All I can say is that I never knew his birthday was four days after mine until after he was already dead, I kind of wish we had thought to celebrate it while he was still alive to appreciate it. That being said, I like celebrating the day of his birth a lot better than commemorating the day of his death, it just seems a more respectful way to remember him and his life. We celebrate the end of a war, not the end of an individual life, you know? All of our national holidays in the US are based around the end of a war, harvest, the Declaration of Independence or a national hero's or religious figure's birthday- Sol Invictus, Mithras, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President's Day rolled Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into one holiday because February was getting too crowded apparently. Actually that's not true, they just renamed Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday was never a federal holiday, I just looked it up, when they created Martin Luther King Jr. Day most states got rid of a separate Lincoln's birthday holiday. You learn something new everyday.
Anyway, happy Gary Gygax day. Roll a D20 for the original DM tonight.
Original DM-Dave Arneson.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I knew someone was going to say that. Can't we just let the old feud die and let them both have credit as original DMs? Without Gygax's medieval skirmish rules Arneson wouldn't have started the roleplaying aspect that led to D&D. They bounced ideas off each other in a great collaboration for a few years before it turned sour. Gygax owned the company, Arneson got hosed. I am not trying to be too partisan here towards Gygax, I acknowledge Arneson's contribution to the game; can't we just let Gary's birthday go by once without bring this up though?
DeleteYou reap what you sow, William. Gygax did a lot of sowing.
DeleteHe sowed the seeds that begat a huge industry. Whatever Mr. Arneson's initial contributions were, he did very little to develop the RPG industry. That in turn sparked a generation of creativity- games, computer games, books, films etc. Consider that and then see if you find any more reason to mark the day.
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