Nebraska Dave News and Reviews

So over on the blog for Gygax Games, Gail Gygax mentioned the following:

The more discussions I have with friends in the industry, the more I realize there aren't enough opportunities for young girls looking to get their start in the games industry. Social media has transformed the way we see the world and I'm proud of the many women who are making their voices heard.

I'm curious to know if there are any female game developers interested in my late husband's works? I'd love to hear from you so please email me

She does list the email address, but I'm not going to repost it here.

For those who don't know, Gail has a history of being…how can I put this delicately? Fucking unhinged. That link is to a "crazy cat lady"-style rant she went on after it came out that she was being sued for breach of contract regarding turning Gary's unpublished material into a video game, something which seems to be the brainchild of her son Alex (the only child Gary had with her; his other children are from his first marriage):

“I grew up playing this and I’m also a huge video gamer, so I’ve always wanted to see my dad’s work because I thought that they were some of the greatest stories and tough adventures,” Alex said. “I’ve always wanted to see them put out in the next level. Pen and paper is a dying art. Computer games, video games, they’re the next generation, the next wave of games and I’ve always wanted to see them on that new medium and I’ve always wanted to be working with someone who’s excited as I am about it.”

I disagree that pen and paper is "a dying art," and I think this kid isn't much of a tabletop gamer despite his lineage (I seem to recall a quote from Gary saying Alex wasn't interested in tabletop games, but I can't find it now). But I digress.

This isn't the first activity of Gail's that's rather suspect, either. Leaving aside her other paranoid rants, there's the whole issue of the "Gygax Memorial Fund," which was ostensibly to create a memorial to Gary in his hometown, has been suspiciously silent for years now. She also filed suit against Gygax Magazine, which was run by two of her husband's first wife's children, alleging that she had a trademark on the name "Gygax." She might very well have been legally in the right, there, but it was still a shitty thing to do, especially since she's produced nothing.

That's particularly tragic since there really does seem to be a great deal of unpublished material that Gary left behind. (The guy running that AMA, Paul Stormberg, is a legit presence in the D&D community, being the force behind the very reputable Collector's Trove website.)

All of which is to say, Gail and socjus bullshit seem like legit fusion of crazy.