Gygax, Ernest Gary

Ernest Gary Gygax, (born July 27, 1938, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died March 4, 2008, Lake Geneva, Wis.), American entrepreneur who in 1974, together with his war-gaming friend David Arneson, created the world’s first fantasy role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and ultimately paved the way for modern electronic RPGs.

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In 1971 Gygax introduced the game Chainmail, the predecessor of D&D, and in 1973 he cofounded, with his boyhood friend Donald Kaye, the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), which produced the first edition of D&D the following year. In 1983 Gygax and Arneson wrote and produced the animated television series Dungeons & Dragons. After leaving TSR in 1985, Gygax continued to develop new fantasy games and novels.