Believe or not, we at the Accidental Bard never played Dungeons and Dragons, but given its obvious relevance to fantasy fiction as well as our own (read: Jim's own) occasional former flirtation with Magic: The Gathering and occasional current flirtation with World of Warcraft, Mr. Gygax's passing yesterday was big news. 

The Time Out Chicago Blog has a concise, fitting farewell, and Wired a short summary of his life and contributions.