TEXT ON SCREEN:
His father set off a moral panic. 

LUKE GYGAX:  My upbringing was different, especially for Wisconsin.  You know, I didn’t really care when deer hunting season was.

TEXT ON SCREEN:
Luke Gygax’s father created the fantasy role playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
Early on, he was accused of promoting devil worship, but life at home was remarkably normal.

LUKE GYGAX: Growing up around Dungeons & Dragons  was normal, you know. I don’t really have a perspective of not growing up that way. My first memory was playing in, gosh, I think I was 4 years old.

My dad was busy a lot. But I got a lot of socializing time with him through gaming. Because he would be writing materials, and then we would play-test them.  So folks would come over, and we’d game.

My dad was pretty minimalist in his Dungeon Mastering style. A lot of guys today will use a lot of props, and mapping devices, and miniatures and stuff like that. We rarely used any of that sort of stuff. It was really in your mind. 

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS PLAYER ONE: When he resurfaces, can I cast….

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS PLAYER TWO: Absolutely.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS PLAYER ONE: As soon as he resurfaces?

LUKE GYGAX: And he wanted you to think, and your player would benefit from you being clever,  and figuring out different ideas and things to do. Certainly, my English and vocabulary were greatly improved by my dad’s writing. 

TEXT ON SCREEN:
The vault is a strange anomaly, a hemispherical cyst in the crust of the earth, an incredibly huge domed fault over 6 miles long…

LUKE GYGAX: His writing style they call Gygaxian style, because he was circumlocutious and would use big college words on purpose.  He wanted people to pick up a thesaurus to learn a word. He thought the English language is beautiful, and there’s no reason to limit yourself to a small set of verbs or adjectives. There’s little nuances and details, so why not use those words? 

TEXT ON SCREEN:
Luke and his siblings started an annual D & D convention in their dad’s memory. 

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS PLAYER ONE: Do we have one or two hits?

LUKE GYGAX: When you’re amongst folks who understand what you’re talking about, and they don’t think you’re unusual, you can be more open and friendly. That’s what we try to do here. It’s a fond remembrance for me. I think a lot of other people, too.