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<blockquote data-quote="Erik Mona" data-source="post: 2684860" data-attributes="member: 2174">I've just spent most of the last month working on a history of D&amp;D from 1971 to 1977, and my read of contemporary accounts, editorials, forewords, and magazine articles before things became acrimonious, the only fair interpretation goes like this:Gygax (with Steve Perren) writes Chainmail, including the Fantasy Supplement that contians many elements that are still in D&amp;D, in 1971. Arneson uses these rules to create a dungeon-based campaign in which players take on the role of a single character (as opposed to a group of characters--remember, Chainmail was a miniatures wargame). Arneson also includes level advancement in his version of the rules. Accounts of this campaign appear in the Domesday Book, a newsletter of the Castle &amp; Crusade Society, an association of wargamers edited by Gygax.Arneson sends several pages (possibly as many as 30) to Gygax explaining his modifications to Chainmail's rules.Inspired, Gygax turns these notes into 100+ pages of playtest rules that later become the D&amp;D game.Later, Gygax creates Advanced Dungeons &amp; Dragons without significant input from Arneson.I don't believe there is any way to read the existing evidence to suggest that the creation of the game would have been possible without _both_ Gygax and Arneson. Trying to marginalize either creator is pointless. The short version: 1. Gygax co-creates basic rules framework.2. Arneson uses these in his game, adds crucial innovations.3. Gygax expands these innovations and markets them as D&amp;D.4. Gygax subsequently expands the D&amp;D rules by creating AD&amp;D, which bears _much_ more similarity to the current version of D&amp;D than the 1974 original boxed set, and certainly than Arneson's loose notes about how he ran his personal campaign.It was a team effort.--Erik MonaEditor-in-ChiefDragon &amp; Dungeon</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Erik Mona, post: 2684860, member: 2174"] I've just spent most of the last month working on a history of D&D from 1971 to 1977, and my read of contemporary accounts, editorials, forewords, and magazine articles before things became acrimonious, the only fair interpretation goes like this: Gygax (with Steve Perren) writes Chainmail, including the Fantasy Supplement that contians many elements that are still in D&D, in 1971. Arneson uses these rules to create a dungeon-based campaign in which players take on the role of a single character (as opposed to a group of characters--remember, Chainmail was a miniatures wargame). Arneson also includes level advancement in his version of the rules. Accounts of this campaign appear in the Domesday Book, a newsletter of the Castle & Crusade Society, an association of wargamers edited by Gygax. Arneson sends several pages (possibly as many as 30) to Gygax explaining his modifications to Chainmail's rules. Inspired, Gygax turns these notes into 100+ pages of playtest rules that later become the D&D game. Later, Gygax creates Advanced Dungeons & Dragons without significant input from Arneson. I don't believe there is any way to read the existing evidence to suggest that the creation of the game would have been possible without _both_ Gygax and Arneson. Trying to marginalize either creator is pointless. The short version: 1. Gygax co-creates basic rules framework. 2. Arneson uses these in his game, adds crucial innovations. 3. Gygax expands these innovations and markets them as D&D. 4. Gygax subsequently expands the D&D rules by creating AD&D, which bears _much_ more similarity to the current version of D&D than the 1974 original boxed set, and certainly than Arneson's loose notes about how he ran his personal campaign. It was a team effort. --Erik Mona Editor-in-Chief Dragon & Dungeon [/QUOTE]

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