Designers & Dragons History of RPGs (free TSR chapter)

[Mercurius]

The second edition of this awesome book is in Kickstarter, with the TSR chapter downloadable for free here in PDF. It is well worth a read.

For those who don't know about this project, it was written by Shannon Appelcline, who writes a column for RPGNet. His latest is here, with the archive here.

And no, I am not affiliated with Mr. Appelcline, Evil Hat publisher, or RPGNet (except as a member) - I just thought it was worth spreading the word! I own the first edition of D&Ds, which is just a great resource and a must have for anyone seriously interested in understanding the history of , the hobby and industry. I'd wait for the new edition in four volumes, though, which can be had in PDF form for $15 via Kickstarter, or $20 a pop once they come out in December.

I posted this is in the D&D forum because the main thing I wanted to draw attention to was the TSR chapter, with perhaps room for discussion. I found it very educational and better understand all the twists and turns the various editions, booms and busts, etc.

 

[Mark CMG]

Thanks for the update and links.

 

[Agamon]

I've read TSR, Flying Buffalo and am into Games Workshop now (right at the point when the company, um, changed alignment, if you will )

I'm enjoying it so far. I'm glad they didn't literally chop up the histories into 70's/80's/90's/00's. The divisions are the complete history of companies that started in those decades.

One nitpick, the author uses the phrase, "...as we'll soon see..." or "...and this will soon be seen as important..." and so forth often enough to be very noticeable. Seeing as this is comprehensive history of RPG companies, I think most of these should be implied and unnecessary.

But that's a slight blemish on an enjoyable read. If Playing at the World is very detailed and specific, Designers & Dragons does well explaining such enormous breadth of subject.

 

[Baron Greystone]

Interesting read. I'd already read a bunch of Shannon's history posts onliine. Didn't even hear about the Mongoose hardcopy. I don't think I'll be buying the new history at $85 for the set, but I did pledge a dollar to read the 70's section.