Gary Gygax, R.I.P.

A tip o' the multi-sided die, today, for the memory of a man who launched countless careers in the technology industry.

Gary Gygax co-founded Dungeons and Dragons, the role-playing game not only responsible for countless hours lost for many, many people my age long ago, but for many games (World of Warcraft, anyone?) that are in play today. I must say, when D&D came up (and it did a surprising amount of times) in technology companies where we were doing interviews, inevitably, some tech executive would blush for just a second, then launch into a story about how his 3rd level cleric .. well, you remember.

From the news stories out today, Gygax seemed to be not only at peace with his legacy, but happy to hear how so many people were influenced by the game. I'm not sure if he became wealthy through D&D, but he had to know that so many people loved the game, and I;m glad that made him happy.

He certainly deserves it.