D&D General The first character to die in D&D was named Bob! Bob the Hero!

[darjr]

Bob the Hero Killed by a Troll.

The First PC to Die, Ever.

According to Dave Arneson's Corner of the Table newsletter, Vol. III, #4 "There will be a medevil "BRAUNSTEIN" April 17, 1971 at the home ...

boggswood.blogspot.com

 

[Nikosandros]

Good bye, Bob. The good ones always go first.

 

[Lidgar]

And all this time I was sure it was Kenny

 

[J.Quondam]

RIP, Bob, the first in a long, illustrious, and globe-spanning lineage of D&D characters named "Bob."

 

[Gorg]

RIP, Bob, the first in a long, illustrious, and globe-spanning lineage of D&D characters named "Bob."

Funnily enough, I currently HAVE a character named Bob, lol.

 

[Lanefan]

To me the truly fascinating and enlightening bit isn't the article itself but the comment below it from David Wesely, in which he points out three notable things:

The first Braunstein game was Dec 28 1968.
The first-ever PC death was Dave Arneson's character, in that Dec 28 game, in a duel with another PC.
Which means the first-ever PC death was PvP! Love it!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

"I was in the game that had that troll, and I did not care for the rules. The troll killed me in no time at all, and I was a hero! I refused to have anything to do with Blackmoor for a very long time after that."

Interesting that even at the beginning, there was pretty much that same ideological debate over the level of lethality and durability of PCs.