Between battles, the story: Dave Arneson has passed on

The joy of role-playing comes from the ability to do anything you want. The dungeon master can only put a situation in front of you, and it's his job to deal with your creative decisions to get through—or around—those obstacles. This is something Dave Arneson knew very early on. This is the man who helped create Dungeons and Dragons, and he has died of cancer.

We know how Arneson dealt with history lessons in college, and it's telling. "We created the Continental Congress and because I knew things the teacher didn't share with the students we ended up not having the Continental Congress, Delaware rejoined the Empire and New York and New Hampshire were at war," he told GameSpy. "Anyway, (laughs) I was accused by my professor of perverting his exercises… and well, it was true I did, and he was mad at me. The same thing happened with the French Revolution, and he accused me of introducing these random events that were of no historical interest at all."

We should be continually happy that so many bright students aren't dimmed by their teachers. Arneson understood that these things were of historical interest; history stands on the edge of knife, and a few different decisions one way or the other and the world would be a completely different place... we only forget that because we're comforted by putting historical events in a neat order. Arneson wanted to get into the heads of these people and play "what-if."

Arneson understood that real stories came from what happened between the battles. Remember that Dungeons and Dragons came from wargaming; it just filled in the blanks after each war, the epic struggles that made up the majority of gaming at that time. "In our own games we got tired of taking the town, or the hill. So we started thinking about other objectives in a scenario, and to do that we had to give our Generals personality... We found that by doing that players started to identify with them. So, we'd role-play diplomacy and how they'd act out there on the battlefield."

Why a fantasy setting? It cut down on players arguing on what was historically accurate. Why dungeons? Because it was easy to set up on a grid and you had finite space to work in. Much easier for everyone involved. This is yet another example of the limitations of gaming leading to breakthroughs, and Arneson's love of social gaming and imagination helped to steer the ship where it needed to go. What we love about Dungeons and Dragons comes from Arneson's intuitive ability to make gaming stimulating and intriguing, even with no battlefield in sight.

While he left TSR in 1975 after a falling out with Gary Gygax, he continued to work on his Blackmoor games, but his name remained tied to the game that made him famous. "So what's my involvement? I do all the conventions. I talk about it. I use it for my classes. I think I've still had a lot of influence on rules in spite of not being officially involved but it was not until Third Edition came about and they involved me in the playtesting that I again had any direct involvement in D&D."

Arneson died Tuesday night, after a long bout with cancer. He is survived by his wife and daughter. His name may not have been as well-known as Gary Gygax's, but his influence still touched every aspect of both table-top role-playing and video gaming. He helped to create an entire world and industry by asking the simplest of questions: what are these characters doing when they're not fighting?

Get out your classic rule books. Invite some friends over. Keep a chair empty for a fallen friend, and play for a few hours. Not online, in person. Order a pizza. Buy your kids a rule book and some dice. Remember Dave Arneson, a man who wasn't satisfied with the game when his parents brought home an Avalon Hill title. When he began changing the rules, he began changing the world. We'll miss you, Dave.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58519

A very reliable source close to Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms today confirmed to Shacknews that the company has been shut down.

The closure came about as a result of funding issues, our source explained, with the shut down said to affect both 3D Realms and the recently resurrected Apogee name. Employees of both entities have already been let go.

Phone calls and e-mails to various 3D Realms veterans have thus far gone unanswered, with publishing partner Take-Two likewise unavailable for comment.