Reminiscing

It’s a sad thing in some ways when the first thing I post in a while is about Gary Gygax’s death. Gygax, for those of you who don’t know, was one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons.

But if it weren’t for Gary Gygax, I’d be a very different person, I think. Almost all of my friends for a long time there were roleplayers. Many still are. If I hadn’t sat around in the North Sydney Girls’ High School library aged 12 with Naomi Adam and rolled up Quillian, my first half-elf magic user, who knows where I would be?

I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed those long, fabulous weekends with Justine, Jamie, Phil and Glen in the house in Dulwich Hill, and I wouldn’t have met a bunch of my good friends now who I grew to know at roleplaying conventions when David, Phil, Justine and I played in Sydney. It’s through those conventions that I know

, whose wedding I went to over a year ago, and

, throughout whose pregnancy we trained at the Newtown gym, and now a bunch of Melbourne people, including

, and

, because I went straight to a convention when I hit Melbourne as a sure-fire way to meet like-minded folks.

Last but not least, it’s how I met my best friend,

, even though she’s not a roleplayer, because she knew

, who is.

Through D&D, I discovered Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and SLA Industries and Cyberpunk. My favourite computer game of all time, Zork, wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for D&D.

I don’t roleplay any more and many of my friends are from different backgrounds now, or I met them through other means. Some of my nearest and dearest — Doug, Matt,

— I met through friends or randomly in deserts protesting inhumane conditions for refugees, but, as “my type of people” often turn out to, they have all got roleplaying skeletons in their past.

So, vale, Gary Gygax. Know that withoutyou, Internet daemons probably wouldn’t be called that and BBSs would never have had wizards. Know that you gave a lot of nerds and geeks a social life and a feeling we belonged for the very first time.

Also, go read the Salon.com obituary and watch the extremely bizarre video at the end. Yes, Gary. We blame you for WoW too.