In all seriousness, this is sad. Not all of us knew the sublime pleasure of holding a twenty-sided die in a trembling hand, needing a miracle to defeat that Beholder. But if you ever enjoyed Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, or even Pokemon, you owe Gary a debt of gratitude.
By the way, this is why you ALWAYS travel with a Cleric in your party. A little “Raise Dead,” and Gary would be back up in no time.
No, the reason you always travel with a cleric in your party is because you have an idiot like me in your playgroup who doesn’t know everybody that well and doesn’t mind being bossed around or given shit work. Then you can get your rocks off by making terrible things happen to him.
At least that’s why all the parties I was ever in back when I played D&D in the mid-90s had clerics in them.
Also, clerics are required party members due to payoffs from the powerful Mace lobby.
Which is, of course, a lot less fun than the powerful MA$E lobby.
In all seriousness, R.I.P. Gygax. He was one of the good guys.