Game designer Dave Arneson died 7 April 2009 after a two-year battle with cancer. Born David Lance Arneson on 1 October 1947, Arnesen was the co-creator, with Gary Gygax, of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the game that launched the role playing game phenomenon.
Announcing his death, daughter Malia Weinhagen said “The biggest thing about my dad’s world is he wanted people to have fun in life. I think we get distracted by the everyday things you have to do in life and we forget to enjoy life and have fun. But my dad never did.”
Wizards of the Coast (the current owner of Dungeons & Dragons) released a statement saying, in part, that Arneson “developed many of the fundamental ideas of role-playing: that each player controls just one hero, that heroes gain power through adventures, and that personality is as important as combat prowess.” Before Dungeons & Dragons, Arneson developed a game called Blackmoor, which was the “first-ever role-playing campaign and the prototype for all (role-playing game) campaigns since,” according to WotC.
Arneson and Gygax were both tabletop wargamers (recreating historical battles with painted miniature armies and fleets) when they met in 1969. Their first collaboration, along with Mike Carr, was a set of rules for sailing-ship battles called ”Don’t Give Up the Ship!”
After D&D, Arneson published other role-playing games and started Adventure Games, his own game-publishing company and computer game company, and then later 4D Interactive Systems. He also taught classes in game design, and was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame in 1984.
Arneson is survived by his daughter and two grandchildren.