R.I.P. Gary Gygax
Yes, I'm a nerd.
My brothers and I discovered D&D some time around 1976. There was a sci-fi and fantasy bookstore in one of the seedier parts of Birmingham, on Summer Row, sandwiched between a collection of dodgy adult bookstores. It's probably all designer bars and coffee shops now.
I wish I could remember the name of the store. In the basement, their was a mightily-bearded hippy dude who carried a selection of board games and war games rulebooks. I still remember the illustrations in the original set of D&D rules, and our collective excitement when the first set of Advanced D&D rule books appeared a couple of years later. Nerdtopia.
God rest, Gary.
(Image credit: Penny Arcade)
[UPDATE: Just noticed that yesterday's xkcd comic could be read as a prescient epitaph for Gary]
