David Wesely

For the basketball player, see David Wesley.

David Wesely (born March 16, 1945) is a wargamer, board game designer, and video game developer. Dave Arneson credited him with the idea of the role-playing game.

Early life and education

Wesely earned a B.S. in physics at Hamline University in 1967, and an M.S. in high energy physics at the University of Kansas in 1969. During his college years, Wesely was a member of the Midwest Military Simulation Association, a group of wargamers based in Minneapolis-St Paul.

It was during this time that Wesely developed his Braunstein game scenario.

After college

Wesely joined the US Army Reserves in 1968. He served on active duty in the Army from 1970 to 1973 and again in 1976-1977. He continued to serve in the reserves until 1990, rising to the rank of major.

TSR, Inc. published Valley Forge, a set of miniature wargaming rules by Wesely, in 1976. Wesely's board game Source of the Nile (1977,1979) was published by Discovery Games, and later by Avalon Hill.

In the early 1980s Wesely worked as a software developer for Coleco, porting the arcade games Zaxxon and SubRoc-3D to the ColecoVision home console.

Wesely has been a regular at Gen Con and Origins since 1995, speaking at seminars.

In December 2018, Wesely organized a 50th anniversary game of Braunstein at the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Roseville, Minnesota.

Miniatures rules

• Strategos N (self-published 1967, 1970)
• Bombers and Battleships (self-published, 1969)
• Valley Forge (TSR, Inc., 1976)
• Valley Forge II (self-published, 1976)

Board games

• Source of the Nile (Discovery Games, 1978, Special Limited Commemorative Edition 2003. Avalon Hill, 1980)

Video games

• RAF: The Battle of Britain (Discovery Games, 1980)
• Winged Samurai (Discovery Games, 1980)
• MiGs and Messerschmitts (Discovery Games, 1980)
• Jagdstaffel (Discovery Games, 1980)
• Computer Acquire (Avalon Hill, 1979)
• Zaxxon (Coleco, 1982),
• SubRoc (Coleco, 1983),
• Chennault's Flying Tigers (Discovery Games, 1983)