August 19, 2010: Isaac Bonewits

Isaac Bonewits, an influential neopagan philosopher and activist and the author of Authentic Thaumaturgy, died on August 12. He was 60. His career is discussed in some detail in Wikipedia.

I never met Isaac in person, but I enjoyed our correspondence. He was quite interested in games, and thought that some RPG players would enjoy having a more "realistic" framework for their magical systems than the old D&D approach of "put all world religions in a blender, add Jack Vance, and hit PUREE." Judging from the reactions over the years to Authentic Thaumaturgy, he wasn't wrong.

-- Steve Jackson