American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (born 1947)

Dave Arneson

David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental early role-playing game (RPG) genre work pioneered now-archetypical devices, such as: cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win"; and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.

Born

1947

October 1

Died

2009

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Dave, in brief

David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental early role-playing game (RPG) genre work pioneered now-archetypical devices, such as: cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win"; and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1947 Born
  2. 2009 Died

Also on October 1

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of October 1 →

The world in 1947

When Dave arrived

Read the year 1947 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on October 1

Jimmy Carter 1924–2024 American politician, 39th President of the United States (born 1924) Bonnie Parker 1910–1934 American criminal (born 1910) Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg 1910–2012 Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (born 1910) Donny Hathaway 1945–1979 American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (born 1945) Duncan Edwards 1936–1958 English footballer (born 1936) Emilio Botín 1934–2014 Spanish banker and businessman (died 2014) Jeff Reardon 1955– American baseball player Marcus Stephen 1969– Nauruan weightlifter and politician, 27th President of Nauru Paul Dukas 1865–1935 French composer, critic, and educator (born 1865)

See everything on October 1 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1947

Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947– Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California Alain Bashung 1947– French singer-songwriter and actor (died 2009) Albert Brooks 1947– American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter Andrea Martin 1947– American-Canadian actress, singer, and screenwriter Ángel Nieto 1947– Spanish motorcycle racer (died 2017) Angry Anderson 1947– Australian singer and actor Anton Mosimann 1947– Swiss chef and author Assata Shakur 1947– American-Cuban criminal and activist (died 2025) Barry Melton 1947– American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Read about the year 1947 →

Keep going

More to explore

Dave's birthday October 1 Dave's zodiac Libra When Dave arrived 1947