I just learned that Gary Gygax has passed away today.  As someone who played RPGs at an early age, this is a sad loss.

My first RPG was AD&D.  I never actually played the original D&D (was too young for that). 

It would be nice, if others could mention their early D&D memories.  I think its a good honorium of sorts.

Ernest Gary Gygax ( July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008)

I may be back to post more later, but I wanted to share a video link that a fellow gamer sent to me earlier today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ4D7wq042s

ETA: Okay, I'm back . . .

I was introduced to D and D by a classmate during the first semester of my sophomore year (the fall of 1977) at Central State University (now UCO in Edmond).  I played almost every night for the rest of the semester, then gave it up for a while because all of that gaming was starting to affect my grades.  I picked it up again after the AD&D books came out and started my own group that lasted for about ten years or so. 

I got away from gaming for a while after I discovered the larger world of local fandom and started focusing more time on club activities and local conventions (I worked on several of the original SoonerCons, the first three PsurrealCons, a couple of ThunderCons and PandaMonium).  However, one of the people from my first group and I and several people we met via local fandom started a new gaming group a year or two ago, so we're back to playing AD&D (and other games) on Saturday nights again.

BTW, these are the original rule books that I learned to play with:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ScooterOKC/D%20and%20D%20rulebooks/

I remembered buying the books at a game shop (long since closed) at Hefner and N. Western called Metal Men, and I was pretty sure that I got them sometime in the late 70s. When I opened the box yesterday I was surprised to find the original receipt, which shows that I bought the books on Dec. 20, 1978 for $10.40 (you pay almost that much for a good set of dice these days). 

Scooter

Just found this and wanted to share:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=138713

(Someone in the Dungeons and Dragons Online forum posted some screen shots of a memorial service for Gary that was organized and held within the game campaign-- a digital service with dozens of characters in attendance.  IMO, this is one of the coolest things anyone could have done.)

Scooter