The End of an Era and Remembering a Legend

Pardon me as I slip into video game mode for a minute...

Today marks the release of the last of the Mass Effect 3 DLC, Citadel. As many of you could probably tell, I'm a big fan of the Mass Effect series of CRPG's from Bioware/EA. I've played through each of the games several times, and now that the final bit of the Mass Effect 3 puzzle is released, I'll likely start from the beginning again. This trilogy has been the most engaging series of CRPG's I've ever played. The moral quandries, the setting, the species, the tech, and so on come together to make a great CRPG. Plus, it's sci-fi, which is great when so much of the CRPG landscape is made up of fantasy games.

If you haven't played any of them, they are well worth the buy. I've gotten more value out of these three games than I have any other game I've ever bought, including the Civilization and Diablo series, which is saying alot. Each time I play through the games it's a little bit different than the time before; sometimes because I purposefully made different choices, other times by simply catching things I missed during other play-throughs.

It's going to be a little bittersweet tonight when I get home and download this last bit of DLC. I'm going to jump right in and play it, and likely enjoy it like I have all the others, but I'll be sad that this is the last piece, the "last" hurrah for Shepherd and Company. That is, unless they make a return in Mass Effect 4...but this will be it until that day finally arrives.

Thanks Bioware for one helluva ride!


That brings me back to the tabletop. Like many other members of the blogosphere, I'd like to mark the 5th anniversary of the passing of the father of roleplaying games: E. Gary Gygax. The closest I ever came to having any interaction with him was through the ENWorld message boards, and even then I don't recall him ever addressing anything I ever posted directly. Still, the impact that he's had on my life has been profound. He, along with Dave Arneson, created an entire hobby. Sure, I guess someone would have come up with the idea of dice-based roleplaying games, but Gary did it first. It's because of Dungeons & Dragons that I've gotten to play games like Gamma World, Boot Hill, Rifts, Savage Worlds, and even CRPG's like Mass Effect. This hobby has given me so much joy for so long and has given me so many great stories, and I have Gary to thank for that.

So, thanks, Gary. You are missed.