Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1

by Peterson, Jon

• ISBN13: 9780262548779
• ISBN10: 0262548771
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780262379380
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-07-30
• Publisher: PENGUIN
• More Book Details

Summary

The first volume of two in a new, updated edition of the 2012 book Playing at the World, which charts the vast and complex history of role-playing games.


This new edition of Playing at the World is the first of two volumes that update the 720-page original tome of the same name from 2012. This first volume is The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons, which explores the publication of that iconic game. (The second volume is The Three Pillars of Role-Playing Games, a deeper dive into the history of the setting, system, and character of D & D.) In this first volume, Jon Peterson distills the story of how the wargaming clubs and fanzines circulating around the upper Midwest in the 1970s culminated in Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s seminal role-playing game, D & D. It augments the research of the original editions with new insights into the crucial period in 1972–3 when D & D began to take shape.

Drawing from primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World explores the origins of wargames and roleplaying through the history of conflict simulations and the eccentric characters who drove the creation of a signature cultural innovation in the late twentieth century. Filled with unparalleled archival research (from obscure fanzines to letters, drafts, and other ephemera), this new edition of Playing at the World is the ultimate geek’s guide to the original RPG. As such, it is an indispensable resource for academics and game fans exploring the origins of the hobby.

Author Biography

Jon Peterson is a New York Times–bestselling author and Hugo Award finalist. He is the author of The Elusive Shift and Game Wizards and the coauthor of Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, Lore & Legends, and Heroes’ Feast: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook, as well its sequel Flavors of the Multiverse.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
Preface
1   First Principles
2   Rise of the Wargaming Clubs
3   Miniature Wargaming
4   The Medieval Setting
5   The Castle & Crusade Society
6   From Amateur Attempts to Guidon Games
7   Chainmail and Fantasy Wargaming
8   “Will Cooperate on Game Design”
9   The Fall of the IFW
10   The Return of the Referee
11   Blackmoor
12   The Fantasy Game
13   Claiming an Audience
14   Selling the Story
15   Courting the Wargamers
16   GenCon 1974 and Its Aftermath
17   Dungeons & Dragons in Los Angeles Fandom
18   Seeds of Success
19   Alarming Excursions
20   The Summer Conventions of 1975
21   The Bully Pulpit of Lake Geneva
22   Canonicity and Control
23   Cooperate or Compete?
24   D&D among the RPGs
Notes
Index