1947-2009
When I was in high school, first playing Dungeons & Dragons, lo, these many years past, Dave Arneson was how you established your geek cred.
See, everyone knew about Gary Gygax – I mean, even my parents knew who Gary Gygax was. But you had to be a real geek to know who Dave Arneson was.
Our hobby owes some of its most fundamental basics to Dave Arneson. From the vast body of geek lore that I absorbed, it seems that it was Dave who took the first step to build the idea of modern roleplaying games. He suggested the idea of single characters, he came up with the idea of gaining ability through play, he built Blackmoor, the first ever campaign world – really, he came up with the idea of campaign worlds.
Now he’s gone.
Let’s take a moment to remember what he left us, and say thank-you.