Gary Gygax, the inventor of Dungeons & Dragons, a rope from the rowboat of social interaction for young nerds the world over, died today. Here’s a long article by a guy who went to meet Gygax in his lair.

My own role-playing innocence was shattered when Mum arranged a playdate with a fellow D&Der. He had an amazing array of characters with mega ‘experience points’, the hard won currency of this murky little world. When I wondered about the amazing LOTR-style adventures he must have embarked upon to amass such bounty, he replied matter-of-factly “I cheat”.

Bastard. It never crossed my mind that in this game of fantasy, you could just make shit up. Kids, eh? I didn’t play so much after that.

Those 20 sided dice did come in handy years later for drinking games, though.