R.I.P. Dave Arneson
Word of Dave Arneson’s impending death have circulated throughout the online RPG world the last few days. The premature obituaries and remembrances that some RPG bloggers posted yesterday seem, sadly, to have been premature by only a few hours, as Dave did pass away last night, April 7, 2009, shortly after 11 PM.
In 2004, celebrating the 30th anniversary of D&D, GameSpy PC interviewed Dave Arneson. The interview gives some great insight into Dave’s role in creating Dungeons & Dragons. More people know the name of Gary Gygax, who passed away last year, but Dave Arneson probably contributed more of the real “crunch” to the original D&D, as he tweaked and expanded Chainmail (by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren) rules for fantasy/medieval miniatures battles into true role-playing adventures with his Blackmoor campaign.
Dave told GameSpy that he would like to be remembered as a good grandpa, and as the father of role-playing games. I can’t speak to the first, but I will definitely honor him with the second title.
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