RIP, Gary Gygax.

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I'm not sure if many aspies play(ed) D&D. I tried to, but was never able to fit in even amongst geek society.

Dungeons & Dragons Co-Creator Dies at 69

By EMILY FREDRIX

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8Xy ... AD8V6PL180

Thanks for the hundreds of hours of fun playing D&D and watching the cartoon it spawned.

Plus he had the coolest name ever.

The man failed his final saving throw, but will live on in the hearts of old school gamers.

Gary is a demigod of geekery and imagination.

Good fortune,

- Icarus still plays...

The Un-Freeze of a Lifetime
After being told that Bender's scenario would not be done again, Fry asks what would happen if he had not been frozen.

Fry narrowly misses falling into the cryogenic tube, and a rift in the space-time continuum appears, which shows the Planet Express crew in the future. The next day, after talking to Mr. Panucci, he comes to the attention of Stephen Hawking who arranges for Fry to be abducted. He is introduced to the "Vice Presidential Action Rangers", led by Al Gore, whose task is to protect the space-time continuum.

Fry explains what happened the previous night at the cryogenic facility and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers determine that Fry was supposed to die and try to kill him. Another rift appears during the attempted murder and Nichelle Nichols suggests that Fry be frozen and Gary Gygax gives Fry his +1 mace for protection against drunken robots in the future. Just before Fry is frozen, he smashes the cryogenic tube, causing the universe to collapse into a space-time rift. This results in Fry and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers appearing in some other indeterminate dimension which is not part of the universe. The scenario ends with them playing Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years with Al Gore playing a role of Vice President rather than a typical role in D&D.