Game Wizards

The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons

Jon Peterson

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Paperback

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English

MIT Press
05 January 2022

Role-playing, war games & fantasy sports; Game Worlds

Series: Game Histories

The story of the arcane table-top game that became a pop culture phenomenon and the long-running legal battle waged by its cocreators.

Discover the colorful history of the table-top RPG phenomenon, Dungeons & Dragons, as a D&D expert examines its surprising successes, setbacks, and controversies.

""The battle over Dungeons & Dragons was the ultimate geek war."" -Wired

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. Inside you'll learn about-

. Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release .

The founding of TSR and its growth as a company .

Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR .""Satanic Panic"" accusations that plagued D&D-and boosted its popularity .TSR's reckless expansion and near-fatal corporate infighting .

And much more!

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.

By: Jon Peterson
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 368g
ISBN: 9780262542951
ISBN 10: 0262542951
Series: Game Histories
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 05 January 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jon Peterson, a leading expert on Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing games, is the author of Playing at the World, Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana (a Hugo Award finalist), the New York Times bestseller Heroes' Feast, and The Elusive Shift- How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity (MIT Press).

Reviews for Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons

The battle Over Dungeons & Dragons was the ultimate geek war. -Wired In Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons, historian Jon Peterson hopes to lay to rest the rumors and speculation that have plagued the early history of D&D. At the center of this new book is the feud between co-creators Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. His work relies on a treasure trove of firsthand interviews and primary documentation, as well as remnants from the lost archives of D&D's original publisher, TSR. -Polygon A deep dive into a significant controversy in the gaming world: who deserves credit for the meteoric rise of Dungeons & Dragons and blame for the subsequent avalanche of public spats, lawsuits, and business bungling...A good dungeon crawl... treasures abound for experienced adventurers. -Kirkus Reviews 'Jon Peterson's Game Wizards is an in-depth history - and I really do mean in-depth - of the creation of Dungeons and Dragons and in particular the ugly struggle for control of TSR. It's vivid and incredibly well-researched, although this particular niche is... well, it's very niche.' -Tim Harford Game Wizards makes a fascinating reading. We have never, ever seen such a level of detail and documentation regarding the inner workings of TSR down to board meetings and executives' plans and ideas. The book shines a really strong light on the 'secret history' of the company -Dungeon Master Magazine