that ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Star Trek’ could not fill. Before computers, videos games, and before comics became a geek only material, there was only Dungeons and Dragons. What a great gift to the world. A game to help scratch one of societies untalked about itches. Something that would bring together many friends and entire groups of people from all walks of life.
My war gaming days maybe over but I cannot bring myself to get rid of my armies. Every once in a while my friends and I talk about playing a game just for nostalgias sake. Maybe one day we’ll dust off our soldiers and start rolling those dice just like the good old days.
"Firefly" gave me the extra boost that "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Trek" couldn't fill. ;-)
I never got into gaming. I got into anime and reading Science Fiction and Fantasy books instead. :-P
No, that's a lie. When I was little, I was incredibly into this board game called Dark Tower. I think I'll go dig it out and see if I remember how to play for nostalgia's sake. :-)
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
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