Yes, but did you know this -

[kyburg]

Yes, yes, Gary Gygax has died. My association with the man's body of work ended when I was 19 and could no longer dedicate the hours to rolling dice and trying to figure out IF the orcs really died and WTF was up with lack of women anyway?

The entry that really piqued my interest is here. Look a bit closer. There's a link in there that will likely cross the Religious Right's eyes.

The man considered himself a Christian.

Go ahead. Google up Gary's name and Christianity and you won't find a single thing he's had to say on the faith - but there are plenty of people who'd like to tell you he was the devil.

Who never knew him, knew that much about him - but were just gosh darn ready to condemn him.

I'm not authorized to judge others. Nobody is. I haven't been given permission to do so - and it's something I have to tie to.

You want to make certain you're RIGHT - beyond the shadow of a doubt, in a public place, before your peers - there are plenty of denominations to accommodate you. Really really.

But to be something - in the face of everyone saying you couldn't POSSIBLY be - quietly, without making a fuss or backtracking over anything you've done in your life...matter of fact, taking pride in changing lives and helping others with it, naysaying to the contrary...is more Christian in practice, IMHO. You know for yourself - and have the power of your own convictions. That is definitely allowed, required...if you are Christian.

Irony, huh?

You want to know who's making is harder and harder to get people to listen to you - you want to know who the real enemies of the faith are...I think I can assure you, it ain't Gary Gygax or anything he did for a living.

I'm tossing a scotch back when I get home for him. Then take out my 20-sided die and rolling as many twenties as I can.

Comments

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh. This is the first I've heard about his passing. Damn...I met the guy a few times when I was a kid. He was really nice. Family night at my house growing up was all of us around the table with my mom as our DM. D&D is as much a part of my childhood as Cabbage Patch Kids and neon legwarmers.

My condolences to his family.

[sputnik.livejournal.com]

Holy Smokes! He greatly influenced me during my teens.

Another influence on my teens was Erick Wujcik. He is currently battling cancer. Don't know if you know the name, but he's been involved in the gaming world for years. I knew him way back when.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I'm not a gamer myself, but I've never considered gaming (D&D or anything else) particularly anti-Christian. I've known gamers of all religious/political stripes.

There was a guy in my grad school department who finished his Ph.D. right around the time I started grad school. For about three years he hung around the department, gaming with friends, working in a warehouse for beer money, and sleeping on the sofa. When we got a new department chairman who threw out all the sofas because he didn't think they "looked professional," this ex-student entered the seminary and became a Roman Catholic priest. He's now a college chaplain.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that the proper reaction to Dungeons and Dragons when it comes to being super-religious is to, um, play a cleric. Or a paladin. O EVIL VILLAIN, I SMITE THEE! That's what my ex-bro-in-law did. :D

*rolls d20*

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

One of the more intrepid gamers I knew back when I first became aware of the subject was a gentleman who was Church of Christ (and had a Purity Score of about 96). All us heatherns liked him, though, primarily because he was openminded enough to accept us for who we were, and was generally a good sport...

I'm a lot less surprised these days to find that the originator of the game was of your persuasion rather than mine than I would have been several years ago... let's just say I've been around the cathedral a time or two and gotten my head around a few people. Including yourself. What really disappoints me is the apparent furor amongst some folk that claim to be of my persuasion thinking that the idea that he was a follower of the Rabbi was a scurrilous rumor... how the heck are us treehuggers ever going to get any respect amongst you pew-sitters if we're not willing to go give respect in order to get it? It's just good old-fashioned karma. Or, in your terms, love your neighbor, even if he is a Samaritan.

I don't know whether you share this, but from where I sit, an enemy of any faith is someone being exclusive, not inclusive, someone telling someone else where he either has to or cannot go.

As for the scotch, I'll lift one with ye, lassie. I never RP'ed in the classic sense, but I sure wasted a LOT of hours playing Hack...