Gary Gygax Quotes & Sayings

The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience. — Gary Gygax

Even the most outspoken of the critics must admit that long before we had print and film media to "spread the word," mankind was engaged in all forms of cruel and despicable behavior. To attribute war, killing, and violence to film, TV, and role-play games is to fly in the face of thousands of years of recorded history. — Gary Gygax

The books I write because I want to read them, the games because I want to play them, and stories I tell because I find them exciting personally. — Gary Gygax

Pen-and-paper role-playing is live theater and computer games are television. People want the convenience and instant gratification of turning on the TV rather than getting dressed up and going out to see a live play. In the same way, the computer is a more immediately accessible way to play games. — Gary Gygax

Gaming in general is a male thing. It isn't that gaming is designed to exclude women. Everybody who's tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed. And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and women. — Gary Gygax

You are not entering this world in the usual manner, for you are setting forth to be a Dungeon Master. Certainly there are stout fighters, mighty magic-users, wily thieves, and courageous clerics who will make their mark in the magical lands of D&D adventure. You however, are above even the greatest of these, for as DM you are to become the Shaper of the Cosmos. It is you who will give form and content to the all the universe. You will breathe life into the stillness, giving meaning and purpose to all the actions which are to follow. — Gary Gygax

The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own. — Gary Gygax

One more thing: don't spend too much time merely reading. The best part of this work is the play, so play and enjoy! — Gary Gygax

I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else. — Gary Gygax

Do not be sidetracked. A good referee will have many ways to distract an expedition, many things to draw attention, but ignore them if at all possible. — Gary Gygax

Games give you a chance to excel ... — Gary Gygax

Send anyone claiming that their RPG activity is an art form my way, and I'll gladly stick a pin in their head and deflate it just to have the satisfaction of the popping sound that makes.
One might play a game artfully, but that makes neither the game nor its play art. — Gary Gygax

The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules. — Gary Gygax

There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you're involved in, whether it's a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things. — Gary Gygax

I hated school, didn't like the discipline. — Gary Gygax

Although the masculine form of appellation is typically used when listing the level titles of the various types of characters, these names can easily be changed to the feminine if desired. This is fantasy--what's in a name? In all but a few cases sex makes no difference to ability! — Gary Gygax

If you are an inventor, then you are destined for blood, sweat and tears. — Gary Gygax

I think a lot of what I was taught, gathered, and learned is worth keeping. Heritage and "wisdom" and simply personal family and local history enrich the one able to tap such information. As it is I wish I had garnered more from my grandparents and parents. — Gary Gygax

Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works! — Gary Gygax

Anyone wanna play Dungeons & Dragons for the next quadrillion years? — Gary Gygax

I'm just a risk taker. I have gut instincts. — Gary Gygax

Of course as children, we all, in all cultures and societies, learn behavior from observation, imitation, and encouragement of various kinds. So by the suggestion made, we all 'pretend' most of the time. — Gary Gygax

I foresee online gaming changing when there are good audio-visual links connecting the participants, thus approximating play in a face-to-face group. — Gary Gygax

When AI approximates Machine Intelligence, then many online and computer-run RPGs will move towards actual RPG activity. Nonetheless, that will not replace the experience of 'being there,' any more than seeing a theatrical motion picture can replace the stage play. — Gary Gygax

Role-playing games are contests in which the players usually cooperate as a group to achieve a common goal rather than compete to eliminate one another from play ... Role games ... bring players together in a mutual effort ... — Gary Gygax

When you master role-playing [gaming], you become immersed in an activity that is peerless among leisure-time pursuits. — Gary Gygax

Some of the roots of role-playing games (RPGs) are grounded in clinical and academic role assumption and role-playing exercises. — Gary Gygax

Somebody said they threw their copy of Dungeons and Dragons into the fire, and it screamed. It's a game! The magic spells in it are as real as the gold. Try retiring on that stuff. — Gary Gygax

Outside of the mindless sitcoms that the networks thrive on, people able to think generally consider most entertainment is escape in one form or another. — Gary Gygax

Role-playing isn't storytelling. If the dungeon master is directing it, it's not a game. — Gary Gygax

The idea that a game is anything more than a game ... You know, there are people who are basically unbalanced who are going to misuse a game and have bad results. If a golfer who insists on playing during a lightning storm gets hit by a stroke of lightning and is killed nobody says, 'There's golfers dying by the droves being hit by lightning!' You can overdo what you really like, and if you're unbalanced you go overboard. — Gary Gygax

Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game. — Gary Gygax

There's a call to adventure. It's something in the inner psyche of humanity, particularly males. — Gary Gygax