Arduin
The Arduin Trilogy covers
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| Designer(s) | David A. Hargrave |
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| Publisher(s) | David A. Hargrave, Grimoire Games, Dragon Tree Press, Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures |
| Publication date | 1977–present |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror |
| System(s) | Custom |
Arduin is a fictional universe and fantasy role-playing system created in the mid-1970s by David A. Hargrave. It was the first published "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 was one of the earliest challengers to TSR's Dungeons & Dragons. It began as a personal project Hargrave created to share with friends, but became so popular that he was inspired to publish the material.
The original Arduin suite of supplements, dungeon modules, and gaming aids were initially self-published, but were then later produced by Grimoire Games. Dragon Tree Press produced four further Arduin supplements before the Arduin rights and properties were purchased by Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures.
The Arduin books attempted to add many interesting and notable features to the fantasy role playing milieu. In addition to new rules, there were many classes, races, spells, and magic items that were new to role-playing gamers.
While the original series of Grimoire supplements were intended as supplements for original Dungeons & Dragons, mention of D&D was prohibited legally. Although the Arduin books did not explicitly claim to be a Dungeons & Dragons supplement, they were treated as such by most users. As follows, there was contention in the RPG world that the Arduin system lacked cohesion. It was only with the publication of The Arduin Adventure that a true standalone system began to evolve, where other systems were not needed to adequately run a game. The later book 'The Arduin Adventure' was eventually written to replace use of the D&D core book. Material from all of these were subsequently used as the basis for 'The Compleat Arduin', a standalone system.
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, new treasures, maps, storylines, extensive demonography, and all sorts of charts and lists which detailed the Arduin "multiverse".
David Hargrave was served with a cease and desist order from the offices of TSR when it was found that the original publications of the Arduin books contained direct references to the Dungeons & Dragons gaming system. Hargrave's method of handling the controversy was to simply use white-out and typing correction tape to mask the disputed references, and then the volumes were reprinted exactly that way. In some versions of the Arduin printings, these so-called "corrections" are clearly visible.
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