History of Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons Creator Gary Gygax was born on July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois. The son of German immigrants, he began playing games at the age five, starting with card games and then chess. First taught to play by his mother, his discovery of fantasy and science fiction through the works of pulp author, such as Jack Vance and Robert E. Howard, would ignite in him twin obsessions that have defined his life from that point onward -- fantasy and gaming. Those loves would eventually combine in the creation of Dungeons & Dragons, the father of role-playing games.

Gygax and Don Kaye, later joined by Blume and Arneson, formed their own company in 1973 which they named Tactical Studies Rules, after a local gaming club called the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association. This company was formed to market the "fantasy war game to be played with paper and pencil" that they renamed Dungeons & Dragons (after a suggestion by Gygax's wife, Mary).

The game first appeared at the 1973 EasterCon, had a limited availability throughout 1973, and the first print run of 1,000 copies was officially released (in a white box) in January of 1974. It sold out within the year. The game consisted of three booklets: Men and Magic, Monsters and Treasure, and Wilderness & Dungeon Adventures. It was also recommended that owners get a copy of Chainmail as well as the Avalon Hill game, Outdoor Survival.

There were three classes: Fighting Man, Magic-User, and Cleric. The terms were intentionally vague and much research was done to prevent putting anything into the game that actually resembled real-world magic systems. The authors eventually decided to base the game's magic system on the fantasy writings of Jack Vance. There were also four different races: human, dwarf, hobbit, and elf. Objections and legal complaints from the Tolkien estate caused the "hobbit" race to be changed to the "halfling" race later.

When the game started getting somewhat popular after the first year or so, they decided to publish some of the details of their own campaigns along with some expansion rules for the game. This product was the original Greyhawk . It introduced the Thief character class and had notes on magic, monsters, and more. The realm of Greyhawk maintains a large Fan Club Then they published Blackmoor, which introduced the Monk and Assassin classes and included the very first module: Temple of the Frog. Then came Eldritch Wizardry, which introduced the Druid class and psionics. The last book of this series was Gods, Demigods, and Heroes, which listed several pantheons for use with the game.

In 1975, Arneson and Gygax parted ways, and Don Kaye had a fatal heart attack. Kaye's wife decided, along with Gygax and Blume, to break up the company. Gygax and Blume went on to create TSR Hobbies, Inc. later that year.

At this point, the game was comprised of many rules spread throughout numerous books, supplements, and magazines. In addition, Gygax had amassed a pile of campaign notes and new rules that he wished to add to the game. It was decided that a new edition of the game should be released, but instead of calling it a second edition and discontinuing the first, TSR launched Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This expanded and updated version commenced with the release of the Monster Manual in 1977. It was followed in 1978 by the Player's Handbook and in 1979 by the Dungeon Master's Guide. In 1997, Wizards of the Coast, Inc., publishers of the wildly popular Magic: The Gathering® trading card game, acquired TSR. In 2000, Wizards of the Coast published the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the wholly reworked successor to 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Basic Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons - Timeline