Game Wizards

The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons

De: Jon Peterson

Narrado por: Chris Andrew Ciulla

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. As the game's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Peterson—a noted authority on role-playing games—explains how D&D and its creators navigated their successes, setbacks, and controversies.

Peterson describes Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release of the game; the founding of TSR and its growth as a company; and Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR. He recounts the "Satanic Panic" accusations that D&D was sacrilegious and dangerous, and how they made the game famous.

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.

©2021 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2022 Tantor

more good stuff from Peterson

I've read/listened to several books covering the history of DnD. This is the first where I felt that I came away with a good sense of the personalities of the primary 'players' involved. While history is often rather dry, based simply on what can be proven from papertrails, Peterson has taken the time to interview people and look at the correspondence and interactions to get a sense of what the actual relationships may have been. Of course, nobody paints themselves as the 'bad guy' and I think Peterson has done a fine job of navigating the choppy seas of interpersonal relationships to give the reader an idea what the personal dynamics were like.

Like many other stories of ventures taken up with goodwill and trust, TSR struggled to make the transition to a serious business. The story is a great insight into what American culture was like back then as well. Having lived through it myself, I sometimes forget how difficult times could be and what a 'wild west' the business culture was like. This book is a great window into a nascent subculture that would go on to be a dominant force in pop culture decades later.

Nerd cred boost

After listening to this, you'll be the ultimate D&D historian at your table. Impress your friends with your knowledge of the game's origins.

How mismanagement changes the game forever

This was an amazing listen on my long car rides. Gygax and Arneson chanced upon a meteoric phenomena that only Gygax and the Blume brothers got to ride till the end of 1985 when through years of unrestrained spending, nepotism, and mismanagement by the three presidents almost drove TSR to bankruptcy. They brought in corporate consultants to right the ship but it was too late by then, and between the Blumes mismanagement and Gygax’s dereliction of administrative duties and extravagant spending, the corporate outsiders took control of the company to save it, expelling Gygax and the Blumes in the process.

I think this story is really important if nothing else but for the push back against Gygax’s prevailing narrative that he was ambushed and forced out by his enemies, when clearly if on the cusp of their incredible success they had sought out experienced executives to help steer the course, the history of TSR and D&D would have been very different. Or not, it doesn’t matter at this point.

This was a fascinating account of the history of the TSR and any fan of D&D interested in such history should immediately get this book and read it.

Nice and grounded

if you are like me and you have read several books on TSR and the development of D&D this serves as good look on the financial aspect of the TSR story and for once doesn't strive to heap excessive praise on Gygax, like he was just a guy and he had success and failures

The real inside scoop

This was well written and beautifully narrated. I thoroughly enjoyed this deeper look into the somewhat untold history of D&D. Would highly recommend!!