On the night of April 7th, 2009, Dave Arneson died quietly after a bout with cancer. He was 61.

Those out there who might recognize the name, you know what this means already. Most of you fresh spawn reading this don’t know who Dave Arneson is, or what he did. This post is for you.

Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax together created a set of miniature gaming rules called Chainmail, which evolved into a little something known as Dungeons & Dragons. This created the fantasy gaming hobby, which turned into fantasy video games, which morphed into your current desperate desire to ding 80 and raid Naxx for phat lewt. No Dave, no World of Warcraft. No Warhammer Online, no Final Fantasy, no modern miniature gaming scene, no RPG scene, no nothing. A darker and dryer world, with only historical wargames to quiver alone at the deepest depths of the howling, empty void.

Read Dave’s Wikipedia page hereonline casino.

RPGnet, the boiling and chaotic demon-sultan at the center of the gaming universe, hosts a thread of updates and goodbyes. Read it here.

Wizards of the Coast, publisher of the current generation of D&D games, have donned the black armband in mourning.

All things must end, but the story will continue. The millions of gamers left in his wake will see to that. Thank you, and farewell, Dave.