Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away yesterday.

I was not one of those who learned the books off by heart. Nevertheless, many happy hours of my childhood were spent rolling dice and following a D&D “reduced instruction set.” Gygax bears a reasonable share of credit (or blame, if you feel that way) for my development as a writer, for it was in playing his game that I first discovered how much I enjoyed story telling. Most of the adventures I DM’d were not out of a book (who could afford all those modules?) or even committed to paper, but simply made up on the spot. My unselfconscious plagiarism knew no bounds, as I lifted episodes from Greek mythology, Star Trek, or Little House on the Prairie indiscriminately.

Gygax didn’t just create a game. He created an avenue of expression for me and countless others. I was sorry to hear of his passing.