Dungeons & Dragons co-founder dies at 69

It’s a sad day in floating castles, cursed forests and Dorito-flecked basements everywhere. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, died this morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69. Together with Dave Arneson and a few others in the early 1970s, Gygax developed an open-ended game that sparked the role-playing phenomenon. The original marketing for D&D left something to be desired, with its bland description of “Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures.”