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While writing my book, Slaying the Dragon , I discovered a number of fascinating historical documents hidden from public view until now.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

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

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.

Well, this is kind of on-brand for Arneson.

 

[Ramaster]

This was a painful read.

 

[Blue Orange]

"How the mighty of fallen and the lowly have risen."

"My relations were never good, through no fault of my own, BUT I know their product line. And I have a pretty darn good idea what TSR should be doing with it."

"So what does Dave want? Well I would like to run TSR for you."

Sad thing is in a couple of years he could have gotten a sinecure out of them riding the OSR boom. "We've got Dave Arneson on staff!" Let him make one mod "by the original creator of D&D" and boom, everyone wins.

 

[Retreater]

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.

 

[R_J_K75]

Glad that didn't happen. I suspect that if he did get control D&D 3E would have been strikingly similar to AD&D, if it was even made at all. For 3.x faults the d20 system was a huge step forward in the games evolution. But who knows what might've happened.

 

[Blue Orange]

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.

You might be right, but I've always wondered how much Gygax was helped by a name that sounded like a D&D character.

 

[Bedrockgames]

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.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

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.

Nope.

Other than the fact that by 1997, they were going in a different direction, there is a pretty long history with Arneson not being helpful to companies. Even the four modules he did for TSR in the 80s (the DA series), three of them were basically his old notes "co-written" by David Ritchie, and the fourth (of new material) was just written by Ritchie.

Arneson was an amazing improviser, DM, and creative person ... but he had a long and documented history of burning people and businesses that depended on him.

ETA- I am sure that if he was hired, he would have promised stuff, never done it, and then started publicly complaining about how 3e was a terrible game.

 

[darjr]

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.