Jon Peterson | 50 Years of D&D | Wandering DMs S06 E22

Wandering DMs
Wandering DMs
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Published 2024-06-30
One of our all-time favorite guests, Jon Peterson, D&D historian extraordinaire, returns to talk all things about the 50th anniversary of D&D. From his official "Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977", participation in Gen Con 50th anniversary celebrations, inclusion in the MIT Press "Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons" book, and the hotly-anticipated re-release of his seminal "Playing at the World", he's been super busy this year! Dan & Paul will catch up with him and find out what the highlights and new discoveries have been.

The original Dungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated D&D) boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974. It included the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was the first published role-playing game, a fantasy game system modeled on medieval Europe. This set introduced elements which would become standard in later editions, including abilities (such as strength, intelligence, and dexterity); character classes (fighting-man, magic-user, cleric) and character levels; races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling); armor class; monsters and treasure; underground dungeons consisting of halls, rooms, and doors protected by tricks and traps; and magic items, such as intelligent swords. The set also presents rules for travelling through the wilderness by land and sea, hiring specialists as well as men-at-arms, constructing fortifications and establishing baronies. The set defines movement rates and areas are using inches, like that of the miniatures rules from which the system descended.

Check out the Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977 - mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548779/playing-at-the-worl…
Find the Second Edition of Playing at the World Here - mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548779/playing-at-the-worl…

#dnd #anniversary #jonpeterson #gencon #ttrpg #podcast #wanderingdms

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

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This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dungeons & Dragons (1974)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_(1974)
All Comments (4)
  • @joezemaitis9781
    Jon I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, and applaud you, for your work on the Game Wizards and the Art and Arcana book. I couldn't put the GW's down, it was fascinating. Moreover, you did a great job coming across as objective as a fan could (it's clear you love D&D). A & A, wow, I might've choked up at times looking at that. Kudos to whomever came up with the chapter titles. Thank you, I wish you success going forward.
  • @retu3510
    I would be interested how much the designers of 4e were acutally inspired by WoW. Matt Colville said he knew designers and they were not, while Stephen Glicker said he knew people at wizards who told him it was completly WoW inspired. I thing Jon Peterson is the right person to complicate the matter much more ^^