I’ve just heard the sad news that Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away at the age of 61, after a battle with cancer.

Along with Gary Gygax, Dave designed the first version of the D&D game based on his Blackmoor campaign of role-playing game scenarios. Arneson adapted a set of rules for conducting naval combat with armor class and hit points as the foundation for the rules that are still used in D&D to this day.

Dave parted company with Gygax during the late 70s but briefly returned to work on D&D with a series of modules set in Blackmoor during the 80s. Dave Arneson has continued to be involved in gaming over the years, and recently published a d20 version of the Blackmoor setting with Goodman Games.

One of my favourite anecdotes about Dave Arneson was recounted by “The Great Svenny” and republished in Fight On! Magazine:

During the Christmas break of 1970-71; our gaming group was meeting in Dave Arneson’s basement in St. Paul, Minnesota. We had been playing a big Napoleonics miniatures campaign, which was getting bogged down in long drawn out miniatures battles. So, as a diversion for the group, one weekend Dave set up Blackmoor instead of Napoleonics on his ping pong table. The rules we used were based on “Chainmail”, which is a set of medieval miniature rules with a fantasy supplement allowing for magic and various beings found in the “Lord of the Rings”. I had never played any games like it before, although I had read “Lord of the Rings”. Other members of the group had played the game before, but always doing adventures in and around the town of Blackmoor. By the end of the weekend I had fallen in love with the game.

My deepest condolences to the Arneson family, and sincerest thanks to Dave for the wonderful game he helped created, that has brought me so much enjoyment over the years.