A piece of news off-topic from the World of Warcraft theme, but one that will touch many roleplayers and Dungeons & Dragons (d20) players around the world, including Blizzard Entertainment developers who are widely known to be fans of the fantasy setting and rulesets.  Just thirteen months after the passing of Gary Gygax,  Dave Arneson has also passed away at age 61 on April 7 according to Grognardia.

His family contacted said community site to inform what happened. Although it is off-topic, even Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Morhaime wrote a memoriam in honor to Gary Gygax.  The patch 2.4 which introduced the Sunwell Plateau was dedicated to Gary Gygax, back then. It is very likely that Blizzard Entertainment might have a reaction soon about Dave Arneson’s passing. You can read his achievements over at Wikipedia.

	Blizzard Quote:
	In Memoriam: Gary Gygax Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate the patch in memory of Gary Gygax. His work on D&D was an inspiration to us in many ways and helped spark our passion for creating games of our own. As avid D&D players and fellow game developers, we were all saddened by the news of his passing; we feel we’ve lost a true adventuring companion. Thanks for everything and farewell, Gary. You will be missed. Gamespy had a quote from Blizzard president Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder, Blizzard Entertainment when Gygax passed away: “As someone who read through the entire AD&D “Monster Manual,” “DM’s Guide,” and “Player’s Handbook” when I was in junior high, I’d like to offer a farewell to one of the people who basically started the whole role-playing genre of gaming. When I first learned about D&D, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was a whole other world that only hardcore geeks knew about. I think it’s fair to say that D&D continues to be a huge inspiration to everyone here at Blizzard and that Gary will be remembered and missed by all of us.”

Shortly after 11pm on Tuesday, April 7th, Dave Arneson passed away. He was comfortable and with family at the time and his passing was peaceful.

The Arneson family would like to thank everyone for their support over the last few days, and for the support the entire community has shown Dave over the years.

We are in the process of making final arrangements and will provide additional details as we work them out. We will continue to receive cards and letters in Dave’s honor. We are planning to hold a public visitation so that anyone wishing to say their goodbye in person has the opportunity to do so.

Cards and letters can continue to be sent:
Dave Arneson
1043 Grand Avenue
Box #257
St. Paul, MN
55105

Visitation will be on April 20th
Time: yet to be determined
Address:
Bradshaw Funeral Home
687 Snelling Avenue South
St. Paul, MN 55105

Source: Bluesnews

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