40 years ago today, Dungeons and Dragons went on sale. The world would be a poorer place without it.
Fuck yeah!
I tried calling my players over for a very special extraordinary session of our current dungeon crawl (Benoist's Marmoreal Tomb of Whaarr'garbl) but everyone was off doing Saturday night things.
Happy birthday to the grand old lady of the hobby!
In January? Gygax must not have been expecting a Christmas rush on the initial release. :p
We celebrate tomorrow, today is prep work for my contribution to Save vs. Hunger (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=28705). A charity event in the name of D&D on its birthday, I think Gygax would have liked that.
Quote from: Old One Eye;726450In January? Gygax must not have been expecting a Christmas rush on the initial release. :p
Seeing as how it was announced only in the wargamer fan magazine community, that would be correct.
Good stuff. I've got an anniversary game planned for Monday evening.
Just a couple days after my birthday! (well, my 4th birthday). Thanks, Gary! :D
Quote from: Old Geezer;726464Seeing as how it was announced only in the wargamer fan magazine community, that would be correct.
Of curiosity, was Gygax or Blume or someone else the driving force on the business end to get published, how many copies, where to distribute, etc?@
Quote from: Old One Eye;726535Of curiosity, was Gygax or Blume or someone else the driving force on the business end to get published, how many copies, where to distribute, etc?@
See "Playing at the World" by Jon Peterson.
Also, as I've stated before, Gary and Don Kaye printed 1000 copies and we thought they were crazy.
My marriage and children existence is due to Dungeons and Dragons. You can't get more much more profound than that.
Started playing Dungeons and Dragon in 1978
Started playing NERO boffer LARP in 1992 because it was D&D in the woods.
Met my wife in 1995 during a NERO event.
Married and had kids two years later.
So here to Dave, Gary, and all their wacky friends.
And to 40 more years of D&D.
Ran my group through the FFC version of Castle Blackmoor in memory of the big four-oh. TPK in level 3. Fun for all involved. :)
Quote from: estar;726553My marriage and children existence is due to Dungeons and Dragons. You can't get more much more profound than that.
Met my wife (not a gamer at the time, but via mutual friends), our best man, at least a dozen friends and even my karate instructor by way of this fantastic hobby. I too have a lot more to thank messrs. Gygax and Arneson for, in addition to countless hours of entertainment.
Here's what I wrote for my facebook wall:
QuoteIt is likely that today is the anniversary of the reveal of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game in late January of 1974, the first Sunday when game designer Ernest Gary Gygax invited people to come to his house and play his and Dave Arneson's brand new game.
I always was curious and inquisitive as a child growing up between Normandy and the French Ardennes. My parents were very good to me, instilling in me a critical mind, spirit, a will to go out and be myself, answering my questions about all things, or pointing me in the right direction to find them out on my own. It'd be hard for me to say that the Dungeons & Dragons game taught me all those things. But surrounded as I was with the castles of Robert the Devil and Richard the Lionheart, inspired as I was by fantasy as well as the world around me, I think that my discovery of the game on that fateful week-end of November 1988 in Vendresse, France, where my cousin Carlos Sacré ran us through his version of the Village of Hommlet, had the effect of a lightning bolt on me, bringing all these elements into a whole that would define how I would shape both my imagination and personality from then on.
I owe it in no small part to Dungeons & Dragons to know what words like "eldritch" or "dweomer" or indeed "marmoreal" actually mean. Heck, I probably wouldn't speak English every day if it wasn't for deciphering the books on my own with an Harrap's dictionary as a young lad. I might not have plugged myself into Ancient History on the internet, might not have met Nerissa Montie at all. I might not have come to live here in Canada, nor met so many wonderful friends and played with them over the years. I wouldn't be where I am today, creating new content for those who love the game as I do, enjoying the partnership and friendship of one Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.
Today, I am celebrating, remembering the many games, the many laughs, the dice rolling, the role playing, as I work my way through our latest manuscript. This is a preview of what is to come, intended as an exclusive for those who attend the Gary Con Gaming Convention a few weeks from now, using some of the materials I once came up with in my advice to build the mega-dungeon, but retooled to work in concert with The Hobby Shop Dungeon and campaign, and expended upon in concert with my friend and writing partner.
This is a fitting way to celebrate I think, and I can't help thinking about Gary as I do so, typing away at his machine, as Ernie described to me more than once, giving birth to a framework that would soon allow millions to have fun and explore the realms of their own imaginations.
So, here's to you, Dungeons & Dragons. Happy birthday, old friend. To the many years of fun games that are now past, and to the future, many bright years yet to come.
My group wrapped up the 3rd edition conversion of "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" last night, perfect timing to celebrated the 40th anniversary. :)
Of course, things turned out quite different with d20 than 1st Edition AD&D, but it was still fun.
We played yesterday another session of our ongoing Keep of the Borderlands B/X game, and they have yet to set foot in the Caves of Chaos, despite having had much adventures in and around the Keep :D
Yesterday they met the mad hermit and his fucking lion, and they were saved by a Sleep spell. The hermit is Charmed at the moment (they are charming the fuck out of every potential enemy they find), we'll see what they do.
Oh, and one of the female elves is trying to seduce the Castillian. Because everyone decided that the best place to raid fro treasure was the Keep itself, of course :D Though they will wait until they get a few levels under the belt.
If it hadn't been for D&D, middle school in the early 80s would have been much more unbearable, so I will always be grateful. I still treasure my old AD&D rule books and will always keep them, whether I play with them again or not. There's a lot of love in those old books.
Quote from: finarvyn;726639Ran my group through the FFC version of Castle Blackmoor in memory of the big four-oh. TPK in level 3. Fun for all involved. :)
Do you know anyplace I can get a copy of FFC without paying a tit and a nut?
Link from guardian newspaper discussing 40th aniversary
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/03/happy-40th-birthday-to-dungeons-and-dragons
I expect it will not be so popular here mind but at least it shows a mainstream interest:)