Dave Hargrave Day - 2021

Today we celebrate Dave Hargrave Day, the birthday of David Allen Hargrave (May 25, 1946 – August 29, 1988) who was known as The Dream Weaver and his world and game Arduin. Dave died an untimely death at the age of only 42 and all that he could have created was lost forever. Sadly there are few pictures available.

David Allen Hargrave

Dave was a military veteran , serving six years on the front lines. He brought that experience to Arduin. Dave had an extraordinary imagination and it was on full display in Arduin. Some called it a "cross-genre" rpg, but truly many of the early homebrew games were "cross-genre."  Blackmoor the original campaign was "cross-genre" and Tékumel was also "cross-genre."  So he was in very good company.

I started playing OD&D in September of 1975, first got our hands on The Arduin Grimoire early in 1978. It was a treasure trove, a veritable gold mine of ideas. As a treasure trove it was the proper kind IMO, the excellent, the good, the average, the bad and the ugly. It was all there. I have heard a lot of people dismiss it and mostly because they think that everything they don't think are good ideas should have been edited out. IMO these kinds of documents tend to suffer greatly from way too much editing. Ideas that one person doesn't like or another wouldn't use nevertheless spurs thinking and that leads to the creation of more ideas.

IMO those of us who are Arduin fans are those who tend to use almost anything as a gateway to more ideas and anything that makes you think, like it or not, is a gateway to more ideas. I for one am very happy that Dave chose to not attempt to separate the dross from the gold, because he might have robbed me of an idea had he done so.

If you want to create your own grab bag of ideas, you could not find a better inspiration than The Arduin Grimoire!

If you have not yet read The Arduin Grimoire I urge you to get a copy without delay. Read it with a non-critical mind and let his ideas take you where they will. Read it a second time with a note pad close at hand. Jot down what you like and make note of how you would do other things differently. You are on your way!