Geez, that's a hit. First I've heard about it too, thanks Ren for spreading the word.

I have the map from Baldur's Gate 2 hanging on my wall. Framed. Sure, it's about 5 steps removed, but his legacy still did influence my life quite a bit. Weird to connect the dots ... (Planescape setting -> x -> eternal devotion to PS:T.)

R.I.P., Mr. Gygax. (Even though your name sounds like a Lich King's. ...Sorry.)

Gary's major contribution to the 21st century was that revolutionary idea that games could have a narrative dimension. Pretty much all video games - and as such an emergent part of our whole culture - owe a huge debt to him.

I still play D&D every (well, almost every) week. Been doing that off and on since 1981. Four of us started out together in '81 and two others have come in along the way. We jimmy the rules to fit the story and how the characters develop. If it weren't for Mr. Gygax, I'd be wasting my time on Monday nights reading instead of hanging out with friends and taking our frustrations out on poor . . . well, this week we were sneaking into a bad guy temple to rescue a friend so we beat on poor bad guy fighters who just wouldn't surrender even though we asked them nicely to. Oh, well . . .

Thank you, Mr. Gygax, for giving all us nerds and geeks a lovely framework that lets us play pretend around the dining room table until all hours of the morning.

So sorry to hear it. I sure did enjoy "Baldur's Gate" (and "Champions of Norrath"), and it's hard to imagine the gaming world without him.

As long as we're posting webcomics:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/04

Sorry.  Best pun I've seen in a while.

*lights a candle, too*

So sad. At least he gave us such wonderful stuff. That's a good thing.

*waves +5 sword, in remembrance*

It's always sad - even when you in no way know the person - to hear of a death of a person that touched the lives of so many and influenced a culture an amazing amount. I read in an article that he was struggling with health problems for many years, throwing a ton of saves and putting up the brave fight.

I roll the dice to you, good sir.

Alas ... and yet another web-comic tribute can be found here:

The Journey's End

Requiescat In Pace

one more tribute.

Yes, the xkcd one is my favourite. Classic.

Yep. The xkcd was was excellent.

-X