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While writing my book, Slaying the Dragon , I discovered a number of fascinating historical documents hidden from public view until now.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.

 

[Yaarel]

The interesting thing to me is if Dave never met Gary would Gary have made a D&D?

I think it’s possible but is it likely that he would have before someone else?

I feel strongly that both Arneson and Gygax are equally important.

Arneson was a paradigm shifter. Gygax was a prolific producer.

D&D wouldnt exist without either.

I suspect the personal wellbeing of both Arneson and Gygax would be better off, if they had better relationships with each other.

I am glad the pioneers of my hobby are both decent people. Human. But alright.

 

[Parmandur]

You kid but I think this gets to the central point. The writing and editing and layout and art for cyborg commando was really good, from my memory. The idea and game ideas were bad.

He didn’t have what he’d had with Dave and D&D.

To be fair, that wasneritten by Gygax, but rather Frank Mentzer and Kim Mohan.

By the late 80's, I don't think Gygax had the energy or the hunger to drive massive design work anymore.

 

[Nikosandros]

To be fair, that wasneritten by Gygax, but rather Frank Mentzer and Kim Mohan.

By the late 80's, I don't think Gygax had the energy or the hunger to drive massive design work anymore.

Mythus / Dangerous Journeys came out in the early nineties and it was, IMO, quite a massive undertaking. It surely would have needed far more editing and development, but it was no small creative feat.

 

[MGibster]

By the late 80's, I don't think Gygax had the energy or the hunger to drive massive design work anymore.

Are we forgetting about Dangerous Journeys?

 

[darjr]

If RPGs came about a different way would I miss dungeon crawling? Or beholders and green slime? Or settings and the eight? Would I miss them in some multi possibilities parallel universe way?

What am I missing now that could have been?

 

[GreyLord]

The interesting thing to me is if Dave never met Gary would Gary have made a D&D?

I think it’s possible but is it likely that he would have before someone else?

If Wozniak had never met Jobs...would we ever have the Ipod or Iphone...or even more specifically...would we even have Windows (laugh as you want, but I feel that Apple's moves in the late 80s and early 90s HEAVILY influenced how Windows 95 was developed and came about in it's evolution from earlier versions).

 

[Iosue]

If Wozniak had never met Jobs...would we ever have the Ipod or Iphone...or even more specifically...would we even have Windows (laugh as you want, but I feel that Apple's moves in the late 80s and early 90s HEAVILY influenced how Windows 95 was developed and came about in it's evolution from earlier versions).

Windows 95? Apple sued Microsoft after the release of Windows 2.03 in 1988. (It was the first Windows with overlapping windows.) They lost, but it was pretty obvious and understood by all that Windows 3.x took its cues from the Macintosh OS. Windows 95 was merely the perfected expression of that.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Windows 95? Apple sued Microsoft after the release of Windows 2.03 in 1988. (It was the first Windows with overlapping windows.) They lost, but it was pretty obvious and understood by all that Windows 3.x took its cues from the Macintosh OS. Windows 95 was merely the perfected expression of that.

Yeah, I remember scratching my head over that when it happened: MS releases Windows OS right after the Mac OS takes the world by storm, Apple flips out over the patent violation, and somehow Gates just walks away grinnin'. Dodgier than the whole QDOS thing, really.

I've never understood it.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I remember scratching my head over that when it happened: MS releases Windows OS right after the Mac OS takes the world by storm, Apple flips out over the patent violation, and somehow Gates just walks away grinnin'. Dodgier than the whole QDOS thing, really.

I've never understood it.

Because Apple stole a bunch of those ideas from Xerox first, so they didn't hold up in court, as I recall.

 

[darjr]

Because Apple stole a bunch of those ideas from Xerox first, so they didn't hold up in court, as I recall.

I think the overlaping windows was an exception and something “new”. But to say they invented it vs just having enough cpu to finally implement it is a debatable imho.