gygax and me
Ok, I'll own up.
I was a D&D nerd in junior high and high school.
(I was also in the chess club, read only science fiction, was a thespian, and 'failed' P.E.-not to mention being an altar boy!).
Reading about Mr. Gygax's death reminded me of some of my earlist social events that I actually enjoyed. We played D&D for hours. No one made fun of us at those times. The jocks weren't invited. We got to be creative in our little worlds and we all got along. My inner nerd was happy.
I can't say that the role-playing had any life altering effects on me, but at my first 'real job' (at a science fiction bookstore, no less) the owners were always playing after hours, and shared their pot with the 15 year old stockroom punk. I wont even mention the 'trivial pursuit'.
Gygax's game also was my 'in' with the first woman I slept with-another punk-who was impressed by my ability to bring up the 6 sided dice and still somehow remain cool. That inner nerd can thank Mr. Gygax for my first 'line'.
I mean admitting to having any familiarity with such a hippy nerdish thing to fellow punks was like owning up to liking Led Zep. Or having read the Lord of the Rings or somesuch. Well. Nerd had to go underground for a time.
I suspect that most of the earlier punks did most of those now off-limit things, but couldn't talk about it. We just had to pretend to have been absent to life during our youths. Same as owning up to having a family. We just came out as angry black clad 20 something misfits with penchants for noise, drugs, obscure movies and filth. Nerd challenged.
But as I get older, I think back on those afternoons spent rolling the dice and scribbling strength points, and of that happy little man that somehow enabled all sorts of future programmers and gaming addicts with his convoluted creation. He still played close to his end. And he was a nice guy, from most reports.
Would that any of us could create something so odd and memorable.
I still have never read the Lord of the Rings. But I own the DVDs.
And Led Zep IV is now cool again, I hear.
I was a D&D nerd in junior high and high school.
(I was also in the chess club, read only science fiction, was a thespian, and 'failed' P.E.-not to mention being an altar boy!).
Reading about Mr. Gygax's death reminded me of some of my earlist social events that I actually enjoyed. We played D&D for hours. No one made fun of us at those times. The jocks weren't invited. We got to be creative in our little worlds and we all got along. My inner nerd was happy.
I can't say that the role-playing had any life altering effects on me, but at my first 'real job' (at a science fiction bookstore, no less) the owners were always playing after hours, and shared their pot with the 15 year old stockroom punk. I wont even mention the 'trivial pursuit'.
Gygax's game also was my 'in' with the first woman I slept with-another punk-who was impressed by my ability to bring up the 6 sided dice and still somehow remain cool. That inner nerd can thank Mr. Gygax for my first 'line'.
I mean admitting to having any familiarity with such a hippy nerdish thing to fellow punks was like owning up to liking Led Zep. Or having read the Lord of the Rings or somesuch. Well. Nerd had to go underground for a time.
I suspect that most of the earlier punks did most of those now off-limit things, but couldn't talk about it. We just had to pretend to have been absent to life during our youths. Same as owning up to having a family. We just came out as angry black clad 20 something misfits with penchants for noise, drugs, obscure movies and filth. Nerd challenged.
But as I get older, I think back on those afternoons spent rolling the dice and scribbling strength points, and of that happy little man that somehow enabled all sorts of future programmers and gaming addicts with his convoluted creation. He still played close to his end. And he was a nice guy, from most reports.
Would that any of us could create something so odd and memorable.
I still have never read the Lord of the Rings. But I own the DVDs.
And Led Zep IV is now cool again, I hear.
posted by mo figuls at 6:08 PM
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