Dungeons & Dragons

A brief history of Dungeons & Dragons

Everyone knows about Dungeons & Dragons. Whether it is from full-length gaming sessions, computer games, comics or the many films and TV series, such as most recently Stranger Things, in which role-playing plays a leading role (tee-hee). But the route to becoming a pop culture giant was lined with as many dangers and adversities as a typical D&D campaign. And that's what makes it one of the most exciting stories in the history of gaming. A brief summary ...

From war games to fantasy

Before Dungeons & Dragons, there were no fantasy role-playing games as we know them today. Instead, so-called wargames or conflict simulations were popular, in which well-known battles from history were re-enacted. Rather than an epic battle against dragons and demons, these games might have involved a simulation of the Battle of Gettysburg, for example. A group of players called the Castle & Crusade Society softened the concept a little and focused on medieval (but still real) battles. This group also included Gary Gygax, who had just lost his job at an insurance company. So he started writing his own games for a fanzine, including Chainmail. This already had a fantasy scenario and rules for magic swords, monsters and spells like the good old fireball. But most importantly, the battles did not involve huge units of troops fighting each other, focusing instead more on one-on-one duels.

Depending on which version of the story you believe, these rules were also read by Dave Arneson. He immediately adapted them for his own fantasy world, heavily inspired by The Lord of the Rings and called Blackmoor. The idea was simple: each player had their own character and as a group they would go down into dungeons full of dangers, puzzles and treasures. Both the story and the characters were persistent, so after each session you continued exactly where you left off. In the autumn of 1972, Arneson introduced his game to Gygax, who was immediately blown away by the concept. He could also see the market potential! Gygax turned the existing 18-page rulebook into a 50-page guide and called it Castle Greyhawk. It didn't take long for Gary and Dave to put all their ideas and experience into a new, joint set of rules: Dungeons & Dragons.

The rise ...

Having failed to find a publisher for D&D, Gygax and a few friends set up their own company, Tactical Studies Rules Inc. (TSR) to bring the game to the market. And over the next ten years, Gary Gygax went from unemployed game designer to successful businessman with a mansion in Beverly Hills and a TV show based on his game. Dave Arneson, however, has long since ceased to play a major role because he did not have the money to join as a partner when the company was founded. He did work for TSR but was gradually pushed out. A sad state of affairs that was actively promoted by Gygax. For example, when he launched Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Arneson's name was nowhere to be seen. Gygax justified this by saying that AD&D was a completely new game.

Anyway: by simplifying the rules and offering good basic sets and companion books, D&D became increasingly successful in the early years. We should not overlook a tragic incident in 1979 that attracted serious accusations of satanism against the game. Ultimately, however, the numerous reports about the "devilish" game had one key outcome: namely, that D&D became better known and thus more successful. None of this changed when Gary Gygax was ousted from the company in the mid-1980s and manager Lorraine Williams took the helm. It was smooth sailing for TSR, also thanks to the introduction of famous campaigns like the Forgotten Realms, which we probably all know from computer games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights.

... and (temporary) fall

Things continued to go okay for TSR. At least for a while, because then there began to be one stumbling block after the next. For example, there was an increasingly competitive market environment with several competitors selling their own rule systems, such as Vampires: The Masquerade. TSR tried to fight back with more and more products. This included the idea of offering the D&D rulebook on CD-ROM. After a successful partnership with DC Comics, TSR also tried to develop and sell its own comics. This failed in spectacular manner, as did attempts to license other themes such as the sci-fi hero Buck Rogers. Moreover, the whole Dungeons & Dragons product seemed increasingly chaotic, with D&D, AD&D, AD&D 2nd edition and rule sets, each of which spanned five to six books.

And all these products and ideas had to be financed, of course. This was achieved primarily through a deal with the publisher Random House, who offered all these, or at least many of the D&D products. So TSR wasn't doing badly as such, but the aggressive expansion of the product range was eye-wateringly expensive. Two things would ultimately be the final straw for the company. In 1993, Magic: The Gathering was released and, within a very short time, it was dominating the role-playing market. As a result, the many D&D products no longer sold (nor did the rapidly developed competitor to Magic Spellfire), leading Random House to return $14 million worth of goods. This was money that TSR did not have at the time. And so Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic, bought TSR in 1997. Two years later, Wizards of the Coast was in turn bought by Hasbro.

Dungeons & Dragons Forever

What sounds like the end was actually just the beginning. Because under Hasbro, Dungeons & Dragons flourished and still exists today. New rulebooks were produced, we are currently on the 5th edition, and the game's cultural value has grown immeasurably. The influence of Dungeons & Dragons on computer role-playing games, for example, can still be felt today. In 2016, D&D also made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame, and just one year later into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. And 2017 was actually the best sales year for Dungeons & Dragons, which I'm sure is also due to pop culture greats like Stranger Things putting the game in the spotlight.

Here at Elbenwald we have also noticed the rising popularity of Dungeons & Dragons over recent years. We have gradually been adding more and more awesome merch to our Dungeons and Dragons shop. You'll find Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and adventure books, matching Dungeons & Dragons dice and other accessories. But the world of Dungeons and Dragons merchandise is so much bigger than this! We have Dungeons & Dragons T-shirts, epic D&D mugs and Dungeons & Dragons baseball caps. But you'll also find fancy merch such as Dungeons & Dragons biscuit tins and high-end replicas for collectors. So many treasures, it will need at least one heroic party of adventurers to recover them all.