Millions of people have been inspired by the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson circa 1974.

Gygax, who is often referred to as "the father of the role-playing game" died today at his home in Lake Geneva, WI after suffering several years of health problems.

I'm one of many who've been impacted by the game. I started playing it in high school and continued through college. To this day D&D games I played decades ago still carry vivid memories. Playing the game can instantly brand you as a "geek", but in my eyes it will always be a brilliant and incredibly fun pastime.

In honor of Mr. Gygax I thought I would put together a playlist of songs that were inspired by, mention, or fit within the theme of Dungeons & Dragons. Some of these songs show the dramatic impact the game has had on popular culture and will continue to have for generations to come.

I may just have to dust off my D&D books and dice and start up a campaign. Anyone game?

This playlist contains all 17 songs that made it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980. The Hot 100 ranks singles based on both sales and airplay, so it's a good measure of the music that was the most popular for a moment in time. If you were alive in 1980 you are certainly very familiar with all of the tracks in this playlist.

As you reminisce about 1980 with the help of this playlist you may remember some of the following key news events of said year:

-Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl XIV becoming the first NFL franchise to win 4 Super Bowls

-The 13th Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York -- these were the Olympic games where the US hockey team famously defeated the Soviet Union in the "Miracle On Ice"

-NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft proves the existence of Janus, one of Saturn's moons

-The United States boycotts the Summer Olympic games that were held in Moscow as a protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

-Zimbabwe gains independence from

In the 1960s a young Steve Miller found some limited success with his version of psychedelic blues in the burgeoning San Francisco music scene. In 1973 he changed up his sound a good bit and started producing simpler, catchier songs that culminated in a stadium-filling, co-headlining tour with The Eagles. The Steve Miller Band had arrived on the radar of the American masses.

In 1978 he released the compilation Greatest Hits 1974 - 1978, which featured the title track from his album The Joker and the remaining tracks coming from only two other albums, Fly Like An Eagle and Book Of Dreams. This greatest hits album is ranked by the RIAA as the 33rd best selling rock album of all time with over 13 million units sold.

I know you have a copy.

Anyway, there's no denying that many of Steve Miller's songs have been deeply ingrained into the brains of millions through the decades-long heavy rotation of his music on AOR radio. So in honor of the impact these songs have had on our lives, I