Joasarn,
Perhaps you missed the point I was intending to make. Arduin IS homebrew, just done by an excellent chef. If you ate at the Arduin table the meal was never the same twice. It was similar, but with subtle or not-so-subtle changes every time, depending on the whim of the chef.
So we can archive the menu of ingredients and list the combinations for recipes (modules and adventures) the master chef did. That's only part of the issue. The flair, spirit and flavor that achieved the Arduin mix are a critical part of the delivery of an Arduin game. We can repeat by rote the recipe and have a pale imitation of what the chef intended. Or, we can cook in the style the chef pioneered and give homage to the inspiration that drives us.
Explicitly, I can not run Arduin as Dave did, even with experiencing it first hand. I can cook up a brief taste and share what flavor there is of his madcap genius. No one can exactly replace Dave in the chair as GM. Nor should they think they can.
Instead I use as much of his style and flavors as I can. It blends well with some of my own creations and I believe allows me to present a better dish for my players.
So let's spin this to a positive direction. How about we cooperate at building an Arduin style GM's manual? Dave was very much about style and mood to influence the game. I'm sure Paul and other's can chime in with anecdotes or advice for GM's who wish to run an Arduin style game. As mentioned elsewhere there are few maverick GM's compared to the large numbers who have only run production modules. I'd suggest gathering anecdotes and ideas that Dave used or that fit the style. There are certainly several dinosaurs on this board with experience ;-]
In that spirit here are a few ideas -
1. Carded items. Make major magic memorable. Have drawings if possible, but carded stats are fine if you don't have a house artist. See if friends want to contribute items. I've drawn more than a dozed cards for a friend recently as I sat in on his game. Make simple potion or one-shot cards. If the players loose them, then they must have been thieved ;-] Let them trade items, it adds to the worlds feel. Several GM's I knew in Redding used to get together and spend an afternoon carding items together. Then we'd swap cards to put odd items into our worlds. can be a lot of fun.
2. Scrolls. Dave had an amazing shoebox full of parchment paper strips sealed with colored wax. Nothing like blindly pulling out a random scroll. I've not done this yet, it's on my to-do list as setting up the box is a major time hit, but it's great theater.
3. Music. Frequently Dave would play would from an LP that fit. Hawkwind's 'Master of the Universe' album comes to mind. I'd guess today Dave would have a list of MP3's ready for special effects, fanfares and special themes.
4. Voices - Add character to NPC's and creatures with funny voices and quirks. The Cheshire Toad comes to mind ;-]
5. Practice your story telling skills. Dave was very good at adding flavor. Use lots of adjectives. A drop into a pit of spiders becomes a horrendous plunge into a crawling mass of writhing furry legs and eyes... had a spider phobic player bolt from the room with that one!
I appreciate your defense of the legend. I just see the legend in a bit different light from experience. Let's agree that Dave was a pioneer whose work should be recognized and built on, like many great chefs recipes are redacted by later chefs.