Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who (33 page)

2: Little Wars

archaeologist Gary O. Rollefson:
“A Neolithic Game Board from ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan,”
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
286, May 1992.

carved stone dice and an ebony board:
“World’s Oldest Backgammon Discovered in Burnt City,”
Payvand.com
, December 4, 2004,
http://www.payvand.com/news/04/dec/1029.html
.

The Bronze Age settlement of Mohenjo-daro:
“Play Was Important—Even 4,000 Years Ago,”
ScienceDaily,
February 8, 2011.

the ancient folk tale about a queen:
H. J. R. Murray,
A History of Chess
(Oxford University Press, 1913).

3: Grognards

Steve Jobs was a Kriegsspiel fan:
Walter Isaacson,
Steve Jobs
(Simon & Schuster, 2011).

4: Druids with Phaser Guns

To be conversant with the Principles of War:
Charles S. Roberts, “Charles S. Roberts: In His Own Words,” 1983,
http://www.alanemrich.com/CSR_pages/Articles/CSRspeaks.htm
. Last accessed April 23, 2012.

I’d given the defending brigands:
Gary Alan Fine,
Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds
(The University of Chicago Press, 1983).

Frankly, the boys in my club were bored:
Douglas Alger, “The Keepers of the Realm: Fantasy Fans Still Game for Dungeons & Dragons,”
Los Angeles Times,
August 21, 1995.

That sealed my fate:
Ciro Alessandro Sacco, “The Ultimate Interview with
Gary Gygax,”
Dungeons.it,
undated, retrieved from
http://www.thekyngdoms.com/interviews/garygygax.php
.

Even now I vividly recall my first perusal:
Gary Gygax, “The Influence of J. R. R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D Games,”
The Dragon,
March 1985.

Since we’re only talking a couple hundred people:
Allen Rausch, “Dave Arneson Interview,” GameSpy, August 19, 2004,
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/540/540395p1.html
.

I asked Dave to please send me:
Gary Gygax, “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons: Origins of the Game,”
The Dragon
2, no. 1 (June 1977).

a slightly concave, circular plane of force:
Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, Core Rulebook I, Version 3.5
(Wizards of the Coast, 2003).

The reaction . . . was instant enthusiasm:
Gary Gygax, “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons: Origins of the Game,”
The Dragon
2, no. 1 (June 1977).

The reaction was so intense:
Ciro Alessandro Sacco, “The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax,”
Dungeons.it,
undated, retrieved from
http://www.thekyngdoms.com/interviews/garygygax.php
.

They laughed at the idea:
Ibid.

One fellow had gone so far:
Gary Gygax, “View from the Telescope Wondering Which End Is Which,”
The Dragon
2, no. 5 (December 1977).

a security guard who couldn’t afford shoes:
Allen Rausch, “Dave Arneson Interview,” GameSpy, August 19, 2004,
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/540/540395p1.html
.

Don Kaye saw the turnout:
“The Story of TSR,” in
TSR Silver Anniversary Collector’s Edition
(Wizards of the Coast, 1999).

We published Cavaliers & Roundheads:
Paul Hughes, ed.,
Cheers, Gary: Celebrating a Lejend
(Gygax Memorial Fund, 2011).

badgered Gary into letting [him] in:
Timothy J. Kask, “In the Cauldron,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 5 (December 1975).

5: Strength of Character

This spell functions like Summon Monster I:
Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, Core Rulebook I, Version 3.5
(Wizards of the Coast, 2003), p. 286.

6: Temple of the Frog

Sales are really quite good:
Gary Gygax to Dave Megarry, letter, June 2, 1974.

Counting all of the illicit photocopies:
“The Story of TSR,” in
TSR Silver Anniversary Collector’s Edition
(Wizards of the Coast, 1999).

Although this was not exactly a ‘hot’ reception:
Gary Gygax, “View from the
Telescope Wondering Which End Is Which,”
The Dragon
2, no. 5 (December 1977).

We will never allow TSR to become:
Gary Gygax to Dave Megarry, letter, March 6, 1975.

A magic-user can use a given spell:
“Questions Most Frequently Asked about Dungeons & Dragons Rules,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 2 (Summer 1975).

This is a super-intelligent, man-shaped creature:
“Creature Features,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 1 (Spring 1975).

Greyhawk had a fountain:
Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz,
Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk
(TSR, 1975).

Ours is known as the ‘Living Room’:
Ibid.

Tactical Studies Rules is not a giant company:
Brian J. Blume, “TSR—Why We Do What We Do,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 2 (Summer 1975).

impossible to work with:
“AD&D and My Leaving TSR,” Gygax.org FAQ, archived April 21, 1999, at
http://web.archive.org/web/19990421153255/http://www.gygax.com/gygaxfaq.html
.

There is no question in my mind:
Ciro Alessandro Sacco, “The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax,”
Dungeons.it,
undated, retrieved from
http://www.thekyngdoms.com/interviews/garygygax.php
.

Deep in the primaeval [
sic
] swamps:
Dave Arneson,
Blackmoor
(TSR, 1975).

Pool of the Frog:
A downward sloping area: Ibid.

like a grist mill:
Gary Gygax, “TSR News & Editorial,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 4 (Winter 1975).

It started out being fun:
Jeremy L. C. Jones, “Interview with Dave Arneson,”
Kobold Quarterly,
April 9, 2009,
http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page460.php
.

7: The Breaking of the Fellowship

This is the last issue:
Timothy J. Kask, “In the Cauldron,”
The Strategic Review
2, no. 2 (April 1976).

Somewhere along the line, D&D lost:
Gary Gygax and Brian Blume,
Dungeons & Dragons Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry
(TSR, 1976).

gaming, variants, discussion, fiction by authors:
Timothy J. Kask, “Dragon Rumbles,”
Dragon
1, no. 1 (June 1976).

TSR had sent a cease-and-desist:
Jon Peterson,
Playing at the World
(Unreason Press, 2012), 552.

a heavily muscled dark skinned man:
Robert Kuntz and James Ward,
Dungeons & Dragons Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes
(TSR, 1976).

a lotus flower capable of restoring all lost hit points:
Ibid.

Perhaps now some of the ‘giveaway’ campaigns:
Ibid.

We’ve told you just about everything:
Ibid.

Gygax told a war-gaming newsletter:
Jon Peterson,
Playing at the World
(Unreason Press, 2012), 536.

Blackmoor
is finally done:
Timothy J. Kask, “In the Cauldron,”
The Strategic Review
1, no. 5 (December 1975).

My first assignment, fresh out of college:
Robert Kuntz and James Ward,
Dungeons & Dragons Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes
(TSR, 1976).

contradictory, confusing, incomplete:
James Maliszewski, “Interview: Tim Kask (Part I),”
Grognardia,
September 18, 2008,
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/09/interview-tim-kask-part-i.html
.

His function will be to help us co-ordinate:
Gary Gygax, “TSR News & Editorial,”
Strategic Review
1, no. 4 (Winter 1975).

the introduction to
Valley Forge
:
Jon Peterson,
Playing at the World
(Unreason Press, 2012), 572.

a credit for “special effort” in Lankhmar:
Ibid.

even less in promoting the game:
Ibid.

Perhaps Arneson simply preferred:
Ibid.

8: Why We Play

Everything around me takes the shape of the Knight:
David Shenk,
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess
(Anchor, 2007), xvii.

Duchamp’s wife, Lydie Sarazin-Levassor:
Ibid.

As we wandered around, uncertain:
Clifford Geertz, “Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” in Clifford Geertz,
The Interpretation of Cultures
(Basic Books, 1973).

A play community generally tends to become permanent:
Johan Huizinga,
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture
(Beacon Press, 1971).

American culture has some nuances:
Michael J. Tresca,
The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games
(McFarland, 2010), 13.

A hero ventures forth:
Joseph Campbell,
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
, 2nd ed. (Princeton University Press, 1968), 23.

I see role-playing as an opportunity:
Leonard H. Kanterman, MD, “My Life and Role-Playing,”
Different Worlds: The Magazine of Game Role-Playing
1, no. 1 (1979).

a 2011 study of middle and high school students:
G. E. Harrison and J. P. Van Haneghan, “The Gifted and the Shadow of the Night,”
Journal for the Education of the Gifted
34, no. 4 (2011), 669–97.

Comeliness reflects physical attractiveness:
Gary Gygax,
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Unearthed Arcana
(TSR, 1985).

9: Arneson vs. Gygax

Before the third supplement:
Gary Gygax, “D&D Relationships: The Parts and the Whole,”
The Dragon
2, no. 8 (May 1978).

The ‘Basic Set’ of D&D is aimed:
Ibid.

an imaginative game:
Gary Gygax, “View from the Telescope Wondering Which End Is Which,”
The Dragon
2, no. 5 (December 1977).

approximately 1,000 Peasants, 100 Soldiers and Nobles:
David Arneson,
The First Fantasy Campaign
(Judges Guild, 1977).

the main livestock:
Ibid.

there is some evidence that the company considered:
Jon Peterson,
Playing at the World
(Unreason Press, 2012), 582.

hateful, aggressive, and avaricious:
Gary Gygax,
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual
(TSR, 1977).

the molecular vibrations of the displacer beast:
Ibid.

is loathsome beyond description:
Ibid.

ideal for cleaning:
Ibid.

they roam such:
Ibid.

Imitation is claimed to be the sincerest:
Gary Gygax, “View from the Telescope Wondering Which End Is Which,”
The Dragon
2, no. 5 (December 1977).

Gandalf is quite ineffectual:
Gary Gygax, “The Influence of J. R. R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D Games,”
The Dragon
9, no. 95 (March 1985).

The seeming parallels and inspirations:
Ibid.

Giants have been raiding the lands of men:
Gary Gygax,
Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
(TSR, 1978).

diligent prayers and deeds:
Gary Gygax,
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook
(TSR, 1978), 20.

There is one dweeb-like chap on the back cover:
Col_Pladoh (Gary Gygax), “Gary Gygax Q&A Part VIII,” EN World message board thread, comment #359, March 22, 2005,
http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-36.html
.

TSR sold ten thousand copies:
Gary Alan Fine,
Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds
(The University of Chicago Press, 1983), 27.

inspires the sort of fanatic devotion:
Liam Lacey, “Dungeons and Dragons: An Underground Game Is Ready to Surface,”
The Globe and Mail,
November 29, 1978.

the J. R. R. Tolkien of the games world:
Ibid.

Only the most severe critic could:
Don Turnbull, “Open Box,”
White Dwarf
16 (December 1979/January 1980), 15.

Our once lonely pastime has arrived:
Timothy J. Kask, “Dragon Rumbles,”
The Dragon
4, no. 9 (March 1980).

The course of TSR Hobbies’ development:
Gary Gygax, “What’s Ahead for TSR?”
The Dragon
4, no. 9 (March 1980).

commercially and artistically valuable right:
Plaintiff’s Memorandum, Arneson v. Gygax, 473 F. Supp. 759 (D. Minn. 1979), May 7, 1979.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is a different game:
Gary Gygax, “D&D, AD&D and Gaming,”
The Dragon
3, no. 12 (June 1979).

any revised edition or foreign language translation:
Arneson v. TSR Hobbies, Inc., US Dist. LEXIS 21340 (D. Minn. 1985), March 27, 1985.

We don’t hate each other:
Allen Rausch, “Dave Arneson Interview,” GameSpy, August 19, 2004,
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/540/540395p1.html
.

10: The Satanic Panic

experimenting may occur . . . craving and preoccupation . . . compulsive use:
“Stages of Addiction,” Intercept Interventions,
http://www.interceptinterventions.com/stages-of-addiction/
.

the hottest game in the nation:
Geoffrey Smith, “Dungeons & Dollars,”
Forbes,
September 1980.

The continual press coverage:
Ciro Alessandro Sacco, “The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax,”
Dungeons.it,
undated, retrieved from
http://www.thekyngdoms.com/interviews/garygygax.php
.

of working with the Antichrist:
Molly Ivins, “Utah Parents Exorcize ‘Devilish’ Game; Fomenting Communist Subversion Complaints Began Right Away,”
New York Times,
May 3, 1980.