I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon Mr. Hargrave's Arduin books fairly early in my fantasy adventure gaming career. His Arduin Grimoire volumes physically somewhat resembled my beloved Little Brown Books, except with better art, and I was instantly drawn to them the moment I saw them in (I believe) a small game store near the Ball State University campus. I don't recall how many volumes I purchased that day, but probably one each of those the shop owner had in stock. I do recall reading through the volumes with a sense of wonder as I stretched my mind to try and fit it around all the varied content contained in each volume. The free-wheeling creativity of Mr. Hargrave inspired me to fall in love with the hobby all over again. I guess he showed me how much more there could be to the game than I had dreamed up to that point.
Dave Hargrave seemed to draw ideas from everywhere and find ways to make them seem a natural fit for his game milieu, which was definitely "inclusive" to borrow a modern term. He gathered original ideas, some perhaps suggested or inspired, others which are so original they must have sprang full grown like Athena from his own Zeus-like brow. (Goblins riding flying sharks blimps filled with hydrogen gas which explode when touched by fire.) He also borrowed things he liked from anywhere and everywhere and included it in his ever expanding milieu he termed Arduin. (T.I.E. fighters straight out of Star Wars.) Whether his idea for a multiverse (multiple inhabited planes or dimensions that exist in and out of time sequence all connected in a way that supports travel between them) was totally original, inspired or borrowed and incorporated hardly matters. It greatly expanded what was and is possible in a fictional setting filled with the fantastic.
Author Michael Moorcock uses a version of the multiverse idea in several of his heroic fantasy novels including the excellent and popular Elric of Melnibone stories. Mr. Hargrave was almost certainly aware of Moorcock's writing and multiverse concept as evidenced by referring to himself as A.K.A. Elric, Baron and Lord of the House of the Dragon Tower and by mention of a character (maybe the same) named Elric, the Hell-Lost in his Arduin game. A similar multiverse idea appears in the Lankhmar stories by Fritz Leiber, one of which, titled Bazaar of the Bizarre, where-in the adventurous duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, encounter all manner of strange, unearthly, forbidden and fantastic items for sale and which may have served as inspiration for Mr. Hargrave's Multiversal Trading Company.
Regardless of the origin of the idea, having connections to other fictional universes, dimensions and timelines can open the referee's realm of possibilities to include anything and everything imaginable...or not. Including a wide variety of everything can lead to a style of gaming sometimes referred to as "gonzo" because it seems crazy and unpredictable. I suppose the opposite extreme might be referred to as a "mundane" setting where predictable, stable and few surprises can be expected.
The multiverse as described in Arduin material may be one of the first uses of the concept in a game setting, but today there are several games that include something similar. Kevin Siembieda uses a multiverse idea for the setting of his Rifts multi-genre role-playing game. Rifts starts with Earth as a setting then adds to it fictional dimensional and time "rifts" as a result of some future atomic war and these rifts then make two-way connections to virtually anything/anywhere that can be imagined. The many Rifts supplements and setting books speak to a small sample of what is ultimately possible in Mr. Siembieda's multiverse.
Over the years I have made it a habit to acquire any and all of the fantastic Arduin items I can. Mr. Hargrave's popularity and following have resulted in much of his work remaining in print despite his passing in 1988. The above pictured compilation of the Arduin Trilogy material is from Emperor's Choice. The Big Red Book version of Arduin collects all the original grimoire material and organizes it by topic making it both easier to read and to use at the table. Mr. Hargrave's energy, enthusiasm and creativity comes through for me every time I read his Arduin and functions a bit like opening a door to the multiverse where anything is possible and everything exists even before it is thought of.
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