Dungeons and Dragons

I was sad to read of the death of Gary Gygax, co-creator (with Dave Arneson) of the legendary role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. I was first introduced to the game when I started college at MIT in 1978. There, I learned that many of my classmates were already seasoned players from their years in high school. (I guess they were early adopters, considering that D&D had only been published in 1974!) Although I was never a player myself, in college I was surrounded by the rule books with "Gary Gygax" imprinted on the cover, so I immediately recognized his name atop the obituaries this past week. If you haven't heard of the game, you should know that in addition to sales that topped $1 billion, and 20 million players, D&D had a cultural influence far beyond the numbers.

The major national newspapers covered this passing (see articles in WSJ, NYT) . I'm noting it here because, after a bit of research, I've learned that D&D emerged from the same innovation process that I've seen everywhere in today's economy. Although Gygax certainly deserves to be recognized for his important role, he was not the sole creator of D&D; it emerged from a long series of collaborations, from an almost invisible community of like-minded wargamers. Innovation always works this way: Even though one person often gets credit for an invention, all innovations emerge from groups. In Gygax's case, the group included dedicated wargamers who lived around Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. Many different Lake Geneva groups came together to play wargames, with names like the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association and the Midwest Miltary Simulation Association. There were so many groups that in 1966, they formed an umbrella organization called the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW), with separate chapters for different periods of military history -- the "Castle and Crusade Society" for medieval wargaming, for example, and the "Armored Operations Society" for World War II wargaming. IFW became nationally known by sponsoring an annual convention of gamers called GenCon, and publishing a magazine of wargaming called The Spartan.

These communities of hobbyists had been experimenting with medieval wargames using miniature figures, just like D&D, for years. The first published set of rules appeared in 1967 -- for a game called Siege of Bodenburg, created by Henry Bodenstedt and published in Strategy & Tactics magazine, a wargaming fanzine created in 1966 by Chris Wagner. (Wagner created his fanzine to compete with the magazine The General, published by the wargame-publishing company called Avalon Hill starting in 1964.) The wargamers around Lake Geneva read these rules, and a couple of them began experimenting with their own variations. In 1971, two of them -- Jeff Perren and Gary Gygax -- published their own set of medieval wargaming rules; they called it Chainmail and sold it through a company called Guidon. Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was gaining a cult following at the time, and sales of Chainmail were surprisingly strong. A third Lake Geneva wargamer, Dave Arneson, began experimenting with his own variation that he called Blackmoor. When Arneson and Gygax began collaborating on the next generation of medieval wargame, they took most of Blackmoor's features intact. They intentionally named the main characters after those in Tolkien's trilogy -- orcs, ents, hobbits, wizards -- to tap into its popularity. (A lawsuit from Tolkien's estate later forced the game's publisher to rename some of these characters.)

I love stories like this one, because they show so clearly how innovation emerges from a collaborative process. In my book Group Genius, I tell many similar stories -- for example, how Monopoly emerged over a 30-year period from a national community of Quakers, frat boys, and economics professors. Dungeons & Dragons was a collective creation, emerging from an unsung, almost invisible collaborative web. With the help of Gary Gygax, this emergent phenomenon was disseminated far beyond the Lake Geneva community to become an international phenomenon. When the International Federation of Wargamers faded from history in 1974, its passing was not noted -- there's no such thing as an obituary page for groups. So we use the obituary pages to remind ourselves of the true nature of creation by recognizing those individuals who played key roles within genius groups -- like Mr. Gygax, who died March 4 at age 69 at his home in Lake Geneva. It's all about collaboration; as Gygax himself said in a 2006 interview, "The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience." Rest in peace.

Comments

[True]

HuffPost's Pick

I am not a D&D player but i deeply love console and computer role playing games. Role playing games are having a huge impact on all facets of our culture, in so many subtle ways it goes unnoticed to most. Also, thanks for the nice article above about group collaboration and innovation.

[Snafu]

I was a dedicated Dungeon Master from the age 14 -24. Our group ended around then because of marriages, kids, and work schedules. My group consisted of mostly football players, with a few soccer and basketball players. I was a three sport letterman(football,wrestling,track) who started on every team I played, had girlfriends, and an active social life( take that bench warmer!!). Every Saturday afternoon after practice, 6-10 of us would gather and have a marathon 8 hour game. I'm still friends with most of those guys. Everyone in my group has a successful career, including a state senator, a prison warden, two teachers, three casino executives( I grew up in Vegas), a police captain,and a college football coach. The poster obviously believes in stereotyping people.

RIP Gary, Your work inspired millions to imagine and create. You rolled a natural 20 with Dungeons and Dragons.

[Sylvarose]

Its with proud joy I watch my young nephew pick up the mantle of playing DnD. My brother and I have preached the values of what DnD teaches or fosters: problem solving, team building, critical thinking, social interaction skills, math, imagination, etc....

I have many friends who still game occasionally and I can't think of one who isn't a successful and well adjusted adult; from the local developer (whose green built houses are still selling despite the slump), the WAN engineer, the comic book artist, the several computer programmers, etc...

They have families, homes, educations and good jobs. We often joke how when we are old enough to retire instead of playing "bingo" our retirement homes will have "gaming rooms" and we'll have all day campaigns. *smile*

Thanks Gary Gygax for your contribution to a game that has brought people together in life long friendships and helped to teach skills that go beyond the game.

[NedFlanders19]

Hey Gary,

Broo the Magnificent says thanks for all the good times

Gary, you helped me to be creative, work with others as part of a group, and unleash a passion during my high school years. I would not be who I am today if not for the collaboration call AD&D.

Use your boots of speed during this phase of your journey, and know that I got your back.

[FogBelter]

Somewhere in a darkening forest ... a lone 8th level, lawful good dwarf raises his bloodied war hammer above his head and howls in grief at the loss of his Human God-King ... Gygax.

[flanardiente]

I was in my 40s when D & D got really popular, so I never got into it. But.... Some of the neighborhood teenagers were deeply into it, and they noticed that we had an ivy-covered patio with lights, and asked if they could use it for their games. I said, sure, why not? One of them reminded me that sometimes their games went on for two or three days. I was intrigued by that. Go ahead, I said. Let's see how it works out.

It worked out beautifully. They were quiet. No loud music (I was the one who was into that). They weren't stoned, wired, drunk or fried. Well, not much. Their parents were glad to know where they were and what they were doing. And contrary to the nerd image, almost all of them had girlfriends, some of whom were also deep into the game. I had a studio next to the patio and sat in there many evenings, listening to the play, all the weird arguments. It reminded me of an earlier time when I and my friends sat up all night playing 5000 Rummy or Supermonopoly. During breaks I'd sit around and talk with them, getting to know a whole new generation--some of whom I still count as friends. My memories of the hot summer nights of '82 and '83 are almost all good ones. So RIP to Gary Gygax and friends--you brought a good thing into the world. Thanks.

[FearlessFreep]

No D&D, no Harry Potter!

[RumiSouth]

Gary Gygax has failed his Fortitude save. He has had an encounter above his EL. He has touched the negative energy portal in the Temple of Doom.

Gygax was not solely responsible for creating D&D, but his name was on all the books printed from 1974 to 1989 -- so whether he deserves all the credit or not, his name is indelibly marked on the story of this amazing game.

[drkazmd65]

RIP Mr. Gygax - and I loved the take on the D&D phenomenon Dr. Sayer.

Almost all advances are at least indirectly due to collaboration, synergystic combination, and imagination. D&D had some of each in good measure.

Thanks to you from a hard-core player 1981-1989, and a dabbler in AD&D for years afterwards.

Still have the old books somewhere,... wonder if I can find a group to go and play with again,...