PLAYING at the WORLD Unreason Press, Box 90656, San Diego, CA 92109 © 2012 by Unreason Press LLC All rights reserved. Published 2012. Printed in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN: 978-0615642048 (cloth) Figure 8 appears by permission of Don Perrin. Figure 15 appears courtesy of Robert E. Howard Properties. Figure 23 appears by special permission of the City of Bayeux. Figure 25 is © The Trustees of the British Museum. Figure 26 appears courtesy of the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Figure 37 appears by permission of John Curry. Figure 38 appears by permission of Getty Images, Time & Life Pictures, Leonard McCombe. Figure 42 appears by permission of Mike Mornard. Figure 49 appears by permission of the Gygax Estate. Figure 52 appears by permission of the Philip A. Harrington Estate. Figure 54 appears courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. Figure 57 appears by permission of Caliver Books. Figure 64 appears by permission of Flying Buffalo;; Tunnels & Trolls is a trademark of Flying Buffalo, Inc. www.flyingbuffalo.com. Figure 24 is ©1973 Conan Properties International LLC. CONAN and related logos, names, characters and distinctive likeness thereof are trademarks and copyrights of Conan Properties International LLC. All rights reserved. Figures 18, 22 and 59 appear by permission of Marvel Worldwide. Doctor Strange, the Mighty Thor and all other Marvel characters: TM & ©2012 Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Figures 20 and 47 appear courtesy of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Ashley 2468, f.1;; Harley 3244, f.59. Figure 29 appears courtesy of the House of Hohenzollern, HRH Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia, SPSG. Photographer: Roman März. Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards LLC, a division of the Hasbro Corporation. 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Back cover: Detail of Beschreibung und Regeln eines neuen Krieges-Spiels zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, besonders aber zum Gebrauche in Militairschulen (1797) CONTENTS Figures ............................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... xxi Chapter One: A Prelude to Adventure (1964 1974).................................................................... 1 1.1 The Rise of Wargaming Clubs............................................................................................... 5 1.2 Miniature Wargaming ........................................................................................................... 14 1.3 The Medieval Setting ............................................................................................................ 20 1.4 The Castle & Crusade Society ............................................................................................. 27 1.5 Amateur Attempts and Guidon Games............................................................................. 34 1.6 Chainmail and Fantasy Wargaming...................................................................................... 41 .................................................................................... 47 1.8 The Fall of the IFW .............................................................................................................. 53 1.9 The Return of the Referee ................................................................................................... 58 1.10 Blackmoor ............................................................................................................................ 64 1.11 The Fantasy Game .............................................................................................................. 72 1.12 Startled by the New............................................................................................................. 79 Chapter Two: Setting The Medieval Fantasy Genre ............................................................... 81 2.1 The Evolution of Fantasy .................................................................................................... 83 2.1.1 Fantasy as Popular Adventure Fiction ....................................................................... 84 ......................................................................... 90 2.1.3 Fantasy after the Pulps................................................................................................100 2.2 War and its Opponents ......................................................................................................109 2.3 The Influence of Tolkien ...................................................................................................116 2.4 The Visitation Theme .........................................................................................................121 2.5 On Dungeons and On Dragons .......................................................................................128 2.5.1 Mazes with Monsters ..................................................................................................129 2.5.2 Draco HorribilIs ..............................................................................................................134 2.6 Fantastic People and Creatures .........................................................................................140 2.7 Classes ...................................................................................................................................157 2.7.1 Fighting-men ................................................................................................................158 2.7.2 Magic-users ...................................................................................................................162 2.7.3 Clerics ............................................................................................................................172 vi 2.8 Alignment and Parties ........................................................................................................ 179 2.9 Economics and Equipment............................................................................................... 187 2.9.1 Conventional Equipment........................................................................................... 192 2.9.2 Magic Items.................................................................................................................. 194 2.10 Beyond Dungeons and Beyond Dragons ..................................................................... 200 Chapter Three: System The Rules of the Game.................................................................... 203 3.1 A History of Wargames ..................................................................................................... 204 3.1.1 Games of War Before 1780....................................................................................... 205 3.1.2 The Brunswick Gamers (1780 1811) ...................................................................... 212 3.1.3 Reiswitz, Father and Son (1811 1824) .................................................................... 221 3.1.4 The Kriegsspiel Vogue (1824 1881)........................................................................ 237 3.1.5 Toy Soldiery (1881 1914) .......................................................................................... 251 3.1.6 Wargaming and the World Wars (1914 1945) ....................................................... 270 3.1.7 The Civilian Revolution (1945 1968) ...................................................................... 283 3.2 System in Dungeons & Dragons........................................................................................... 303 3.2.1 The Instruments of Play............................................................................................. 304 3.2.2 Avoiding Death: Hit Points, Armor Class and Saving Throws ........................... 320 3.2.3 Stratified Progression.................................................................................................. 341 3.2.4. Individuation, Personality and Requisites .............................................................. 359 Chapter Four: Character Roles and Immersion .................................................................... 373 4.1 Coalitions at RAND and in Diplomacy ............................................................................. 376 .................................................................................. 386 ................................................................................................................... 387 4.2.2 The Mariposan Empire .............................................................................................. 391 4.3 Personalities by Post........................................................................................................... 400 4.4 Improvisation and Anachronism...................................................................................... 413 4.5 Hyboria and the Campaign as Story ................................................................................ 425 4.5.1 Dramatizing Games .................................................................................................... 427 4.5.2 Characters Run Amok ................................................................................................ 433 4.6 The Midgard Phenomenon ............................................................................................... 441 4.6.1 Midgard in the United Kingdom .............................................................................. 445 4.6.2 Midgard II and Beyond .............................................................................................. 449 4.7 Characters and Role-Playing ............................................................................................. 455 Chapter Five: The Dawn of Role-Playing (1974 1977) .......................................................... 459 vii 5.1 Finding an Audience ...........................................................................................................459 5.2 Selling the Story ...................................................................................................................464 5.3 Converting the Wargamers ................................................................................................474 5.4 Dungeons & Dragons in Los Angeles Fandom ..................................................................487 5.5 The Seeds of Success ..........................................................................................................494 5.6 Alarming Excursions...........................................................................................................509 5.7 The Summer Conventions of 1975 ..................................................................................522 5.8 The Bully Pulpit of Lake Geneva......................................................................................535 5.9 Canonicity and Control ......................................................................................................550 5.9.1 The Copyright on Dungeons & Dragons.....................................................................551 5.9.2 License to Compete.....................................................................................................557 5.9.3 Parting of the Ways .....................................................................................................571 5.10 D&D among the RPGs....................................................................................................573 Epilogue: Role-Playing and Reality..............................................................................................595 Popular Magic.............................................................................................................................597 Programmable Dungeons.........................................................................................................605 The First Virtual Worlds...........................................................................................................616 Selected Bibliography.....................................................................................................................633 Game Zine Index.......................................................................................................................633 Other Game Zines Mentioned............................................................................................638 SF Zines.......................................................................................................................................639 Distributions ..........................................................................................................................639 FanZines .................................................................................................................................640 Game Citations...........................................................................................................................641 Fiction..........................................................................................................................................646 Prozines...................................................................................................................................647 Books.......................................................................................................................................647 Comic Books..........................................................................................................................651 Further Reading..........................................................................................................................651 Index.................................................................................................................................................659 viii FIGURES Figure 1: Dungeons & Dragons, first edition......................................................................................1 Figure 2: Tactics (1954) board, with pieces ......................................................................................3 Figure 3: Gygax's First "Opponents Wanted" Advertisement ....................................................9 ......................................................................12 Figure 5: Wargaming in Wesely's basement..................................................................................19 Figure 6: Elastolin castle from The Siege of Bodenburg ...................................................................21 Figure 7: Map of the Great Kingdom [DB:#9] ...........................................................................31 Figure 8: Don Lowry (R) in 1973...................................................................................................36 Figure 9: First edition Chainmail......................................................................................................41 Figure 10: International Wargamer, featuring Don't Give up the ship ...............................................51 Figure 11: Strategos N (1970)............................................................................................................59 Figure 12: Arneson's map of Blackmoor [DB:#12] ....................................................................66 Figure 13: TSR's Gygyax/Kaye "GK" Logo ................................................................................80 Figure 14: Pulps (L to R) from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s ......................................................91 Figure 15: Howard (R) enacting "Spear & Fang" ........................................................................94 Figure 16: Arkham and Gnome editions of Leiber and Howard........................................... 102 Figure 17: Ace Books editions of the Lord of the Rings ............................................................. 106 Figure 18: Panel from Strange Tales #167 that inspired the D&D cover .............................. 109 Figure 19: Bill Speer (2nd from L) and Scott Duncan (R) [AHG:v4n3]............................... 110 Figure 20: Dragon from a medieval bestiary (MS Harley 3244)............................................. 137 Figure 21: Manticore from Topsell (1607)................................................................................. 154 Figure 22: Lightning bolts cast by Thor (Journey into Mystery #93) ......................................... 168 Figure 23: Bishop Odo in the Bayeux Tapestry, eleventh century ........................................ 174 Figure 24: A life-stealing mirror, from Conan the Barbarian #25 ............................................. 199 Figure 25: A Roman icosahedral die, first century CE............................................................. 206 Figure 26: Weickhmann's four-and six-player Königs-spiel boards ......................................... 211 Figure 27: Pieces from Hellwig's 1803 Kriegsspiel ...................................................................... 215 Figure 28: Venturini's Wargame Map (1797)............................................................................. 219 Figure 29: Reiswitz Taktisches Kriegs-Spiel (1812).................................................................. 225 Figure 30: Illustration of two die faces, from Reiswitz's Anleitung (1824) ............................ 236 Figure 31: Combat table from Baring's translation of Tschischwitz ..................................... 242 Figure 32: Heinrichsen flats, early twentieth century ............................................................... 253 Figure 33: Map from Stevenson's campaign.............................................................................. 258 Figure 34: A Britains 4.7 Naval gun............................................................................................ 262 Figure 35: Early players in Little Wars......................................................................................... 266 Figure 36: Bel Geddes playing his wargame .............................................................................. 278 Figure 37: A female gamer in Pratt's rulebook.......................................................................... 282 Figure 38: Hexagonal wargame board at RAND...................................................................... 286 Figure 39: The Tactics Combat Results Table ............................................................................ 288 Figure 40: Game Pieces from Tactics (L) and Tactics II (R) ...................................................... 290 Figure 41: Jack Scruby (L) and Homer Delabar (R)................................................................. 295 Figure 42: Dungeon map from Greyhawk, drawn by Mornard ............................................. 305 Figure 43: Polyhedral dice from the Basic Set............................................................................. 312 Figure 44: Chainmail "Man-to-Man Melee Table"..................................................................... 326 ix Figure 45: Blackmoor "Wizard Gaylord" Character Sheet ......................................................367 Figure 46: Diplomacy board (1959)................................................................................................384 Figure 47: Map of Angria by Branwell Brontë...........................................................................389 .......................................397 Figure 49: Postal Diplomacy propaganda by Gygax [LD:#12]..................................................406 Figure 50: In-character Napoleonic Campaign letter from Gygax.........................................410 Figure 51: Illustration by Bobek of Diplomacy participants [LD:#3] ......................................413 Figure 52: Tony Bath .....................................................................................................................426 Figure 53: Four game newsletters, from Coventry, Midgard, Hyboria and Ruritania.........437 Figure 54: Minneapa #42 cover .....................................................................................................462 Figure 55: Early TSR flyer.............................................................................................................465 Figure 56: Gygax at GenCon VII (1974)....................................................................................475 Figure 57: MiniFigs "Mythical Earth" series ..............................................................................476 Figure 58: TSR Royalty Agreement (1975) with Gygax and Arneson ...................................497 Figure 59: Doctor Strange casts "Mirror Image" ......................................................................504 Figure 60: Early Alarums & Excursions........................................................................................511 Figure 61: Gygax (top center) running D&D at Origins I (1975)..........................................528 Figure 62: The Horticultural Hall, Lake Geneva.......................................................................531 Figure 63: The four Dungeons & Dragons supplements .............................................................545 Figure 64: Advertisement for Tunnels & Trolls as an RPG.......................................................556 Figure 65: Gygax D&D tutorial at Origins II (1976) ...............................................................563 Figure 66: Metamorphosis Alpha marketed as an