Mark Megahan
It’s hard to believe that fantasy role-play game Dungeons & Dragons has been around for more than half a century. Especially for those of us who played it back in the beginning. The Fifty Year Anniversary edition, commemorating the 1974 release, got a deep discount just in time for Christmas. The creator’s son, Luke Gygax, calls himself “D&D patient zero.” He recently shared his retro recollections of the experience.
Fifty years of Fantasy
The very first version of moderated fantasy role-play took America by storm, in the dim and distant past of 1974. Those of us who were there weren’t all that there. Considering the variety of freely available recreational chemicals floating around, all over the place.
Luke Gygax relates that he’ll never forget playing the game at the dining room table with his father. Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax appointed him “a helper player.”
“He then took me aside and whispered,” Luke recalls. His role as an ordinary conscript “Man-at-Arms” in the fantasy was only a cover. “You’re a spy for a druid in the woods.” Young Luke took his task seriously “to determine if the other players at the table were working for good or evil.”
He liked the character so well that Luke “continued to play him, game after game.” Now, he’s in the industry himself, running a game design company.
By 1985, the haze of bong smoke had cleared over America, replaced by blizzards of cocaine and cutthroat corporate greed. Fantasy role play games weren’t just fun, they had become big business. That’s the year Gary Gygax was outed from his own company. “After it struggled financially and he had a falling out with leadership.”
Son Luke vowed to make it his personal mission in life to “make sure Gary Gygax is not forgotten.” Since Gary’s death in 2008, Luke’s been hosting “the annual memorial gaming convention Gary Con in his father’s honor.”
The roots of D&D
Gary Con isn’t just a way for Luke to carry forward his dad’s legacy. Each year, they celebrate in the fantasy game’s birthplace, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Along with having a whole lot of fun and imaginary adventure, in the past two years alone, “organizers raised thousands of dollars for Children’s Wisconsin Foundation.”
Young Gygax knows for certain that “his father wouldn’t be surprised that new players are still picking up the game 50 years after its debut.” That’s because it struck a common chord across humanity.
“Storytelling, human contact and play are important,” Luke explains. “And that recharges us as human beings.” Everyone needs a little harmless fantasy in their life.
It’s not hard to find regular groups hosting games everywhere in America. “You can just come straight from work, escape whatever you were doing, hang out and be in a fantasy,” quips Samara Kusztyb. She’s Dungeon Master for the night at one recent local game.
“An uncountable number of blazing orbs of fire plummet to different points of the city, one of which striking the Senate hall,” she announced. She probably got the idea from the day’s headlines. Not only did that set the scene for an evening of activity shared by a group of seven players, it’s a fantasy the Pentagon also ponders. Especially considering all those bizarre drones buzzing around.
