Gygax Memorial Fund and Dave Arneson

 

The Gygax Memorial Fund is dedicated to the work and legacy of one of the founders of D&D, Gary Gygax. In gaming stores around the US you may be able to pick up Limited Edition, Premium Cover Copies of the original 3 books of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons; The Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. The books are quite nice with gilded pages. A portion of each purchase of these books goes to the GMF. Or if you want to donate and learn more about the GMF you can follow this link here:

http://www.gygaxmemorialfund.org/

Personally, I think this is a something to consider if you're a gamer, especially if you're an older gamer, and really appreciate the history of D&D and RPGs. Gary Gygax brought a lot of joy and inspiration to generations of gamers, not just to D&D, but to other genres of RPGs as well. Please think about whether or not you want to make a donation and show gratitude to the legacy of this creative genius.

That being said, a measure respect should be paid to Dave Arneson, who was the co-founder of D&D. Dave was a creative genius in his own right, and helped Gary with the original edition of the game in 1974. Apparently, Dave and Gary had a falling out. Events transpired to the point where Dave relinquished any profits he would receive from D&D altogether.

For more information on this sad story see this link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson

These Limited Edition Premium Covers do not credit Dave Arneson as being a co-author of the book. However, Gary does acknowledge Dave in the preface of the DMG and the PHB.  In the MM's preface, Gary also admits that the Monster Manual is based on the original work that he and Dave published 3 years previous. Perhaps not enough credit is given to Dave Arneson. If so, it's up to us to give Dave the accolades and credit he deserves when we talk about the 'old days' of RPGs.

It's sad that both Gary and Dave are gone, and I don't know if anybody in the gaming industry is going to fill either of these guys shoes.