Aug 172014
 

The recent reblog about Gary Gygax got me to thinking about my personal history with Dungeons & Dragons. I guess this is where Moby’s inner nerd shines through, and unless your really interested in D&D this is not likely to be very interesting. At all.

dndbookslong

Moby learned to play ‘Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ years and years ago with a bunch of acquaintances who were of course a bit older than I was. Just for fun I pulled out all the old books for a picture, those are my actual books above. Sure they can be replaced; I looked on amazon and you can get about any book you need, in used condition, for under $10 (including shipping), but these are the very books I have had for about 20 years now. They are the D&D version I learned (first edition), so of course they are the version that is best and all others suck. So there.

Then there are two other ‘books’, stuff I put together myself to help expand the choices available to the players. More races, a few more classes, and so on. Continue reading »

Aug 082014
 

GygaxThe Ambush at Sheridan Springs:

How Gary Gygax Lost Control of Dungeons & Dragons

by Jon Peterson (via Medium.com)

In the fall of 1985, Gary Gygax was the most famous and powerful figure in hobby gaming. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of TSR, Inc., the company that published Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax had personally directed the development of the game for the last decade, most recently producing new titles for its Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line: earlier in 1985, he was the lead on Unearthed Arcana, and in the fall they were putting the finishing touches on his Oriental Adventures. He had been featured inPeople magazine, and appeared on national television. His name and his game seemed inseparable.

Such an interesting article, I suggest you read the whole thing.

We have now had forty years of Dungeons & Dragons, and Gary Gygax was the man who started it all. Moby is no expert at the game, and not it’s biggest fan or anything like that. But this story is about more than just about D&D.

playingathteworldThe newer generations of players are now playing versions of the game merely derived from that created and controlled by it’s creator and this article tells us how that happened, and does so in great detail. The history of the game itself defines it’s future.

D&D fans should also check out Peterson’s blog, Playing the World for plenty more on this. Or you could just read his book.

I think I will do a follow up post to this, about my own experience as a Dungeon Master and player. Might be fun.

Subscribe to the Moby’s! Media Newsletter

We have several comic book projects in the works, and this newsletter will be the best way to keep up with all of them.