"Gary Gygax " Topic

Seeing theheader today has got me thinking of Mr Gygax and my youth playing D&D.
I started playing in the summer of "77 with a bunch of school friends. All sadly missed.
We played the game endlessly 'till about 1999, when we mostly went our seperate ways. Such is life.
In 1986 or 1987, i went to Origins and meet Gary. 2 times over that weekend, in fact. It was very sad for us, as gary was very nearly "fall down" drunk both times i talked to him. I remember at the first i stoped him to say how much i love his game, he kept me standing there while he said very bad things about the woman who "took his life" away from him, and i just put it down to too much vino.
But the second time i talked to the man, it was worse…
I guess i'm just getting old, but i think of Mr Gygax with sadness because of those talks. When i see that picture on the header of a smiling man, i feel very bad.

Your words are touching and sad.

Jeff

Played AD&D during my middle school years with older brother and Dad as our DM. Very enjoyable time in my life. I never met Gygax; but think his AD&D books are a masterpiece and the man was quite brilliant.

John;

Gary, like everyone else had his ups and downs. I've met enough of the old TSR staff and other designers at conventions to know that they (like other people) come out and say the wrong things at the wrong time, (usually when alcohol is involved).
I'd chalk up to those talks to am emotional issue he was having then plus the fact like you said "too much vino"..
At least he was drunk. Not like the Game designer I had that stopped in the middle of a game demo with me at a show, when his friend walked up and they started talking about some girl that they both wanted to have sex with….
Gary made some good choices and bad choices in business and in life. Unfortunately the business choices seemed to haunt him for a number of years and due to it, the TSR that we old schoolers knew and loved, kinda went away….
I'm friends with his son Ernie, and he's a pretty good guy…

I was at one of the later, smaller cons and had the opportunity to play in a game with him on his porch. He GM'ed the game and we had a wonderful time. Since I came into D&D later in life, he had none of the god-like awe with him. He was just a nice, old guy running the game. My friends on the other hand were quite the opposite. We had a great time and drank ice tea on his porch. This was a few years before he died. I met his current wife and his son, Ernie, all very nice people. I remember the smiling face.

I played in a game with him at a small convention just as the first wood grain box sets were hitting the local stores here. He was just another guy. Didn't even know he wrote the rules until after the game. Talked to him a few times after that at the GenCons when they were actually still held in Lake Geneva, WI. I always had good interactions with him and the rest of the family.

He was a good man to some of us young kids he GMed at the 1st Spring Revel in 1978 he is sorely missed

"That woman" would have been Lorraine Williams, who essentially seized control of TSR and forced Gygax out in 1986. So Gygax had a right to be upset at the time, though much of the situation could also be laid at his own door. Not surprised he preferred to be drunk. Basically, you picked a horrible year to go to Origins and meet him.
The fall of TSR is a sorry chapter in gaming history.
Lessons to be learned:
1. It's not enough to be friends with your business partners; someone needs to understand how to run a business.
2. Stick to your core product and interests, and don't try to go far afield into areas of commerce of which you know nothing.
3. Never trust anyone with your company who doesn't first love the product and appreciate its customers. If their head and heart are only for the dollars, they will pursue only dollars, and will steal your dollars and your company, because "it's just business."

I met Gary at a game con in the mid 90's. He was there with his daughter and grandson. I believe he was promoting a new book or game product? But he was playing a game at a table next to mine. I kept looking at him trying to figure out how I knew him. He noticed I kept looking at him and he introduced himself to me. I was floored that Gary Gygax was playing a game next to me and he had introduced himself to me. I explained why I kept glancing at him and how much his D&D rules had influenced my gaming as a young person. He was a very nice gentleman. Said he couldn't take all the credit, others helped him along the way. At the time I knew about his divorce and the basics of what happened with TSR. I did not bring that up and neither did he. Gary was having fun playing a game with his grandson and promoting his new product. For me, it was great meeting him.