A first printing of the boxed set sold at auction for more than $20,000
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Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson.
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business · American game designer and author (1938–2008) · writer · novelist · publisher · game designer · businessperson · role-playing game designer · board game designer · also Gary Gygax, E. Gary Gygax, Gygax
Born 27 July 1938 · Died 4 March 2008 · Q1379
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Pen-and-paper role-playing is live theater and computer games are television. People want the convenience and instant gratification of turning on the TV rather than getting dressed up and going out to see a live play. In the same way, the computer is a more immediately accessible way to play games.
- Quote
The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience. There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.
67%
2018· 1 entry
2014· 2 entries
With the approval of Gary's eldest son, Ernie, Epic Quest Publishing started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the initial funding for a museum dedicated to Gary featuring a gaming and event center and hall of fame for aut
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The game was "seen as one of the biggest flops in the industry
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2011· 1 entry
The City Council of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, approved Gail Gygax's application for a site of memorial in Donian Park; however, the Gygax family was unable to raise the money at the time to complete the memorial during a 2
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2008· 4 entries
Died 2008-03-04.
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“Pen-and-paper role-playing is live theater and computer games are television. People want the convenience and instant gratification of turning on the TV rather than getting dressed up and going out to see a live play. In the same way, the computer is a more immediately accessible way to play games.”
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“The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience. There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.”
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Gail Gygax, the widow of Gary Gygax, began the process to establish a memorial to her late husband in Lake Geneva
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2005· 1 entry
Was involved in the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, which was conceived as a hybrid between the third edition of D&D and the original version of the game
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2004· 2 entries
That "it isn't that females can't play games well, it is just that it isn't a compelling activity to them as is the case for males"
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Had two strokes and narrowly avoided a subsequent heart attack
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2003· 1 entry
Announced that he was again partnering with Rob Kuntz to publish the original details of Castle Greyhawk and the City of Greyhawk in six volumes, although the project would use the rules for Castles and Crusades rathe
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2001· 1 entry
That Gygax would be writing supplements for their company
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2000· 2 entries
Voiced his own cartoon self for an episode of Futurama entitled "Anthology of Interest I" which also included the voices of Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, and Nichelle Nichols
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Gygax voiced his cartoon self for the Futurama episode "Anthology of Interest I", which also included the voices of Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, and Nichelle Nichols
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1999· 1 entry
Pyramid magazine named Gygax as one of "The Millennium's Most Influential Persons" "in the realm of adventure gaming"
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1997· 2 entries
That they could publish role-playing game adventures that game stores could sell while TSR was otherwise occupied, so Inner City published the fantasy adventures A Challenge of Arms (1998) and The Ritual of the Golden Ey
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And still owned the rights to the name "Greyhawk", so Gygax changed the name of Castle Greyhawk to "Castle Zagyg" and also changed the name of the nearby city to "Yggsburgh", a play on his initials "E
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1996· 1 entry
The games industry was rocked by the news that TSR had run into insoluble financial problems and had been bought by Wizards of the Coast
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1995· 1 entry
Gygax began work on a new computer role-playing game called Lejendary Adventures
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1992· 1 entry
As an adventure for Mythus; Gary Gygax's Necropolis was published a year later
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1988· 1 entry
In a company newsletter that he and Rob Kuntz, his co-Dungeon Master during the early days of the Greyhawk campaign, were working as a team again
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1987· 1 entry
On what would have been his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, Gygax married Carpenter
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1986· 1 entry
Over conflicts with its new majority owner, but he continued to create role-playing game titles independently, beginning with the multi-genre Dangerous Journeys in 1992
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1985· 1 entry
But Gygax resigned from all of his positions with TSR in October 1986, and all of his disputes with TSR were settled in December
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1984· 1 entry
To star in a D&D movie, with John Boorman to act as producer and director
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1983· 4 entries
TSR employed over 400 people, "over 6% of Lake Geneva's population at the time
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Worked to license the D&D product line into the successful D&D cartoon series
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And married Gail Carpenter, one of his former accountants, on August 15, 1987
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“an interesting diversion from everyday life.”
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1981· 1 entry
And co-authored the Gamma World adventure Legion of Gold
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1980· 1 entry
Gygax's long-time campaign setting Greyhawk was published in the form of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting folio, which was expanded in 1983 into the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting boxed set
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1979· 2 entries
Michigan State University student James Dallas Egbert III allegedly disappeared into the school's steam tunnels while playing a live-action version of D&D
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Arneson sued TSR; they settled in March 1981 with the agreement that Arneson would receive a 2
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1978· 1 entry
“When I decided that The Strategic Review was not the right vehicle, hired Tim Kask as a magazine editor for Tactical Studies Rules, and named the new publication he was to produce The Dragon, I thought we would eventually have a great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide ... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan.”
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1977· 2 entries
Was an introductory version of the original D&D geared toward new players and edited by John Eric Holmes
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Began developing a more comprehensive version of the game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
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1976· 2 entries
Into the first professional location it could call home, known as "The Dungeon Hobby Shop"
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Founded The Dragon, a magazine based around the new game
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1973· 2 entries
By amalgamating the best of what could be gleaned from binders and boxes of old notes
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And in October, with Don Kaye as a partner, founded Tactical Studies Rules
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1971· 2 entries
Co-developed Chainmail, a miniatures wargame based on medieval warfare with Jeff Perren
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Began doing some editing work at Guidon Games, a publisher of wargames, for which he produced the board games Alexander the Great and Dunkirk: The Battle of France
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1970· 3 entries
With its first headquarters in Gygax's basement
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Gygax and Robert Kuntz founded the Castle & Crusade Society of the IFW
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And he started to use cocaine and had a number of extramarital affairs
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1968· 1 entry
Rented Lake Geneva's vine-covered Horticultural Hall for $50 (equivalent to $460 in 2025) to hold the first Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention
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1967· 2 entries
Gygax co-founded the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) with Bill Speer and Scott Duncan
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Gygax organized a 20-person gaming meet in the basement of his home; this event was later called "Gen Con 0"
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1962· 1 entry
Gygax got a job as an insurance underwriter at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co
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1956· 1 entry
A few months after his father died, he dropped out of high school in his junior year
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1946· 1 entry
After the Kenmore Pirates were involved in a fracas with another gang of boys, his father decided to move the family to Posey's family home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where Posey's family had settled in the early 19th ce
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1938· 1 entry
Born 1938-07-27.
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