Arduin

Arduin is a fantasy role-playing game created in the mid 1970s by the late David A. Hargrave. It was perhaps the first "cross-genre" fantasy RPG, with everything from interstellar wars to horror and historical drama, although it was based primarily in the medieval fantasy genre.

Arduin began as a personal project shared with friends, but became so popular that Hargrave was inspired to publish his material.

Brief history
Arduin was one of the earliest challengers to TSR's Dungeons & Dragons. The Arduin suite of supplements, dungeon modules, and gaming aids were initially self-published, but were then later produced by Grimoire Games, and then Dragon Tree Press, and finally by Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures. Note that Dragon Tree Press now receives its Arduin material exclusively from Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures and no longer produces it.

Although the Arduin books did not explicitly claim to be a Dungeons & Dragons supplement, they were treated as such by most users. Eventually, a few of the rules first introduced in the Arduin series were incorporated into the official rules for D&D published by TSR, including:


 * Fumbles
 * Critical hits
 * The two-dimensional alignment system (good/evil combined with law/chaos)

The Arduin Trilogy
The first three Arduin tomes are known as The Arduin Trilogy. They are, in order, The Arduin Grimoire, Welcome to Skull Tower, and The Runes Of Doom.

The Arduin Trilogy contained unique new spells and character classes, new monsters, and treasures etc., all of which expanded on the presumed core of D&D as it existed in the late 1970s. For example, there were "new cleric spells" but no core cleric class defined in the books; readers were assumed to be using the TSR cleric class and allowing it access to the new spells.

It was only with the publication of The Arduin Adventure that a true standalone system began to evolve.

Overall, the The Arduin Trilogy demonstrates a slow evolution from its origin as "House Rules for D&D" to a truly separate gaming system (especially evident with the publication of Compleat Arduin, Books 1 and 2, by David A. Hargrave, edited by Mark Schynert and published by Grimoire Games.

Erol Otus
The first printings of The Arduin Grimoire (specifically, The Arduin Trilogy, Vol. 1) contained artwork by Erol Otus, an artist who would later become internationally acclaimed for his illustrations appearing in TSR's Dungeons & Dragons supplements. Erol Otus' artwork was later removed from subsequent printings of The Arduin Grimoire.



Greg Espinoza
Greg Espinoza contributed many of the most memorable covers and interior illustrations (close to 80 pieces of art) to the classic Arduin Grimoire series, from approximately 1978 to 1981. He drew many of the monster and artifact cards for several of the other Arduin products as well. He also painted the box art for The Arduin Adventure for Grimoire Games.

Brad Schenk
Brad Schenk (also known as Morno) contributed covers to Welcome to Skull Tower (AG II). His is also the original design for the Arduin "Shield" now featured by Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures as a trademark. This piece is featured in AG II on the title page of that volume along with a number of other interior artworks by him. He also did the cover for The Arduin Adventure booklet, as indicated on page 2 of that work.

Arduin publications

 * The Arduin Grimoire (Arduin Grimoire Vol. I), 1977. At least two different editions of this volume exist. These editions differ via cover artwork and some internal artwork (p. 79, among others).
 * Welcome to Skull Tower (Arduin Grimoire Vol. II), 1978.
 * The Runes of Doom (Arduin Grimoire Vol. III), 1978. The first printings of the first three books were self published by Dave Hargrave.
 * The Arduin Trilogy is a box set containing the first three Arduin Grimoires and published by Grimoire Games.
 * The Arduin Adventure, 1980. Arduin introductory boxed set. Contained the Arduin Adventure book (which was also available separately), a few sheets of magic items, three character sheets, and two 20-sided die.
 * Revised Arduin: A Primer, 1984. A short (11 page) booklet outlining the "battle factor" system featured in Compleat Arduin.
 * The Lost Grimoire (Arduin Grimoire Vol. IV), 1984
 * Dark Dreams (Arduin Grimoire Vol. V), 1985
 * The House of the Rising Sun (Arduin Grimoire Vol. VI), 1986
 * Shadow Lands (Arduin Grimoire Vol. VII), 1987
 * Winds of Chance (Arduin Grimoire Vol. VIII), 1988
 * Compleat Arduin, Book One: The Rules, 1992
 * Compleat Arduin, Book Two: Resources, 1992
 * End War (Arduin Grimoire Vol. IX), 2002

NOTE: Reprints and updates of the Grimoire volumes as well as Compleat Arduin (now called Arduin II) are available from Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures (excepting "End War," which is a new product).

Cardstock items published by Grimoire Games

 * Monsters from Arduin (24 monster cards)
 * Magic Weapons from Arduin (24 weapon cards)
 * Magic Artifacts from Arduin (24 Artifact cards)
 * Arduin Character Pak (illustrated character sheets; listed elsewhere as Arduin Character Sheets Combined Pack) This is a set of 24 character sheets for different Arduin races/character classes. Each sheet has a unique illustration.
 * Arduin Treasure Pack (a combination of the three items above).

NOTE: Reprints of the Arduin Treasure Pack are available through Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures.

Arduin Dungeon Modules

 * Arduin Dungeon No. 1: Caliban (mid level adventure)
 * Arduin Dungeon No. 2: The Howling Tower (low-level adventure)
 * Arduin Dungeon No. 3: The Citadel of Thunder
 * Arduin Dungeon No. 4: Death Heart (high-level wilderness and dungeon adventures)

Recent Arduin Publications

 * The Map of Arduin; A 2' x 3' four color poster-sized map of the Country of Arduin printed on parchment complete with legend and scale.
 * World Book of Khaas: The Legendary Lands of Arduin; A world guide to the country of Arduin and the world and continent upon which it rests. 865 pages of world/campaign material. Unique for size and the absence of any game mechanics.
 * Swords and Dragons Fantasy Card Game; Fantasy themed card game from the world of Arduin.
 * Vaults of the Weaver A compilation of the 4 Arduin Dungeons along with Hive Home (the only example of a Phraint Hive ever completed by their creator David A. Hargrave) and the 13 part Heart of Darkness campaign, both never before published.
 * The Black Grimoire All of Dave Hargrave's published RPG spells etc.

NOTE: These items are available from Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures.

Extremely rare and/or "one-of-a-kind" Arduin items
A partial list of adventure areas left behind by David A. Hargrave includes (but is not limited to):


 * The Book of the Shining Land, December/January, 1980-81. Dedication and signature inside front cover. This is a complete campaign area, designed as a generic adventure campaign suitable for insertion into any RPG, written by David for his friend, writer Paul Mosher. "The Book of the Shining Land" comprises 118 handwritten pages of 10 1/4 x 7 7/8 quad ruled paper in a composition style notebook. It includes a Master Map of the area (approximately 100 miles square) and 59 "keyed" adventure area maps all cross-referenced off of the Master Map.


 * The Book of Dreams of Lost Sardath, October, 1981. Similar in size and concept to The Book of the Shining Land, this work comprises 158 handwritten pages of 10 x 7 7/8 quad ruled paper in a composition style notebook. Includes a Master Map of an area approximately 100 miles square. This work was written by David for his friend, writer Paul Mosher. It comprises a "lost" island kingdom containing 136 villages/towns/cities cross referenced off the Master Map as well as 79 adventure area maps, of which 31 are "keyed".

The above two works comprise what are probably the largest unpublished works penned by David A. Hargrave either individually or collectively.


 * Lancer's Rest, October 1987. One of the last game-related items created by David A. Hargrave before his death in August 1988, "Lancer's Rest" (see External links below) was Lance Mazmanian's personal burial chamber, a very large single-level dungeon adventure which included a Hell Spiral and a 3000' (914 meter) pool where Mazmanian's corpse was entombed. Created by Hargrave as a tongue-in-cheek tribute, the adventure itself was essentially a quest to gain life-prolonging treasure while avoiding Mazmanian's wandering avatar, an extremely powerful Lich-like entity who would either attack or help a party on random percentage roll.