Gary Gygax DnD Tribute Piece

Here is my piece for the Gary Gygax Dungeons and Dragons show that was hosted at Titmouse Animation Studios last night.  The show was great- lots of fun pieces and much thanks to Chris P for putting the whole thing together!! : D

At first, I wanted to do a piece that was just something having to do with alter-egos and players with their real personas vs playing characters, but once I thought about the theme of the show a bit more, I figured it would be nice to do something about Gygax himself.

Gary Gygax is considered the father of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons and one of the pioneering forces in table-top gaming.  Therefore, he's the perfect ultimate Dungeon Master, the person who often heads up DnD games and calls the shots.

Since he's passed away this year, I figured the perfect halo would be a 20-sided die.  The signature at the top refers to the original logo for TSR, the first company that published Dungeons and Dragons, which is a combination of Gygax's initials and his partner, Don Kaye.

I was going to put him in the Dungeon Master's outfit from the animated series, but learned that he actually left TSR over a dispute with CBS about the television show, so figured it wouldn't do him the best honor to put him in that outfit, so I just left him with a brooch that features the emblem from the ampersand in the DnD logo from the books.