The co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, the fantasy role-playing game that became a cult favourite, has died.
Gary Gygax was 69.
His wife Gail said Tuesday that her late husband had suffered from health problems in recent years.
Gygax and Dave Arneson first developed the game in 1974. The game utilized medieval characters and mythical creatures. Its oddly shaped dice were a trademark.
The game, in which players go on adventures using complicated rules, was a particular favourite of teenaged boys.
Video games, books and movies flowed from the game, along with a host of copycats.
Some fans were quite devoted and would even stop by the Gygax home in Lake Geneva, Wisc., about 90 kilometres southwest of Milwaukee.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
Despite his health trouble, Gygax hosted weekly Dungeons and Dragons games as recently as January, Gail said.
Born Ernst Gary Gygax in Chicago, his family moved to Lake Geneva as a boy. Gary's father introduced him to fantasy books, Gail said.
The high-school dropout began playing war-themed board games, but wanted to create a fantasy game. To purse that dream, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman.
After meeting Arneson, a Minnesotan, while playing war games, the two struck up a correspondence. That relationship led to Dungeons and Dragons.
Gygax also began the Gen Con gaming convention in 1968. While it started as a tiny event in Lake Geneva, last year's event in Indianapolis attracted 26,000 people.
Gygax also wrote fantasy books, such as the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.
Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.
With files from The Associated Press
