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If one is interested in the development of the D&D specifically with the creation of the places like Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms, the early fantasy fiction is a wonderful place to start digging.
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One of the more famed pieces was a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story by Fritz Leiber called “FAFHRD & THE MOUSER SAY THEIR SAY.” Some other pieces including THE GNOMES CACHE have early sketches of what would become Greyhawk. Woven in between these features were running vignettes of fantasy fiction. The Dragon had features like new monster builds, experimental classes like The Alchemist, as well as columns which drew on interest in both wargamming and roleplaying. All of the content which is held in the pages of The Dragon are supplements and unofficial options for a game that was getting its legs. It is important to realize that Dungeons and Dragons, at this point in 1976, had been out for two years. One can see the immense interest in what would become Dungeons and Dragons and the early years of Dragon Magazine not only give a good summary of the climate of gaming but also some features that were eventually forgotten.
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Little Wars lasted for 13 issues while Dragon Magazine’s final printed issue was #359 in September 2007. The Strategic Review eventually split into a wargaming publication called Little Wars with the more fantasy driven material into a new magazine called The Dragon. The strategic review was overseen by Gary Gygax and Timothy Kask and had content for military wargaming and supplements for Chainmail and Dungeons and Dragons. The Strategic Review was a quarterly newsletter that feed into the wargaming community with an interest in the growing dungeons and dragons scene. Rather than a documentary or film, or even some of the greater books written on the hobby, the collected works of Dragon Magazine offer a look into the goofy, obsessed, and charming world of Dungeons and Dragons in the mid 70’s.ĭragon Magazine was born out of an earlier publication called The Strategic Review. With the aide of the internet, this is not difficult but it maybe different than what some think. Though books and modules are great resources for the materials for this time period, I have always wanted to piece together the mental scene of what it was like when Dungeons and Dragons first arrived. My tangled obsession with old school Dungeons and Dragons and its clones is related to my endless curiosity of the landscape of gaming in the mid 70’s. As I travel further into the history of RPGS, some of my interests also lie in how this type of game emerged and the genesis of it roots within the wargaming community. Tabletop RPGs offer the creativity, social, and introspective escapism to make it one of my premiere hobbies. A lapse into fantastic places with the use of dice, books, and pens which provide hours and days of entertainment over years has always been intriguing to the point of obsession. My fascination with tabletop has always been an immersion into fantasy with the least amount of props and tools.