For those of you not really familiar with my little hobby, let me offer you some links to those better able to express the influence that two guys in a garage had on today's world:

• Ross Winn, formerly of R. Talsorian Games (tabletop RPGs) writes, Farewell, Seeker.
• Tabletop roleplayers talk about what they did the night Gary left.
• Popular computer and video game review site GameSpy posts reminiscences of noted electronic game designers.
• Wizards of the Coast, home of Dungeons & Dragons since the early part of the decade, says farewell to Gary.
• Wil Wheaton, arguably the most popular geek on the Internet, shares his love of D&D.

Finally, Steve Jackson, head of Steve Jackson Games (probably the second-biggest RPG publisher behind Wizards of the Coast), sums Gygax's influence up best: "If not for Dungeons & Dragons, "adventure game" would still mean "cardboard chits on a hexmap." Which I love dearly, but would it ever have gotten out of the garage? And that's the least of it. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson didn't just remake a hobby. They impacted all of Western culture. Fantasy fiction would still be a backwater had not D&D built an audience and a new generation of writers. Lord of the Rings would be something taught in college English classes, not a blockbuster movie trilogy. And consider: The direct lineal descendant of D&D is World of Warcraft, which is, all by itself, what? A billion-dollar business now?"