Notes, correspondence and artifacts like this early character sheet are presented in detail … [+]
It is about halfway through the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Soon, new core books such as Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide will take fans into the future of D&D. But sometimes in a year like this, everyone has to look back before moving forward.
Historian Jon Peterson has explored much of this early history in his work. Game Wizards looked at the early life of TSR, the original company that produced Dungeon & Dragons. Now he’s teamed up with Wizards of the Coast, the current owner of the game for The Making of Original D&D: 1970 – 1977.
The Original Draft of Dungeons & Dragons
Peterson and co-author Jason Tondro got unprecedented access to original documents from archivists and collectors. Many of them are presented directly on the page to allow readers a chance to see the development of the game in the creators’ original hands.
One of the highlights of the book is a reproduction of the original draft of Dungeons & Dragons. It was typed on Gary Gygax’s own typewriter in Lake Geneva. The document also features handwritten notes from Gygax and Dave Arneson, co-creator of the game and one of the most influential people in early D&D history.
From Braunstein To Blackmoor
Arneson was a member of the Midwest Military Simulation Association, which focused on military wargaming. He got involved with running a scenario called Braunstein which shifted players into specific roles on the battlefield rather than general overseeing the whole affair. This style of game also allowed players to try tactics and actions now accounted for in the rules, requiring a referee to judge how to proceed.
Arneson ran several of these events with David Wesely but then started to put his own twist on the material. Rather than the Napoloenic era of Braunstein games, he opted for something in the fantasy realm that came to be known as Blackmoor. The setting inspired by a variety of things ranging from Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories to a miniatures game called Chainmail.
Chainmail And Correspondence
Chainmail was published in 1971 by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perrin. Arneson began writing letters to Gygax about their designs and travelling to Lake Geneva to play games together. It was from these connections that the skeleton of Dungeons & Dragons was born.
The Making of Original D&D: 1970 – 1977 includes many of these correspondences, allowing reader to see the development of mechanics that every Dungeons & Dragons player knows by heart. Not just things like hit points and armor class but also characters rated in specific categories as well as ways to develop those characters over the long term. Many of these letters have never been published before.
The book also documents the correspondence that Gygax had with his earliest fans. Fan zines, letters asking for rules clarifications and other documents show the development of game concepts as players play the early version and express their opinion on what works and what doesn’t. Many of these discussions happen in the pages of The Dragon, the first official D&D magazine.
Fans intererested in a deeper dive into the history of D&D can find out more when The Making of Original D&D: 1970 – 1977 hits retailers on June 18th, 2024.
