The death of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, last week has brought out more geek love on the internet than I’ve ever seen. I commented elsewhere that it seemed that we had lost our geek-Elvis.

Gary created systems and worlds that inspired people outside of the mainstream and gave us something that was ours. The impressive number of tributes, articles, comics and memorials (My two favorite are Wil Wheaton’s blog post and xkcd’s webcomic) have made me consider my geek roots.

The paths that Gary laid down were clearly an influence on my childhood as well as many of the things that I have grown to love over the years, touching almost all of my subscribed pillars of geekery.

For the record these are my personal pillars of geekery in no particular order.

• Computer knowledge (i.e. the use and knowledge of inner workings)
• Programming
• Video Games
• Roleplaying Games (e.g. D&D)
• Comic Books
• Science Fiction/Fantasy (books, movies, comics, etc…)
• Star Wars/Lord of the Rings. (Yes they get their own pillar)
• Zombies/Robots/etc… (There may be ninjas on this pillar as well, but I can’t see them because they’re ninjas)

The New York Times has been kind enough to create a hilarious chart mapping how D&D is the gateway drug to most of the geek pillars. (as well as the anti-drug for girls)

I’ve been ruminating over the past few days about the people and events that shaped me into the person that I am today. This is something that I don’t do terribly often; talk about myself. My many interests and loves, yes, but rarely myself.

Going back and thinking about those geek influences has brought back a lot of good memories and I feel like I have to share them.

So, look forward to a short series of self-reflective posts that I hear this blogging thing is all about!