Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons - Paperback

by Jon Peterson (Author)

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.

Author Biography

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).