D&D’s 45th Birthday
Back when D&D turned 40 in 2014, I put up a post about the date I favored for celebrating its…
Artistic Arcana: Scruby Fantasy Miniatures and TSR
Dungeons & Dragons grew out of a tradition of miniature wargaming, and distributors of figurines were among the first companies…
Artistic Arcana: Greg Bell Before TSR
It is no exaggeration to say that Greg Bell was effectively the first staff artist of Tactical Studies Rules. Not…
Subterranean Chainmail: Mines and Countermines
Before any daring cartographer mapped underground dungeons in pursuit of fantastic adventure, Chainmail described a system for subterranean tunnels on…
Artistic Arcana: The Impostor Lizardman
Old school Dungeons & Dragons fans know that Greg Bell's beloved lizardman from the inside cover of Greyhawk (1975) served as…
Why Did Armor Class Descend from 9 to 2?
One of the great riddles that has vexed D&D players for generations is this: why did armor class in original…
A Forgotten Variant: The Observers Book of Monsters
Sometimes chunks of gaming history come down to us without much context. That is the case with today's specimen, a…
Missile Fire in Chainmail, courtesy of Charles Sweet
When it comes to unearthing the influences behind Chainmail (1971), Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren's medieval rules with a fantasy…
Dave Arneson’s “Adventuring Is…” Cartoons
Sometimes you need to stop dissecting the roots of Chainmail for long enough to appreciate the humor that the authors…
To-Hit Rolls in Individual Medieval Combat, from Phil Barker to Chainmail
Just months before Chainmail came out, when Gary Gygax put together the seventh issue of the Domesday Book, he included…
Mordenkainen, in 1974 and today.
This weekend at the Wizards of the Coast "Stream of Many Eyes" event I got my hands on a copy…
D&D in the News (1978): Funny Dice in Iowa, with Zeb Cook
"We're known down here as the strange people with the funny dice," begins Bob Waltman, describing the reputation of the…
From Arbela to Alexander: Gygax’s Ancient Board Wargame
In the early days of gaming, a title could pass through a lot of hands before making its way to…
Vintage Ad: 1980 Do-It-Yourself Edition
Early in 1980, TSR Hobbies circulated a slender booklet containing graphics and copy for hobby stores to reuse when advertising…
A Forgotten Variant: The X-Fragments
Gary Gygax explicitly called the Guidon Dungeons & Dragons document the "first draft" of the game in a cover letter.…
D&D in the News (1976): You’re either a Fighter, Magic-user, Cleric, or Thief
If anything could draw the attention of the mainstream press of 1976 to an obscure pastime like Dungeons & Dragons, it…
War of the Empires (1969), Gygax’s Space Conquest Campaign
Two years before Chainmail was released, and a year before there was a Castle & Crusade Society, Gary Gygax was…
Vintage Ad: Does Your Shop Sell Military Miniatures?
Early in 1976, no one had any idea that Dungeons & Dragons would go on to transform the gaming hobby.…
A Forgotten Variant: Sir Pellinore’s Game
Of the gamers who assembled and self-published variant fantasy role-playing rules in the 1970s, few showed the dedication of Michael…
D&D in the News (1976): The Duke and the Evil Balrog
Early press about D&D rarely has the luxury of wading deep into the play of ongoing campaigns. That is what…
Gary Gygax on “Tomorrow” with Tom Snyder (1979)
It was early in November 1979: the publication of the Dungeon Masters Guide had recently completed the core Advanced Dungeons &…