Swords Under Distant Suns

It was in 1978 that I discovered role playing games, specifically Dungeons and Dragons (White Box) and Melee/Wizard. But it wasn’t until the following year that I actually played face to face with another human being. There were two guys I played with quite a bit early on, John (who may or may not want his last name here) and Dennis Brown.

Dennis always had a big smile. He got picked on by the other Black kids pretty often, and I didn’t realize until a year or two later that it was because he was gay. I just thought he was an outcast geek like me. But when we played D&D, none of that stuff mattered, anyway.

He was a thoughtful DM, one who gave you plenty of rope with your characters until it suddenly tightened from all of the decisions you had made. He killed my earliest favorite D&D character, a ranger with a legitimately-rolled 18/78 Strength. A giant toad swallowed him. He had a vaguely-developed campaign world, but since I was usually the DM he didn’t put too much into it. As a player he liked to challenge the fantasy tropes I took for granted in putting my world together. He made me a lot better DM and gamer overall, as he forced me to think and justify people and history.

Dennis was a year older than me, and left Lindsay Jr. High a year before I did. He went on to Bethel High School, and a year later I went to Hampton High. We didn’t see much of each other during those high school years, as transportation was an issue. I remember going by the apartment he lived in with his mom and playing one afternoon. He had that Hildebrand poster with the unicorn standing above a reclining woman, the glorious sky behind them, tacked up on one wall.

During my college years, we drifted apart. I didn’t game much in those summers, though I was in a pretty intense Champions campaign back at Emory & Henry during the fall, winter, and spring. I don’t think it was until a year or so after I graduated that Dennis called me up out of the blue. We got together quite a few times the next couple of years, sometimes playing a casual D&D campaign where I DM’ed, but mostly just hanging out over a few beers, laughing about older days and our views on life.

Dennis was struggling at making a living. He moved a half-dozen times or so, from one apartment to the next, living with a variety of roommates. But he was always positive, always flashing a big smile. I hung out with him and some of his gay friends a few times, and thought he was in a good place with people who cared about him.

But he moved out to California, in 1992 or 1993. It is strange, but I don’t remember how I found out. He might have told me was leaving, or I might have heard from a mutual friend before or after he was gone. To this day, I don’t know why he left. I never got a chance to talk with him after he moved out there, so I have no idea where he ended up.

It was at the end of 1993 or in 1994 that I saw his obituary in our local paper. I was stunned. But the grainy picture was clearly him, and the description left no doubt. There was no cause of death listed. Come to think of it, maybe that obituary is where I found out that he had moved out west.

I thought of his mother, but I did not really know her at all, and there was no contact information. There was just an address to make donations. It was an AIDS research hospital or clinic. Maybe that’s how he died; I’ll never know.

I have thought of you as the years stretch on, Dennis. You were a good friend, and I wish I had been a better one to you. You taught me a lot about role playing, but more importantly opened my eyes and mind to many things in life.

Not sure if anyone else still remembers you or misses you. But on this gray morning nearly 30 years after last talking with you, I sure do.

Dave Arneson was born on today’s date in 1947.

He was a big miniatures wargamer in the late 1960s. He became central to the Twin Cities gaming scene, and then the wider scene in the upper Midwest, joining the Castles and Crusades Society where he met Gary Gygax.

Braunsteins were wargames developed in that area, focusing on a 1:1 figure ratio rather than massed armies, and focused on intrigue. Arneson developed the idea further, moving into the fantasy realm. He created the Blackmoor game, featuring characters that adventured in the dungeon beneath the castle of Blackmoor, as well some wilderness adventures and battles.

Gygax heard about this kind of gaming, and one snowy day Arneson ran Blackmoor for Gygax and a few others at the latter’s house in Lake Geneva. The two exchanged notes, and developed the rules and concepts together and independently.

There are lots of partisans in the two camps of who did more in developing the rules that became Dungeons & Dragons and who deserves the most credit for its creation. I don’t care about that kind of drama; it’s pretty clear that they did it together, despite later legal claims.

At any rate, the initial role playing concept was more-or-less developed by Arneson from the early Braunstein games. And for that he is one of the founders of what has become role-playing.

So thanks, Dave! And Happy Birthday. Wish you were still around.

Some of you might remember my dolorous post from last year on the blog Mars Miniatures. Simply one of the greatest blogs on the whole damn net. Mar took some Middle Earth lore and ran with it, adding in Warhammer and Aliens and Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and whatever the hell else he felt like throwing in. It was totally glorious mashup of gaming and pop culture and classics. The basis for everything was the Moria Reclamation Project, the return of dwarves under Balin to Moria.

One of the most inspiring places on the whole web, and obviously the one of the pillars of inspiration for the Greywater Chronicles.

Then he fell silent for a long time, with things still unfolding all over Middle Earth. A year later he posted a sad update. His had had a stroke and his health was bad and his eyesight had failed, and he could no longer maintain the blog. He sold all of his fabulous miniatures and terrain, and he laid out how he envisioned the games and plots playing out. And that was how he wrapped up his blog.

It hit a lot of people pretty had, not just because of the incredible work, but Mar was a genuinely good guy. I never interacted with him, but I saw how he spoke with some others, and as you were drawn into his narratives, you felt that you really knew him. So I did a small tip of the hat on this blog. The link to his blog is to the right, under my blogroll thing.

But earlier this month, he posted on the Lead Adventure Forum, where I first found his fantastic gaming. His health was improving, and his eyesight had returned somewhat. He moved and was in a better situation. Great news.

And now he is getting ready to game again. He will not be picking up where he left off, as all of those figures are gone. But he is picking up in the 4th or 5th age of Middle Earth, and has painted a few figures and already started the mashups (the two characters he has created are both in debt by virtue of their family ties to Gringott’s bank. Hah!).

Check out his blog for the first few posts of this new journey. And check out his old stuff, too. You will not be disapointed.

Welcome back, Mar!

Mars Miniatures