Shrapnel Games Blog

Coming home to the news that one of the most pivotal figures in the gaming industry has passed away was not what I expected, but sadly Gary Gygax has passed away.

I did an interview with him back in December and when I asked about his thoughts on the future of role-playing his response was:

“About all I can respond other than that is I am certain that in-person RPGs will still be in play…and likely I won’t be around to play them.”

You can read the full interview here (hell, for all I know it may be the last interview he did). When people say stuff like that–”Oh, I don’t care about such and such because I’ll be long dead by then”–you don’t really take it to mean anything more than a tossed off remark. It’s sad that in this case it came to pass.

I have to say the death of public figures usually is something that I don’t think twice about, but in this case it’s honestly a little hard to grasp. This is the guy who had more influence in gaming than anyone you can think of. He was the foundation of modern gaming on so many levels.

I’ll do a proper tribute later in the week, I’m pressed for time today.

May all his dice be nat 20s forever and ever…

Rest in peace, Gary.