Dave Arneson
| David Lance Arneson | |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | Game designer |
| Nationality: | American |
| Born: | October 1, 1947, Hennepin County, Minnesota |
| Died: | April 7, 2009, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Spouse: | Frankie Ann Morneau (m. 1984) |
| Children: | Malia Weinhagen (daughter) |
David Lance Arneson (October 1, 1947 – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer and co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, the first published role-playing game. Working with Gary Gygax, Arneson helped establish the foundations of the role-playing game hobby that would eventually give rise to settings such as Greyhawk.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Early life
[edit | edit source]Arneson was born in Hennepin County, Minnesota. He developed an early interest in historical wargaming and became active in the Midwest gaming community, particularly through the Twin Cities Military Miniatures Society.
Arneson attended the University of Minnesota, where he studied history. His early exposure to experimental wargames, particularly the Braunstein games run by David Wesely, would prove highly influential on his later work.
Blackmoor
[edit | edit source]In the early 1970s, Arneson created the Blackmoor campaign, a fantasy setting which adapted medieval wargaming rules (Braunstein games by David Welsey) into a new format centered on individual player characters exploring a persistent world. This campaign is widely regarded as the first true role-playing game.
Arneson introduced many concepts which would become standard in role-playing games, including the use of a referee (later called the Dungeon Master), individual character advancement, and open-ended narrative play.
Dungeons & Dragons
[edit | edit source]Arneson met Gary Gygax in 1969 and later demonstrated his Blackmoor game to him, which was based on the Braunstein rules. Gygax collaborated with Arneson to formalize more rules, leading to the publication of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 by TSR.
While Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign was separate from Gygax’s Greyhawk campaign, the two settings developed at the same time and together shaped the early identity of the game. Elements pioneered in Blackmoor strongly influenced early Greyhawk play and design, particularly in dungeon exploration and campaign structure.
TSR and later career
[edit | edit source]Arneson briefly worked for TSR as their Director of Research at the beginning of 1976, contributing material related to Blackmoor. He later left the company and pursued independent design work.[1][2][3]
In 1979, Arneson brought legal action against TSR over royalties related to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The case was settled in 1981, affirming his status as co-creator and entitling him to royalties on certain products.
Outside tabletop gaming, Arneson worked in computer game development and later taught game design at Full Sail University.
Connection to Greyhawk
[edit | edit source]Although not directly involved in the development of the World of Greyhawk setting, Arneson’s innovations were foundational to its creation. The campaign style developed in Blackmoor—including dungeon-based adventuring, character progression, and referee adjudication—was adopted and expanded upon by Gary Gygax in his Greyhawk campaign.
Early TSR publications often presented material from both Blackmoor and Greyhawk, reflecting their shared origins in the formative years of the game.
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Arneson married Frankie Ann Morneau in 1984;[4] they had one daughter,[5] Malia, and two grandchildren.[6]
Arneson died on April 7, 2009,[7][8] after battling cancer for two years.[9] According to his daughter, Malia Weinhagen, "The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life."[6]
Honors and tributes
[edit | edit source]Arneson received numerous industry awards for his part in creating Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games. In 1984 he was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design's Hall of Fame[10] (also known as the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame) and in 1999 was named by Pyramid magazine as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, "at least in the realm of adventure gaming".[11] He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured on the king of hearts in Flying Buffalo's 2008 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.[12]
Three days after his death, Wizards of the Coast temporarily replaced the front page of the Dungeons & Dragons section of their web site with a tribute to Arneson.[13] Other tributes in the gaming world included Order of the Stick #644,[14] and Dork Tower for April 8, 2009.[15] Video game publisher Activision Blizzard posted a tribute to Arneson on their website and on April 14, 2009, released patch 3.1 of the online role-playing game World of Warcraft, The Secrets of Ulduar, dedicated to Arneson.[16]
Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online added an in-game memorial altar to Arneson in the Ruins of Threnal location in the game.[17] They also created an in-game item named the "Mantle of the Worldshaper" that is a reward for finishing the Threnal quest chain that is narrated by Arneson himself. The Mantle's description reads: "A comforting and inspiring presence surrounds you as you hold this cloak. Arcane runes run along the edges of the fine cape, and masterfully drawn on the silken lining is an incredibly detailed map of a place named 'Blackmoor'."[18]
On October 30, 2010, Full Sail University dedicated the student game development studio space as "Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Studios" in Arneson's honor.[19]
Since the release of the history of Braunstein in 2008[20] and Playing at the World in 2012,[21] a scholarly work by Jon Petersen, the role of Dave Wesely and Dave Arneson was restored in the broad conversation on the origins of the tabletop role-playing games. Robert Kuntz published Dave Arneson's True Genius in 2017[22] and gave interviews to Kotaku to detail how the gameplay of the current tabletop role-playing games was designed by Arneson.[23][24] In 2019, the documentary The Secrets of Blackmoor presented interviews of the first players of Dave Arneson and acknowledged his innovations.[25]
Legacy
[edit | edit source]Arneson is regarded as one of the principal founders of the role-playing game genre. His work helped transform wargaming into a collaborative storytelling experience, influencing not only Dungeons & Dragons but the entire tabletop role-playing hobby.
He was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame in 1984.
See also
[edit | edit source]External links
[edit | edit source]- Official website}} of Dave Arneson.
- "Dave Arneson Interview" by Harold Foundary at Digital Entertainment News.
- "Dave Arneson Interview" by Andrew S. Bub at GameSpy, August 11, 2002.
- "Slice of SciFi #151: Interview with "Dungeons & Dragons" co-creator Dave Arneson" by Farpoint Media, February 8, 2008.
- Jeremy L.C. Jones. "If Their Hearts Are Pure: A Conversation with Dave Arneson", Kobold Quarterly no.9, 2009-04-11. Retrieved on 2009-05-03. Arneson's last known interview.
- Dave Arneson :: Pen & Paper RPG Database.
References
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Arneson, David Lance. MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society).
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia: Dave Arneson (view authors). |
- ↑ Anon. (April–May 1981). "An Interview with Dave Arneson". Pegasus (1): 4. Judges Guild.
- ↑ Kask, Tim (February 1976). "In The Cauldron". The Strategic Review 2 (1): 2. TSR, Inc..
- ↑ Remembering Dave – Black Gate (October 2013).
- ↑ Ancestry.com. Minnesota Marriage Collection, 1958–2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.
- ↑ Minnesota Department of Health. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004.
- ↑ a b Forliti, Amy (April 10, 2009). Arneson, co-creator of D&D, dies at 61.
- ↑ Dave Arneson. News. Wizards of the Coast (April 9, 2009).
- ↑ Maliszewski, James (April 8, 2009). Sadly, This is Accurate. Grognardia.
- ↑ Role-playing games pioneer dies (April 11, 2009).
- ↑ List of Winners.
- ↑ Haring, Scott D. (December 24, 1999). "Second Sight: The Millennium's Best "Other" Game and The Millennium's Most Influential Person". Pyramid (Online).
- ↑ Poker Deck. Flying Buffalo.
- ↑ David Lance Arneson. wizards.com. Wizards of the Coast (April 10, 2009). The image originally appeared here DnD Welcome..
- ↑ Burlew, Rich. The Order of the Stick #644. Giantitp.
- ↑ Kovalic, John (April 8, 2009). Dork Tower April 8, 2009. Dork Tower. Dork Storm Press.
- ↑ World of Warcraft Patch Notes 3.10. Blizzard Entertainment.
- ↑ DDO Release Notes: Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited.
- ↑ Mantle of the Worldshaper.
- ↑ Blackmoor Studios Opens on Campus.
- ↑ Robbins, Ben (2008). Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games. ars ludi.
- ↑ Peterson, Jon (2012) Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games, San Diego, CA⧼colon⧽ Unreason Press ISBN: 978-0-615-64204-8. Template:Isbnt
- ↑ Kuntz, Robert J. (2017) Dave Arneson's True Genius, Scottsdale, AZ⧼colon⧽ Three Line Studio
- ↑ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (August 26, 2019). Dungeons & Deceptions: The First D&D Players Push Back On The Legend Of Gary Gygax. Kotaku.
- ↑ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (November 3, 2019). Fantasy's Widow: The Fight Over The Legacy Of Dungeons & Dragons. Kotaku.
- ↑ Graves, Chris, Griffith Mon Morgan III, Ryan Swan (May 8, 2019). Secrets of Blackmoor: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons (Documentary). Fellowship of the Thing.
