It’s a sad day for fans of role-playing games worldwide. Gary Gygax, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson has passed away at age 69. Reports say Gygax had been in poor health, suffering from multiple strokes and a near-heart attack.

Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American writer and game designer who co-founded the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) with Don Kaye in 1974. TSR published the first version of D&D in the same year. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) followed in 1977 including The Monster Manual, the first rule book of the new system (I still have mine).

Gygax also started the annual gaming convention Gen Con in 1967. Most recently, Gygax was semi-retired and had been working with Troll Lord Games, a small role playing game company.

[AP]

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