The dragon father.

Dice, maps and pencils. With this tool, Dave Arneson created the late sixties, a virtual reality that shaped generations and the blueprint for games has been: Fantasy role-playing games. Inventor Arneson was the guy in the second row - and played until the age D & D.

 

The games, which Dave Arneson his youth in the basement of his parents' home in Saint Paul, Minnesota, spent, are today the least people understand: tabletops. These so-called conflict simulations, the participants play with miniature armies on three-dimensional, lovingly reproduced battlefields after battles after extensive regulations. Arneson came as a teenager with these games into sometime in mid-sixties. Because his parents gave him a copy of the tabletop classic "Gettysburg" of the U.S. games publisher Avalon Hill.

A few years later Arneson created with the game designer Gary Gygax from the dry dust tabletops an entirely new game genre: the dice, paper, pen and regulations played RPGs. This from a game made live games were settled and the only virtual reality, several players in the same fantasy world could live together, long before computers powerful and cheap enough for such tasks were.

The beginning of April has died with Dave Arneson
Gary Gygax in the early seventies, the first commercial RPG developed Dungeons & Dragons. D & D is up today. Computer RPGs have a lot of figures, rules, scenarios and storytelling elements from Dungeons & Dragons over, as today's strategy games still felt part of the tabletop classic influences.

Previously dispute about fame and money

But Arneson had the misfortune, as RPG's father early in the eclipse to be - even in the seventies there was an unpleasant legal battle over its share of D & D and the co-Gygax. Outcome of this dispute, although the two fathers of the game later publicly nachgegtragen have nothing more: In the official history of the D & D publisher TSR Arneson name now appears twice. 1970, stands there, Arneson had a game scenario in the sewers of a fortification "designed in 1971 by" Gary Gygax together 'is the Fantasy game' developed '.

A shared history of this time the two have never written, but the dispute was the end of the seventies probably too deep. This is regrettable, but then they laid the foundation for computer games such as the
Ultima series Richard Garriott, to all of today's so extremely popular online role playing masses à la World of Warcraft and incidentally also for a very special kind of paper (pen & paper in the English original) role-plays.

D & D inspired Ultima programmers Garriott

In the beginning there was a very understandable interest: Arneson was no longer a Tabeltops only when an army commander and the only motivation to win in a battle hoping to be able to. That was a little one dimensional, as Arneson US Magazine
"Gamespy" 2004 hindsight told: "We played together for several years and then tried our own game variants. We developed several pieces for their own goals, some of which even non-military nature. And at this point, I think we started with the role play. "

Arneson traveled 1969 or 1970 - just after he could not in talks to recall the year - to Gen Con, a meeting of tabletop players in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. They met Arneson - actually history student at the University of Minnesota - the organizer of the meeting, Gary Gygax. Arneson took a regulatory framework developed by Gygax named "Chain Mail" and adapted it with his fellow players for fantasy games.

He changed the rules so that each player embodied a character and has contributed - even on a single game out. The characters learned and improved their skills and of course, collected some useful things. Instead, each time starting from scratch, built in successive games Arneson. And each player devoted his entire attention of a figure, which he developed.

Arneson invented Adventure and Campaign Setting

Arneson also expanded the playing field: In the game, led by him were teammates forests, dungeons, ruins, secret slopes, caves to explore - everything Arneson out in advance and had recorded. He described the players around, embodied the essence, which they met and decided according to rules made, whether the players with their actions were successful or not.

The collection of rules, maps, figures and Location Arneson lifted up by the phrase at Blackmoor - later he published descriptions of this game world, and staging of pre-game episodes (so-called adventure). The two types of publications are now an integral part of programs from RPG publishers: There are rules and to all who are not confined to one's own creative power to leave, there are resource books on every imaginable topic.

The players today, some of this diversity of sources for debates usually use is a sad irony of history - Arneson initially rejoiced over the huge relief from overly rigid rules Tabeltop the fantasy background has brought. A few years ago remembered Arneson at the games at the table tennis table in the basement of his parents this way: "I had no desire that players with a new rule book arrived and said we would have the advantage because it is the old right and wrong. That was a fantasy world, so who could prove that a character was not displayed correctly? "

The fantasy world at the table tennis table

Arneson After the new tabletop game for a year with his friends had tried at home, decided he and Gary Gygax at Gen-Con next meeting of this game approach to make a product - a rule book for the RPG to write. The first of its kind

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The capital for the first printed edition of "Dungeons & Dragons" baptized plant shot two games authors Friends of Gary Gygax before their RPG Publisher christened TSR and sold the first one thousand or even packaged in boxes of rules for all parties surprisingly quickly. The game was fast becoming an international success - in 1975 Britain transferred Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, a D & D edition.

After the controversy over his involvement left Arneson TSR soon, he wrote later, still works for the source of his imaginary world Blackmoor game for the publisher, but otherwise went his own way. He founded a computer company, advised software companies on program design, taught computer science at a private school in Florida.

Like many veteran RPG (Steve Jackson at Lionhead, Ian Livingstone at Eidos) Arneson was active in the field of computer game - privately, however. 2004 he told the "Gamespy" interview, that he is online role-playing games like EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot had tried, but none so completely as a counterpart to paper RPGs could see: "The players can only in a certain frame together. It is just not the same as to sit together as a group to play. "

As long as his health allowed it, Arneson regularly played D & D rounds with old acquaintances, but also with younger neighbors, aged 12 to 35 years. Once a year, he met with his old teammates, Blackmoor, in the early seventies, the first version of D & D, yes the first RPG ever had tried.

David Arneson died on 7 April at the age of 61 from cancer.

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We report in the series of roleplaying - the true virtual reality "in a loose series about the history of the RPG - what grade are you interested in? How was the "Black Eye"? What makes Steve Jackson today? What is PBM? We welcome your suggestions via e-mail.