RIP Allan B Calhamer

Yesterday, Allan B. Calhamer passed away at the age of 81. Mr. Calhamer is the inventor of one of the groundbreaking titles in the history of wargaming; the game Diplomacy, which was a favorite of presidents as well as being intimately involved in the early days of the wargaming hobby, in which fertile soil modern RPGs first took root. Gary Gygax published many of the earliest works concerning Dungeons and Dragons in those early Diplomacy 'zines (as well as innumerable Diplomacy variants, such as games that took place in Tolkien's Middle Earth), without which the wargaming community as we know it might never have existed. I know I myself have played Mr. Calhamer's brilliant game hundreds of times, and enjoyed every minute of it, even when I was getting trounced. Truly one of the least-known, but nonetheless influential, founding figures of the gaming hobby has passed.