Not trying to be all morbid here as this is the second obituary I’ve posted in two days, but according to CNN.com, Gary Gygax – the co-creator and figurehead behind Dungeons & Dragons – has died at the age of 69. The exact cause isn’t given although Gygax’s health had been failing for several years and included problems like an abdominal aneurysm.

I’m saddened mostly by this news in that I’d always wanted to meet this man. Because of him, I wasn’t a total hooligan until COLLEGE, my high school years being filled with late night sessions of dice rolling amongst scattered reams of graphed out deathtraps & forsaken kingdoms of the dead, consuming bottle after bottle. . . of soda. Yeah, I was quite the rebel in those days.

Without Gygax’s contribution, not only wouldn’t roleplaying games have become as popular as they were in the late 70′s and 80′s, but today we might not have the massive online games like World of Warcraft that suck away your life & money like a feasting Necrophidius.   Or maybe an enraged, Gelatinous Cube (Thought I’d throw in a little of ‘the lingo’.  NICE, huh?)

Hopefully Gary, where-ever you are, you’ve got health potions, some strong armour and a sharp fiendish sword named ‘Dark Maimer’.  Before you lay miles of unexplored ruins brimming with monsters, treasure. . . and maybe a buxom maiden or two.

Heck, if you’ve got all that, I’ll try and catch up with you someday.  Just hopefully not anytime soon.

In the meantime, Rolkfren Varabond bids you farewell. . . and thanks.