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Gary Gygax: Gaming Icon
Beau Bailey
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Early this morning, Gary Gygax passed away. Most of us remember him as the gaming icon who created a little know game called Dungeons and Dragons. His influence on the gaming industry through this one product is more than many companies as a whole could hope to achieve. He created an entire genre of gaming with the design he created along with some others.

My condolences to his family.


brerfrog's thread on the topic: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/298031
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1. Board Game: Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game [Average Rating:6.77 Overall Rank:1115]
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Yes, I know this isn't his ruleset, but its the closest to D&D I could find.
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Beau Bailey
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The only Gygax game that I have any experience with. But I really enjoyed playing AD&D in both computer and pen and paper form. I have more experience with 3rd edition, though I still enjoyed playing the original classic. I know many of my fellow friends spent hundreds more hours than I did and still continue to play the later incarnations of this classic.

Baldur's Gate was kind of a 2.5ish ruleset and I absolutely loved playing that game. It is definitely my favorite computer gaming memory, the story was excellent and helped contribute to the strong ruleset running in the background.

Just a great way to spend an afternoon wandering around and killing stuff. Excellent game, great memories.
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  • Edited Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:09 pm
  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:02 pm
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Tom Oxley
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Dayton
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Wow, I had that original 3-book set in the brown cover - it was all the rage at Ft Hood, TX when I got there in '74. I had probably the next several editions through the early '80s. His name may not be in the credits for many, but I doubt there is an RPG out there that doesnt own alegience to Gary. Sorry I never had the chance to meet him.

Tom Oxley
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 7:15 pm
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Maximilian Vale
United States
Odenton
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Truly a sad, sad day....my thoughts and prayers go out to Gail, Ernie, Luke and the rest of his family and friends. As someone else allready wrote: "Roll in Peace" Gary....

From being introudced to this wonderful game in the mid 80s by my cousins and then immediately going out to buy the Larry Elmore "Red Box" version of the basic game to becoming a Greyhawk (Gary's home campaign) fanatic; I can't think of a game designer who's had more impact on more people around the world....You weren't here long enough Mr. Gygax, but you definitely made your mark!

Vaya con dios....
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 10:05 pm
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Adrian Hague
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badweasel wrote:
Baldur's Gate was kind of a 2.5ish ruleset and I absolutely loved playing that game. It is definitely my favorite computer gaming memory, the story was excellent and helped contribute to the strong ruleset running in the background.

Just a great way to spend an afternoon wandering around and killing stuff. Excellent game, great memories.


Baldur's Gate 2 and the expansion Throne of Bhall still remains the single greatest computer RPG game I have ever experienced, hence my avatar change.
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  • Posted Fri Mar 7, 2008 1:16 am
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H-P Kuusela
Finland
Helsinki
Finland
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Started playing in grade school in -88. I read the rules an acted as the DM for the following years. I can`t remember finding many things in my life that have been as different, fun and new as D&D was then. It was outside the box.
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  • Edited Fri Mar 7, 2008 4:12 am
  • Posted Fri Mar 7, 2008 3:59 am
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2. Board Game: Dunkirk: The Battle of France [Average Rating:6.46 Unranked]
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Big Guy
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Wow...I had no idea Gygax did any board games.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 3:32 pm
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Nathan Collins
United States
Dearborn
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Mean either, its amazing what you find out about a person. I was in a forum with a guy who worked with him and apparently, gygax was more of a board game fan than he was an rpg fan these last couple of decades.
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 7:22 pm
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Tyler Dobson
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Middleburg
Florida
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Played this one with him. He made a play by mail kit for it, that was never published.
 
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  • Posted Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:51 am
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3. Board Game: Chainmail [Average Rating:5.18 Overall Rank:6904]
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The father of D&D.
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Robert Wilson
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Riverview
New Brunswick
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A guy I learned D&D from gave me this back in 81 , but I didnt like it so gave it away!
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 7:14 pm
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Paul Glenn
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I realize that this is a Gygax list, and as a long-time roleplayer (since 1979ish), I appreciate his contribution, but let's also give credit to Dave Arneson. My understanding of things (thought I could be wrong) is that Arneson and his group started using the Chainmail rules and giving each character a personality and history--i.e. roleplaying. After they'd been doing this for a while, Gygax heard about it and sat in for a session or two, then proceeded to write D&D based on his notes and memories of this experience.

So Gygax didn't singlehandedly invent roleplaying games. But he contributed a hell of a lot.

To put it in old school roleplaying parlance, I hope that Gygax survives his system shock roll so he can be resurrected.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 7:54 pm
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M C
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Paul, your right on. To put it simply, Gary is better known, but he and Dave Arneson are the co-creaters of Dungeons and Dragons. Gary will be missed, and Dave continues to contribute to the hobby both in board games (if I remember correctly he is one of Richard Borg's playtesters) and Zeitgeist games release of Blackmoor updated for 3e. I have both of them to thank for games that have given me incredible amounts of enjoyment for over twenty years.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 9:26 pm
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Jacob Russell
Canada
Vancouver
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I always hear Dave referred to as the forgotten father of D&D, it's good to see him be recognized here. He was the first guy I thought of when I saw this geek list title.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 9:38 pm
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Peter Martin
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JonJacob wrote:
I always hear Dave referred to as the forgotten father of D&D, it's good to see him be recognized here. He was the first guy I thought of when I saw this geek list title.


I met Dave at a game retailer's trade show in Las Vegas some years ago and even played a game with him and some other guys one night. He was a very nice and well-spoken man. Legend has it that Gary was the emotional one of the two and that when Gary got upset, Dave was usually the only one who could calm him down. After having met Dave, I can see that.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 9:16 pm
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Trencher for Life
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Still have my copy that I bought in Jacksonville, Florida back in 1983. I was 13. It sits on my bookshelf, a revered piece of my childhood and my adult life.

Gary Gygax's game shaped me into who I am today. A 38 year old imaginative kid in a man's body.

Thanks, Gary.

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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 1:58 am
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4. Board Game: Alexander the Great [Average Rating:5.98 Overall Rank:3390]
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Steve Cates
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Wow, I just got this game by a fluke through an Estate Sale. I hadn't noticed it was designed by Mister D and D himself!
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:13 pm
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5. Board Game: Alexander's Other Battles [Average Rating:7.75 Unranked] [Average Rating:7.75 Unranked]
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Judy Krauss
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Man, I wish I had a copy of this! I love the Alexander game, but it only has Gaugemela.
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  • Posted Tue Feb 1, 2011 11:55 am
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6. Board Game: Don't Give Up the Ship [Average Rating:5.70 Unranked]
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Ray
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To clarify, the earlier '71 Guidon Games edition was purely Arneson and his fellow members of the MMSA (having been published before Gary and him had ever met). TSR later did an edition which is where Gary's credit comes from.
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  • Edited Tue Mar 4, 2008 10:20 pm
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7. Board Game: Cavaliers and Roundheads [Average Rating:5.50 Unranked]
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8. Board Game: Warriors of Mars [Average Rating:3.67 Unranked]
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Ian
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Berkeley
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I would love to read through this, as I think E.R. Burroughs Mars would make a great miniature skirmish game.

Anyone have a copy?
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 3:04 pm
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9. Board Game: Classic Warfare [Average Rating:6.00 Unranked]
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10. Board Game: Tractics [Average Rating:6.35 Unranked]
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David Reed
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In addition to my D&D experiences over the years, I have fond memories of playing Tractics and other armor miniatures games in the late 1970s. Good times!
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:54 pm
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Robert Taylor-Smith
Canada
High River
Alberta
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I played so many games of Tractics in the 70's in 1/72 scale.

About the only set of miniature rules I've played that actually have charts for atomic bomb blast radius in inches
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 11:40 am
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Tom Oxley
United States
Dayton
Ohio
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One of my old favorites - I played with micro armor and we used the kitchen floor. Great old game. And I have met the co-author, Mike Reese, who is a mainstay in the HMGS-Great Lakes region.

Tom Oxley
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 7:16 pm
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11. Board Game: Dungeon! [Average Rating:5.90 Overall Rank:2786]
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David Reed
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College Station
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My first roommate in college loved this game. The fact that he did made life away from home a much easier adjustment than it could have been.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:59 pm
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Mike K
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Fairless Hills
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Still own it, and even played it with the missus not too long ago. (And she wants more!)

Beware the Black Puddings!
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 10:29 pm
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Ryan Sturm
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clloyd09 wrote:
I still have this. Maybe I ought to break it out and play again as a tribute to Gary.


My advice, dont.

I tried to play this game again for nostalgia.

About 10 minutes in I was really bored, wondering how this game could have so captured my imagination when I first saw it.

I LOVED this game as a youngster, I think it bit me with the fantasy bug that stuck with me my whole life.

BUT, The memory of playing this game is so much better than the reality.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 11:13 pm
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Joey Jones
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Warrior
Alabama
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I have the newer version of this game, and still enjoy it from time to time. It's no masterpiece, but it's a fun, nostolgic, way to spend an hour or so with friends.

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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 2:48 am
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Tom Oxley
United States
Dayton
Ohio
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Dont think it was this one, but the one based on the Dungeons and Dragons kids cartoon show that an old friend bought for the kids when they were young. I'll have to look and see if I can find that - heck, they left the rest of their toys and games with us when they left home.laugh
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 7:20 pm
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12. Board Game: Swords & Spells [Average Rating:4.79 Unranked]
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Alan Richbourg
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Arlington
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I absolutely loved going through this in Jr. High days. I have no clue if I even played it, but it was very cool.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 8:20 pm
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Trencher for Life
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*Pulls out copy of Murphy's Rules

... And I'll take a million Orcs

"Troop selection in the SWORDS & SPELLS miniature rules (TSR) is done by point value. Orcs have a negative point value... it is possible to get an infinite number of them."

laugh
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 2:06 am
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13. Board Game: Adventures in the Dungeon [Average Rating:7.33 Unranked]
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Robert Taylor-Smith
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High River
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Break out the crayons!
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 11:41 am
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14. Board Game: Dragon Chess [Average Rating:6.00 Unranked]
Beau Bailey
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J Boyes
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We had this issue of dragon magazine, it was one of their anniversary issues. The purple dragon on the cover stood out from the page, fancy!

Inside the mag was the rules to dragon chess. At the time in addition to playing D&D, my friend and I played a fair bit of chess. So combining the two, Just astounding!

Dragon Chess used a wider board than regular chess. and it had three levels. A sky board with griffons and crap on it. A middle board with your king and knights and such, and a lower board with underground junk it in it. Like regular chess each piece had its own move, some of which were crazy like the piece that moved like a knight only like 4 forward and 5 across or something. In addition to this many of the pieces could interact up or down a board.

So we bought some plexi-glass, about 100 bucks worth of lead figures and made a pretty playable version of the game.

I think we played it maybe three times. Just too much information to process, and generally the moves tended to be located on either the top and middle board, or the bottom and middle board with the third one being neglected. I think that I am one of maybe 40 people in the world who has actually played this thing.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 9:34 pm
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Ed Holzman
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Seffner
Florida
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Actually, you can still play it against an AI opponent if you have a copy of Zillions of Games and the Dragon Chess ZRF rules file.

http://zillionsofgames.com/index.html


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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 9:47 pm
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S. Deniz Bucak
United States
Havertown
Pennsylvania
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I've played it. I made a board and pieces out of cardboard and made one of my friends play me. It looked like crap but it worked.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 6:18 pm
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Scott Bartel
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Largo
Florida
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I actually made this when I was in high school. 3/4 plywood that my dad had in the garage and I bought 6 different colors of contact paper to make the squares. The pieces were hauled from my huge pile of Ral Partha minis. Have no idea what happened to it. God, this one brings back some memories.
 
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  • Edited Thu Mar 6, 2008 1:19 am
  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 1:17 am
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15. Board Game Publisher: TSR
Ray
United States
Carpentersville
Illinois
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TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) 1974 (informally in 1972)

IMHO another of Gary's real achievement was (along with fellow financier and club member Don Kaye) getting this started.

Don died in 1976 so he and Gary can now play a game together.
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Steve Wagner
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Kenesaw
Nebraska
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Don't forget that he help cleaned it up the company in the mid 80's and then promptly got booted out of it.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 2:38 am
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16. Board Game: Gunslinger [Average Rating:6.98 Overall Rank:748]
Learn to swim, learn to swim, learn to swim, learn to swim..
United States
Cleveland Heights
Ohio
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Boot Hill was co-created by Gary Gygax.

Not Gunslinger, I just used it since Boot Hill is an RPG and has no entry on BGG.

I played Boot Hill alot after playing D&D. It was a fun game, but limited. I still have it actually, with a few of the modules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Hill_(role-playing_game)
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Peter Martin
United States
Oceanside
California
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Boot Hill was a hoot. They had like a "game-within-a-game" to handle fistfights. When I was a young recruit in the Navy, we used to stage fistfights and play them out in this game. I think we even created a character for the boot camp company commender in the game and then beat him up! lol

Like I said, Boot Hill was a hoot.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 5:28 pm
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Michael Edwards
United States
Everett
Washington
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Phnglui mglw nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah nagl fhtagn! With cheeze!
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Boot Hill was a ton of fun. We played an especially mindless version, being in high scool at the time. I recall making a set of charts - one mapping out player character demises by weapon type, and another by hit location.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 9:13 pm
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Mark Slater
United Kingdom
Newport
Newport, South Wales
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It even had rules in the back for converting characters and weapons for use in D&D and Gamma World.
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 1:24 am
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Trencher for Life
United States
Slidell
Louisiana
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*Pulls out copy of Murphy's Rules

Ahem...

TAKE THAT!

"In BOOT HILL (TSR) a small child or little old lady can punch as effectively as the toughest wrangler."

laugh
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 2:03 am
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Dan Edwards
United States
Shoreline
Washington
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Rliyen wrote:
*Pulls out copy of Murphy's Rules

Ahem...

TAKE THAT!

"In BOOT HILL (TSR) a small child or little old lady can punch as effectively as the toughest wrangler."

laugh


"God did not make all men equal, Colonel Colt did"

That's why a good Boot Hill player always defended himself against women and children like the great John Candy character, Yellowbelly.


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  • Posted Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:09 am
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17. Board Game: Swords & Sorcery [Average Rating:6.71 Overall Rank:2261]
Daniel Peters
Canada
Dartmouth
Nova Scotia
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Not a Gygax design, of course. I include this game because Gygax appears in it, as a character. As a dragon, in fact.
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Peter Martin
United States
Oceanside
California
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Yep. His character's name was "Gygax Dragonlord" and he was one of the most powerful characters in the game. IMHO, I never thought it was as good a game as some have remember it (but then I say the same thing about Talisman and Titan as well, so take my opinion with a grain of salt) and the puns got old pretty quickly.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 5:31 pm
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Ken
United States
Crystal Lake
Illinois
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Peso Pete wrote:
Yep. His character's name was "Gygax Dragonlord" and he was one of the most powerful characters in the game.


Dunno about "most powerful in the game," but it is odd for a character to have an army combat strength in this game.

Quote:
IMHO, I never thought it was as good a game as some have remember it (but then I say the same thing about Talisman and Titan as well, so take my opinion with a grain of salt) and the puns got old pretty quickly.


It's really not a "great game" in terms of design - Costickyan himself said as much. But it was so much fun to break it out every once in a while and bash some skulls...

Still sees playing time on my table every few years.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 11:34 pm
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Ray
United States
Carpentersville
Illinois
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(Brave Sir Robin) uploaded a photo:

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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 3:22 am
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18. Board Game: Miscellaneous Game Magazine [Average Rating:6.35 Unranked]
Steffan O'Sullivan
United States
Plymouth
NH
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I first heard of Gary in the old "General" magazine in the days when it looked like this, the mid '60s. Who knows, possibly this very issue! (I sold all mine many years ago, so can't check.)

I was an active AH wargamer back then, an original subscriber to The General, and read every word in every issue, even the PBM ads. Gary had an ad for PBM in one of those issues which I answered. He replied, but we never did play by mail - we were both too busy with other games.

Imagine my surprise some 8-10 years later when I saw his name as a game designer - good for him! It inspired me to want to write a game book someday ...

Rest in Peace, Gary.
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Ray
United States
Carpentersville
Illinois
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Growing up a gamer in the Chicago area I've heard some good stories about those early (i.e. pre-Chainmail) play by mail games (mostly arranged between IFW* members). I've been trying unsuccessfully to get some of these old schoolers to get online and post these stories.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Federation_of_War...
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  • Edited Thu Mar 6, 2008 3:40 am
  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 3:34 am
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Tyler Dobson
United States
Middleburg
Florida
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I answered that add also, we played many games of AH's Blitzkrieg.
 
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  • Posted Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:55 am
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17 comments [Hide]
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David Whitcher
United States
Manchester
Michigan
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Don’t forget the immense influence that D&D had on board gaming. Every dungeon crawl and fantasy game since D&D has been affected by the foundation it laid down.
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  • Posted Tue Mar 4, 2008 6:32 pm
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Christian Leonhard
United States
Fairfax
Virginia
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The end of Dragon magazine last year really brought the old role-playing nostalgia back for me in a big way, to the point that I'm now running a weekly "pen and paper" game online for friends around the country, using Skype and other web tools. 1st edition AD&D, with the attendant hobby shop visits and boardgame inserts in The Dragon, really was the gateway to hobby gaming which brought to this site today, so I owe a great debt to Gygax and Arneson for that.

A sad day.
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 4:14 pm
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Jacob Russell
Canada
Vancouver
British Columbia
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I always wondered why we don't list RPG's on the Geek, there are obviously a lot of fans around here. Card games are listed after all, which are obviously not Board Games. I suppose that would open up a whole new avenue that would screw up the ratings system. Too bad though, maybe it could be seperated, kinda like wargames are but more so?
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  • Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 6:16 pm
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Scott Bartel
United States
Largo
Florida
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JonJacob wrote:
I always wondered why we don't list RPG's on the Geek, there are obviously a lot of fans around here.


We may me able to do just that sometime in the near future. On that glorius day when Aldie gets RPGGEEK.COM online.
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 1:27 am
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Matt
United States
City Island
New York
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Very sad.

I have some great memories playing D&D while I was in Jr. High.

Gary and Dave created something that had such a profound affect on gaming. Since D&D, there have been coutless RPG and fantasy video games that were obviously based off of Gary and Dave's game system. Gary won't be forgotten.

Rest in Peace Gary.
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  • Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 3:39 am
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