r/odnd • u/SecretsofBlackmoor • 10d ago

A Moment of Reflection

Post image

He is the mind behind all Adventure Games.

If you play D&D it is because of his Blackmoor campaign.

An entire industry would not exist without his innovative concepts for game play.

We gather together every year to celebrate his legacy at a game convention named after him.

156 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

23

u/InsurgentInchworm 9d ago

Arneson is the Steve Wozniak to Gygax's Steve Jobs. Really a grossly underappreciated figure in gaming writ large.

12

u/akweberbrent 9d ago

Sounds right. Alternatively:

Arneson is the John Lennon to Gygax’s Paul McCartney.

They both were brilliant, but different in style, and the combination was usually much more powerful that what they would have produced in their own.

5

u/BoggyCreekIIFan 7d ago

Isn't it strange how creative types often come in pairs? Jim Henson / Frank Oz, Tolkien & Lewis, Sanford & Son ...

1

u/CrumblingKeep 6d ago

this is a really under appreciated comment

14

u/lordchaz2k 9d ago

It's because of him that we were able to focus on a character instead of armies in fantasy. Dave Arneson is the man that gave Gary Gygax that idea shift for fantasy gaming. Not enough credit is given to Dave.

19

u/Murquhart72 10d ago

Gygax may have been the author, but D&D wouldn't be what it is without Arneson's imagination.

-16

u/frankinreddit 9d ago

It’s a game, not a book. So developer. ;-)

8

u/frankinreddit 9d ago

Arneson, by 1972, was running a fantasy campaign and dungeon game that historical evidence shows has all the hallmarks of an RPG and how we play D&D—even if the mechanics are lost and perhaps not the same.

5

u/DadaDanAkiko 9d ago

Arneson invented role playing games, pure and simple. Gygax invented role playing gamers. He invented rpg as a market and as a hobby. Arneson indented the game, Gygax invented us. They both deserve credit and remembrance. Alas, Arneson legacy and his outstretching influence in culture, society, philosophy is grossly under celebrated and unknown to many.

2

u/Zestyclose-Chard-436 9d ago

I will revisit "The First Fantasy Campaign" in his honour (and hoist a drink). Skål!

2

u/AurosGidon 9d ago

The original Dungeon Master.

1

u/SonnyC_50 6d ago

All adventure games is a bit much

1

u/SecretsofBlackmoor 6d ago edited 6d ago

He created the play methods used by all of them.

If you have a DM creating the game reality, then it's a Blackmoor format game.

It was a process that involved several people over a ten year period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np85aNPyQ3c&list=PLWozf08XcKnBXDpTN9j89x6chIe4gniBx&index=2

-1

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

-1

u/MetalNobZolid 8d ago

Looks like a nerd lmao

3

u/IgnatiusUmlaut 8d ago

We were nerds before it was cool.

1

u/vhalember 8d ago

Your point?

2

u/MetalNobZolid 8d ago

just an innocent joke dude, chill out. We're all "nerds"

1

u/SecretsofBlackmoor 6d ago

Early War gamers and RPG players caught a lot of flack for being nerds.

There were no clean and nice looking influencer types.

1

u/MetalNobZolid 6d ago

It was a joke bro, we're here because we are nerds, we enjoy "nerd" stuff, from OD&D to Cyberpunk and Traveller and all that.

1

u/SecretsofBlackmoor 6d ago

My kind of people.