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Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax has died.
The 69-year-old had been suffering from health problems for some time, Associated Press reports. He died at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Gygax and Dave Arneson created the hugely popular game in 1974, and are considered the pioneers of the now-massive fantasy role playing genre.
Dungeons & Dragons players create medieval characters which go on imaginary adventures in the fantasy realm, as a Dungeon Master controls the game and tells the story as it unfolds, driven by rolls of strangely-shaped dice.
There are 4,6,8,12,20 and two 10-sided dice in a D&D game.
It became a massive hit in the geek world, and saw numerous imitators like RuneQuest and Traveller.
D&D also spawned advanced versions, numerous editions, collections of miniatures that players could customise and computer games.
Gygax' wife Gail told CNN that her husband hosted weekly games of D&D until January. She said he was always happy to hear from fans of the cult classic game
"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," Gygax told the network, "he really enjoyed that."
- NZ HERALD STAFF
