Here is a short song I put together regarding the passing of Gary Gygax (the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons). I was inspired to make it when I opened my rss aggregator this morning and saw dozens of my friends writing about Mr. Gygax. As I surfed around, I kept seeing similarities in their personal stories and mine. Some continued to play the game, others (like me) only had a little experience actually gaming, but found the experience connected them to a whole new way of thinking.

I remember combing through the various monster manuals and guides and practicing drawing the characters I came across. I also recall lying to my mom about going to play the game. When I was 6, she saw a movie called Mazes and Monsters that villianized D&D, so she had banned me from ever playing it. I found it interesting that my uncle actually worked at the D&D plant for most of this time too… My mom and uncle have long had a turbulent relationship that may have had something to do with banning me from D&D.

The “Goliath” reference at the end of the song is reference to the etymology of Gary’s last name, which is Greek (not Swiss as I formerly had thought) for “giant” or “gigantic”. Here are the rest of the lyrics:

I was 15 when I first heard of D & D
Wasn’t keen on fantasy but it seemed to be
the only way to meet any other geeks
In a small town down in middle Tennessee
We played, campaigns for days
Fueled by sweet tea
But I was never as obsessed
As my friends seemed to be
I was a low level priest
on my character sheet
But the DM knew
I was actually a thief

blah blah
blah blah blah

I’ve never played another game since that first campaign
But I’ve stayed in touch with all the friends that I’ve made
I learned it was okay to have imagination
and I owe it all to Dungeons and Dragons
Roll 1d20 for all the friends that I’ve made
in that trailer park the first game that we played
and although I ain’t played a game since
I still get about 90 percent of the references

Gary Gygax was a gaming goliath
created dungeons and dragons with Dave Arneson