Gary Gygax, RIP: Favorite Dungeons and Dragons memories?

Question

Gary Gygax missed his saving throw and didn't have a cleric in the party.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax

Condolences to his wife and family.

What's your favorite DnD memory?

Favorite version? (The '78 AD&D is what I grew up on, and still what I consider "real" D&D.)

Answer 1

Wow thanks for the Question. Memories..........



Like many of the answers here I too grew up playing D&D and AD&D in 78'.



What i find interesting is many of us (including me) took a long break then came back.



My Hiatius was from 89 to 99, about 10 years and probably like most they were my 20's. I now, for the last 9 years, play every Sunday evening for 3hrs with same group of guys and gal.



Favorite memory:

The first time i played. Just turned 10 camping in CA redwood forest. The kid in the camp site across from us saw some PCs to "infect with the disease". My cousins and I were captivated that warm summer night by the light of the capfire and coleman lantern. Out doors in the woods for more than 6hrs. At 2am my aunt had to pry us away. After 3 weeks of saving every penny of my allowance, guess what I bought?



Favorite Editon:

You know i have every AD&D book and played every weekend in the late 70 through 80's. When i came back to it in the late 90's it was what i knew and played. I like the feel of AD&D but I have to say the newer D20 (3.0, 3.5) has better mechanics, easier play, and vastly superrior character developement. You have to admit after about 10th level in AD&D there wasn't much left and it took for ever to advance past this point any way.

Answer 2

I too grew up on the AD&D from 78. Then I took a LONG break and came back to D&D recently.



I don't have a favorite memory but, one of the greatest accomplishments that Mr. Gygax had was to co-create something that caught the imaginations of so many people.

Answer 3

First off I want to go on record as saying I hate 3rd Ed! D20 sucks. All Wizards did was buy the name and terms to the game and ruin it with their own crappy system.



I played the regular old D&D game in the 80s but my real memories are when 2nd Ed came out. I am still playing second ed. today. There are too many great memories but I have played through 3 long running campaigns under 2 really great DMs and finished a long running Ravenloft game I ran that we finished at the end of 07.

Answer 4

I started playing D&D with 2nd Edition. After a long hiatus I started playing 3.0 and now play 3.5 ed. The game has shown me that with a good imagination there are no limits.



One of my favourite memories is slogging through a dungeon crawl as part of a party of four; cleric, two fighters, and a ranger. We finally got out with the treasure only to be waylaid by an evil sorceror who cast a spell that rendered worthless anything that was metallic. All the party's armour, swords, and coins were destroyed.

Naturally we took care of the sorceror later.

Answer 5

Gygax will always be "The Man."



I loved D&D... favorite stuff would be the '70s Basic Blue-book (with the dragon) & the magic of transition into AD&D 1st. Half the people playing used those crazy "chits" 'cause we didn't have enough of those terrible dice.



But it was great. One guy even walked several miles daily to play.



You rock Gary! Wherever you end up I hope you're gaming to your heart's content w/o corporate-crap considerations.



However you call it, that would be heaven.

Answer 6

I started in '81. It gave me and my friends something to do and we had a whale of a good time doing it. Kept us out of the bad stuff everyone is afraid their teen will get into, and we learned to out think each other. One of us is a doctor, one is a dentist, one is a nuclear physicist, one is a writer and I am an economist, one does design graphics and one of us is now dead but he was an accountant.



My best memories are of the ridiculously long gaming sessions. Fortunately our cleric had the power to create root beer and cheese wiz. It was pretty geeky, but look at us now. To a large degree our success was put in motion by Gygax's forcing us to think, to think critically and to think for ourselves.



May he find rest in the Elysian Fields or the Seven Heavens.

Answer 7

My mom bought me the original D&D boxed set and the AD&D Monster Manual, Player's Guide and DM's Guide when I graduated from junior high in '79. My entire summer was an endless reading and re-reading of every page of those books.



My fondest memory though is from my first time playing with an actual player character. I had helped start up a D&D club at school the next year and an older kid was DMing the first game at his house. *Fourteen* people showed up to play. It was a typical highschool-made dungeon crawl and towards the end, only half of us were still alive. The party was attacked by a wererat and while we were all busy trying to damage the damned thing, the DM's little sister (her character anyway) ran off with the packmule that had all of the party treasure in it. I broke off from the fight and gave chase. She had a headstart so everytime I got to an intersection, I had to choose which way to go. I totally lucked out and found her hiding in a side room near the entrance. The DM took us into another room of the house to game it out but while he was in with the other larger group, she kissed me. When he got back, we'd already made our plan. We ran off together with the treasure, leaving the rest of the group to their own fate. We lived happily ever after. Well, in the game anyway. In real life, she married my best friend and *they* lived happily ever after....



Goodbye old friend. At my next gaming session, a handful of Cheese Puffs and a cup of room temperature Cola shall remain untouched in your memory.

Answer 8

Having played D&D in its various incarnations since the mid-70's, it'd be tough to choose a favorite memory. However, at a gaming convention last weekend, the organizers had everyone in the room take out a 20-sider, hold it on high and then roll it in EGG's memory.

Answer 9

Gary was a phenomenal man, full of life and gaming. I hope we never forget him or his achievements. He was a father of gaming, and he will be missed.



I'm only 17 so I've only got to play the 3.5 version (I now wish I could of played the older one) My favorite D&D memory is when myself and our DM partnered up to "teach" our fellow friend a lesson. He was getting quite cocky about his 38 AC. So, We gave him an amulet. (more specifically an amulet of strangulation.) He tried getting my mage to identify it, but I told him it was too hard to do. So, he put it on (thinking it was an amulet that would help him) and he died. Haha. Anyway, he got mad so we resurrected him and continued on in the fantastic world of gaming. Good luck fellow gamers, and lets pay tribute to one of the men that made it all happen.

Answer 10

I started playing in '83 and have always loved the game. I played for years, then went away and came back to play several times. Most recently I joined a gaming group a few months ago to get back into it and have been having a blast. My most favorite recent memory is getting to punt-kick a gnome. Classic.

Answer 11

Never played it



but long ago I watched the show



that girl Diana was hot

Answer 12

I'm fine playing D&D, AD&D (1+2), but 3rd edition didn't sink in with me or my group.



Too bad the movies always sucked.