Dave Arneson Ludography

The study of games is known as “ludology,” and a curated list of games, or a body of work in gaming by an individual, is a ludography. To celebrate the birthday of Dave Arneson, born October 1, 1947, and to set the tone of this site, the following is a ludography of the games Dave Arneson authored or contributed to. Over the course of his career in gaming, Dave was a part of the creation of over 60 games or gaming products.

The following is presented in chronological order based on available information. While an attempt was made to create a complete ludography there may be additional works that have yet to come to light.

Tactics III model game.^[1]Staff writer. “Home Brew Games.” The General, Vol. 2 No. 4, November 1965, p. 8. The game was developed at some point before November 1965 for use by The Centurions, an early Avalon Hill board wargaming club in the Minnesota Twin-Cities run by Dave Arneson. The game was described in the November 1965 issue of Avalon Hill’s The General as, “a Tactics III model by The Centurions, an Avalon Hill Club presided over by David L. Arneson…” The mention goes on to say, “It comprises four countries, army, navy, air forces, special tables for naval gun duels, destruction of industry plus all sorts of maneuvers over a huge 4’ x 2’ map for land operations and another same sized mapboard for naval operations.”

World War I, World War II and Korean era board wargames. The Centurions were also said to have developed Avalon Hill style games for the World War I, World War II and Korean era, as well as several others.^[2]Staff writer. “Home Brew Games.” The General, Vol. 2 No. 4, November 1965, p. 8. In 1965, Avalon Hill had a few games set in World War II, but nothing covering World War I or the Korean war.

The Corner of the Table Top, while not a game, C.O.T.T. as it is sometimes abbreviated, was the newsletter of the Midwest Military Simulation Association from January 1968 to c. 1976, with at least 45 issues published over this 9 year period. Dave Arneson was the newsletter’s editor-in-chief, contributing a great deal of the content and updates.

Strategos A, with Randy Hoffa, possibly written for an Ancients campaign Bill Hoyt planned for the “Northern group” of the Midwest Military Simulation Association. This campaign was to include five countries led by Dave Arneson, Pete Gaylord, Randy Hoffa, Bill Hoyt and, Henry Sayre.^[3]Arneson, David L. “Hoyt Plans Ancient Campaign.”Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 1 No. 5, October 1968, p. 12. At the time of the campaign’s announcement, rules were still being worked out and Hoyt was acquiring troops. It appears Strategos A may have been published in November 1969.^[4]Peterson, Jon. Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-playing Games. United States: Unreason Press, 2012. p. … Continue reading

Strategos RT, written by Arneson and published with Strategos C by David Wesely for use by the Midwest Military Simulation Association for a small Russo-Turkish campaign. The campaign started January 11, 1969 with Dave Arneson and Pete Gaylord as the Russian team versus Pete Peterson, Tony Kellon, and Ross Maker on the Turkish team.^[5]Arneson, David L. “Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8.”Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 2 No. 1, January 1969, p. 2.

Futile (ms #1), a draft manuscript found in Domesday Book number 9, the same issue which included the Castle & Crusade Society’s Great Kingdom map.^[6]Arneson, David L. “Futile (ms #1).” Domesday Book, No. 9, July 1970, p. 5–8. Arneson described the game as “A game that can be won anytime during the next 100 years or so…. All rules not mentioned may be made up by the individuals involved as they desire, just tell your opposing commanders before you start.” While the introduction was tongue in cheek, the game formed the basis of a set of light-weight campaign rules. A map of the “Latin Kingdom” was included, comprising of the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine during the Crusades. Unlike some of the proposed games in the Domesday Book, Futile was open too all society members, with no exceptions. Like many of the proposed games in the Domesday Book, there is no evidence of participation.

Napoleonic Simulation Campaign Rules, for the Strategic Napoleonic Campaign that Dave Arneson ran for the Midwest Military Simulation Association. Of the campaign Mike Carr had the following to say in the pages of El Conquistador, “The Twin Cities Napoleonic Simulation Campaign, going on since the spring of 1969 and embracing over 25 players and subcommanders in its entirety, is an attempt by wargamers in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area to simulate military and diplomatic affairs of the Napoleonic Era.” Carr went on to say, “The campaign rules themselves are extensive and complex. Many are listed in various issues of the group’s newsletter, ‘Corner of the Table’.” About Arneson, Mike said, “The campaign’s founder and director is Dave Arneson. Mr. Arneson, as strategic referee, oversees the campaign and its many details. His unceasing work as referee has been responsible for the campaign’s success and remarkable longevity. It is to his credit that the Twin Cities campaign ranks as one of the most-successful and longest-running campaigns in the world of wargaming.” Intriguingly Mike included the following details about the campaign, “Besides the important military aspects of the game, other interesting facets of historical development are included in the campaign. Such things as personalities, research and development, and espionage provide the ongoing campaign with color, diversity, and intrigue.”^[7]Carr, Mike. “The Twin Cities Napoleonic Simulation Campaign.” El Conquistador, Vol. 1 No. 5, May 1974, pp. 20–21. The campaign lasted four years.^[8]Sweeny, Brian. “Past Battles Come Alive in Modern Gaming Simulation.” The Aquin. October 1, 1973, p. 3

PanzerBlitz/Kriegspiel variant. Created for the Midwest Military Simulation Association, and serialized in Corner of the Table Top^[9]Arneson, David L.“Fighting a Modern Board Campaign (Part I).” Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 3 No. 2, February 1971, p. 4. (n.b. Avalon Hill PanzerBlitz and Kriegspiel variant)^[10]Arneson, David L.“Fighting a Modern Board Campaign (Part II).” Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 3 No. 3, March 1971, pp. 4–5. Arneson introduced that variant with this description, “If you’re really hung up on PANZERBLITZ, and have fought every situation a few times, here is a way to give you all the battles you will ever need or want to fight. It also provides a use for that old KRIEGSPIEL that we all eagerly bought only to have it now gathering dust somewhere after playing a few nauseating games.”

Blackmoor Campaign and Rules, Starting in the spring of 1971 through to the end of 1973, Dave Arneson organized, created and refereed Blackmoor. Over the course of at least 18-months, Dave evolved the rules while running Blackmoor for the Midwest Military Simulation Association and St. Thomas Gaming Simulations Seminar. Before ever showing the game outside of Minnesota, Greg Svenson, Pete Gaylord, John Snider, and others began refereeing in Blackmoor.^[11]Arneson, David L. “My Life and Roleplaying 3.” Different Worlds, No. 3, June/July 1979, pp 6–8. Many of the concepts later found in Dungeons & Dragons came out of Blackmoor.^[12]Schick, Lawrence. Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-playing Games. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1991. p. 131.

Don’t Give Up the Ship, started life as a set of naval miniatures wargame rules used by the Midwest Military Simulation Association for both one-off battles and the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign Rules. Soon after Dave Arneson met Gary Gygax at GenCon II in 1969,^[13]Laws, Robin D.. 40 Years of Gen Con. United States: Atlas Games, 2007. Dave began “the process of working up a set of Napoleonic navel wargame rules in co-operation with Gary Gygax of the IFW.”^[14]Arneson, David L.“Club News.” Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 2 No. 6, November 1969, pp. 2.

The rules started appearing in June 1971 in the International Wargamer, the monthly newsletter of the IFW, with a total of four installments ending in October 1971.^[15]Arneson, David L. and E. Gary Gygax. “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” International Wargamer, Vol. 4 No. 6 (57), June 1971, pp. 3, 15.^[16]Arneson, David L. and E. Gary Gygax. “Don’t Give Up the Ship (2).” International Wargamer, Vol. 4 No. 8, August 1971, pp. 10, 19.^[17]Arneson, David L. and E. Gary Gygax. “Don’t Give Up the Ship (3).” International Wargamer, Vol. 4 No. 9, September 1971, p. 6.^[18]Arneson, David L. and E. Gary Gygax. “Don’t Give Up the Ship, Conclusion.” International Wargamer, Vol. 4 No. 10, October 1971, p. 16.

The French Revolution game, was played at St. Thomas College, in room 106 of Murray Hall by the Gaming Simulations Seminar in the fall of 1973. The game was set during the French Revolution in 1789 and designed by Dave Arneson. In an article in the college’s newspaper The Aquin, the game is described as, “Once the players have been given their roles, they negotiate with one another and form their own political situations and conflicts. The situations that result usually do not parallel actual history to a great extent.“ About specific players, the article mentions, “The players assume the roles of kings, emperors, military commanders and political figures. They are given budgets and army units and placed in the given situation.” While involving role-play, there is a hybrid miniatures wargaming element, “The pieces used represent army units, police, national guard, supplied and the forces of the commoners. Each piece is assigned the number of spaces it can move on the map and its battle strength. When two forces meet in battle, dice are rolled. The number on the dice, coupled with the battle strength of the pieces involved, determines the outcome of the conflict.” According to Arneson, “We try to think as complexly as required, but still keep the game simple.” Dave added, ”We try to be realistic within the limits of playability.”^[19]Sweeny, Brian. “Past Battles Come Alive in Modern Gaming Simulation.” The Aquin. October 1, 1973, p. 3 The French Revolution game of the fall of 1973 lead into a second Strategy Napoleonic Campaign that Dave Arneson ran.

Naval Wargame Miniatures, in the August 1971 issue of the Corner of the Table Top, Dave Arneson announced to the club that, “LOWRY‘S of Chicago will be handling my 1–1200 sailing models which will sell (in kit form) for 50¢ each. Each kit will have a cast lead hull with masts attached, plus plastic sails, paper sail pattern, assembly instructions, and basic ship information. All in a neat plastic bag or paper envelope, you local guys can still purchase the models from me which will save you some time and money.”^[20]Arneson, Dave. Announcement section. Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 3 No. 5 #2, p. 5.

Strategos Boardgame, also in the August 1971 issue of the Corner of the Table Top, Dave Arneson mentioned he was working on a board game based on David Wesely’s Strategos N. “Within six months there will be a Strategos Boardgames using Strategos NS rules which will allow you to fight out Napoleonic battles. I am preparing a set of campaign rules to go with the which will also become the guide for my subordinate referees in the larger Napoleonic campaign. This will supplement a set of hex maps, covering all of Europe, that will be available to the players in my campaign.”^[21]Announcement section. Corner of the Table Top, Vol. 3 No. 5 #2, p. 5. Here, we see Arneson refer to Wesely’s rules as Strategos NS, a designation he repeats in other issues of the Corner of the Table Top. It is not clear if this project was completed.

Don’t Give Up the Ship: Miniature Wargame Sailing Ships Rules, was published by Guidon Games in 1972. This edition built on the rules previously published in the International Wargamer and was authored by Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, and Mike Carr.

Fantasy miniatures, according to Jon Peterson’s book Game Wizards, around August 1972, Arneson is reported to have started work on casting fantasy miniatures, which excited Gary Gygax who was keen to see fantasy figures on the market to support sales of Chainmail.^[22]Peterson, Jon. Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons and Dragons. United States: MIT Press, 2021, p. 43.

Ships of the Line, Campaign Supplement to Don’t Give up the Ship. Arneson began working on this campaign supplement in 1972. The rules booklet was later slated for publication by TSR, but in the end, the rules were self-published in 1975.

Naval Orders of Battle, a second supplement to Don’t Give up the Ship, creating a trilogy. (unpublished)

NARVIK (unpublished)

Dungeons & Dragons, Tactical Studies Rules (1974) (with Gary Gygax)

Crusades (planned for publication by TSR) (unpublished)

P.T. Boat (planned for publication by TSR) (unpublished)

Damn the Torpedoes, Civil War naval rules.^[23]Peterson, Jon. Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons and Dragons. United States: MIT Press, 2021, p. 43. (unpublished)

Blue Pacific, a “Japanese-centered” naval wargame as Gary Gygax referred to the game. Gary suggested renaming the project “something more explicit such as VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC, or RISING SUN OVER THE PACIFIC, or the like”^[24]Gygax, Gary. Gary Gygax to Dave Arneson, March 14 1975. Letter.

Dungeons & Dragons Supplement II: Blackmoor, Tactical Studies Rules: D&D / Original 1 (1975)

Don’t Give Up the Ship, 2nd Edition 1975, Revised and Expanded, in 1975, TSR Rules (TSR Games on the title page) published the “2nd Editon 1975, Revised and Expanded“ version of the rules. About March of 1974, the fledgling Tactical Studies Rules offered Don Lowry $400 to buy back the rights for Chainmail, Don’t Give Up the Ship, and Tractics, plus existing stock of Tractics.^[25]Gygax, Gary. Gary Gygax to Dave Arneson, March 13, 1974. Letter.

Lankhmar, the map for Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer’s board game set in Nehwon, was drawn by Dave Arneson. Arneson sent the map art back to TSR in a mailing tube in November of 1975.

Swords & Spells (1976), development

Dungeonmaster’s Index, Self-published: D&D / Original (1977)

The First Fantasy Campaign, Judges Guild: D&D / Original (1977)

Grand Imperialism (re-development)

Quest (development)

“Tolkien Fantasy Rules” (unpublished)

King Solomon’s Mines (unpublished)

Adventures in Fantasy, Excalibre Games: Adventures in Fantasy (1979), Adventure Games: Adventures in Fantasy (1981) (with Richard L. Snider)

Unnamed historical role-playing games, which were in development circa September 1980. (unpublished)

RAF: Battle of Britain, Discovery Games: Computer Wargame (1980) (with Dave Wesely and Ross Maker) – A simulation of up to 12 fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain during World War II.

Malta Strike, Discovery Games: Computer Wargame (1980) – Tactical combat in the Mediterranean theater of World War II .

Robert L. Asprin’s Thieves’ World, Chaosium: Generic (1981 Box) (contributor)

Frogger, ported for ColecoVision

Carnival, ported for ColecoVision

Venturer, ported for ColecoVision

Resolution 502: A Falklands Scenario for Harpoon

Citybook II: Port o’ Call, Flying Buffalo: Generic (1984) (contributor)

Adventures in Blackmoor, TSR: D&D Module: DA1 (1986) (with David J. Ritchie)

Temple of the Frog,  TSR: D&D Module: DA2 (1986) (with David J. Ritchie)

Blackmoor Campaign Module for Dungeons & Dragons: Garbage Pits of Despair, Part – The Slave Raiders

Blackmoor Campaign Module for Dungeons & Dragons: Garbage Pits of Despair, Part 2 – The Dragon Hills

Machine Gun Kelly, 1920s gangs RPG

“Samurai RPG” (unpublished)

Blackmoor supplement rewrite, or Flying Buffalo’s Blade imprint, as part of Blade’s Catalyst a generic RPG series. According to Rick Loomis, the supplement was to be, “based on the original Temple of the Frog.”^[26]Staff. “News Briefs.” Fantasy Gamer, June/July 1984, p. 36.

The Blackmoor Chronicles (unpublished) 1985 for Mayfair’s Role Aids

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Sherlock Holmes & The Baby, Sleuth Publications, Different Worlds: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases Module(Issue 44 – Nov 1986). (1986) (with Frankie Arneson)

For Gamemasters Only: Maps & Character Stats for Using the Solo Jade Jaguar as a Gamemastered Adventure

City of the Gods, TSR: D&D Module:DA3 (1987) (with David J. Ritchie)

DNA/DOA, FASA Corporation: Shadowrun 1 (1989)

Bard’s Tale IV (unpublished)

Mugshots 1: The Case of the Pacific Clipper, Flying Buffalo: Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes 1 (1991) 

USA Wars: Desert Storm with Coalition Command, 4D Interactive Systems, Quanta Press/Compton NewMedia: Computer Wargame (1993)

Trapman Game (1994). Based on Peter J. Miele’s Trapman comic book series, published by Phantom Inc. in 1994 and designed by Dave Arneson. Interview with Dave Arneson about the Trapman Game.^[27]Miele. Peter J. “Interview with Creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Dave Arneson.” YouTube, uploaded by Peter J Miele,  January 4, 2014 (n.b. date of recording unknown), youtu.be/E9WuK9H5UQM.

Biplanes & Battles Ships, for Clash of Arms Games. Completed by Bob Eldridge and released as Bywater’s War.

System Reference Document (SRD), Wizards of the Coast: d20 3 (2000 eBook) (contributor)

Revised System Reference Document (SRD), Wizards of the Coast: d20 3.5 (2003 eBook) (contributor)

The Haunted Lighthouse, Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics Module #3.5) (2003)

Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor, Goodman Games: d20 3.5 (2004), Zeitgeist Games: d20 3.5 (2005) (lead designer)

The Wizard’s Cabal, Goodman Games: d20 3.5 (2005), Zeitgeist Games: d20 3.5 (2005)

Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor: The MMRPG – Episode One: The ComeBack Inn

The Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor, Zeitgeist Games: d20 3.5 (2006)

Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor: Player’s Guide to Blackmoor, Zeitgeist Games: d20 3.5 (2007)

Temple of the Frog, Zeitgeist Games

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Publisher, as Adventure Games, Inc.

The Armies of Tekumel, Volume I: Tsolyanu (1978). Designer M. A. R. Barker, Jeff Berry (I), Gary Rudolph

The Armies of Tekumel, Volume II: Yan Kor and Allies (1981). Designer M. A. R. Barker

Harpoon (1981). Designer Larry Bond

Rails Through the Rockies (1981). Designer John C. Luecke

The Complete Brigadier (1982). Designer J. F. Grossman, Artist Peter Quinlan

Mutant (1982 — unpublished). Designer Richard L. Snider

Harpoon II (1983). Designer Larry Bond, Artist Erin McKee

Johnny Reb (1983). Designer John Hill

Pentantastar (1983). Designer David R. Megarry, Alexandra Megarry, Kit Megarry

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If you know of additional works by Dave Arneson, please let me know.