D&D General When D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson Asked WotC For A Job!

Back in 1997, after WotC had purchased the failing TSR (and D&D), and just prior to the launch of D&D 3E, Dave Arneson -- who co-created D&D in the 1970s along with Gary Gygax -- wrote to WotC president Peter Adkison asking to be put in charge of TSR.

Ben Riggs -- author of Slaying the Dragon -- discovered Arneson's letter to Adkison while researching his history of D&D.

Newly Discovered Letters Reveal D&D's Co-Creator Asked to be put in Charge of D&D in 1997 and it Did Not Go Well — Ben Riggs

While writing my book, Slaying the Dragon , I discovered a number of fascinating historical documents hidden from public view until now. Over the coming months, I’m going to be sharing some of these captivating documents with you. The first is a 1997 letter from D&D co-creator Dave Ar

www.writerbenriggs.com

The letter was full of typos -- Arneson even got Adkison's name wrong! According to Riggs, Adkison did not reply, and Arneson wrote to him a second time.

 

[Retreater]

I think bringing in Arneson could have been great for WOTC D&D. They didn’t have to give the guy a leadership role, bringing him to put out a campaign setting, to work on modules, that could have worked. Especially at that time when one big hurdle was undoing the bad feelings that had grown towards TSR by the end of the 90s.

Because of the OGL, he had free reign to create any settings or modules he wanted on his own (or any of a variety of 3PP that would've lined up to hire him). He published some Blackmoor supplements through his own company and Goodman Games in this era.

 

[Reynard]

I'm not sure i have ever heard of Arneson finishing a product on his own.

 

[Retreater]

I'm not sure i have ever heard of Arneson finishing a product on his own.

I think he had substantial help to complete the 3.x era offerings. Some of the projects were likely made with him as a "consultant" or merely giving his blessings.

 

[Alzrius]

For what it's worth, there's a coda to this story that isn't mentioned in Riggs' post, which is that once WotC's acquisition was complete, part of Adkison's plan to bring D&D back to health meant buying out Arneson's royalties to "Dungeons & Dragons" as a brand (which was why AD&D had the "Advanced" part added to it: to avoid paying Arneson those royalties under the idea that AD&D was a separate game). I'm not sure exactly how large of a check Adkison wrote, but my understanding was that it was fairly substantial.

On a broader note, I wonder if this is part of a lead-in toward a new book from Riggs. I attended his seminars at Gen Con, and his one about the process of writing 3E that went on at WotC made it very clear that he has a lot more material than was published in Slaying the Dragon.

 

[Parmandur]

I stand by my appraisal that Arneson's limited success was because he was around at the right time around the right people who did all the work for him.

He was a DM, not a writer.

 

[Parmandur]

I think bringing in Arneson could have been great for WOTC D&D. They didn’t have to give the guy a leadership role, bringing him to put out a campaign setting, to work on modules, that could have worked. Especially at that time when one big hurdle was undoing the bad feelings that had grown towards TSR by the end of the 90s.

Well, they did pay him to square things legally, but based on his historical output and the writing quality of this letter I doubt he would have produced anything at all if they hired him.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m not sure Arneson would have accepted anything less than a leadership role.

This is sad. I have to say I’m glad he wasn’t given the reins.

This was one of the most painful things I ever read. Like, how could he have read this over and thought it was a good idea to send in this state??

 

[Parmandur]

For what it's worth, there's a coda to this story that isn't mentioned in Riggs' post, which is that once WotC's acquisition was complete, part of Adkison's plan to bring D&D back to health meant buying out Arneson's royalties to "Dungeons & Dragons" as a brand (which was why AD&D had the "Advanced" part added to it: to avoid paying Arneson those royalties under the idea that AD&D was a separate game). I'm not sure exactly how large of a check Adkison wrote, but my understanding was that it was fairly substantial.

On a broader note, I wonder if this is part of a lead-in toward a new book from Riggs. I attended his seminars at Gen Con, and his one about the process of writing 3E that went on at WotC made it very clear that he has a lot more material than was published in Slaying the Dragon.

There's going to be more posts that get into Arensona and WotC.

And yeah, early WotC D&D seems go be the topic of a new book he is at least noodling.

 

[LoganRan]

I stand by my appraisal that Arneson's limited success was because he was around at the right time around the right people who did all the work for him.

Based on what I have read in various outlets, my conclusion about Dave is that his primary preoccupation was with cashing royalty checks.

I am grateful that he had the spark of the idea which led to the development of the Dungeons & Dragons game but (again based on everything I have read) he seemed to have little to do with (and little interest in) its actual development as a viable game system which could be mass marketed to the world.

Given how little he actually contributed to the game, I think he made out extremely well.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Just another reason why fans should never deify anyone, even original creators.