# The Gygax–Arneson Disputes - Event: Controversy - Date: 1979 – 1981 (and long after) - Houses: TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/the-gygax-arneson-dispute/ > Who invented Dungeons & Dragons? The question sent Dave Arneson to court against Gary Gygax and TSR in 1979, ended in a 1981 settlement naming both men co-creators, and has divided fans ever since. **Why it matters:** The dispute is the founding quarrel of the roleplaying hobby. It turned on the difference between an idea and a product, shaped how credit and royalties worked at TSR, and still colors how the game's origins are told. ## Quick answers **What was The Gygax–Arneson Disputes?** Who invented Dungeons & Dragons? The question sent Dave Arneson to court against Gary Gygax and TSR in 1979, ended in a 1981 settlement naming both men co-creators, and has divided fans ever since. **When did The Gygax–Arneson Disputes happen?** 1979 – 1981 (and long after). **Why did The Gygax–Arneson Disputes matter?** The dispute is the founding quarrel of the roleplaying hobby. It turned on the difference between an idea and a product, shaped how credit and royalties worked at TSR, and still colors how the game's origins are told. ## What happened The two men met at [Gen Con](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/gen-con/) in August 1969, a Lake Geneva insurance underwriter and a young Minnesota wargamer from the Twin Cities. In 1971 [Dave Arneson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/dave-arneson/), drawing on the refereed role-play of David Wesely's [Braunstein](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/braunstein/) games and the fantasy rules of [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) and [Jeff Perren](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/jeff-perren/)'s [*Chainmail*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/), began running a campaign set in the barony of [Blackmoor](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blackmoor/). His players each controlled a single hero who carried over from session to session, grew in ability, and ventured into the dungeons beneath Blackmoor Castle. In the winter of 1972–73 Arneson and a friend traveled to Lake Geneva to show their games to Gygax, who was then advising a small publisher. Gygax was electrified by Blackmoor. What followed is the heart of the dispute. Gygax tested the ideas with his own players in a campaign he called Greyhawk, exchanged notes with Arneson, and wrote the manuscript. Gygax felt rivals might beat them to print, so the rules were put together quickly; Arneson's own final draft was never used. When [Tactical Studies Rules](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/) published [*Dungeons & Dragons*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) in January 1974, three little booklets in a woodgrain box, the cover credited "Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson." The first thousand copies sold within a year. Arneson's *Blackmoor* supplement followed in 1975, including "The Temple of the Frog," the first published adventure written for other referees to run. ## Why it mattered The partnership frayed quickly. Arneson joined TSR as Director of Research at the start of 1976 and left before the end of the year; accounts point to creative differences between the two. TSR had agreed to pay Arneson a royalty on D&D products. But in 1977 the company launched [*Advanced Dungeons & Dragons*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/), a new and far more elaborate system written by Gygax, while continuing the simpler line through the [Basic Set](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-basic-set/). TSR maintained that AD&D was a significantly different game and paid Arneson nothing on it. As AD&D became the company's flagship, the difference was worth a fortune. In 1979 Arneson sued, the first of five lawsuits against Gygax and TSR. The core question was not only money but authorship: whose game was it? Gygax's defenders pointed to the rules text, the systems and the publishing gamble; Arneson's to the campaign that had invented the play experience itself. In March 1981 the suits were settled out of court in a confidential agreement. Both men would be credited as "co-creators" on D&D packaging, and Arneson would receive a 2.5 percent royalty on all AD&D products, which gave him a six-figure annual income for years. ## Legacy The settlement did not end the bitterness, and for decades each man's admirers told the story their own way. The two did reconnect for a time in the mid-1980s, while Gygax was president of TSR, and Arneson agreed to bring Blackmoor back into D&D through the DA series of modules, published in 1986–87. By then Gygax had lost his own fight for the company, ousted in October 1985 when [Lorraine Williams](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lorraine-williams/) took control; TSR's editors reworked Arneson's manuscripts to fit their house setting and dropped his projects before a planned fifth module appeared. When [Wizards of the Coast](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/wizards-of-the-coast/) bought TSR in 1997, [Peter Adkison](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/peter-adkison/) paid Arneson an undisclosed sum to clear his remaining royalty rights, which allowed the next edition to be called simply *Dungeons & Dragons*. Gygax died on March 4, 2008, and Arneson on April 7, 2009. Historians have since tried to put the story on firmer ground. Jon Peterson's *Playing at the World* (2012) reconstructed the design history from letters, fanzines and drafts, and his *Game Wizards* (2021) chronicled the business and legal battles in detail. Many historians now describe D&D as a genuine collaboration in which Arneson's campaign supplied the revolutionary form and Gygax's writing and publishing turned it into a game others could play. The quarrel endures because both claims are true. ## Facts - [Dave Arneson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/dave-arneson/)'s [Blackmoor](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blackmoor/) campaign in the Twin Cities, begun in 1971 with modified [Chainmail](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/) rules, introduced the dungeon expedition and the single persistent character. - In the winter of 1972–73 Arneson demonstrated Blackmoor to [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) in Lake Geneva; Gygax then wrote the draft that became D&D, trading notes with Arneson. - The 1974 boxed set credited "Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson"; its first print run of 1,000 sold out within a year. - Arneson joined [TSR](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/) as Director of Research at the start of 1976 and left before the year was out. - TSR paid Arneson royalties on D&D but not on [AD&D](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/), arguing it was a different game; in 1979 he filed the first of five lawsuits. - In March 1981 the suits were settled confidentially: both men would be credited as "co-creators," and Arneson would receive a 2.5 percent royalty on AD&D. - In 1997 Wizards of the Coast founder [Peter Adkison](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/peter-adkison/) paid Arneson an undisclosed sum to free D&D of the royalty, letting Wizards drop the word "Advanced." ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson) - [Wikipedia: Gary Gygax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax) - [Wikipedia: Dungeons & Dragons controversies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_controversies) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.