Happy Gary Gygax Day!

Today we celebrate the man that, in the minds of most RPGers, started it all…Mr. Ernest Gary Gygax. I wrote the following on another social media service to commemorate Mr. Gygax’s death back in 2008. What held true then continues to do so now, so I thought it appropriate to reprint it here:

In the 1970s, Gygax (with his friend, Dave Arneson) created the game Dungeons & Dragons (aka D&D).  It began as an off-shoot of the medieval table-top minature game “Chainmail“.  They added supplemental fantasy rules to this battle simulation game.  These rules expanded into the quintessential role playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons.

Now, D&D, in some ways, was a flawed game.  Nearly every group that ever played came up with house rules to cover things not addressed by the rules or to allow for players to perform unanticipated feats of daring-do.  I have…