Designers & Dragons - A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry

[Mercurius]

Anyone buy this book? At 50 bucks it ain't cheap, but I just received my copy (purchased for a bit less at an unnamed online store) and the book is a beast and a whole lot of fun. Its the size of an RPG book of 440 pages of relatively dense type detailing the history of the RPG game industry in great detail.

In anticipation of some of those lovable cynics, let me be clear: this is not a sales pitch. I'm wondering if anyone has it, what they think of it and, yeah, pointing it out to those that might be interested. I am in no way affiliated or know the author, Shannon Appelcline (who I believe writes for RPG.Net), but I don't think it is a bad thing giving a shout out to such an incredible labor of love in our favorite hobby.

Check it out. You're not going to find a better bathroom reading book than this!

 

[tenkar]

I have the PDF. It's an expensive PDF, but worth every penny in my opinion, but I ama history buff in addition to being a gamer. I got into the hobby back in 80/81, so I've found myself trying to figure out what I was doing when certain events were going on.

I'm taking my time reading it, as I could do it all in a sitting or two, but that would cost me my marriage

 

[grodog]

The book is based on a number of historical essays that Shannon wrote over on RPG.net a few years ago (all are updated for the new Mongoose publication); see for the archives: A Brief History of Game Column Listing - RPGnet

He's also writing a new Designs & Dragons column too; see Designers & Dragons: The Column Column Listing - RPGnet if you're interested.

I received the book for my birthday earlier in the month, and have been enjoying it immensely

 

[Mercurius]

Yeah - I've been browsing through it some more and it is a fun, fun read. I've been waiting fora book like this for years. Sean Patrick Fannon wrote a pretty decent one back in the late 90s called the Roleplayer's Bible, and there's a more recent one called The History of Fantasy RPGs by Michael Tresca, and I vaguely remember a good book in the early 90s by Lawrence Shick (or something like that) that was good, but this takes it to a whole new level. Highly recommended.

 

[Thanael]

The book is based on a number of historical essays that Shannon wrote over on RPG.net a few years ago (all are updated for the new Mongoose publication); see for the archives: A Brief History of Game Column Listing - RPGnet

He's also writing a new Designs & Dragons column too; see Designers & Dragons: The Column Column Listing - RPGnet if you're interested.

I received the book for my birthday earlier in the month, and have been enjoying it immensely

Thanks for the links Allan. Very interesting reading...

 

[grodog]

De nada!

 

[PaulofCthulhu]

We do a review of Designers & Dragons in The Silver Lodge Christmas Show.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzheLEmeUEY]The Silver Lodge Christmas Show 2011 - YouTube[/ame]​

 

[VincentRVenturella]

I have this book as well and I just wanted to throw in my support of this as a fascinating and exceedingly well put together book. It truly impressed me.

It has the perfect mix of humor, critical research, conjecture, cynicism and hardcore journalism. If you have any interest in the history of the RPG industry, or are a player of many games across the industry, you will love this book.