Issue #4 Dedication

[calithena]

will be to David A. Hargrave, the legendary creator of Arduin. I know this pick will be a little controversial with some, but he was a major inspiration to several of us working on the magazine, and overall it felt appropriate to dedicate issue #4 to him.

I don't know whether we will be able to have an arrangement for fan material with emperor's choice or not - they have expressed some general support for us in private but are busy with the new edition of the Arduin Grimoires and their new game system and in general tend to proceed cautiously on rights arrangements, which may make the time frame unworkable - but feel free to recount tales of your own Arduin-derived gaming and inspirations or to give your article an Arduin 'feel', if that suits your fancy. If not, there's no obligation to send in anything but the cool stuff you've all already been sending in. I will put up another post if we can do more than this.

Anyway, Hargrave was a major personal inspiration of mine, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to give him some props, here on the 20th anniversary of his death.

[coffee]

I don't have a problem with this dedication. Dave was a pioneer, no matter how you look at it.

Plus, I just (finally!) scored a copy of The Arduin Grimoire (v. I) on ebay. As a Christmas present for myself, I spluged on the Priority Mail shipping.

I've had volumes 2 and 3, but now I'll finally get the original one, and I'm really looking forward to it.

[geoffrey]

Great choice! I think there are exactly five men in the very top tier of FRPGs:

Gary Gygax
Dave Arneson
Bob Bledsaw
Dave Hargrave
M. A. R. Barker

I notice a pattern here. Hmmmm.....

[sham]

Hey! That's awesome news! While I rarely use any Arduin stuff these days, Mr. Hargrave was very influential during my early formative D&D years. I've often felt he never received the recognition he deserved. I ran a couple Arduin campaigns back in the 80's, and have very fond memories. The AG I and II crit and fumble tables were staples of most of my D&D games through the years.

Hopefully we can get a one issue permission, much like you were able to secure with JG. It might be fun to create a Thaelastra, Trelf, Ta'Vreen adventure for FO!

[Melan]

A fitting tribute indeed! ;D

[calithena]

Thanks for the support guys! A tankard of Rumble Tummy's hoisted high to you all!

Geoffrey, if you were to add Tim Kask and Lee Gold - who I consider to be the two top tier magazine editors in the early history of RPGs at least, though the White Dwarf folks and a few others probably deserve some props too - to that list, and compared those 7 names to the first say 7-10 dedications we'll see in Fight On!, I think the chances of all seven not being represented are nil. The exact order and whether one or two other greats get put in with them remain open, but it's not an order of precedence in any case, just an order of our inspiration (though of course Gary and Dave had to be 1 and 2).

That said, I would have trouble not putting Greg Stafford and Jonathan Tweet on that list if you really mean 'all FRPGs'. They're somewhat outside Fight On!'s focus (though Greg will almost certainly get a dedication at some point down the line) but they're still titans in the FRP field, even narrowly defined. I'm sure there are one or two others I'm forgetting as well.

On the other hand, debating greatness is stupid. Let's just keep doing our thing as well as we can!

[doc]

Dave Hargrave is a perfect choice, especially considering that the edited Arduin hardcover Arduin Grimoire is coming out next week (containing the original trilogy, The Arduin Adventure, and lots of other cool stuff from Hargrave's campaign; 540 pages for $49.99), and the new Arduin Eternal game will be out (hopefully) by March.

Hargrave was the first to really point out that fantasy gaming didn't have to revolve around Tolkien and Howard, nor did it have to be weighty and serious. When playing in a world containing alien races, high technology, Cthulhu worshippers, cowboys, Jedi, guilds of psionic assassins, sword-wielding courtesans, gun-mages, and gothic horror, how could anybody possibly not have fun?


Doc

[harami2000]

Dec 6, 2008 14:08:33 GMT -6 doc said:

Hargrave was the first to really point out that fantasy gaming didn't have to revolve around Tolkien and Howard, nor did it have to be weighty and serious.

Ken (twice!), Ed (one-half of that ), Dennis... The early 'zines are well worth a read, too, from that p.o.v.

Good call on Dave H., though. Even if he was more a "supplements" man and somewhat localized in influence, there ain't many who are more "old school" than he was.

[dwayanu]

Hargrave is an excellent choice, and Arduin-evocative material should make for a very interesting issue!

Down the line ... Let us not forget Ken St. Andre, please. I think he (and his fellow players of Tunnels & Trolls) contributed to broadening horizons before the first Grimoire was widely published. In a sense, he showed (as indicated in the dedication of RuneQuest) that "Pandora's box" could be opened again.