( CNN ) -- David Lance Arneson , who helped trigger the global phenomenon of role-playing games as co-inventor of `` Dungeons & Dragons , '' has died at the age of 61 . A statement on the game 's official Web site , wizards.com , said Arneson died Tuesday evening `` after waging one final battle against cancer . '' Arneson `` developed many of the fundamental ideas of role playing : that each player controls just one hero , that heroes gain power through adventures , and that personality is as important as combat prowess , '' the statement said . The game 's co-creator , Gary Gygax , died last year . In 1974 , Arneson and Gygax created `` Dungeons & Dragons , '' which allowed players to assume roles in a magical world . They could be fighters or wizards , elves or dwarfs . `` As characters journey through various lands , they search for hidden treasures while battling menacing monsters with their own brains and brawn , '' a description on wizards.com says . Some games would last days or weeks -- or even longer . `` Game campaigns are as limitless as the player 's imaginations , '' wizards.com says . What began as a hand-assembled print run of 1,000 games quickly sold out . Young people all over the world started buying up the game . By 1982 , sales broke the $ 20 million mark . Arneson filed a series of lawsuits against Gygax insisting he was not being given credit or proper royalties for his work creating the game . The suits were settled . `` Dungeons and Dragons '' spawned video games , novels , a cartoon , and a movie . The franchise saw a surge this decade after `` The Lord of the Rings '' and `` Harry Potter '' movies took off .
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