Happy Birthday Gary

Chuck a 20-sider in honor of Gary Gygax today.

"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

—Gary Gygax

Hope You Enjoyed Gary Gygax Day

I was on the road traveling until I walked in the door a few seconds ago, so I didn't get to chuck any dice in Gary's memory today. Hope everyone else ran a game or rolled up a character or just toss back a drink in Gary's honor today.

I love this tribute. Thanks Gary.

H.R. Giger: 1940 - 2014

Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger has passed away. Giger's style is immediately recognizable to most of you, as his "biomechanical" creatures and designs are singly unique. Best known for creating the design of the creature from "Alien," I recall his artwork appearing on the covers of multiple issues of Omni that I used to collect. One of my favorite games "back in the day" was "Dark Seed" which was based on his designs. Nightmare fuel -- and I loved it. He and his horrific visions will be missed.

RIP Dave Trampier

Thought I'd toss in my condolences and thoughts on the passing of a great gaming artist. I always enjoyed Dave Trampier's artwork and, in fact, his imagery DEFINED Dungeons and Dragons for me in my formative years. Probably you too.

I don't know about you, but I had the Player's Handbook with me close at hand at the table. Staring at that image of the party looting the statue's eye-jewels while we played in our own game always put me in the mood and painted a vivid evocative picture in my mind.

Meanwhile, whenever I wasn't glancing at the PH cover, I was staring at THIS image. My DM was always lurking behind his trusty DM Screen. I'm sure you've spent many an hour contemplating your next move while staring at this same image.

Trampier is known for so much, much more, so I won't belabor the point any further, except to share one other piece he created that defined me as a gamer. He's the artist responsible for the cover art of this:

Thanks Dave for fueling my imagination and illustrating my thoughts so well.

RIP "Egon Spengler" AKA Harold Ramis

Sad news today as actor/director Harold Ramis passed away at the age of 69. His body of comedic work is legendary: directing/writing Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, National Lampoon's Vacation and appearing in many movies including Stripes...and one other famous film role....

In my eyes, he will always be remembered as brainiac parapsychologist Egon Spengler from Ghostbusters. And Mr. Ramis' photo actually appears on the cover of one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Ramis.

Remembering Gary

 

Gary would have been 75 today. Be sure to chuck a 20-sider in honor of his memory today.

"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

—Gary Gygax

Fight On! To Cease Publication

Very sad news from the OSR 'zine front. Fight On! magazine's next issue will be its last. After 14 issues of old-school RPG goodness, editor Ignatius Umlaut (AKA Calithena AKA Sean) will be closing up the shop.

I'm very sorry to see the magazine shut down as I feel it was one of the best RPG magazines available. There was always a ton of usable content covering a crazy-wide variety of genres and systems. Because the content was contributor-supplied, it had a different "voice" than other publications. Reading any issue was like sitting around the gaming table as one of my players discussed some new monster or dungeon or rule he had envisioned. Reading an issue of Fight On! is like reading an early issue of Dragon magazine. I discovered the magazine years ago and, after reading a few back issues, jumped back into gaming. You could say that Fight On! helped kickstart this blog.

I supported Fight On! by supplying Mutant Future material for the magazine. Off the top of my head, I recall the Insectaurs, Masterminds, Geologians, and Time-Displaced making an appearance in the magazine. My vehicle-scrounging table and apocalyptic stormfront mega-table both ran in those pages. Many mutants and monsters slithered from here to there. I even resurrected a comic strip I used to draw for a couple of other gaming publications just for Fight On! I was my pleasure to support the mag.

Anyway, it's sad to see this happen, but I wish Cal well. And thanks for the great run!

Happy Gary Gygax Day!

July 27 is Gary Gygax Day, celebrating the guy who got this whole mess started. Gary would have been 74 today. Celebrate by chucking some dice, and make a donation to the Gygax Memorial Fund while you're at it! (Click the banner to be taken to the site.)

"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."
—Gary Gygax

Ray Bradbury: 1920 - 2012

Famed science fiction-fantasy author Ray Bradbury has passed away at the age 91. I purchased three paperbacks of his novels 30 years ago -- Fahrenheit 451; The Martian Chronicles; The Illustrated Man. Those same three dog-eared copies have followed me throughout my life, and have been brought down and reread hundreds of times. Two of his short stories, in fact, shaped my love of two distinct literary genres.  A Sound of Thunder shaped my love of time travel -- and its inherent dangers. And There Will Come Soft Rains is a melancholy post-apocalyptic slice of life. Thanks Ray for being the first author who sparked that inkling of inspiration in me.

Remembering Gary Gygax On His 73rd Birthday

Taking a sec to remember Gary Gygax who would have been 73 today. Happy Birthday Gary, and thanks for getting this whole mess started.

RIP Sherwood Schwartz 1916-2011

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

Here's a story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls...
TV writer, producer, and creator Sherwood Schwartz died today at the age of 94. I daresay that even if you don't know the man's name, you have more than a passing familiarity with his two biggest contributions to the public consciousness:

I don't have any great tie-in with how his passing affected my role-playing. (Well, there was a great Paranoia game I ran at a convention titled "Gill-I-GAN's Complex," but that'll wait for another day.) Nor is there any great lesson learned from these shows that became a watchword for my day-to-day life. The reason I'm taking a moment to remember him here is thusly:

"Gilligan's Island" is simply my favorite show of all time. I still laugh out loud with each and every viewing, which happens at least once a week. I have been greatly entertained by this show for 40+ years. And anyone who has brought me this much happiness on a nearly weekly basis for most of my life deserves to be honored and remembered. Thanks for the chuckles, Mr. Schwartz.

In honor of this man's contributions, I encourage every Dungeon Master, Game Master, Crypt Keeper, Labyrnth Lord, Mutant Lord, and RPG Referee to take a moment this weekend and strand his PCs on an unchartered desert isle after a three-hour tour.

A three hour tour...

RIP "The Deacon"

Farewell to one of my favorite over-the-top villains from one of my favorite over-the-top post-apocalyptic films.

Frank Frazetta: 1928 - 2010

Master fantasy and sci fi artist Frank Frazetta has died of a stroke at the age of 82. Frazetta is most closely associated with Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian" character. His signature work often featured bare-chested "sword and sorcery" heroes, helpless women, and fantasy creatures. Shown above is my favorite painting of his - The Death Dealer. One of the most iconic, in my opinion. Thanks Frank for fueling my imagination and giving life to my inner-most dreams.