D&D: New Video Offers Fascinating Look at the Origins of Dungeons & Dragons
In celebration of D&D’s 50th anniversary, WotC put out a video discussing the origins of D&D, including handwritten notes from its creator.
A new video looking at the origins of D&D gives a whirlwind tour of the creation of D&D. Whether you define the creation as being finished by the date the first draft of D&D was created (which will be newly unveiled in an upcoming book from WotC), or from the first D&D games using the official rules in the early days of 1974, or the date that fans started first receiving their copies (ordered in early January), there are plenty of interesting dates that surround the creation of the game.
In an interview with Todd Kenreck, senior designer at WotC Jason Tondro talks about the early days of D&D, starting with a story that takes place on February 7th, when Gygax is being infamously cheap. “On February 7th, 1974, Gygax takes an index card because he was too cheap for postcards, he used index cards, he put a postcard stamp on an index card…” and, well, see for yourself.
The Origins of D&D
In the new video, we not only get a series of interesting stories about the origins of D&D, including the fact that D&D wasn’t “on shelves” so much as it was available if you mailed in your order to Gary Gygax himself. But we also get a look at what sorts of stories will be in the chapters of the new book The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons, 1970-1977, which explores exactly what it says on the tin.
The new book collects original documents from the 1970s, including a recreation of the original draft of Dungeons & Dragons from the typewriter of Gary Gygax himself. There are also pages from the first three supplements, including the first three supplements: Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and Eldritch Wizardry.
The book even goes into the history of D&D, talking about how D&D grew out of wargames with roleplaying elements known as Braunsteins. It’s a fascinating look at the origins of a game that helped shape a whole industry, defining for generations a new way to play.
Of particular interest is how much fans shaped the creation of D&D. For around ten solid minutes, Tondro talks about how fans helped create Bards, Rangers, Druids, and many more things that are considered iconic parts of D&D. It’s an interesting point, considering the whole “WotC tried to shut down fan-created content by deauthorizing the OGL” and for a time was considering trying to shut down any digital creations like character sheets until the community spoke up en masse.
Still, as we head into the next 50 years of D&D, it’s important to remember that the players make the game.
