
Game Wizards
The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Chris Andrew Ciulla
-
By:
-
Jon Peterson
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. As the game's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Peterson—a noted authority on role-playing games—explains how D&D and its creators navigated their successes, setbacks, and controversies.
Peterson describes Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release of the game; the founding of TSR and its growth as a company; and Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR. He recounts the "Satanic Panic" accusations that D&D was sacrilegious and dangerous, and how they made the game famous.
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.
©2021 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...













Nerd cred boost
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like many other stories of ventures taken up with goodwill and trust, TSR struggled to make the transition to a serious business. The story is a great insight into what American culture was like back then as well. Having lived through it myself, I sometimes forget how difficult times could be and what a 'wild west' the business culture was like. This book is a great window into a nascent subculture that would go on to be a dominant force in pop culture decades later.
more good stuff from Peterson
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I think this story is really important if nothing else but for the push back against Gygax’s prevailing narrative that he was ambushed and forced out by his enemies, when clearly if on the cusp of their incredible success they had sought out experienced executives to help steer the course, the history of TSR and D&D would have been very different. Or not, it doesn’t matter at this point.
This was a fascinating account of the history of the TSR and any fan of D&D interested in such history should immediately get this book and read it.
How mismanagement changes the game forever
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nice and grounded
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The real inside scoop
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
excellent in depth detailing of the history G&D
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A book well written
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A true history of TSR
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very Repetitive
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Awesome Book Ruined By A Bizarrely Bad Narration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.