The Viking and the Fish - Remembering Gary - Casey W. Christofferson

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"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax was born on July 27, 1938.  Gary’s early years were spent on Kenmore Avenue in Chicago Illinois where he was born.  He spent his evenings listening to the radio, reading or enjoying bedtime stories from his father, a “marvelous storyteller.” Summers and afternoons were spent paling around with neighborhood friends, a group who called themselves the Pirates and waging war on the gang across the street, the Indians. He developed an early taste for playing all manner of games.

In 1946 Gary’s family moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin where he lived for the remainder of his life, with the exception of a few years in sunny California.. 

  His first professional gaming work was published in 1971.  He co-founded the game publishing company Tactical Studies Rules (later TSR, Inc.) in 1973 with his longtime friend from Lake Geneva, Don Kaye.  His best known game and fiction credits are the co-creating and authoring the original Dungeons & Dragons Role-Playing Game, creating the AD&D game, World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting, the “Gord the Rogue” novels as well as a trio of fantasy mystery novels featuring the Aegyptian wizard-priest Magister Setne Inhetep.  Gary was and is still often referred to by others as the “Father of Role-Playing.”

Gary’s last months were some of the most active in recent years. He redoubled his efforts on expanding and upgrading the Lejendary Adventure game as well as began organizing the voluminous Castle Zagyg material, with its accompanying East Mark and Yggsburgh town setting. He was supervising the completion of that fantasy town and overseeing its design for the Castles & Crusades RPG. This work, once published will comprise 24 modules. Even as he was working on this he was diligently supervising the presentation of the Castle Zagyg Castle & Dungeons series of modules based on his extensive “bible” material for the project.

            Gary Gygax passed away at his home on March 4, 2008 with his wife Gail at his side. He is survived by his children: Ernie, Elise, Heidi, Cindy, Luke and Alex. He was much beloved by fans across the world. His impact on modern popular culture was staggering as witnessed by obituaries from around the world and the tens of thousands of people that took the time to read and post upon the message boards.