I never met him, but I've enjoyed his legacy since the second grade. In tribute to him, I post a story I think he would have approved of.
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Once, back in the heady days of first edition, I played a ranger named Sular, renowned for failing his saving throws and detonating a new magic weapon every week. One day, as he drove his +3 bastard sword down the throat of a thessalhydra, he scored a 00 critical , dealing 60 points of damage to the back of its throat. A great victory, and cause for jubilation! ...Until the next round, when it bit down, taking his blade and his sword arm with it. Sular spent the next level learning to fight with his left hand, and became even deadlier than before.
One fateful night, our treacherous thief/wizard betrayed his companions to become a servant of the dark god Bane, calling upon two beholder minions to destroy us. Despite being caught while asleep, Sular the Unlucky, Ranger Lord of the One Hand, fought on beyond all five of his remaining comrades, who fell one by one to disintegration, petrification, and impossibly large flurries of magic missiles. He made every saving throw he rolled that night, for the first and only time in his three-year career. Although all his comrades fell to the overwhelming odds, he fought bravely, round after round, until he could no longer stand up. Finally, at long last, his enemies' entire array of spells and powers exhausted, he fell - but not before his fearsome foes were reduced to *biting* him to death.
I think EGG, both in his real-life legal struggles and in his games, would have approved: sometimes, a long defeat, well-fought to the last, means more than mere triumph and treasure.
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To Mr Gygax, behind the DM Screen in the Sky: this evening, at exactly 20:20:20, I will roll all my dice in your honor, then make a toast of Mountain Dew and eat a pack of Cheet-os. At whatever table you now sit, may your dice be blessed with 20's, your bag of holding run over with gold, and your bowl of pretzels never empty!
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Topic: The passing of Gygax (Read 1157 times)