Was D&D the first RPG?

[davidschwartznz]

According to books I've read the term 'hijinks' or hijinx' comes from a Victorian parlor game of the same name. The only description I've been able to find is that it involved the players rolling dice and pretending to be other people, which struck me as awfully familiar. Anyone know anything about the original 'hijinks'?

 

[EdL]

More info on MAR Baker's EoPT would be appreciated. The (former) owner of a now defunct Game Store here insists that it was the first RPG. (But I always took that with a grain of salt.)

 

[jdrakeh]

More info on MAR Baker's EoPT would be appreciated. The (former) owner of a now defunct Game Store here insists that it was the first RPG. (But I always took that with a grain of salt.)

EPT was published by TSR after they published D&D.

 

[Cavalorn]

I thought I remembered that. I should see what material there is on this. Do you know if there's a book or anything about it?

I don't believe there's anything specifically on Gondal, because apparently most of the material is lost:

'Nothing of the Gondal history remains except Emily's poems, the references in the journal fragments by Anne and Emily, the birthday papers of 1841 and 1845, and Anne's list of the names of characters and locations.'

Most biographers seem more interested in Gondal as a creative influence on Emily's work, and the context for many of her poems, rather than looking at it as a topic of study in itself. Some of her best known poems, such as The Visionary, are actually about Gondal characters. Charlotte Bronte removed the Gondalness before the poems were published, to make them more generic.