Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons (Game Histories)

by Jon Peterson

Discover the colorful history of the table-top RPG phenomenon, Dungeons & Dragons, as a D&D expert examines its surprising successes, setbacks, and controversies.

“The battle over Dungeons & Dragons was the ultimate geek war.” —Wired

When Dungeons & Dragons was first released to a small hobby community, it hardly seemed destined for mainstream success—and yet this arcane tabletop role-playing game became an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. In Game Wizards, Jon Peterson chronicles the rise of Dungeons & Dragons from hobbyist pastime to mass market sensation, from the initial collaboration to the later feud of its creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Inside you’ll learn about:

• Gygax and Arneson’s first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release
• The founding of TSR and its growth as a company
• Arneson’s acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR
• "Satanic Panic" accusations that plagued D&D—and boosted its popularity
• TSR’s reckless expansion and near-fatal corporate infighting
• And much more!

With Game Wizards, Peterson restores historical particulars long obscured by competing narratives spun by the one-time partners. That record amply demonstrates how the turbulent experience of creating something as momentous as Dungeons & Dragons can make people remember things a bit differently from the way they actually happened.

• ISBN10: 0262542951
• ISBN13: 9780262542951
• Publish Date: 12 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
• Imprint: MIT Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780262542951

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons is the newest book in the Game Histories series, this volume written by Jon Peterson. Due out 12th Oct 2021 from MIT Press, it's 400 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a very well written book assembled from extant notes, legal documents, eyewitness accounts, and recollections about the rise, fall, rise, and pitched battles involved in the emergence and control of TSR and Dungeons & Dragons. I was working in a gaming & hobby shop in the late 70s and early 80s and I well remember our regular gaming group geeking out over the newest editions and modules from TSR. Our regular members were mostly tabletop wargamers, but the balance soon shifted as more and more of our members became more interested in D&D and later on, Warhammer.

There wasn't much behind-the-scenes information on display (this was pre-internet, and almost pre-BBS). Several members of my core group were very active in fandom at the time on a large scale (worldcon, etc), and even at that level, news was slow to be disseminated. This book answered quite a number of question from those days and I was fascinated to learn what went on outside the public purview.

This is a semi-scholarly book and the author writes authoritatively. Readers who are not especially fascinated by the subject matter might well find the style academic and dry. I found the writing precise and engaging. I also liked reading the chapter notes and readers who are interested in the minutiae will find many hours of further reading and reference hunting contained in the notes and sources mentioned throughout the text.

Four stars. Fascinating deep dive in early geekdom and the fallout from the clash of the titans which fractured D&D.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.