Gary Gygax, Puns, and Me

 As many may or may not know, Troll Lord Games was Gary Gygax's last publisher. We worked with him from 2001 until his passing in 2008. He and I talked almost daily and at conventions (we threw 7 for him up in Lake Geneva) we inevitably met for dinner or when in Lake Geneva, on his front porch in the evenings and afternoons and often at dinner. It was a fantastic 8 years, where I got to know the man who created Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and consulted on our own game of Castles & Crusades and who played such a pivotal role in creating such a gigantic gaming community that thrives today. 

For those who know me, they know I don't do puns. My brain sees things a little differently, more in concrete terms. Double entendre, puns, word play, most of it rolls right over me. It takes me a minute or so to catch up with the speaker. Gary, on the other hand, absolutely loved puns. It seems, to my memory, that he made a pun out of almost everything. He enjoyed word play. His vocabulary was massive and included many archaic terms, so he could have a lot of fun with a lot of words. 

Rare was the table conversation that didn't include some pun, spoken in his rather calm, almost soft voice, with focused gaze to see who would see his word play. 

It didn't take long for him to realize that I never got them. Or at least, I got them later than everyone else. 

We worked together all the time. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we didn't. We talked movies and history as well, both of us enjoying each subject (books as well). He was clearly more experienced and knowledgeable than me, being very new to publishing, but he always deferred to me because it was my company (except once, he really insisted and was right in the end), he did this even when he knew I was wrong. (as a side note, he never gloated when I would tell him. "Well Gary, you were right...").

But once he discovered my weakness he enjoyed watching me squirm. It amused him, I suspect as much as his puns did! I remember distinctly sitting at the table, we were drinking a shot of that Serbian whiskey he loved so much, and he fixed my gaze and canted out some pun about something I can't remember. He was smiling before he finished it because he could see the wheels in my wheelhouse turning. I looked back at him trying to decipher the word play and it took me far too long.

All the while his eyes were patiently smiling. 

I absolutely loved working with Gary.