Bloody gazebos

[matgb]

I never did get into Dungeons and Dragons. This might seem weird to a lot of you, who either know me through gaming, or know that I am (or at least was) a gamer, but ultimately by the time I tried AD&D I'd played many many much better games (Blood Bowl being my first and favourite "gamers game"), so despite the efforts of friends such as draich_goch and Duncan, I never did actually manage to get into it.

Having said that, the news that the games creator, Gary Gygax, has died does sadden me a little, for although I didn't like his game, I did like the many many (better) games that came after it. Indeed, I spent 5 years working full time and 7 years working part time for a company that would never have existed if he hadn't created that game. Sure, odds are, someone else would've come up with something similar eventually, but they didn't—he did it first.

theferrett is doing a tribute post of all the best quotes about his death, from Salon's "final quest" to the huge variants of "failed his save", although I do agree with pickwick, the best one is undoubtedly Gary Gygax was finally gotten by the gazebo. A joke that either cracks you up or makes you go "huh". I'm not even sure I can explain it to a non-player (here's an attempt), if anyone wants to give it a go in the comments feel free.

Of course, the best heroic(ish) fantasy RPG was WFRP, as anyone knows, and the writer of one of the best adventures there is does I think the best tribute:

Gary Gygax created modern gaming ... The class-and-level system dates explicitly to Gygax’s work ... By today’s standards, after thirty-five years of refinement and polish, the original edition of D&D looks incredibly clunky. But if you look beyond ... what’s astonishing is how much of the game is right. It wasn’t the concept of roleplay in D&D that birthed the genre, it was the way the rules encapsulated the core ideas behind it

Can't say fairer than that. Extra: Order of the Stick has a nice special episode as well.

Gary Gygax. Boat Barge sunk this day, 4th March, 2008. RIP.

Comments

Gazebo

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

"I waste it with my crossbow!"

No, I don't think it's possible to explain this to non-gamers without writing an essay.

Re: Gazebo

[matgb]

I tried with SB, but she got stuck on the idea of the DM and we didn't really get past that—online forum RPGs don't have someone "running the game", and trying to explain why you'd want it was hard.

I've edited in a bit more, the James Wallis post is especially good.

Re: Gazebo

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* Some get the concept but aren't interested, others don't get it at all. To complete outsiders, I usually try to explain it as a TV crime story. The players are the detectives with separate roles and the GM is the writer/director who has all the answers.

Yeah, loved James' post.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of an RPGer, but having played Mnchkin, I can't avoid knowing the Gazebo joke.

[oletheros.livejournal.com]

two t's in theferrett, btw.

[thapunkprincess.livejournal.com]

Nah, Blood Bowl was pretty crap (I wonder if it influenced the excellent Speedball on the Amiga though?). Never a D&Der meself, but I liked that one with the Titans and orc armies and shit like that. And Space Hulk.

Re: Gazebo

[sexygoldfish-uk.livejournal.com]

I've usually gone for describing rp as an interactive soap opera (I know my audience when trying to explain what it's all about!) and usually get the polite nods which mean "I understand the concept just not why you do it". Which is why the soap opera description works as I could say the same about them ;)

[paulatpingu.livejournal.com]

Gary Gygax. Boat sunk this day, 4th March, 2008. RIP.

Barge Mat. Sank his fucking barge :-)

Now that's a joke you either get or don't get...

Tis a real shame about Gygax. I'm in entirely the same boat (heh) as you; I never really played much D&D, but have played lots of roleplay. Even if all I know him for is his legacy, it's a sad day indeed.

[nannyo.livejournal.com]

is WFRP Warhammer Fantasy etc. etc.?

[matgb]

Danke, sorted.

[tyrell.livejournal.com]

Heh, the Gazebo. And the Head of Vecna, that'll never get old.

Re: Gazebo

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yeah, some games really feel like soap operas, especially if there's a lot of bickering within the group. ;o)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I haven't read KoDT in ages because it got old after a while but it had some good ones in its time.

[matgb]

I first encountered it in Knights of the Dinnner Table, a comic that was great while the joke was fresh but eventually became too silly, but yes, I can so see it happening with a huge number of the people I've played with.

[matgb]

Never played any Amiga games, no idea. Blood Bowl was the first non-family-boardgame I played, and I enjoyed it. In hindsite, the version I played (2nd edition) was horribly flawed, but the current rules set (4.5 IIRC) is pretty good overall and I really enjoy playing it over a protracted period.

The one with the Titans would be either Adeptus Titanicus or Space Marine, both using the Epic games system, fun but horribly complex—Space Hulk was top but little replay value unfortunately.

[matgb]

Fixed.

I think ultimately as everyone goes eventually, we just have to deal—at least now he'll be remembembered for the great stuff he did, rather than the crap he's currently been working on: who cares about late-period Freddie Mercury now? It's all about the early classics. But Bowie keeps on going :-(

[matgb]

Yus—I really have to remember to use the right HTML for mouseover texts, the underline wasn't showing.

Wallis was publisher of Hogshead and wrote a link adventure for two campaigns—hence the barge reference above.

[big-blue-bear.livejournal.com]

OOTS Tribute Strip:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

[matgb]

Um, Beef? Already linked above mate. You're right though, worth linking to.

[big-blue-bear.livejournal.com]

Meh, didn't notice.

[granjero.livejournal.com]

"Go on. Buy another barge. I'll fucking sink that one too"

Classic.