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~JohnnyOz:iconJohnnyOz:

John Miskimen  

  • Status: Member
  • Digital Artist
  • Male/United States
  • Offline for 21m 45s
  • Deviant since Jul 22, 2006, 9:25 PM
  • 48 Deviations
  • 4 Scraps [browse]
  • 91 Deviation Comments
  • 21 Deviant Comments
  • 7 Forum Posts
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Foaming Flagons raised on high ...

Journal Entry: Tue Mar 4, 2008, 11:41 PM
  • Mood: Sadness
  • Listening to: TV.
  • Reading: FASA manuals
  • Watching: Some Trek series ..
  • Playing: The Burkes Class Frigate
  • Eating: not so much
  • Drinking: Sweet Tea
Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69

By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 4, 3:39 PM ET

MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and moved to Lake Geneva at the age of 8. Gygax's father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax said.

Gygax dropped out of high school but took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago for a while, she said. He was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began playing war-themed board games.

But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman, she said.

Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.

Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The beauty of the game is that it's never quite the same, he said.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.



I don't rightly know what to say at this point ... this is somewhat overwhelming and unexpected ... but I thought it needed to be in a journal.

Thank You, Mr. Gygax, for the fantastic game you developed. You shall be missed every time I roll the dice, every time I depict a drow, every time my imagination soars to unbridled heights. Thank you Mr. Gygax.

JM.

Devious Information

  • Current Age: 259, in dog years.
  • Current Residence: In a land of little mirth, where men grow moody and strange.
  • Interests: Interesting things that interest me in passing.
  • Favourite movie: Either Dark Crystal or Nightbreed. Ask again later.
  • Favourite band or musician: Danzig is good, but so was Bjork. I grew up with Johnny Pinkslip, but we called him Kieth.
  • Favourite genre of music: I appreciate various forms of music ... even Tibetan Throat Singing.
  • Favourite artist: Aside from me? Chris Cooper is good, but so is Alex Ross.
  • Favourite poet or writer: Ben Franklin had a lot to say.
  • Favourite photographer: Peter Parker or Larry Flint. Did Larry actually take pictures? For that matter, does Pete?
  • Favourite style of art: Whatever works for me. Traditional and digital are more alike than most people think.
  • Operating System: Vista ... for now ...
  • MP3 player of choice: Winamp ... just keep it simple.
  • Shell of choice: oh. I've played that game before. It's fixed.
  • Wallpaper of choice: Something with pixels in it.
  • Skin of choice: Onion or Banana ... both 'appeal' to me ...
  • Favourite game: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
  • Favourite gaming platform: PS2 is cool, but PC allows for modding.
  • Favourite cartoon character: Dethklok kicks ass ... Bugs and Daffy used to rule. The Venture Bros. were pretty funny.
  • Personal Quote: I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe and the meter expired 13 minutes ago.
  • Tools of the Trade: Serotonin. Wish I had more of it more often.

deviantART Notice

Devious Comments

~Darkquette:iconDarkquette: Jun 3, 2008, 9:02:43 AM
Thank you for the :+fav:
:heart:


--
My Regards ,
:floating:Alexandra:floating:

~ † ~ Keep all the roses , I'm not dead ~ † ~
~bLuTm8:iconbLuTm8: May 17, 2008, 4:07:29 PM
Thanks again for the additional :+fav:s

:dance:
~JamieTakahashi:iconJamieTakahashi: May 11, 2008, 5:06:18 PM
Thanks for the :+fav:s ^__^

--
Hey! You should check out this awesome Star Trek Role Playing Forum called Deep Space 4:
[link]
And this other awesome sim called Star Trek Andromeda
[link]
~Kreegan:iconKreegan: Apr 27, 2008, 9:15:55 AM
Thanks for the watch and favs!
*alexzeev:iconalexzeev: Apr 21, 2008, 7:33:14 PM
Thanks so much for the fav, my friend! :bow:

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"Do androids dream of electric sheep?" :sheepish:
~JohnnyOz:iconJohnnyOz: Mar 22, 2008, 2:04:00 PM Mood: Big Grin
oh, you know, the usual ... just drying Tribble intestine to restring my Klingon Lute ...

JM.

--
The light at the end of the tunnel is usually a muzzle flash.
~uss-enterprise-club:iconuss-enterprise-club: Mar 22, 2008, 12:49:09 PM
Thanks for the watch ;-)

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~uss-enterprise-club - a StarTrek fanclub.
~FuryofaSeraph:iconFuryofaSeraph: Mar 22, 2008, 11:05:22 AM
What's up, Mudd?

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So let go, just get in
oh, it's so amazing here.
*Ascavilya:iconAscavilya: Mar 2, 2008, 6:05:45 PM Mood: Joy
Hey John, thanks for the :+fav: on Shadow Warriors, I really appreciate it.

--
Sometimes the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

Clubs:
AikoAndHiroAddicts - PoserAddicts
~gppr:icongppr: Mar 2, 2008, 8:36:52 AM
Hi!

Thanks for adding [link] to your faves. :)

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Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right - Henry Ford
~nightwing1975:iconnightwing1975: Mar 2, 2008, 4:48:11 AM
thanks for adding my ilia to your favourites [link] :)

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Nightwing1975
=ariess:iconariess: Feb 14, 2008, 4:27:34 PM
Thanks for the FAV! :D

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"Whose voice do you hear while you are sleeping?"
~Andared:iconAndared: Jan 26, 2008, 10:13:01 AM
thanks for the fave

--
“Teach them politics and war so their sons may study medicine and mathematics in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, and architecture.”

John Adams
*davemetlesits:icondavemetlesits: Dec 30, 2007, 10:47:57 AM
Thank you for the fav!

--
"I am the voice of the Knight Industries Two Thousand's microprocessor.
KITT for easy reference or Kitt if you prefer..."
*mdelgado76:iconmdelgado76: Dec 27, 2007, 10:38:56 AM
Thank you so much for the :+fav: on Alien [link]
:hug:

--
:star: My Gallery :star: :gallery:

You can also see my work here

:star: Myspace :star:
*Ascavilya:iconAscavilya: Dec 23, 2007, 5:58:43 AM
Thanks for the :+fav: on D-I-C-E v1.0 I really appreciate it.

--
Sometimes the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

Clubs:
AikoAndHiroAddicts - PoserAddicts
~LeviSke:iconLeviSke: Dec 21, 2007, 9:46:19 AM
Thanks for the fav :)
~FANBOY71:iconFANBOY71: Dec 20, 2007, 12:18:45 PM
thanks for the fave.
*abuseofreason:iconabuseofreason: Dec 13, 2007, 8:06:10 PM
Thank you! :glomp:

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You looking to be buried in the sky?
*springie:iconspringie: Dec 12, 2007, 2:07:04 PM
Thanks for the fav!
~hedaard:iconhedaard: Dec 10, 2007, 8:37:58 AM
Thanks for the fav.