http://montecook.livejournal.com/134416.html

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/report-gary-gyg.html

Here’s to you Gary…

He was noted on CNN.com.

The news just about started a flame war on one of the RPGA mailing lists I’m on, ‘cause someone made a tasteless joke about it.

Thankfully that seems to be an isolated incident and the worst I’ve seen outside of that is “this calls for 1d6 moments of silence”.

I’m really bummed out – I always wanted to meet him.

Really, though, I always wanted to game with him.

At least I got to DM tonight…

I thought Rich Burlew created a very appropriate tribute:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

I’ve seen some great comments about this… OOTS of course, plus some funny and still heartfelt fan send-offs.

Well, even though I never met him or gamed with him… in a way, I guess I really did.

Now nothing stands between Steve Jackson and world domination!

Seriously, I’m going to pour out a 40 of mountain dew for Big Daddy Gygax, who’s off rolling his 20s in heaven with Don Kaye, Tolkein and that kid who got lost in the steam tunnels.

Poor, poor steam tunnel kid.

time to roll up a new character i guess.

And GenCon’s tribute:
http://gencon.com/2008/indy/Gary.aspx

Penny Arcade’s tribute to the father of RPGs

I owe so much to D&D, like being able to giggle every time I say “bastard sword”

We’ll miss you Gary!

Stephen Colbert did a short, tongue-in-cheek memorial to Gary Gygax at the end of his show last night.

and you can see that tongue-in-cheekness here:
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/index.jhtml

“May your prismatic spray always bypass your opponents reflex saving throw.” Amen, Colbert… amen.

this was great too, albeit differently:
http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=989

Found another good one and it nicely sums up everything:

Gary Gygax: Remembered

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The galley proofs for Gary Gygax’s novel, The Samarkand Solution, are sitting on my desk right now, ready for the final check-off before we send the book to the printer. Sitting above my desk, packed into little cardboard sleeves, are dozens of copies of Dragon, the original RPG magazine for which Gygax served as publisher in its earliest days. Until recently, I served as publisher of that magazine, and it always made me proud to know I was following in Gary Gygax’s august footsteps.

Gary died this morning in his sleep, bringing to an end a decades-spanning career that created an industry and brought joy to millions of people. The game he created with Dave Arneson&Dungeons & Dragons&has had a more profound influence upon my life than any other factor save my family, and his passing has affected me deeply.

When I was a kid growing up with D&D, Gygax’s name was on the cover of just about every official product. He wrote the best adventure modules, he set the template for all future campaign settings with the World of Greyhawk, and perhaps most importantly he introduced a generation of kids to a game that was more than a game. I’ve met many of my closest friends in the span of my entire life because of Gary Gygax.

Last year, I launched Planet Stories, a line of fantasy and science-fiction trade paperbacks aimed at reprinting some of the classic works of sword & sorcery that inspired Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy gaming in general. In the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, a fascinating work that surely serves as Gygax’s masterpiece, Gary thoughtfully included Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading, a list that included such luminaries as Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Jack Vance, and more.

So in addition to my friends and my career, I also owe Gary Gygax an unpayable debt of gratitude for introducing me to the greatest fantasists who ever lived and a lifetime of excellent reading. Planet Stories is, in some small sense, my attempt to repay that debt by bringing many of these fine authors back into print to be enjoyed again. Like Paizo Publishing itself, Planet Stories exists because of Gary Gygax. I chose to honor Gary by including several of his own exciting fantasy novels in the Planet Stories line, including the imprint’s very first release, The Anubis Murders.

It was the release of The Anubis Murders at last year’s Gen Con Indy that brought me and Gary together for the last time. As the show’s Guest of Honor, Gygax had more than a full schedule, but he was able to carve out a couple of hours a day to sit at the Paizo booth and sign autographs of his book while sharing thoughts and memories with his fans. And the stories those fans told were just incredible. For a full hour I listened as gamer after gamer approached Gary and told a variation of the exact same story: “Thank you for a game that has brought me so much joy. Thank you for a game that has brought me so many friends. Thank you for making such a positive impact on my life.”

Sitting next to Gary at last year’s Gen Con made me realize what a huge cultural impact Gary Gygax had made on all of us. Never before have I seen such honest appreciation. Never before had I been so moved and so proud to be working with a man who had made such an impact on my life. On all of our lives.

When a friend passes away, it is easy to be sad, to think about what might have been had he lived another year, another ten years. But my friends, I am here to tell you that Gary Gygax knew what a difference he had made in all of our lives, and he was proud to have made it.

Not bad for a life’s work.

I’ll miss you, Gary Gygax. We all will. Goodbye, my friend.

And thank you.

Erik Mona
Paizo Publisher