"We Made Up Some $*** We Thought Would Be Fun"
Feb 2, 2014 0:32:08 GMT -6
Finarvyn and sepulchre like this
Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2014 0:32:08 GMT -6
That's the book I just finished, a raconteur's memoir of my involvement in the early years of D&D. Coming soon to Kickstarter!
Here's an excerpt from Chapter 29, "THINGS PEOPLE DON'T KNOW but talk about on the Internet anyway"
TSR WARGAMES, INC.
On another subject… D&D is not the first game TSR published. (It’s not the first game Gary published either. CHAINMAIL is not the first game Gary published, for that matter. But that’s in a different chapter.) That honor, in point of fact, goes to “Cavaliers and Roundheads,” a set of English Civil War miniatures wargame rules. When Gary and Don launched TSR, they considered it to be a wargame company, and D&D was a wargame. In fact, looking in my copy of First Printing D&D (Dec. 1973), the last page of Volume 1 lists these games:
“Cavaliers and Roundheads”
“Tricolor” – Napoleonic era miniatures rules
And under “Many new rules booklets to be released” we see
Space Wargame Rules
Napoleonic Naval Campaign Rules
Naval Orders of Battle for the Great Age of Sail
Wild West Campaign Rules
Ancient Rules
This list is most revealing; notice that there are NO additional fantasy games, and only one science fiction game listed – and that a wargame. When we move forward approximately 18 months and look in the back of “Supplement 1, Greyhawk,” we find the following:
“Cavaliers and Roundheads”
“Dungeons and Dragons”
“Greyhawk”
“Tricolor”
“Warriors of Mars,” Brian Blume’s skirmish miniatures/RPG of Barsoom
“Star Probe,” a strategic science-fiction exploration game
“Chainmail”
“Tractics,” WWII miniatures in 1/87 scale
“Panzer Warfare,” WWII miniatures in 1/285 scale
“Boot Hill,” Wild West skirmish/RPG
“Classic Warfare,” ancients miniature wargame
This list is truly fascinating. There are 2 D&D products… and 2 World War 2 miniatures wargames. There are 6 historical miniatures wargames, 2 SF games (counting Barsoom as SF rather than fantasy), 2 fantasy game products, and 1 Old West game. Or to put it another way, since Star Probe is much more a wargame than an RPG, there are 7 wargames and 4 RPG products.
The significance of this cannot be overstated; a year and a half after D&D was released, the TSR catalog was dominated by wargames, with over half its products being historical miniatures wargames. It’s probably the best tool I can think of for showing how pretty much all of us viewed the hobby. D&D was just one of the wargames we played, just one of the things were interested in. Gary and Don launched TSR to be a wargame company. The intent was never to be “the D&D company.” It turned out that way, of course, but that was not the original intent.
And, of course, Gary was not just “the compiler of D&D.” He was actively working on Boot Hill, Warriors of Mars, D&D, Cavaliers and Roundheads, and material that would end up in Greyhawk, all before D&D was first published, and though I never participated in playtesting “Classic Warfare,” he must have been already working on that as well in order to have it written, playtested, and published by 1975! For that matter, he was also working with Dave and Mike Carr on “Don’t Give Up the Ship” at about the same time he was working on CHAINMAIL. In short, Gary thought of himself as a wargame designer, not “The D&D guy,” and TSR was a wargame company, not “The D&D company.”
As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” But creating a game sure looks different when it’s one of a half dozen projects you’re working on rather than this single magnum opus you’re dedicating your life to.
Here's an excerpt from Chapter 29, "THINGS PEOPLE DON'T KNOW but talk about on the Internet anyway"
TSR WARGAMES, INC.
On another subject… D&D is not the first game TSR published. (It’s not the first game Gary published either. CHAINMAIL is not the first game Gary published, for that matter. But that’s in a different chapter.) That honor, in point of fact, goes to “Cavaliers and Roundheads,” a set of English Civil War miniatures wargame rules. When Gary and Don launched TSR, they considered it to be a wargame company, and D&D was a wargame. In fact, looking in my copy of First Printing D&D (Dec. 1973), the last page of Volume 1 lists these games:
“Cavaliers and Roundheads”
“Tricolor” – Napoleonic era miniatures rules
And under “Many new rules booklets to be released” we see
Space Wargame Rules
Napoleonic Naval Campaign Rules
Naval Orders of Battle for the Great Age of Sail
Wild West Campaign Rules
Ancient Rules
This list is most revealing; notice that there are NO additional fantasy games, and only one science fiction game listed – and that a wargame. When we move forward approximately 18 months and look in the back of “Supplement 1, Greyhawk,” we find the following:
“Cavaliers and Roundheads”
“Dungeons and Dragons”
“Greyhawk”
“Tricolor”
“Warriors of Mars,” Brian Blume’s skirmish miniatures/RPG of Barsoom
“Star Probe,” a strategic science-fiction exploration game
“Chainmail”
“Tractics,” WWII miniatures in 1/87 scale
“Panzer Warfare,” WWII miniatures in 1/285 scale
“Boot Hill,” Wild West skirmish/RPG
“Classic Warfare,” ancients miniature wargame
This list is truly fascinating. There are 2 D&D products… and 2 World War 2 miniatures wargames. There are 6 historical miniatures wargames, 2 SF games (counting Barsoom as SF rather than fantasy), 2 fantasy game products, and 1 Old West game. Or to put it another way, since Star Probe is much more a wargame than an RPG, there are 7 wargames and 4 RPG products.
The significance of this cannot be overstated; a year and a half after D&D was released, the TSR catalog was dominated by wargames, with over half its products being historical miniatures wargames. It’s probably the best tool I can think of for showing how pretty much all of us viewed the hobby. D&D was just one of the wargames we played, just one of the things were interested in. Gary and Don launched TSR to be a wargame company. The intent was never to be “the D&D company.” It turned out that way, of course, but that was not the original intent.
And, of course, Gary was not just “the compiler of D&D.” He was actively working on Boot Hill, Warriors of Mars, D&D, Cavaliers and Roundheads, and material that would end up in Greyhawk, all before D&D was first published, and though I never participated in playtesting “Classic Warfare,” he must have been already working on that as well in order to have it written, playtested, and published by 1975! For that matter, he was also working with Dave and Mike Carr on “Don’t Give Up the Ship” at about the same time he was working on CHAINMAIL. In short, Gary thought of himself as a wargame designer, not “The D&D guy,” and TSR was a wargame company, not “The D&D company.”
As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” But creating a game sure looks different when it’s one of a half dozen projects you’re working on rather than this single magnum opus you’re dedicating your life to.