Of Dice and Men

The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It

By: David M. Ewalt

Narrated by: David M. Ewalt, Mikael Naramore

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

The Hobbit meets Moneyball in this definitive book on Dungeons & Dragons - from its origins and rise to cultural prominence to the continued effects on popular culture today.

Here, There Be Dragons.

Ancient red dragons with 527 hit points, +44 to attack, and a 20d10 breath weapon, to be specific. In the world of fantasy role-playing, those numbers describe a winged serpent with immense strength and the ability to spit fire. There are few beasts more powerful - just like there are few games more important than Dungeons & Dragons.

Even if you’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons, you probably know someone who has: the game has had a profound influence on our culture. Released in 1974 - decades before the Internet and social media - Dungeons & Dragons inspired one of the original nerd subcultures, and is still revered by millions of fans around the world. Now the authoritative history and magic of the game are revealed by an award-winning journalist and lifelong D&D player.

In Of Dice and Men, David Ewalt recounts the development of Dungeons & Dragons from the game’s roots on the battlefields of ancient Europe, through the hysteria that linked it to satanic rituals and teen suicides, to its apotheosis as father of the modern video-game industry. As he chronicles the surprising history of the game’s origins (a history largely unknown even to hardcore players) and examines D&D’s profound impact, Ewalt weaves laser-sharp subculture analysis with his own present-day gaming experiences. An enticing blend of history, journalism, narrative, and memoir, Of Dice and Men sheds light on America’s most popular (and widely misunderstood) form of collaborative entertainment.

©2013 David M. Ewalt (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Dungeons & Dragons has been a huge part of my life. The book sheds light on the world of [D&D co-creator] Gary Gygax, and it also lets the reader into the mind of somebody questioning how cool this game is.” (Vin Diesel)

“An engaging book that fuses history and memoir. [Ewalt] tracks D&D's turbulent rise, fall and survival, from its heyday in the 1980s...to the 21st century.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“David Ewalt offers a genial history of Dungeons and Dragons and its impact on his own geek life.... A highly readable account of a game that seized the imagination of a generation and maintains its grip three decades later.” (Publishers Weekly)

All About Rolling the Dice

I started playing Dungeon and Dragons in the sixth grade with the basic boxed set and quickly graduated to the Advanced Players Handbook and the related books. In eighth grade, I started gaming with a guy whose older brother had started playing in college and using the original books—Greyhawk, Blackmoor, etc. We were all very proud of that connection and considered ourselves to be second generation gamers. So it was with great excitement that I stumbled across this book on the history of Dungeon and Dragons by David M. Ewalt.

Ewalt’s greatest strength is that he provides a coherent history of the development of the game from its beginnings as a war game, to those early days in Gary Gygax’s basement, to the development of the first of many iterations of TSR, to the intense infighting within the company, and its eventual sale to Wizards of the Coast. He also traces the development of the game through multiple editions and the influence of major figures. He even goes into some of the spinoff events and talks about the scandals. Overall, he builds the case that the introduction of D&D was a transformational event in the history of playing games.

There is also a lot of Ewalt’s personal experiences with roleplaying games, which seems to be a necessary and expected part of any book of this nature. Gamers are storytellers and they love to share their stories as much as other people love hearing them. Those stories also permit Ewalt to give a little insight into the dynamics of game play and player interactions.

While I suspect that this book appeals much more to gamers than to the larger world, if you have some interest in the subject this isn’t a bad place to start. Of course, if you’re really curious about Dungeons and Dragons, the best way to learn about it is to join a game and start playing.

Great information and entertaining

It’s an interesting amount of information into the history and hobby. The LARPing chapter dragged on and wasn’t interesting though.

Well written, just not that interesting

The performance and writing were pretty good, but it turns out the subject material is just not that interesting. The history of D&D is pretty much “guy made a game and then kept adding rules.” And listening to someone else’s campaign is a neat thread but not really interesting.

A Must Read for Anyone in the Hobby

One of the best books on the subject of D&D history and roleplaying games, as well as one of the best contemporary biographical stories outside of statesmen. With excellent narration and impeccable style, this book can be listened to repeatedly. Thank you to the author for this gem.

Interesting Topic, but Terrible Execution.

Would you try another book from David M. Ewalt and/or David M. Ewalt and Mikael Naramore ?

Never. I really found the narrator annoying. He completely missed the bus on what could have been an interesting history of Dungeons & Dragons. His story is not interesting, yet he seemed to decide his personal D&D history should be the primary focus. Seriously, there are long stretches of the author explaining how he named his characters when he was a kid and a chapter describing a weekend retreat that was only vaguely related to D&D (LARP). Spent most of the book just shaking my head, trying to figure out if this was a self published blog excerpt.

What could David M. Ewalt have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Done some research beyond Wikipedia, maybe realize that the journey of a novice D&D player to a somewhat less novice D&D player wasn't that interesting. Possibly not have an arrogant sounding narrator constantly interrupt the story with a completely unnecessary old lore exposition. Maybe not end compete sections with snarky, unfunny jokes (example: it's not the size of the sword, octopuses are cool, etc.). Really the book just rubbed me the wrong way start to finish. Needed an editor to step in and add some focus to the story. Spoiler: Near the end he gets a chance to play with various co-creators of the game, and in each instance comes off as unimpressed by them, yet marvels at the old yellow tape on a ping pong table. I typically don't write reviews and read dozens of books each year, but this book was terrible.

Would you be willing to try another one of David M. Ewalt and Mikael Naramore ’s performances?

No

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It won't -- don't worry.

Any additional comments?

Let me know if anyone finds an interesting book on this subject. It sounds fascinating.

Loved when he described the break up of the two founders, and just glossed over the reason explaining, "no one seems to know". Seemed like he tried real hard to get to the bottom of that.

Perhaps with a professional reader

As a fan, adjacent fan, of DnD I was pretty thrilled to see this book and to get it on sale, but even on sale I am returning it.

I agree with a previous few reviews that the author, who frequently cites his Forbes Editor status, has the material for an article. He might even have the material for a long-form article a la Jason Schreier from Kotaku. But what he does not have is a book's worth. His meanders, slow contemplations and excruciating detail over the wrong things - five different prices for handpainted figurines - turn what should have been fascinating and a guilty pleasure into a long arduous slog. He talks about the battle of Waterloo, and this feels like it.

Perhaps with a different reader it could have been better, but there too I found the book just exhausting. He speaks with a slow, languorous tone that makes it sound almost like he's dragging out his class presentation to fit the time required. I usually love when authors read their own work but I do not think he was up to it.

I did not like this book, that is nobody's fault, but if you're interested in seeing a similar project executed really well check out Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier.

bravo

I LOVED this. it was a pleasure to read and mirrored do much of my own personal experiences. This was the perfect mix of history, personal storytelling, and dramatic performance. great book, great concept, executed very well, +4 to entertain.

I'm motivated to pick up my dice again and teach my children the game!

Amazingly insightful and an enjoyable read!

I would reccomend this for anyone interested in D&D fans and non-fans alike, simply for the history and storytelling.

Educational & Fun!

As a newbie to the RP-scene, this book provided me a great background on the origins and evolution, or variations, of RP and tabletop gaming.

The narrator was also funny and very engaging. I looked forward to hearing what exciting story he was going to share as I progressed through the book.

All in all, very much worth it. You don't get bogged down by details and have fun learning about RP tabletop gaming. :)

Fun and informative

Wonderful playthrough, a very unique delivery with great information, a must if you love fantasy rpgs