Gary Gygax, the Father of Dungeons & Dragons has passed on, today March 4th 2008. I can still remember the first time I read the original Players Handbook from that Red D&D boxed set. Gary Gygax created a system that freed my teenage angst and gave it a channel to productive creativity. I still look to those books for release from the tedium of my soul stealing I.T. job. Every other Saturday my wife and friends get together to delve in to another world where we release the full wrath of our imagination upon the villains and monster of our D.M.'s devising.

Gary Gygax's artistic vision lead to creation of a phenomena that evolved in to an entire industry whose sole purpose is enjoyment and celebration of the fact that anyone can be anything they can imagine, if even for only a few hours every other weekend. For a few of the extremely talented creative souls Gygax built a path to wealth and a means to live through their creativity. People like R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Troy Denning, and so many other authors that wrote for TSR and now Wizards of The Coast who built careers off the foundation that he laid.

Gary Gygax's originality has left an undeniable impression in the lives of so many fantasy lovers. Gygax's spirit will live on through the systems of creativity that have spawned from his creative soul. Gary Gygax's true success is that he will be missed, but never forgotten. All About The Dragon is ABOUT creativity, fantasy, imagery, fantastic creatures and locations, and all of it can be traced back to the feelings I have when I remember the first time I read those basic rules from that D&D basic red boxed set.

Sites Reporting and Commenting on this event:
Troll Lord Games
New York Times
Lategaming.com
Gleemax.com linked from Wizards of The Coast
Wired Blog
Matt Forbeck - Author Blog