Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Dave Arneson

Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D with Gary Gygax, passed away last night. In a little more than a year, we have lost both founders of the game.

I never had the opportunity to work with Dave - his (staggering) contribution to the hobby was at a time when I was but a nascent fan. But I do remember, in later years, how excited our freelance wrangler, Bruce Heard was, when we started work on what would be the DA series of modules. I met Dave in the flesh a handful of times, always under the convention lights, and always found him to be kindly, friendly, and modest.

Gary and Dave were the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of our hobby, the names by which later generations would conjure. They created what would be modern roleplaying, and the rest of us are caught up in their wake.

Rest easy, Dave. You will be missed.

More later,