Playing at the World, 2e, Volume 1

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.

Jon Peterson

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