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Dave Arneson Talks About Helping Create D&D

Posted by chrisd on from the plus-one-pepperspray dept.

Warrior-GS writes "GameSpy has an interview with Dave Arneson, the lesser known co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons with Gary Gygax. He is at Gen Con in Milwaukee. Also on hand to talk was Sandy Petersen, the creator of Call of Cthulhu. He is working at Ensemble Studios on Age of Mythology. Both interviews are very informative."

3 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Shoplifting Those Little Brown Books... by grendelkhan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Takes me back to my childhood: shoplifting huge amounts of RPG's because I couldn't afford the $32 for a boxed set of Rolemaster. Nowadays, I try to remember that when my son is so jazzed up about a $40 PSX game, and I say "Okay, we'll save up your allowance for a few weeks, and you can pick up extra cash by edging the lawn". Trying to avoid the creation of another prolific teenage shoplifter in my family!

    Anyhoo, those little brown books, followed by the billygoat on the front of the Monster Manual, and that HORRIBLE illustration on the cover of the DM's Guide (all courtesy of the same artist, whose name eludes me) occupied many lunches in Jr. High and High School for me, going over the endless variants of classes, the newest Dragon mag, the latest from Judge's Guild, the Thieves Guild series, and anything from Chaosium.

    Speaking of which, it's really cool to see Sandy Peterson there, that man is simply a genius of the RPG world. CoC, the various supplements he made, plus his work on Runequest, made my bookshelf (legally, or illegally) every release. I'm about to have all my stuff out of storage for the first time in eight months, and I have space now for ALL of my RPG stuff, and I've kept it all from when I was younger: Traveller, Twilight 2000, RoleMaster, Battletech and Mechwarrior (1st ED), Gamma World, Harn, etc. And I have a feeling that after I spend a few hours setting up the network and entertainment totem again, that I will be unpacking these for days, since I'll be rereading them as I go! My wife will not be happy...

    --
    Wu-Tang Name: Half-Cut Skeleton Get your own Wu-Na
  2. The Greatness of Petersen by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's too bad that the reporter didn't really get in depth with any of the designers. I had the wonderful pleasure of working with Sandy at Ensemble Studios for just over a year. The guy is just pure genius. I could talk with him for hours because he had always something interesting to say on just about any subject.

    One thing that isn't covered is his voracious knowledge of history. I remember taking my dad up to work (he has a degree in Ancient History) and just watching he and Sandy just go back and forth on the effects that the chariot had on ancient civilations. In fact, he and Tim Deen basically were the Rise of Rome expansion pack.

    But not only that, Sandy would get into all sorts of things. Every day at lunch he would drag out either a new board game or card game to play. I blame him for my Lunch Money addiction. He was always patient and took time to explain game design or a decision he had made about game balance. He was truly a designer in every sense of the word.

    He's one of the people I miss most at Ensemble. (No, he *doesn't* wear sunglasses all the time. Suspenders and shorts is another story.) He's a great guy, has a wonderful family and takes time for his kids. In fact, one urban legend about Sandy is that when every one at iD was buying their fast cars after Doom came out, Sandy went out and bought a mini-van.

    I hope I get to work with you again Sandy!

  3. RPG Economics by pgrote · · Score: 3, Informative

    A good article about today's RPG Economics inside the fantasy worlds.

    It's amazing to think that a few people designed a system so well working that it's served as the basis for countless types in the genre.