D&D: 1970-76

I'll be posting a rough timeline soon, providing an easy way to visualize the chronological skeleton this blog will flesh out over coming months. That post will grow as additional details, hyperlinks, etc. are added and eventually serve (I hope) as an extended outline/overview of my work here. For now, though, I want simply to illustrate my reasoning for grouping events as I have.

Narrative histories, chronologies, and timelines assume a specific logic or theory of how and why events unfold in a certain way. "Bias" of that sort is an inevitable part of re/presenting history and is only an issue when we fail to foreground it as clearly as possible. The key is to validate the operative (i.e. informing) principle in such a way that others can accept its utility, even if they themselves would re/present and, therefore, explain events differently.

With the events surrounding Basic-Expert D&D's lifespan (1981-83), my approach is to conceive of a series of waves, with intervening transitional periods, that represent the game's cumulative momentum as it gained traction in both the marketplace and the culture at large. Other models can and do apply to the same history, but I'm confident a brief review of dates and developments will prove my approach workable for present purposes. [1] I'll leave it to readers to determine any wider value it may have.

Transitional Period A (1970-71)

Jeff Perren, Gary Gygax, and others begin presenting various simulation rules (medieval miniatures, jousting, etc.) in the Castle & Crusade Society's Domesday Book -- issues 5-7 are of particular importance. All things being equal, those first articles represent the formal movement from 1960s-style wargaming toward what would become D&D-style roleplaying. The two approaches are not disjunctive, but they're sufficiently different to merit juxtaposition.

1ST Wave (1971-76)

In Aug 1971, Gygax and Perren publish Chainmail Rules for Medieval Miniatures through Don Lowry's Guidon Games. Contrary to some reports, the "Fantasy Supplement" that partly inspires Dave Arneson's Black Moor (later Blackmoor) campaign is present in the first edition.

As the rules circulate, additions and changes appear in Domesday Book and International Wargamer in late 1971 and early 1972. Those modifications are incorporated into the 2e Chainmail Rules in Jul 1972.

That same month, Arneson's "Facts About Black Moor" appears in Domesday Book #13, providing the first published account and map of his home campaign. (Gygax's Greyhawk campaign is also developing.) In late autumn 1972, Gygax and Arneson begin collaboration on what will become the 1974 Dungeons & Dragons set (OD&D) -- first published by Gygax, Don Kaye, and Brian Blume's Tactical Studies Rules (later TSR Hobbies, Inc.). [2]

Reports from Gygax and others indicate that, as news of the game spreads, the first 2,000 copies of D&D sell out in about seventeen months. Kaye suffers a fatal heart attack on Jan 31, 1975, but TSR continues to publish games, including top-selling D&D. [3] The company also launches its Strategic Review newsletter with a cover date of Spr 1975 -- issue 2 (Sum 1975) includes an "in memoriam" for Kaye.

Between Feb 1975 and Jul 1976, four supplements as well as miniatures rules are published for D&D, simultaneously expanding and retrofitting the game system. Additional material is also appearing in Strategic Review. [4]

• Supplement I: Greyhawk (Feb 1975)

• Supplement II: Blackmoor (Sep 1975)

• Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (Apr 1976)

• Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes (Jul 1976)

• Swords & Spells (Jul 1976)

Chainmail 3e is released by TSR in early 1975 -- the later Jul 1975 printing would sport a slick silver cover and plastic-spiral binding. In Dec 1975, D&D's first product redesign is implemented, with the OD&D box shifting from tan and woodgrain to all white. [5]

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Notes

[1] I'll present additional details as I move into more granular analyses of specific products, trends, etc. See also, among others, The Acaeum, Tome of Treasures, Jon Peterson's Playing at the World (Unreason P, 2012), and David Ewalt's forthcoming Of Dice and Men (Scribner, 2013).

[2] Original D&D relied, in part, on Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival (1972) as well as Chainmail. Those dependencies, not to mention the later 1975-76 supplements, illustrate how central tinkering ("homebrewing") was to the game's early evolution.

[3] Other first-wave TSR RPGs include Warriors of Mars (1974), Boot Hill (1e, 1975), and Metamorphosis Alpha (1e, 1976).

[4] Beyond Gygax and Arneson, early designers/editors include Blume, Timothy Kask, Robert Kuntz, Steve Marsh, and James Ward. Among the artists are Greg Bell, Gary Kwapisz, Tracy Lesch, and David Sutherland.

[5] Such changes in trade dress figure as prominent signposts for tracking D&D's continuing development and success and will play a central role in my analyses.