Gary Gygax's FBI file

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**reds8n**

http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/15/dd-creator-gary-gygaxs-fbi-records-make

About a year ago I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the FBI's files on TSR, Inc., the company that originally published the iconic Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

I received several dozen pages of records back on Wednesday, including a May 1995 FBI report that contained several paragraphs on Gary Gygax, the game's beloved creator. D&D may have been the summit of nerd culture in the '80s, but the FBI makes Gygax sound hardcore.

An FBI source in the report alleges that Gygax was "eccentric and frightening," carried a weapon, proudly responded to every letter he received from an inmate, and had a Liberian holding company. It concludes: "He is known to be a member of the Libertarian Party."

Check it out:

In short, Gary Gygax wasn't a snitch and fought the power. When Gygax died in 2008, one of his many fans, the San Francisco artist Chicken John Rinaldi, wrote in an email to Reason eulogizing the original dungeon master:

Gary Gygax saved more lives than penicillin. When I was 10, he was 39. He knew he was writing a book for 10 year olds...but never talked down to us. He was the only adult presence in my life from the time I was 10 to the time I was like 15 that didn't preach, didn't talk down and didn't have any parameters.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3866268-TSR-Pt-4.html

special bonus highlight :

The files are, apparently, part of/related to the Unabomber hunt.

**Nostromodamus**

They're onto us!

**SlaveToDorkness**

I guess "Neckbeard" hadn't been coined yet.

**Grey Templar**

Hmmm. I feel both insulted and flattered. The FBI thinks we're all both fat and smart.

**Steve steveson**

Apparently we are very loyal to one another. To be clear, I'd sell you all out for a bottle of scotch and a mid priced hooker.

**SagesStone**

That's probably pretty loyal still.

**NinthMusketeer**

Steve steveson wrote:
Apparently we are very loyal to one another. To be clear, I'd sell you all out for a bottle of scotch and a mid priced hooker.

You're an expensive bribe then. Most of us would settle for a start collecting box!

Thanks to Red for bringing this... Interesting information to light!

**Tactical_Spam**

Steve steveson wrote:
Apparently we are very loyal to one another. To be clear, I'd sell you all out for a bottle of scotch and a mid priced hooker.

Exalted and sigged

**A Town Called Malus**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Steve steveson wrote:
Apparently we are very loyal to one another. To be clear, I'd sell you all out for a bottle of scotch and a mid priced hooker.
You're an expensive bribe then. Most of us would settle for a start collecting box!

Thanks to Red for bringing this... Interesting information to light!

I already sold you all out for some polycement.

You're welcome to borrow it when you sell us out for your start collecting box, though.

**daedalus**

I wouldn't sell any of you out, except for the ones who complain about IG Conscripts. On either side of the complaining. I've sold you out already.

**Verviedi**

My prices are variable, depending on person. I accept cash, PayPal, or Forgeworld gift vouchers.

**jhe90**

Verviedi wrote:
My prices are variable, depending on person. I accept cash, PayPal, or Forgeworld gift vouchers.

That or a few hundred fire warriors and hello kitty marine army lol.

**Alpharius**

Interesting stuff!

And:

"...war gamers are very loyal to one another"

Huh...

But then:

reds8n wrote:

Things changing and not, etc. etc.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Not to take this into political territory, but I love how they toss out that he was a member of the Libertarian Party like is made him super untrustworthy

**Hordini**

Alpharius wrote:
Interesting stuff!

And:

"...war gamers are very loyal to one another"

Huh...

But then:

reds8n wrote:

Things changing and not, etc. etc.

Do you not think war gamers are loyal to one another anymore?

**sebster**

There is a burst of flashing as the media take their pictures. The witness finishes his oath and lowers his hand. He sits. All attention turns to the chair of the senate committee, who begins to talk amidst another burst of camera flashes. He quickly and briefly explains how today's questions will be conducted. He then hands over to the first senator, for his five minutes of questions.

"I will make this brief, sir. Are you, or have you ever been, a 6th level elf?"

Every instinct in the witness said to deny, to hide the truth. Weeks of training left him with one phrase playing over and over again in his head "I cannot recall". But beyond self-preservation there is a greater need, a more primal need every gamer understands. He looks directly at the senator, a smile comes across his face. "Let me tell you about my character..."

**AlmightyWalrus**

I suppose the correct answer to that would be "No Sir, Elf is a race, not a class".

There's a "class struggle" joke somewhere waiting to be made, though.

**A Town Called Malus**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
I suppose the correct answer to that would be "No Sir, Elf is a race, not a class".

There's a "class struggle" joke somewhere waiting to be made, though.

Not in 1st edition

**sebster**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
I suppose the correct answer to that would be "No Sir, Elf is a race, not a class".

Ninja'd by A Town Called Malus, but I know my first ed

Humans could be fighters, cleric, wizards or thieves, elves were just elves. All of them. Every elf was nothing but an elf and that's all he could ever be. Dwarfs were just dwarfs. Halflings were also limited to halflings, but that wasn't much of a restriction because they still ended up as thieves, same as always.

There's a "class struggle" joke somewhere waiting to be made, though.

I can't believe I didn't see that.

**jmurph**

The Gygax connection.

Steve Jackson Games got raided by the Secret Service back in 1990. Maybe Bush didn't like RPGs?

**BaronIveagh**

jmurph wrote:
The Gygax connection.

Steve Jackson Games got raided by the Secret Service back in 1990. Maybe Bush didn't like RPGs?

That was, and I'm not gaking you, they thought that SJG was running a training camp for hackers and data piracy. I think that this goes to show not only the Secret Service's lack to tech savvy at the time, but also their lack of knowledge of games.

Hmm.... 'The Gygax Connection'. Not as good as 'The Once and Future DM' as far as titles go for my single trip to Dragoncon many long years ago being made into a movie.

**AlmightyWalrus**

jmurph wrote:
The Gygax connection.

Steve Jackson Games got raided by the Secret Service back in 1990. Maybe Bush didn't like RPGs?

Of course not, the RPG is a communist weapon!

**Ensis Ferrae**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
jmurph wrote:
The Gygax connection.

Steve Jackson Games got raided by the Secret Service back in 1990. Maybe Bush didn't like RPGs?

Of course not, the RPG is a communist weapon!

No. . . it's worse than that.

See, I grew up in a particular variety of evangelical church. These people literally believed that we were at constant spiritual war with Satan. This idea created a whole mindset that people had to strive for spiritual purity, which doesn't sound so bad until you dig in to the really bizarre stuff. Initially (as in, 1920s) ALL popular music was banned by the church, only hymns and religiously based music was allowed. There were strict rules on smoking, drinking (alcohol and tobacco), etc. Which again, isn't so bizarre, because a number of denominations hold similar beliefs.

The bizarre stuff comes up in the relatively simple idea that what goes in, comes out. So, if you read a book that includes demons, play Diablo or a number of other games, etc. you're opening yourself up for demonic possession. The idea seems to be taken a step further with D&D, at least with the people I grew up around. While many people felt that you ran the risk of demonic possession if you touched on books/Diablo and the like. . . if you played D&D or other tabletop RPGs, it was practically guaranteed that you'd become a demon-host

**chromedog**

BaronIveagh wrote:
jmurph wrote:
The Gygax connection.

Steve Jackson Games got raided by the Secret Service back in 1990. Maybe Bush didn't like RPGs?

That was, and I'm not gaking you, they thought that SJG was running a training camp for hackers and data piracy. I think that this goes to show not only the Secret Service's lack to tech savvy at the time, but also their lack of knowledge of games.

http://www.sjgames.com/SS/
Yup, over their "GURPS cyberpunk" book. Manuscripts, their computers, a whole pile of stuff. They (SS) thought that this rpg book was another "hacker's handbook" in the style of "The anarchist's cookbook" (which will actually do more damage to those who read it - unless they know enough about the subject - if they did, though, they wouldn't need this book.) or "The poor-man's james bond".

**BaronIveagh**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
if you played D&D or other tabletop RPGs, it was practically guaranteed that you'd become a demon-host

I had wondered why my parents chained me down and tattooed hexagrammatic wards on me before they gave me my first Player's Guide.

**TheAuldGrump**

BaronIveagh wrote:
Ensis Ferrae wrote:
if you played D&D or other tabletop RPGs, it was practically guaranteed that you'd become a demon-host

I had wondered why my parents chained me down and tattooed hexagrammatic wards on me before they gave me my first Player's Guide.

I'm sorry Billy, but you're worth three Black Mana....

The Auld Grump

**BaronIveagh**

TheAuldGrump wrote:
I'm sorry Billy, but you're worth three Black Mana....

The sad part is, I make a 40k reference like the mods want me to, and I get an M:tG response.

And, no reason for that, the flowers in our pond were worth three mana of any color, each.

**A Town Called Malus**

BaronIveagh wrote:
TheAuldGrump wrote:
I'm sorry Billy, but you're worth three Black Mana....

The sad part is, I make a 40k reference like the mods want me to, and I get an M:tG response.

And, no reason for that, the flowers in our pond were worth three mana of any color, each.

Did they ever try to insert a weird, glowing stone into you at any point? I heard it can help contain demons and is certainly a good thing to do. No, don't listen to that man, you don't need to stay a while nor listen.

**Dr Mathias**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Not to take this into political territory, but I love how they toss out that he was a member of the Libertarian Party like is made him super untrustworthy

That was my favorite line

**BaronIveagh**

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Did they ever try to insert a weird, glowing stone into you at any point? I heard it can help contain demons and is certainly a good thing to do. No, don't listen to that man, you don't need to stay a while nor listen.

You'd only see me sprout glowing stones if conditions at work get any worse. When the tanks marked FEV dribble and leak on the rats, they start growing. But management swears it's perfectly safe.