Gary Gygax: The Tangled Cultural Roots of Dungeons & Dragons

[Jack Ryan]

Given the furor that D. & D. caused, the absence of a deeper analysis of Gygax’s faith is a glaring omission. In a recent interview with Tobias Carroll, Witwer acknowledged that Gygax “was a practicing Jehovah’s Witness. He would go door-to-door and he would give out pamphlets. He was pretty outspoken about it, as a matter of fact.”

Gygax, who died in 2008, made his way back to God at the end of his life, writing in January of that year, “All I am is another fellow human that has at last, after many wrong paths and failed attempts, found Jesus Christ.”

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-tangled-cultural-roots-of-dungeons-dragons

[Jack Ryan]

He literally disassociated himself for decades over the way his game was being treated in the Watchtower publications.

[Jack Ryan]

 

[Mic Drop]

Gary Gygax was an American game designer and author who co-created the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson in 1974. He also founded the Gen Con gaming convention and the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). He wrote many manuals and modules for D&D and other role-playing games. He is widely regarded as the “father of role-playing games”¹²³