I had heard this earlier this morning, but I could only find chat-room accounts of his death (though his Wikipedia page had already been updated). I was afraid it might be one of those, “Rumors of my death” situations so I thought it best to refrain from blogging about it until I found confirmation.

Well.. here it is from WIRED: Gary Gygax, ‘Father of D&D,’ Dies at 69 (thanks to Roy for sending me the link).

And the AP release, as reprinted by CNN: Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons creator, dies

I’ve been interested in D&D since High School. Back then my parents wouldn’t let me play, but my best friends had all the books. I can remember being over at their house and reading and rereading rulebook after rulebook. I found it incredibly fascinating and something I very much wanted to be a part of.

I’m happy to say that I’ve been playing D&D for solid number of years now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the years I’ve even tinkered with designing my own RPG systems… all of which have been heavily influenced by Gygax’s work.

So ingrained is he in our collective fantasy-subconscious that his visage pops up in places such as Futurama along side Uhura and Steven Hawking. He has been a visionary in the world of fantasy role playing, and we will miss him sorely.

So… the next time you gather ’round your gaming table, pour a little Mountain Dew out in his memory; leave an empty chair at the table; set aside a bag of your best dice. Here’s to you, Gary. You’ve changed the world through your vision, and we will never be the same again.

EDIT (3/7/2008)
My favorite web-comic (XKCD) put this up today.. not only is it funny, it’s still reverent and captures what we all imagine must have happened