Gary Gygax Gone to Meet the Great DM in the Sky

Gary Gygax's name was on the spine of many a book on on my shelf growing up. This reportage comes from the Wired Magazine blog:

Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, according to Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games.

Gygax designed the original D&D game with Dave Arneson in 1974, and went on to create the Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventure RPGs, as well as a number of board games. He also wrote several fantasy novels.

"I don't think I've really grokked it yet," said Mike Mearls, the lead developer of the upcoming 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. "He was like the cool uncle that every gamer had. He shaped an entire generation of gamers."

Gygax had been in poor health for some time, according to his wife Gail. Chenault says he will publish more information, including funeral arrangements, on the Troll Lord message board as it becomes available.