Blackmoor Week Day Five

If one is really interested in learning more about the creative side of Dave Arneson, one should get the book "Dave Arneson's True Genius, by Robert J Kuntz. While I am not allowed to quote from the book itself, I will refer you to this review Cedgewick's Reviews > Dave Arneson's True Genius on Goodreads by Cedgewick, the researcher Michael Wittig who is known for being honest and forthright.

Quoting portions of Mr. Wittig's excellent review

More subtly on display, however, is Mr. Kuntz’s unarguable bravery in tackling the firmly-entrenched Gygaxian narrative of Dungeons & Dragon’s creation. In fact, to my knowledge this is the first time anyone in the 43 year history of the game has dared to challenge that narrative in a published work, despite the persistent whispers in various corners of the industry of its fallacy. But what better man to do it than Kuntz, who was at the table with Gary Gygax when Arneson first unveiled his revolutionary new game system?

Then he says 

The first essay deals with the unique system qualities of Arneson’s creation, Blackmoor, which Arneson conceived of and developed more than a year prior to revealing it to Gygax. Here Kuntz’s genuine excitement and respect for what Arneson achieved is readily apparent, as he reveals 26 distinct leaps in game design that he has identified from Arneson’s work. Most notably is Arneson’s genius in merging two seemingly disparate concepts: the open system of play as exemplified by children imagining together, and the closed system of play as exemplified by a typical board game. 

You'll want to follow the link to see what he says next all the way to the end of the review as it goes from solid point to solid point.

He closes with this 

If, by now, the reader of this review gets the sense that I have summarized all of the thoughts and topics contained in this 69 page book, I can assure you that I have not. But given the superficial nature of the other reviews that I’ve seen for this book, I thought it necessary to provide you a taste of the thought-provoking richness Kuntz offers should you dare to read his book—if you are brave enough to do so, good luck and enjoy the adventure!