[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

Today is Gary Gygax Day!



If you know who Gary Gygax is (do you?), then kudos to you! And if not, then here is a bit of gamer trivia: Gary Gygax was a creative mind behind the famous and loved by many role-playing D&D tabletop gaming systems.

He was the one who started some of the first wargaming clubs back in the 60s (back then there were no personal computers, even!) and in the 70s designed the D&D phenomenon, creating numerous manuals for the game system as well as rough scenarios for Dungeon Masters, among other things.

The role and influence of D&D on culture and geek culture in particular can hardly be overstated. It branched out into cartoons, books, and films, like the recent Honor Among Thieves:

And probably nowhere the influence of tabletops is as evident as it is in games. Indeed, many of the most beloved and iconic games have their roots in tabletop. Just a few weeks ago EGS treated us to The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos, a parody of the genre (go here to also see Comic Relf playing D&D).

But the list is far longer! Most if not all of them will be known to a seasoned gamer, even if you have not played them. Pathfinder, Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Planescape: Torment... All those amazing games first existed in tabletop incarnations before moving to PC and conquering the hearts of gamers.

And we're up for yet another treat as Baldur's Gate, one of the quintessential examples of D&D succeeding in a PC field, is Baldur's Gate III (thank you @GoLLuM13 for keeping tabs on it!). That game series is so good and takes so much from D&D mechanics, we're really in for a treat real soon! Exciting times!

But while we're waiting for it, I want to ask: do you have a favourite game that came to be from the tabletop origin (Baldur's Gate or otherwise)? Mine was very hard to choose because there are very strong candidates, but in the end, I decided to be true to my name and say Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth.

Or maybe you have a favourite tabletop that hasn't made it into the gaming world yet but should?

[DoctorEldritch]

@Inyeon and @j7schultz, this is the Gary Gygax Day I mentioned during our last GameTogether. By the way, @j7schultz, Disco Elysium also grew out of D&D influence, so maybe that would be your pick? 😉

[Inyeon]

Ah ok, it was the day of the creator of D&D, my friends do play role but I never got into that world.

Yes, I did see the movie but I guess I didn't catch even 20% of the game's references, that doesn't mean that I didn't love it, it was great.

Well happy Gary Gygax day to all!

[DoctorEldritch]

@Inyeon He started D&D, but that then grew into all sorts of other games. Even if you're not into D&D in its pure pen&paper form or even in more formal tabletops, many games took from them. Disco Elysium case and point, and many others. You don't need to be into more D&D world, just by being a gamer you get to experience a big part of it.