Sad news comes to us from Rock Paper Shotgun: Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away. He was 69.

It was that great creation of his that helped open my eyes to the possibility of gaming. And not only my eyes – many of the RPGs we play on the computer and consoles these days owe much to Dungeons & Dragons, and ultimately to Gygax and his collaborator Dave Arneson.

In recent years, the quality (however disorganized) of the original D&D and AD&D games have been diluted by Wizards of the Coast, in my eyes, but the core of the game has remained true to the Gygax vision. I hope that the upcoming 4th edition will be dedicated to the man who was behind it all.