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While writing my book, Slaying the Dragon , I discovered a number of fascinating historical documents hidden from public view until now.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

 

[Parmandur]

I’m going to put this here just as a counterpoint. Full Sail University named it’s game development studio Blackmoor in honor of Dave Arneson.

I am very willing to believe that he was a better teacher than writer or letter correspondent.

 

[R_J_K75]

I assume it would depend on industry and where you are. In my area teaching jobs (the thing I'm generally applying for) almost invariably involve "cover letters" as a required part of the online application and they are always a dumb ordeal.

I'm in Western NY and worked as a Mechanical Designer. All the jobs whether contracts or direct hire all went through headhunters or temp agencies, and these companies would spam all the job boards with the same jobs. More times than not any job I applied for I just sent a resume, but there was no way to follow up, and my application just vanished into the ether. After meeting with After meeting with job placement experts at college and government agencies they told me to pare back my resume, use specific fonts and formatting and never send a cover letter, otherwise my application would never make to the person who needed to see it.

 

[darjr]

I'm in Western NY and worked as a Mechanical Designer. All the jobs whether contracts or direct hire all went through headhunters or temp agencies, and these companies would spam all the job boards with the same jobs. More times than not any job I applied for I just sent a resume, but there was no way to follow up, and my application just vanished into the ether. After meeting with After meeting with job placement experts at college and government agencies they told me to pare back my resume, use specific fonts and formatting and never send a cover letter, otherwise my application would never make to the person who needed to see it.

No cover letter? Why would they not see it?

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Yeah, I have a thing for old games. When I first encountered it, I didn't know how to place it (or a lot of the history we have now).

Of course, it all makes more sense now. It's ... well, it's a lot like OD&D, take two. It's Arneson, but filtered through a different co-author. You can squint and see some of what the Blackmoor people said about his home game ... but rationalized to a written system. This time, filtered a little more through Snider's "cleaning up."

Fundamentally, Arneson lacked the capacity to translate his gaming to paper. His skills lay in his improvisation, and he lacked the vocabulary to translate that into a system of rules.

This is exactly why I think Gygax gets the lion’s share of credit in my mind.

Kids have played pretend stories with toys back ages. Codifying rules and having a system with something to it is a step up.

HG Wells and toy soldiers to rpg…

My bias is showing again

 

[R_J_K75]

No cover letter? Why would they not see it?

I was told 2 reasons. The first is most employers dont want them and dont read them. You can expect a prospective employer will skim your resume for about 15-30 seconds, let alone read a cover letter. Secondly, most if not all applications are online and go through filter software that either accepts or rejects your resume based on keywords, then a live person might read it. A cover letter just ups the odds that you'll be rejected based on the keywords the software is looking for based on the job description.

 

[the Jester]

And I think that there was a higher tolerance for people who ... admired (is that the preferred word) the Axis in WW2 among the wargaming set than there was in the general population.

I think a lot of wargamers admire the Nazi military machine because of how devastating and effective it was, but I don't know how many admire the Axis for more dubious reasons.

 

[MGibster]

No, and I wouldn't want to tar people just by association. But at a certain point, you have to think some people back then knew, and just didn't care.

And I think that there was a higher tolerance for people who ... admired (is that the preferred word) the Axis in WW2 among the wargaming set than there was in the general population.

In their defense, there was a prevailing myth regarding the mighty German war machine at the time. Blinded by the myth of German efficacy, many war gamers placed them on a pedestal unaware of the myriad of faults in doctrine and the problems with their equipment. (Yes, the Tiger was a good tank. But it was overcomplicated, prone to breaking down, and spare parts were tough to come by. Oh, and the Germans only produced 1,200 of them to our 40,000 Shermans.)

Like the Confederacy, a lot of war gamers had attributed the German loss primarily to America's industrial base and the Soviet's ability to take casualties like there's no tomorrow. They elevated the wehrmact and ignored the fact that Allied forces, even the Soviets, outfought the germans. This admiration for Germany typically didn't include fascist ideology though. Just a misplaced admiration for the efficacy of their military.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I think a lot of wargamers admire the Nazi military machine because of how devastating and effective it was, but I don't know how many admire the Axis for more dubious reasons.

For sure. We used to also choose axis in games for the challenge—since they were destined to lose after a certain point.

 

[Alzrius]

This admiration for Germany typically didn't include fascist ideology though. Just a misplaced admiration for the efficacy of their military.

Certainly, their measles were to be feared.

 

[Von Ether]

No cover letter? Why would they not see it?

As a matter of personal experience, I've had interviewers not even bother to read my resume until I was sitting right in front of them. Their HR department or an assistant had done the gathering and I doubted they would have read a cover letter.

 

[Dire Bare]

I’m going to put this here just as a counterpoint. Full Sail University named it’s game development studio Blackmoor in honor of Dave Arneson.

I'd be curious to hear from folks who took Arneson's course at Full Sail. Was he a good teacher of game design?

Blackmoor Studios is a pretty cool thing . . . .

 

[Parmandur]

I'd be curious to hear from folks who took Arneson's course at Full Sail. Was he a good teacher of game design?

Blackmoor Studios is a pretty cool thing . . . .

I would imagine that the personal virtues that allowed him to invent Dungeon Mastering probably translated to classroom teaching. Seems like a better use of time than office politics at TSR, frankly.

 

[aia_2]

The Rigg's article is one of the saddest pieces of news i read about my hobby... It's nearly incredible how life can bend and take directions no one can foresee... I have a mix of feelings for Arneson going from pity to shame... (And pls consider that i deserve him the major credit for the d&d creation!!)

 

[Mark Craddock]

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.

I think both Arneson & Gygax benefitted from this and that's okay. Both ended up being dumped in the end anyway.

 

[R_Chance]

I think both Arneson & Gygax benefitted from this and that's okay. Both ended up being dumped in the end anyway.

Not really. Arneson was an idea guy. Gygax made games. I've played a number of his miniature rules (besides Chainmail) and they are pretty good. Personally, I think Arneson had a cool idea (derived from others, but still cool) and Gygax turned it into a playable game (whatever you may think of original D&D's virtues and vices).

 

[MNblockhead]

I'm not saying that Arneson agreed with Barker, or knew what Barker thought. That would be a logical fallacy. However, fact is that Arneson had a long standing friendship and spent significant hobby time with the dude, which is unfortunate.

Arneson was finishing up his history degree at the University of Minnesota when MAR Barker became chair of the Department of South Asian studies. They likely bonded over history and fantasy literature. I don't know how close the two were. I don't know if MAR Barker would have been comfortable sharing his neo-nazi sympathies with the son of decorated WWII marine who actually fought actual Nazis. Unless evidence surfaces to show that Arneson was aware of MAR Barker's support for neo-nazism and looked the other way, I'm not willing to tar and feather him postmortem.

 

[MNblockhead]

accidental duplicate post

 

[Zardnaar]

For sure. We used to also choose axis in games for the challenge—since they were destined to lose after a certain point.

In Hearts of Iron we put an amazing player as Germany orvJapan and he always lost.

And I've seen him invade UK in 44 scenario near game start, rout the Soviets or win easily as Japan.

Vs human players he still lost.

 

[Maggan]

I respect the fact that Dave Arneson reached for the stars with this letter. The stars might have been out of reach, but at least he put himself forward for consideration.

 

[Eubani]

Reading that killed both brain cells and respect. There was a man suffering from a deficit of self awareness and drive.