A Tribute to Dave Arneson.
Cast
- Daigo Da- ◀ ▶
- Kazumi Kato (pregnant) ◀ ▶
- Dave Arneson
- Three Red Soldiers
- Three Green Soldiers
- Four Gamers
Transcript
- Panel 1
Vaarsuvius disappears with a "POP!"
Daigo: Well, that was weird.
Kazumi: I'm glad we could help.
Daigo: I guess I should go help Hinjo scout that new island.
Kazumi: It can wait a few minutes
- Panel 2
Kazumi: 'Cause Daddy is home just in time to hear me read to you from the Book of Odad, isn't he?
Kazumi: "In the beginning, there was war.
- Panel 3
The panel art switches to crayon-style. Six soldiers of opposing sides face each other.
Kazumi (inset): "Constant war, on many battlefields between many armies.
Kazumi (inset): "War without purpose, for purpose had not yet been invented.
Green Soldier: *sigh*
- Panel 4
Dave Arneson stands behind a folded screen with four gamers seated around a table with a map and mini-figures.
Kazumi (inset): "And the Creator of the Game looked down upon the troops and saw that they were fun, but could be more fun.
Kazumi (inset): "He gathered together his companions and said, 'Lo, each of you shall command but one figure, which shall be called thy character.'
Kazumi (inset): "And his companions said, 'What, like, each figure represents a whole platoon?'
Kazumi (inset): "The Creator responded, 'No, no, it's just one person. You control one person and decide everything that he or she does.'
Kazumi (inset): "But they said, 'Woe is us! For how are we to enact a large-scale land battle with but one person each? We are but a handful!'
Kazumi (inset): "To which the Creator said, 'Look, we're not doing a big battle, OK? This is something new. Just—just trust me, guys. It'll be fun.'
- Panel 5
Arneson stands beside a world.
Kazumi (inset): "And the Creator reached out and fashioned the first world, which he called Blackmoor.
Kazumi (inset): "And it was fun.
- Panel 6
Arneson, now older, stands amidst may worlds.
Kazumi (inset): "From that world, others arose over the years, each one created in its image—but also unique.
Kazumi (inset): "Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands—including this one.
- Panel 7
The panel art returns to normal, Kazumi reads from the book.
Kazumi: So you see, you and I and your daddy and our friends Elan and Durkon and even the nice scary elf who just helped us are all here because of one guy's original idea.
Kazumi: Pretty cool, huh?
- Panel 8
Daigo: I dunno... I think it would have been sweet if I had been an entire platoon.
Kazumi: Daigo.
Daigo: I mean, I'd get, like 50 attacks per round!
Kazumi: Daigo!
Daigo: And if we were BOTH platoons we could get 50 simultaneous—
Kazumi: DAIGO!
- Panel 9
Dave Arneson
1947-2009
D&D Context
- The Blackmoor campaign setting is the first D&D setting, predating the creation of D&D as Arneson developed the world originally for war gaming. However, in terms of publication history, it is the second setting supplement for D&D, Blackmoor, published in 1975, followed Greyhawk in the same year, which was Gary Gygax's campaign world. Blackmoor remains in publication by Zeitgeist Games, having been updated for d20 and 4th edition D&D.
Trivia
- This comic is a tribute to Dave Arneson, one of the original developers of Dungeons & Dragons, who died on April 7th 2009. Gary Gygax, the co-creator, similarly received tribute in A Brief Tribute when he died a year earlier.
- Kazumi describes how D&D evolved from Wargaming (particularly, the game Chainmail). These games focused on the battlefield, therefore "purpose had not been invented yet".
- Odad, in the "Book of Odad", probably is an acronym for "Original Dungeons And Dragons".
- This is one of three strips outside of The Crayons of Time which uses the crayon drawing style. The others are #704 and #991.
- This is the only appearance of Dave Arneson in Order of the Stick.