It all begins with Gygax

March 4th, 2008 Stewart

Dungeons & Dragons Co - Creator Dies at 69 - New York Times

Unusual for me to post anything personal on this blog, but I felt the situation warranted it. Gary Gygax died today, and that’s actually kind of a big deal for me.

You see, like a lot of librarians, I’m a nerd. I was born a nerd; I’ll die a nerd. Although today’s nerds have a certain degree of cache (librarian-chic being just one example of this), I’m an old school nerd.

What D&D did was to help nerds find each other. When I transferred to my small town junior high school in 1982, from an even smaller rural school, I didn’t know anyone and making friends was really hard. One day, though, I happened into the library at just the right time, and saw a small band of my fellow dorks gathered around a copy of the Monster Manual rolling a few dice and laughing with each other. I had found my people. The same thing happened my first month in college and I’m happy to report that I’m still good friends with most of the role-players I met then. I even have a standing invite to their monthly game, and I’m hoping to take them up on it soon.

What Gygax created was Gaming 0.0, a social network for the socially outcast, and one that didn’t need monitors, joysticks, headsets or soundcards to join — just your imagination, a pencil and a sheet of paper. (D20s you could borrow from your friends.)

I know public libraries have had a great deal of success recently with LAN parties and Saturday MMORPG sessions. May I suggest, in honor of Mr. Gygax and his legacy, a return to our roots? If you’re in the position to set it up, get a D&D session going at your local library this month, and hold your vorpal swords high in tribute to the man who started it all, and gave a lot of kids some great memories and great friendships.

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Listening to: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - So In Love
via FoxyTunes

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