Gary Gygax, Creator of D&D, fails last save...

By Official Rumors Contributing Editor Bjorn Eriksson

Growing up in Somalia, it's hard to escape the harsh reality of plague, starvation and war. But wouldn't those things be cooler if "Plague" were a 2nd level spell you could cast, and the war you fought each day were against Goblins armed with axes? That's what first got me into Dungeons & Dragons. For me, I have dedicated my entire fictional life to Mr. Gary Gygax, who sadly passed away this week. As a boy, I would take my weekly allowance of rice down to my local game store (I believe you call them "Red Cross Supply Depots") and would dive right into an adventure that would take me far away from the troubles of real life.
While my brother Tony and his friends would shoot down US Blackhawk Helicopters that were supposed to be bringing us food, my friends and I would explore haunted ruins filled with Trolls and Warlocks. My brother never had time for D&D, in fact, never had time for ME! We were never close. But in Somalia, family is all you have, and I would look for anything that he and I could have in common. Then one day, while preparing for a raid on a UN Peacekeeping patrol, my brother picked up one of my Dungeons & Dragons Player Handbooks. I saw his face light up when he realized that he could play a rebel fighter that actually wears armor! And even better, this game had RPG's! From that day on, things were better between Tony and I. We had a language we could both speak, be it "Role-Playing Games" or "Rocket-Propelled Grenades," the RPG world would be a place we could BOTH fight! Thank you Mr. Gygax, you've made my tiny village of "Red Zone Alpha-Six-Zero" a more enjoyable place.