D&D; Co-creator Dave Arneson Dies at 61
Wired.com is reporting that Dave Arneson, co-creator of, has passed away at 61 . Arneson, a veteran wargamer and member of the International Federation of Wargamers, met Gary Gygax in Wisconsin in 1970, when they collaborated on several games together before beginning work on what would become. While the basic format of the game was derived from Gygax's owngame, it was Arneson who was most responsible for creating the nuts and bolts of the original role-playing game, including the invention of the all-important hit point.The success of the company was somewhat bittersweet to Arneson, who had to fight for proper credit on the game and filed a number of lawsuits against Gygax and TSR that were later settled out of court. The two patched up their differences in the mid-1980s and did work together again. In later years he published an open d20 version of his original Blackmoor D&D; setting, in addition to a full-time gig teaching computer documentation at Full Sail university in Florida. He had a stroke in 2002 and was later diagnosed with cancer.GameSpy had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Arneson for our 30th Anniversary Dungeons & Dragons celebration in 2004 . At that time, we asked Mr. Arneson how he would like to be remembered. He responded with typical Arneson humor: "The world in general? That I was a good grandpa -- that's a good one... I don't know, 'Father of role-playing games?' I got a sign that says that somewhere."This one hits me hard. Writing the History of Dungeons & Dragons and the 30th Anniversary celebration stories remains one of my proudest achievements at GameSpy and I remember it fondly for my chance to interview Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. I only got to speak with him that one time but he struck me as a good-natured man who was proud of what he had accomplished with, well past any bitterness over the difficulties it caused him and content with the way his life had turned out. For me and anyone who calls themselves a gamer, our debt to Dave is incalculable and I thank him for all the fun he's given me over the years. Rest in peace Dave, and give my regards to the outer planes!
Dave Arneson.
Dave Arneson, co-creator of the first roleplaying game, ''Dungeons and Dragons'', died on Tuesday of cancer, at the age of 61.

A close friend of Arneson, Bob Meyer, reported on April 5 that he had taken a turn for the worse and was admitted to a hospital.  Family later confirmed that he was in a facility "where we can focus on keeping him comfortable."  Reported at that time, the doctor indicated that he had days to live.

The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design in 1984 inducted Arneson  into their Hall of Fame.  Pyramid Magazine in 1999 named him as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, "at least in the realm of adventure gaming".

Arneson started out as a wargamer including naval games. He soon developed some for his personal use due to the major publishers' slow release of games.  With David Wesley and the other members of the Midwest Military Simulation Association, Arneson developed the basis of modern role-playing games with individual miniatures representing one person and having non-military objectives.  

Arneson attended the University of Minnesota as a history student.  He was a founder, along with Gary Gygax, of the Castle & Crusade Society as a medieval miniature chapter of the International Federation of Wargamers.  With Gygax in 1972, he authored ''Don't Give Up the Ship!'', a naval wargame.

Arneson's ''Blackmoor'' was the first role-playing game, a genre in which players describe their characters in thorough detail and can attempt almost any action the character plausibly could.  Ernest Gary Gygax, then a close friend of Arneson, worked with him during 1972–73 to develop the extensive set of rules (in this case three volumes) that such a game requires.  This became the first edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.  With his experience with David Wesley, Arneson tried it with fantasy miniatures free style calling his game, ''Blackmoor''.  He then latched on Gygax's ''Chainmail'' miniature game and Fantasy supplement for resolution of battles.  He showed Gygax what he was doing.  Gygax got involved and started preparing a set of rules to supplement ''Chainmail''.  They shopped the game, ''Dungeons & Dragons'', around to various gaming companies but got turned down.  Gygax started a business partnership, Tactical Studies Rules, to publish the game in 1974.  The game launched a whole new category in gaming. 

Although not involved with rulebooks for later editions of ''D&D'', Arneson did create adventure modules for later editions.