Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D

Posted on 17 April 2017 by David Kushner

Rise of the Dungeon Master tells, in graphic form, the story of Gary Gygax, co creator of Dungeons Dragons, one of the most influential games ever made Like the game itself, the narrative casts the reader into the adventure from a first person point of view, taking on the roles of the different characters in the story.Gygax was the son of immigrants who grew up in Lake Geneva, WI, in the 1950s An imaginative misfit, he escaped into a virtual world based on science fiction novels, military history and strategic games like chess In the mid 1970s, he co created the wildly popular Dungeons Dragons game, determining the rules and inventing the signature 20 sided dice Starting out in the basement of his home, he was soon struggling to keep up with the demand Gygax was a purist, in the sense that he was adamant that players use their imaginations and that the rules of the game remain flexible A creative mind with no real knowledge of business, he made some strategic errors and had a falling out with the game s co creator, his close friend and partner, David Arneson By the late 1970s the game had become so popular among kids that parents started to worry so much so that a mom s group was formed to alert parents to the dangers of role play and fantasy The backlash only fueled the fires of the young fans who continued to play the game, escaping into imaginary worlds Before long, DD conventions were set up around the country and the game inspired everything from movies to the first video games With DD, Gygax created the kind of role playing fantasy that would fuel the multibillion dollar video game industry, and become a foundation of contemporary geek culture. Read Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D By David Kushner – kino-fada.fr Despite the name, this is not a biography of Gary Gygax Instead, it s look at the history of the DD game, that gives some strong attention to Dave Arneson as well.The artwork is attractive and often clearly references DD art The writing is also evocative, in its second person, You are playing style.Unfortunately, the history leaves a lot to be desired To start with, the author just doesn t seem to have a great handle on what he s writing about For example, when he talks about oth Despite the name, this is not a biography of Gary Gygax Instead, it s look at the history of the DD game, that gives some strong attention to Dave Arneson as well.The artwork is attractive and often clearly references DD art The writing is also evocative, in its second person, You are playing style.Unfortunately, the history leaves a lot to be desired To start with, the author just doesn t seem to have a great handle on what he s writing about For example, when he talks about other games eating into DD s market share which didn t really happen , he lists a fairly random assortment of publishers Hero Games, Steve Jackson Games, and White Wolf Games Or when he talks about DD modules, he fairly randomly depicts The Village of Hommlet , which was the ninth, for no particular reason.More frustratingly, the book is riddled with problems Most of it is inappropriate chronology where the author gets things out of order I m not sure if he has his facts wrong, if he ...Interesting enough for me to read in a sitting I learned some stuff.Edit I did like the info on how Gygax dropped out of school, liked exploring tunnels under the local empty sanatorium, and came to the conclusion that the universe must ve been intelligently created near the end of his life I didn t like the bits where founders would fight, take credit, all the usual shenanigans of once friends now business enemies Boo I thought the little interlude about the public perception of DD an Interesting enough for me to read in a sitting I learned some stuff.Edit I did like the info on how Gygax dropped out of school, liked exploring tunnels under the local empty sanatorium, and came to the conclusion that the universe must ve been intelligently c...This is a really good, brief primer on what DD is and how it came about It s definitelya biography of the game than the guy.I think I d be willing to take a deeper dive on this one, provided there sinteresting details to explore I m not totally sure that there is Gygax seemed like a nice guy and interesting, butI don t know that his life up to the point of creating DD is super atypical or incident filled What s interesting is there s another dude involved in the crea This is a really good, brief primer on what DD is and how it came about It s definitelya biography of the game than the guy.I think I d be willing to take a deeper dive on this one, provided there sinteresting details to explore I m not totally sure that there is Gygax seemed like a nice guy and interesting, butI don t know that his life up to the point of creating DD is super atypical or incident filled What s interesting is there s another dude involved in the creation of DD, and he gets play in the book, but the relationship between the two creators was strained, and there are issues surrounding how much credit each deserves This is such a classic situation Stan and Jack, Jobs and Woz It seems like you can t get a couple of dorks together to make a thing without this hap...This book was cute I appreciated the story the draw for people to learn what DD is exactly the details from the creators lives The story at times was a bit repetitive and written in an unusual first person style that I was not super fond of, but overall it s a short read worth reading.This one is a solid 3.5, but I gave away that half star because of sentimental reasons I have been an RPG gamer forthan 20 years and this deals with the history of one of my favorite hobbies also, the production is simply amazing, with matte paper which makes the greys pop out and is a treat to feel with one s fingers.HOWEVER there are narrative faults, most of which are conscious choices and not mistakes the constant shift in POV, putting you in Gygax s or Arneson s shoes, then bac This one is a solid 3.5, but I gave away that half star because of sentimental reasons I have been an RPG gamer forthan 20 years and this deals with the history of one of my favorite hobbies also, the production is simply amazing, with matte paper which makes the greys pop out and is a treat to feel with one s fingers.HOWEVER there are narrative faults, most of which are conscious choices and not mistakes the constant shift in POV, putting you in Gygax s or Arneson s shoes, then back in your own, then in the shoes of an unnamed 70s teenager, and lack of names to accompany a few characters who are apparently what, too obvious Otherwise, I think it does a pretty good job illustrating the story and subsequent influence of DD in the limited space available well, maybe except for the final chapter wh...This is an excellent look at the life of Gary Gygax and the classic game system he created with Dave Arneson The art is clean and engaging, and the storytelling is lively without being rushed We get plenty of depth but no wallowing in nostalgia for the sake of wallowing.The one drawback which costs a star in this review is the use of second person It s interesting and effective in places, to match the experience of having a story related during a session of Dungeons Dragons But it co This is an excellent look at the life of Gary Gygax and the classic game system he created with Dave Arneson The art is clean and...There will be a review forthcoming on my YouTube channel Really enjoyed this one.Hmmm A truncated version of the DD creation story, told successfully in the second person It s short, so it glosses over many of the controversies and problems Gygax, Arneson and TSR had over the years Other reviewers claim his...An interesting look at the history and creation of DD I liked the graphic novel format and the way the story was told At times, the art was a little off putting overall told the story well At times, the story got a little bogged down with details of political bs and whatnot, but overall, it was interesting to see the ups and downs and everything that happened to arrive where we are today I love playing Pathfinder and seeing how it all developed and the overarching effects the game had w An interesting look at the history and creation of DD I liked the graphic novel format and the way the story was told At times, the art was a little off putting overall told the story well At times, the story got a little bogged down with details of political bs and whatnot, but overall, it was interesting to see the ups and downs and everything that happened to arrive where we are to...COUCH FACTOR 1 5 Remember Dungeons and Dragons, the game for geeky kids that holed up in their basement for hours on end role playing their way through an epic quest run by a guy called the Dungeon Master I do, in fact, I was one of those kids Reluctant at first, then really into it, then reluctant again, then a closet fantasy fan Why so many reversals Well, because DD was dorky and the girls that went to DD games were not the girls that interested me as a boy So, I grew b COUCH FACTOR 1 5 Remember Dungeons and Dragons, the game for geeky kids that holed up in their basement for hours on end role playing their way through an epic quest run by a guy called the...

Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D

17 April 2017

David Kushner