“The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” is not a book; it is a two-pound tome. This is not a dissection or a deep explication of the early years of Dungeons and Dragons. It is the original texts, some of which have never been published before, laid out in an 8 inch by 11-inch book that happens to be two inches thick!
I took a picture with three 28 mm miniatures for scale. The book or tome presents everything in a very artistic way while showing some of the early, and in comparison to later iterations, relatively artless first editions of Dungeons and Dragons.
Wizards of the Coast sent “The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” for Game Industry News to review. I was excited to see that the author Jon Peterson was involved. I’ve read his books and follow his erudite gaming blog. Jon Peterson is best known for his study of the mechanics and history of gaming, especially with tabletop role-playing games and wargames. His groundbreaking book, “Playing at the World” and his contribution to Michael Witwer’s “Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History” are spot on.
I would describe this book as a small batch combination of “Playing at the World” and “Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History” in a big batch format. At the beginning of each chapter of “The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977,” Peterson gives a short bit of history and context. This is always labeled as Curation and Commentary rather than listing Peterson as the author or historian. This makes sense as Peterson acts like a curator at a museum showing the reader an exhibit rather than a historian giving you their studied perspective.
Peterson wrote a book called “Game Wizards” on the early collaboration and later clashes, both creatively and legally, between Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the creators of Dungeons and Dragons. “The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” stops right before the legal acrimony between these cocreators, when the next edition of Dungeon and Dragons released called Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. So much of the conflict and the insight about it is beyond the scope of the book.
Peterson does mention some smaller disappointments as he quotes Arneson saying, “All editing on the final draft was done in Lake Geneva, and I did not see it before it went to press. It was very much a case of me providing various ideas and concepts but not having any say in how they were used.”
“The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” does not shy away from the clashes with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and use of contemporary religious ideas. The last book of the original Dungeons and Dragons (often referred to as 1E D and D) “Gods, Demigods and Heroes” uses hobbits, ents, balrogs and deities from the Hindu religion as playable characters, NPCs and monsters respectively. Tolkien’s legal interests brought court action and the hobbits became halflings, ents turned into Treants and Balrogs were now Balor, but Hindu gods were still given with hit points and stat blocks.
The next version of D and D was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2E D and D), and the book stops right before this time. The years that the book concentrates on, 1970 to 1977, has the original typed manuscript with scribbled in corrections of the first Dungeons and Dragons books. It uses high resolution images to show it in detail as if you had the original texts in your hands.
This book also gives the same treatment to the original box set that contained three pamphlet sized books, which were 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches. This time the high-resolution images are on an 8.5 inch by 11-inch page. That is nearly twice the size of what the original books were. Again, Peterson gives some description and context.
“The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” is divided into four sections, each with its own ribbon bookmark. These bookmarks are red, blue, yellow and green, and they match the colors of each section’s border.
The first section is Part 1: Precursors: This section shows the correspondence between Arneson, Gygax and the other members of their gaming group. The fanzine culture and hothouse incubation of what would later be the worldwide phenomenon is lovingly reproduced.
The second section, Part 2: The 1973 Draft of Dungeons and Dragons: This section is all about just that, the draft. It shows a way to use miniatures to run a medieval wargame, with the innovative twist of making these miniatures into characters a player could roleplay. The dichotomy of the latter “theater of the mind” that later editions talk about, where no miniatures are used is not even contemplated.
Part 3: Original Dungeons and Dragons: This is the whole box set of the first three booklets. Like I mentioned earlier, these are done in high resolution, photograph quality. It is like a scholarly book you would buy at a museum that shows original manuscripts of the Middle Ages. The original three alignments of Lawful, Neutral and Chaos are shown. The later added on Good and Evil alignments will wait for the next editions.
Part 4: Articles and Additions: This last section shows some pen and paper rough drafts and notes along with page by page, photograph-quality prints, of the 50 plus page supplements Greyhawk and Blackmoor.
“The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons 1970-1977” is a museum piece of high quality. This is for a collector who wants the original works of Dungeon and Dragons rather than an explanation of them. It shows both the creativity and the chauvinism of its time. Someone who wants an in-depth insight into the creators or the times themselves will need to get another book.
This book would be a great gift for a collector or a scholar. This is not for the fan who wants a new adventure or a rulebook. As part of the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, this tome details the first seven years of publications. It shows how a medieval, miniatures based wargame made the incredible leap from wargaming to roleplaying.