Happy Dave Arneson Day!

(Dave Arneson, b. October 1, 1947, d. April 7, 2009)

October 1st, 2019 is the Tenth Annual DAVE ARNESON DAY, a tribute to the inventor of the role-playing game method and co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons.

Harvards Blackmoor Blog has freebies, articles, and tributes in honor of Dave.

There is a some-what present day intellectual discussion regarding Dave Arneson's contributions, essentially inventing the game style of a referee/entertainer creating and running the game for players who in turn run their player characters.

The discussion coincides with the release earlier this year of the new documentary, "Secrets of Blackmoor." I was able to view the film as a backer of the Kickstarter and it is super elucidating and fun to watch as members of Dave's Minnesota war gaming group describe how their wargames evolved into Arneson's Blackmoor role-playing campaign that preceded the development of Dungeons and Dragons.

T$R published the "Supplement II, Blackmoor" to original Dungeons and Dragons in 1975. After Dave had a falling out with T$R, Judges Guild in 1977 published the maps and game notes of Blackmoor in the now out-of-print "First Fantasy Campaign" which tacked Dave's Blackmoor lands onto the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Following the settlement of a lawsuit Dave filed after his name was removed as co-creator in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, T$R released Dungeons and Dragons "B/X" edition which re-attributed Dave as co-creator, and afterwards T$R produced a number of Blackmoor modules under the DA series.

So tip your hat to a visionary man who invented our wonderful and amazing hobby!

A Miniature Party

(Eight-tenths of our adventuring party form the New Old Weird World.)

I still love the art of painting miniature figures for our campaigns. I get to imagine what a character would look like and bring that image to the table top. Too bad most of my players don't paint their own, maybe either because of time or just worries about doing a poor job.

That is a lame excuse because Sick Rick doesn't give a shit and paints his character's mini however he damn well pleases and the sloppy results are awesome.

The new thing I found out is my friendly local gaming store carries Reaper miniatures, but only the "Bones" plastic ones. They look cool and are probably a third cheaper than metal minis. I miss lead though. Oh well...