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Gary Gygax, D&D co-creator, dead.

post #1 of 32
3/4/08 at 2:23pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewto...trolllordgames

For anyone who played or plays a version of D&D, and most MMORPGs...one of the early giants in the industry has died.
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post #2 of 32
3/4/08 at 2:41pm
Should have put those extra points into Constitution....

Kidding aside, I still have an old copy of the blue boxed set of the Dungeons and Dragons rules. I remember seeing the yellow-spined Advanced books on the shelves at toy stores and wondering just what mysteries they held. As beautiful as some of the RPG books are these days, there was a lot of charm in those badly typeset, poorly illustrated D&D books -- it made you feel like you were sharing somebody's game, like you were part of a hobby, not a business.

Here's hoping he has a hell of a time in Sigil before moving on to whatever plane he ends up on.
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post #3 of 32
3/4/08 at 2:42pm
Guess he missed his saving throw.
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post #4 of 32
3/4/08 at 2:54pm
My Ex's new boyfriend introduced her to D&D.


Fuck this game.
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post #5 of 32
3/4/08 at 4:34pm
Looks like someone failed their Saving Throw vs. Bitterness roll.

As for the passing of Gygax, it's a bit of shock to me. He was a big influence on many of us back in the day. The original D&D and AD&D (the one that had all the cool demon and Satanic stuff before the 2nd Edition got rid of it) are the ones that I got to play. All these new editions with their slick artwork and whatnot just don't hold a candle to cool B&W illustrations of the originals.

The 4th Edition of D&D is coming out and it looks like it'll rely even more on maps and miniatures than ever. Whatever happened to the simple "Let's go on a quest/kill the beast/Save the city/" gameplay that usually involved crawling through a dungeon at some point?

I can see why Gygax was helping out with that CASTLES & CRUSADES game a few years ago.
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post #6 of 32
3/4/08 at 4:42pm
Where's that link that was posted a while ago that explained the stupid D&D creatures?

Edit: Found it.

http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm
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post #7 of 32
3/4/08 at 4:49pm
I cast magic missile at the darkness! In tribute.
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post #8 of 32
3/4/08 at 4:50pm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=joylAVP6v5M
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post #9 of 32
3/4/08 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
. As beautiful as some of the RPG books are these days, there was a lot of charm in those badly typeset, poorly illustrated D&D books -- it made you feel like you were sharing somebody's game, like you were part of a hobby, not a business.

.
The fact that TSR were better at sharing a hobby than at running a business was how they got bought out by Wizards, mind you.
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post #10 of 32
3/4/08 at 5:19pm
Lots of good times playing both D&D and AD&D (first and second editions) back in the day, up through college. I will say, thanks to the game, I got into Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard, Lovecraft, etc. as well as mythology in general.

This 30th level paladin salutes and thanks you, Mr. Gygax. Think I'll crack open the books for old time sake...
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post #11 of 32
3/4/08 at 6:16pm
If you ever see Gygax's Gord the Rogue books at a used bookstore. Pick them up because they're awesome and rife with old school AD&D since it takes place in Gygax's GREYHAWK setting.

I lucked out and found the entire series.
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post #12 of 32
3/4/08 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xagarath Ankor View Post
The fact that TSR were better at sharing a hobby than at running a business was how they got bought out by Wizards, mind you.
I would say thinking they could beat Magic the Gathering with Spellfire had a lot to do with it.
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post #13 of 32
3/4/08 at 9:23pm
Do people still play Magic: The Gathering?
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post #14 of 32
3/5/08 at 12:29pm
Farewell, Mr. Gygax.

And fuck this 4.0 shit.
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post #15 of 32
3/5/08 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Headless Fett View Post
Do people still play Magic: The Gathering?
Quite often.
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post #16 of 32
3/5/08 at 5:13pm
Yu-Gi-Oh has replaced it as the king of the CCG hill, but they're still cranking out expansions for it.
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post #17 of 32
3/5/08 at 8:44pm
I began playing D&D shortly before it was crushed by computer RPGs and on-line text based MUDS (which I still miss). Even though I found the AD&D rules increasingly byzantine and unwieldly as composed to my trusty old beginner's rule set, I still wax nostalgic about twenty-sided die. Damn, I think I still have my custom made "cheat sheets" that were printed in microscopic font.

Good memories. RIP, Gygax.
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post #18 of 32
3/5/08 at 10:20pm
I remember one issue of Dragon magazine included a THACO wheel -- it was two discs you pinned together and rotated to find out what you needed to hit someone based on their armor class and your dexterity. There was something indescribably cool about playing something that arcane. The first time I ran a game and our regular DM handed me that wheel? Chills.
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post #19 of 32
3/5/08 at 10:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Headless Fett View Post
Do people still play Magic: The Gathering?
It's still great.
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post #20 of 32
3/6/08 at 3:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Kimbell View Post
It's still great.
It began pandering to collectors instead of worrying about game balance. Once they created their tenth new ability concept, I gave up.
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post #21 of 32
3/6/08 at 3:35am
As long as you play Block or Limited - which are the best formats anyway - you never run into too many abilities, imo.
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post #22 of 32
3/6/08 at 4:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Kimbell View Post
As long as you play Block or Limited - which are the best formats anyway - you never run into too many abilities, imo.
I foolishly sold off a crapload of cards now worth 10-20K. My mistake.

A buddy recently asked me to evaluate his collection (he hadn't dusted it off in years, and 90% of the cards were either Beta or Arabian Nights. The rest were Unlimited and Antiquities).

I picked out about 300 of the 2000ish cards and told him he could buy himself a new luxury car with those alone. There were about seven black lotuses, several sets of moxes, multiples of every Arabian nights cards (including several I hadn't seen in over a decade; crazy lands like Elephant Graveyard). There was a tone of stuff like liches, two headed giants, time walks up the ass, about twenty ancestral recalls ... and I think five mishra's workshops. There had to be forty beta dual lands. I had never actually seen an ancestral guardian, let alone the one with the 4/2 power/toughness mistake (he had four of them).

He obviously grew uncomfortable at my fingering his cards after I explained to him that they were worth more than the five dollars each he remembered, and he should probably keep them in the plastic sleeves.
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post #23 of 32
3/6/08 at 4:43am
Oh my stars and garters.
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post #24 of 32
3/6/08 at 11:48am
Holy crap, Overlord, where's your friend live so I can um, you know, like, talk to him and...stuff and...not steal his cards.

SEVEN Black fucking Lotuses?!?! Jesus, Christ. And I thought my nearly complete Legends set was badass.
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post #25 of 32
3/6/08 at 11:52am
I had a Black Lotus once. A friend of mine traded it to me for the Enterprise-D card from the Star Trek CCG. They were actually worth about the same at the time. Ended up selling the Lotus at my local game store for $50, thinking that would be the most a silly Magic card would ever be worth. Yeah right.
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post #26 of 32
3/6/08 at 12:04pm
Well, when you first look at it, it is quite the silly card. Only gives you three (five?) mana of any color? pfh, gimme me my Force of Nature with 4 forest upkeep so I can tool your ass.
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post #27 of 32
3/6/08 at 12:12pm
Yeah, but you use that three mana to play three Dark Rituals, toss out some of the 0 casting cost mox stones, and you're rolling in enough mana for a first turn win if you load up with lightning bolts or fireballs.

I'm ashamed I remember that.
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post #28 of 32
3/6/08 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
Yeah, but you use that three mana to play three Dark Rituals, toss out some of the 0 casting cost mox stones, and you're rolling in enough mana for a first turn win if you load up with lightning bolts or fireballs.

I'm ashamed I remember that.
Nowadays you cast Yawgmoth's Will and recast all those spells, then Tendrills of Agony for 20 damage on turn 1.

Not really ashamed to know this. Better than being an alcoholic, I guess. And, my friend actually made it on the M:TG Pro Tour last month. Free trip to Kuala Lumpur where he finished 13th and won $5000. Not bad for a hobby.
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post #29 of 32
3/6/08 at 2:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Happenin View Post
Holy crap, Overlord, where's your friend live so I can um, you know, like, talk to him and...stuff and...not steal his cards.

SEVEN Black fucking Lotuses?!?! Jesus, Christ. And I thought my nearly complete Legends set was badass.
He lives in Reseda (my old haunt, as well). He's not a rich guy ... he actually plays poker for a living now. He was upset that I told him in front of his wife how valuable the cards were, as she now pesters him to sell.

What's funny is that I used to regularly kick his ass in tournaments (yes, I used to religiously play tournaments .. don't judge me!) but he smoked me during that session. I had to gently tell him you could only play with one time walk, one black lotus, one ancestral recall, and one mox per color per deck, not four.

Those cards belonged in a safety deposit box, not sitting on his shelf. It hurt my feelings, but I could genuinely tell he was worried about me snagging a few. *sniff*. Isle of Wak Wak? Drop of honey? Singing Tree? How often does one see these card? At least he didn't have any Juzam Djinns, as he had apparently traded all of them away.

**I still have a decent collection myself, but I was definitely a moron to sell off all my "big seven", mana drains, and arabian nights cards other than oubliettes.
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post #30 of 32
3/6/08 at 6:30pm
So I mentioned to my fiancee that Gary Gygax had died, and of course she didn't recognize the name. When I told her that he was the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, her immediate response was, "Did they have to pull his body out of his mom's basement?"

That's why I'm marrying her!
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post #31 of 32
3/6/08 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
Yeah, but you use that three mana to play three Dark Rituals, toss out some of the 0 casting cost mox stones, and you're rolling in enough mana for a first turn win if you load up with lightning bolts or fireballs.

I'm ashamed I remember that.
I always played it (in my head, mind you), that you throw down a mountain, then play the Lotus. You get three green mana from the Lotus. Cast a fireball with the mountain and Life Tap (or Channel Life, whichever) for two forests from the Lotus. Channel 19 of your life into the fireball and tap out the remaining forest for a first round win.

Yes, I'll admit to imagining the face of my opponent when I successfully pulled that off.

I'll derail slightly. My best (read: most valuable card): Mirror Universe, baby!

I do have all the Elder Dragons, a fact I am damn proud of, too.
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post #32 of 32
3/6/08 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Happenin View Post
I always played it (in my head, mind you), that you throw down a mountain, then play the Lotus. You get three green mana from the Lotus. Cast a fireball with the mountain and Life Tap (or Channel Life, whichever) for two forests from the Lotus. Channel 19 of your life into the fireball and tap out the remaining forest for a first round win.

Yes, I'll admit to imagining the face of my opponent when I successfully pulled that off.

I'll derail slightly. My best (read: most valuable card): Mirror Universe, baby!

I do have all the Elder Dragons, a fact I am damn proud of, too.
Force of Will made the channel/fireball combination (which was much easier to pull off with wheel of fortune, time-twister, demonic tutor, and/or time walk) along with other first turn death dealers obsolete.
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