OSR Thoughts on David A. Hargrave's Arduin Triliogy by Empire's Choice Games

 

One of the things that David A Hargrave did was to bring a ton of optional rpg systems that can be used with both classic 'worlds most popular fantasy role playing' game & your modern OSR rpg's. Why because the Arduin trilogy takes on Mr. Hargrave's original works; "The original three books:

* The Arduin Grimoire (Arduin Grimoire volume 1)
* Welcome to Skull Tower (Arduin Grimoire volume 2)
* The Runes of Doom (Arduin Grimoire volume 3)

Plus: The Arduin Adventure

BY: David A. Hargrave

"These are the books that started it all. These books inspired tons of RPGs, authors and fans alike. Let your imagination set wild and come back to the old Arduin Grimoire series to re-inspire you from old or create inspiration of new! There will certainly be something of value in these Grimoires for all. New rules, monsters, items, spells, character classes, races and more all from the World of Arduin, for use in any and ALL role playing game systems past present and future!" The campaign world of Arduin is very much a world filled with dungeons & ruins from the ground up from the beginning and the premises of the ideas of these ruins are baked right into the writing by Hargrave. This is because Arduin is a bit of a parasitic campaign setting. Meaning that Arduin can be glued right into the Greyhawk campaign setting easily. Because of the fact Arduin embraced the idea of the Arduin 'multiverse' back in mid 70's. 

According too the Wiki Arduin entry; "The Arduin books attempted to add many interesting and notable features to the fantasy role playing milieu. In addition to new rules, 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", many of which were new to role-playing gamers of the time."

  The old Arduin Grimoire series is an old favorite & it works on two levels for me as a dungeon master because the Grimoire is like a glimpse into the process that another dungeon master goes through to create their own campaigns. There's a lot of personal touches that hint at what's in the mind of Mr. Hargrave. Because Arduin is a passion project of the highest order. Races, maps, rpg options etc. all hint at the mind at work and the continuing to evolve project that became Arduin within this book.  
The themes of Arduin are the fact that adventuring and dungeoneering are of paramount on the mind of the author. Everything (well mostly everything0 is geared around the goal of getting the player's PC's deeply involved within the meat and potatoes of the old school campaign.

And this I think is the strength of the Arduin Trilogy when it asks the DM to bring optional and interesting ideas to the table top level. David A. Hargrave was according to those who actually had him as a DM was a very conservative dungeon master. Mr. Hargrave kept his campaigns going and really enjoyed both the experience and depth of gaming. You can see this as a fan and consumer of all of all things Arduin.