Seas Beyond the Sunset

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away earlier this week.  There’s been a incredible outpouring of well-written commentary already, and I can add very little of substance to that chorus.

I have fond memories of playing D&D in high school, huddled over character sheets late into the night, fueled by chips and soda.  During the last such evening, I burned an enchanted forest to the ground with a well-placed fireball, while Alex incited a subterranean race of kobold slaves to armed Marxist revolt.

We weren’t invited back.

My first encounter with the D&D experience, as a young kid with few friends and no money, was even less authentic.  I had no Dungeon Master’s Guide, no Monstrous Manual, no dice and no miniatures.  What I did have was a secondhand copy of the Player’s Handbook to provide a semblance of structure, and a great deal of firsthand experience with the devious traps and deadly creatures of Nethack.

So I dreamed up a few dungeons that were heavy on combat and light on plot, and I talked my siblings through them.  These early role-playing sessions were my first attempts at fictional storytelling, and they planted the seeds for all my later efforts.

It may not have been Dungeons and Dragons the way Gary envisioned it, but it would not have been possible without him.