Dave Arneson has passed away in a hospice after losing his two year battle with cancer. He was the tinker of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, toiling away in the workshop while his partner was the soldier pounding the pavement and taking care of business at street level. Many of the common terminology of RPGs (e.g. Hit Points, Armour Class) were his inventions. In his later years, after the ouster at TSR that saw Gary removed, Dave turned to teaching and working with special needs students. He brought the educational concept that TSR wanted to develop in RPGs under Gygax directly to schools. (At this time, TSR halted playtesting and began to push the DragonLance etc., books over RPG development.) From 2000 he was working at Full Sail University, and was Professor Emeritus at the time of his death.
This is from his own profile:
WORK: still involved at Full Sail Univeristy (2008) and Zeigist Games consultant (2008) And some small game projects and consulting.
AWARDS:Enie Award (Gencon) Life time Achievement achievement award in Role Playing (Game Design). Cadet Legion of Honor (HMA/Historicon) Lifetime Award in Miniature Game Design). Origins/GAMA award (Lifetime award for Game Design),
And a lot more but I won't belabor the point.I added the link. His daughter, Malia, remembers her father this way: ""The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life ... I think we get distracted by the everyday things you have to do in life and we forget to enjoy life and have fun".
Good bye, Dave. Thanks for the fun and the few kind words.
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson
