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Dungeons and Dragons Co-Creator Interviewed

Posted by simoniker on from the venger-versus-tiamat dept.

spongebob writes "The great Dave Arneson was interviewed on his current work and upcoming releases at EnWorld. Arneson is one of the most important figures in gaming, because he was co-author of Dungeons & Dragons, that little game who spawned an entire industry (or two, if we count videogames). Despite this, he doesn't enjoy the immense recognition given to Gary Gygax, the other author of Dungeons & Dragons. This is perhaps explainable with the fact that Gary Gygax had a long and high profile career as game designer and manager of TSR Hobbies (then TSR) for many years and for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' creation. Anyway, Dave remains a sort of 'unsung legend' of the gaming world."

30 comments

  1. Interseting stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Interesting read...and truly, the first post. It must be my lucky day.

    1. Re:Interseting stuff by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      It's a sad day on slashdot when an article about D&D gets so few posts that it doesn't rise above the 2 level.

      "The times, they be a'changin'" -Dylan

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  2. a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    hey loser faggots,
    being a "nerd" or "geek" does not have to involve rolling 13-sided die instead of having sex with women. i am a technology-guru and yet am still able to have normal sexual relations with women and not resort to diverting my sexual urges into a game where i pretend to be a wizard. dungeons and dragons is faggotry, all the way and you would be wise to take no part in it. you give real geeks a bad name.

    yours truly,
    simon, persecutor of homos

    1. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by OwlofCreamCheese · · Score: 5, Funny

      okay, this is a troll, so we need either acid or fire!!!

      --
      -You're wasting your time. Alfador only likes me.
    2. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      you give real geeks a bad name.

      THEY give geeks a bad name? They're not the contrived, egotistic, homophobe douchebags you seem to be. Why do you bother posting negative stuff when all it accomplished is making you look retarded?

    3. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Soooo. what do you do when your GF plays along with you in a campaign?

      We play a monthly campaign with a few (7) friends. Even my GF has got worked up into it more than I have sometimes. And even though it's RP, you're with friends. That's the real reason it's fun.

      That's why single player Diablo 2, NWN, and any other RPG is really not fun.

      And as a last not, taking RP too far is quite scary. Hell, taking anything too far is scary to deal with. Though, RP is a great way to get with friends for a fun game.

      And yes, I know you're a troll.

      --
    4. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by tunah · · Score: 3, Funny

      -1, Flamebait.

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    5. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by pyrros · · Score: 4, Funny

      and not resort to diverting my sexual urges into a game where i pretend to be a wizard.

      You are completely wrong. I play a cleric.

    6. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Putting a wig on your boyfriend and calling him a "woman" doesnt count. Come out of your repressed closet and enjoy life!!

    7. Re:a letter to pseudo-nerds (i.e. d&d players) by Jaeph · · Score: 1

      So we should leave our good name in the hands of the email-spammers, virus-writers, and evil CEOs?

      -Jeff

      --
      Please learn the difference between a dissenting opinion and a troll before you moderate.
  3. He plays the game himself by sahonen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder what his character stats are like?

    --
    Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
    1. Re:He plays the game himself by czephyr · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I like what you say about D&D and AD&D. I feel you should have gotten a score: 2 I going to be looking at yourr threads(Journal). You are way Cool.

      --
      Sincerely, Czephyr
  4. WooHoo! I'm almost famous! by glowurm · · Score: 3, Informative

    I graduated from Full Sail, and have met Mr. Arneson in passing and he's a nice fellow. My former room-mates are both associate course directors in the same program he's a course director in, though they teach different classes, and it's my understanding that he gives out autographed copies of a D&D starter kit to his students.

    In fact, my former supervisor's cubicle is right across from his!

    (I can already hear the paparazzi!)

  5. Name recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mr. Arneson doesn't receive the kind of recognition Gary Gygax does, because he doesn't have an equally wacky name. Being named something like "Gygax" or "Ransom Love" really helps you in becoming famous!

  6. Too much credit here... by Mulletproof · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    "that little game who spawned an entire industry (or two, if we count videogames)"

    Videogames? Um, no. Dumbass.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
    1. Re:Too much credit here... by iq+in+binary · · Score: 4, Informative

      Videogames? Um, no. Dumbass.

      You are wrong, plain and simple. Among the most popular of the first videogames to hit the market were based off of D&D. To this day we still see analogs of the D20 system fostered by Gygax and Arneson, such games still happen to be a staple of the industry.

      And BTW, editors, D&D spawned 3 industries. The first CCG to go mainstream (M:tG) was heavily influenced by D&D itself (spoke the creator).

      --
      Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last ;)
    2. Re:Too much credit here... by linzeal · · Score: 1

      RPG games defined PC game quality in the beginning and to some still do if you count depth ;)

      --
      An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    3. Re:Too much credit here... by zero_offset · · Score: 1
      You are wrong, plain and simple. Among the most popular of the first videogames to hit the market were based off of D&D.

      What are you smoking? The most popular videogames were Asteroids, Space Duel, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and a bunch of other things which are totally unrelated to D&D. In fact, they were mostly space-related. I suppose you could point to the Atari 2600 Adventure game, but that hardly qualifies as evidence of one industry spawning another. It wasn't until LATE in the videogame craze that games like Gauntlet and Dragon's Lair started showing up, and by then the videogame industry was already well on it's way to losing it's creativity and cranking out tried-and-true formula games (ten thousand variations of Street Fighter).

      And if none of those references mean anything to you, you simply aren't old enough to comment on "the first videogames to hit the market".

      --

      Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

    4. Re:Too much credit here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Video games existed *BEFORE* arcades. Try checking out some of the games that were written for mainframe systems.

    5. Re:Too much credit here... by zero_offset · · Score: 1
      First, he said "hit the market" so I doubt he's talking about 30-year-old mainframe games. It's probably a stretch to include arcade games in his comment, but I was trying to give him a LITTLE credit, and besides those were the games that came out around the same time D&D made it's waves.

      Second, you're probably talking about games like spacewar or the endless variations on the Trek game, and once again I think you'll find most of those games were also space-related.

      Third, there is no shortage of D&D predecessors (Chainmail comes to mind...) which are more likely candidates as inspiration for the dungeon-adventure games that were being written back then.

      Finally, it's really a stretch to call those video games. Most of them would have worked equally well on teletypes (and of course, quite a few of them were actually played that way).

      Consequently, I have to agree with the original parent, it's extremely silly to credit D&D with spawning the videogame industry -- and that IS the claim the article made.

      --

      Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

  7. My Hello World by (H)elix1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sure I'm not the only one who used the *D&D framework as their training ground for programming languages and architectures. I know I've build character toolkits, etc, in Pascal, C, C++, VB, Java, and a few other oddball platforms (like the pocket PC and my HP 48). It has been years since I actually played, but modeling some of the game mechanics, learning how to have multiple people working on a project, discovering how stupid/ungrateful/correct users can actually be all started from personal projects based on the game. If for nothing else, it was nice to have such a tangible target - even if it was just to play a game.

    --
    +++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
    1. Re:My Hello World by GypC · · Score: 1

      Ditto.

      One of the first things I used to learn about a new programming language was how to generate random numbers so I could write a character generator.

      I always used my own programs while GM'ing to randomly generate and keep track of NPC and monster stats.

  8. FMMP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I cast "Magic Missile"!

    (First Magic Missile Post)

    1. Re:FMMP! by NaDrew · · Score: 1
      I cast "Magic Missile"!
      Why are you casting Magic Missile? There's nothing to attack here!
      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    2. Re:FMMP! by aculeus · · Score: 1

      He's attacking the darkness

  9. Just a side note on Gary by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I had the pleasure of gaming with him and his children (now grown up and excellent DMs) in Lake Geneva, WI every weekend for a couple years. He is as famous in gaming circles as he is for good reason. He is an excellent DM, and its not just his gaming skills that are good, its his people/social skills as well. One often forgets when looking at D&D as a game that it requires many social skills which would be contrary to the image of the typical D&D geek.

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  10. Oh dear.. by rylin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Roll the dice to see if any /.ers RTFA!

  11. The reign of the single author paradigm by Snowmit · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, he's like the Woz of DnD?

    --
    I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
  12. Behold! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

  13. Favorite Gaming Quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Back in the good old days of gaming, there were no rules - only a referee with a gun and a chair." - David L. Arneson