VenusGaming

Some of us younger gamers may not remember, or realize, that Gary Gygax was not the sole creator of Dungeons and Dragons. No, indeed, he was assisted by co-creator Dave Arneson, has passed away at age 61 from cancer. Further details for grieving fans can be found here.



Arneson, though a name often forgotten, is actually a rather cool guy. Take this blip from a GameSpy interview a few years ago:

(about roleplaying) Yeah, that’s what they’re called. And with those the role is spelled r-o-l-l and not r-o-l-e. So I teach my kids how to put the “role” back in role-playing.

Arneson (along with Gygax) came up with the idea of establishing their own fantasy world as a basic response to an argument over what rules could be “real” in medieval roleplaying games among their peers - essentially, writing their own rules rather than trying to go by and interpret someone else’s fantasy world (I’m sure the vague references are referring to J.R.R. Tolkien’s worlds.) In essence, Arneson’s spirit through all games he’s created - not all fantasy related - has been pioneering. In his last years, he’s been a professor at Full Sail, teaching on multimedia content and, yes, even gaming.

Dave Arneson also came up with the episodic, MM - RPG (not an MMO - we’re still talking tabletop here) Blackmoor. If you’re interested in it, check it out here. No idea yet whether or not it will continue after his passing.