Dave Arneson has died

D&D co-creater Dave Arneson has died.

I saw him a few times at GenCon, and heard him lecture there the first year I went. I hope they have a moment of silence for Arneson this year.

I realize that my post on gold pieces and US dollars didn't include the prices of goods at 2001 gold prices, which were more typical of recent decades. If you use the 2001 gold prices, a longsword would cost $1,166; a +1 longsword about $100,000; a backpack $155; a vial of ink $622; a day of trail rations $6.40; a light riding horse $5,800; and a skilled 1st-level commoner would earn $8k a year. Raising the dead would cost a half-million dollars, and a cure light wounds potion would be worth almost four thousand dollars.

By way of contrast, a MRE costs about five to seven dollars retail. According to some recent Googling, prices for a Beretta 92FS run about $550; a semiautomatic civilian Colt AR-15 about $1,200; and an automatic, legally transferrable M-16 about $15-25k. However, even a fully-automatic firearm has no chance of hitting the incorporeal undead without a wizard on hand to cast magic weapon.