TEXT:  
   
   
  
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  HAWK & MOOR 
   
  THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF 
  DUNGEONS 
  & DRAGONS ® 
   
  BY 
  KENT DAVID KELLY 
  (DARKSERAPHIM) 
   
   
   
  ® DUNGEONS & DRAGONS IS A TRADEMARK OF WIZARDS OF THE COAST, 
  LLC.  THIS EDUCATIONAL WORK IS NEITHER AFFILIATED WITH NOR ENDORSED 
  BY WIZARDS OF THE COAST OR BY HASBRO, INC.  THIS INDEPENDENT WORK 
  HAS NOT BEEN PREPARED, AUTHORIZED, OR LICENSED BY EITHER WIZARDS 
  OF THE COAST OR BY HASBRO, INC. AND IS NOT AN OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE. 
   
   
  
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  DEDICATED 
  TO THE MEMORIES OF 
   
  DAVID LANCE 
  ARNESON 
  & 
  ERNEST GARY 
  GYGAX 
   
   
  WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 
  2014 – 2017 
  O S R 
   
  
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  ILLUSTRATED BY 
   
  WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT, JOHN D. BATTEN, JOHN BAUER, 
  JAN CHRISTIAN BIERPFAFF, IVAN BILIBIN, WILLIAM BLAKE, 
  GEORGE CATTERMOLE, ADOLF IOSIFOVICH CHARLEMAGNE, 
  PAUL DELAROCHE, M. ZENO DIEMER, GUSTAVE DORÉ, 
  ADOLF EHRHARDT, HENRY J. FORD, WARWICK GOBLE, 
  DOROTHY HARDY, LOUIS HOUARD, LUDVIG SANDOE IPSEN, 
  TONY JOHANNOT, WALTER MCDOUGALL, KAY NIELSEN, 
  MAXFIELD PARRISH, ARTHUR RACKHAM, EDOUARD RIOU, 
  MARCEL ROUX, SIDNEY SIME, EDUARD VON STEINLE, 
  SIR JOHN TENNIEL, HUGH THOMSON, WILLIAM TURNER, 
  VASILY VERESHCHAGIN, 
  VASNETSOV VIKTOR MIKHAILOVICH, 
  JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, N. C. WYETH 
  ET ALII 
   
   
   
  
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  Copyright © 2014-2017 by Kent David Kelly. 
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without the 
  written permission of the copyright holder, Kent David Kelly. 
  All products and names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks 
  of their respective owners.  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is a trademark of Wizards 
  of the Coast and Hasbro, Inc.  The mention of trademarks in this work is for 
  educational purposes only, and is not intended as a challenge. 
  HAWK & MOOR is an historical research project developed with the primary 
  intent of broadening the popular awareness of, and appreciation for, Fantasy Role-
  Playing Games (FRPGs). 
  Quotes attributed to various individuals are derived from a wide array of filmed 
  interviews, online forum posts, magazines, books, newsletters, and various game-
  oriented materials.  Please refer to the Footnotes and Annotations section for 
  detailed citations.  Individuals who wish to have their own quoted words alluded 
  to, rather than quoted directly, are welcome to contact the author with requests for 
  modification, emendation or deletion of specific comments. 
  The cover of this volume features a detail from The Great Red Dragon and the 
  Beast from the Sea, by William Blake, painted c. 1805-1810. 
  (Document Version 3.1) 
  For corrective and revision purposes, please note that this is document version 
  3.1 of this manuscript, completed in September of 2017.  Versions prior to this, 
  while useful are outdated, and this most recent version of the book has been 
  amended as more interviews, documents, corrections and feedback have come to 
  light. 
  In the age of the Internet, a printed book can never contain the final word.  
  Therefore, the eBook version of this volume is intended as a living document, so 
  that interested readers can enjoy a resource which is constantly revised, one which 
  does not merely sit upon the shelf going slowly and forever out of date.  The print 
  version of this volume may well be slightly out of date, as in-depth research into 
  the ever-shifting field of Role-Playing Game history continues to grow, diversify and 
  change. 
  Please feel welcome to contact the author at shadowed_sky@hotmail.com with 
  comments, questions, requests, recommendations and greetings.  And thank you for 
  reading! 
   
   
  
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  DESCRIPTION 
   
  THE CREATION of the world’s preeminent Fantasy Role-Playing Game (FRPG), 
  Dungeons & Dragons®, is one of the most fascinating tales to be told in all the 
  shared histories of entertainment, play and game design.  Two very different men, 
  David Lance Arneson and Ernest Gary Gygax, undertook an unprecedented 
  collaboration which gifted us — as their shared legacy — with one of the most 
  intriguing games the world has yet experienced.  Their game did not just simulate 
  one isolate corner of reality; it dared to encompass the entirety of all realms of 
  adventure, the consensual playground of the human imagination. 
  HAWK & MOOR tells the story of Dave and Gary, and the many other people 
  whose efforts gave first life to the game we know and love today.  Arneson had 
  spectacular ideas, but Gygax knew how to refine them.  Collaboration soon turned 
  to conflict as Arneson believed his game was being taken from him, and Gygax 
  crystallized systems where incomprehensible riddles had stood before.  Both men 
  were creative geniuses, but the game they created from Gygax’s Chainmail (1971) 
  was the end result not only of their teamwork, but also of their clashes and 
  disagreements. 
  HAWK & MOOR chronicles that first legendary game to arise from the Golden 
  Age of Fantasy Role-Playing.  Herein you will find Gary’s life story, the history of 
  Gen Con and the Castle & Crusade Society, and details concerning the conception 
  of Castle Greyhawk.  This first book also includes new revelations pertaining to 
  Arneson’s Blackmoor and its influences; tales from the Blackmoor Dungeons and 
  Loch Gloomen; details on Gary’s first dungeon adventure; an exploration of the 
  links between H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and the earliest underworld 
  adventures; the secrets of the asylum which inspired Castle Greyhawk; and much 
  more. 
  HAWK & MOOR, The Unofficial History of Dungeons & Dragons®, includes 
  117,100 words on over 410 pages, supported by a detailed chronology, extensive 
  research into the inspirational origins of D&D, and over 560 footnotes and 
  annotations. 
  The adventure begins here.  Prepare yourself, take up torch and sword.  Come 
  along and experience an unprecedented journey into the Golden Age! 
   
   
  
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  DEDICATION 
   
  This work is dedicated to the memory of the two fathers of fantasy role-playing 
  games, David Lance Arneson and Ernest Gary Gygax.  Many hundreds of individuals 
  worked to create this wonderful hobby, but none gave more than you both, 
  gentlemen.  For the shared dreams, and for a lifetime of enjoyment and inspiration, 
  I humbly and sincerely thank you. 
   
   
  In memoriam. 
   
   
  
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  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
   
  A BOOK like this is never written by a single person without significant contributions 
  from many other kind, insightful and respect-worthy people.  Some of these 
  esteemed individuals contributed through their own diligent volunteerism, while 
  others aided my efforts indirectly with their generous public engagement of the 
  D&D and FRPG fan communities.  This book is the culmination not only of hundreds 
  of books, magazines, and interviews; it also comprises a living and ever-growing 
  record of the thousands of scattered Internet blog entries, sub-pages and forum 
  postings which have hidden away much of the true history of Dungeons & Dragons. 
  Special thanks are due to my beta readers, including Andrew (“aeakett”), Axel 
  (“aia”), Carl (“cdenham”), Carl (“gyg”), David (“faro”), David (“Thunderdave”), 
  John (“Gnat the Beggar”), Mark (“Mars”), Matt (“nesbit37”), and Ron 
  (“rredmond”), for their comments, support and recommendations.  Constructive 
  criticisms provided by Dan Boggs, Robert S. Conley, Jon Peterson, “Sauromatian,” 
  “Stratochamp” (Bill Meinhardt) and others have also been very helpful as well. 
  I am grateful and happy to thank Jeff Berry, Mike Carr, Ernie Gygax Jr., Luke 
  Gygax, Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Len Lakofka, Steve Marsh, Frank Mentzer, Mike 
  Mornard, Greg Svenson and James M. Ward for their extremely helpful blog and 
  forum posts which have helped to illuminate many of the darker corners of D&D’s 
  early days.  Their generously shared experiences, revealing much about the earliest 
  games in those years which I now term the Golden Age, were the primary 
  inspirations for this book. 
  The following individuals conducted interviews with Dave Arneson, Gary 
  Gygax, Tim Kask, and/or Rob Kuntz, which were also very helpful in creating the 
  foundation for this work:  Barbara A. Blackburn, Martin Brown, Andrew S. Bub, 
  Alex Handy, Anne F. Jaffe, Jeremy L. C. Jones, David Kushner, Robin D. Laws, Scott 
  Lynch, Frank Mentzer, Allen Rausch, Ciro Alessandro Sacco, Sam Sloan, Harvey 
  Smith, Ben Sones, Michael O. Varhola and Allen Varney.  Please note that this is an 
  incomplete list due to some partial attributions within the available materials, and 
  I hope to add to it further in the future. 
  Further, many bloggers provided excellent resource materials through their 
  ongoing sites which were extremely helpful to me, including Joseph Bloch (of the 
  Greyhawk Grognard blog), Dan Boggs (Aldarron) (of the Hidden in Shadows blog), 
  Allan Grohe (Grodog of Greyhawk) (of the From Quroth’s Quill blog), Chris Kutalik 
  (of the Hill Cantons blog), Jon Peterson (via his Playing at the World blog), Sham 
  
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  aka Dave (of Sham’s Grog & Blog), Zach “Zenopus” H. (of the Zenopus Archives), 
  and Jason Zavoda (of the Hall of the Mountain King Blog). 
  The Secrets of Blackmoor crew, as well, are to be lauded for exhibiting a truly 
  excellent spirit of sharing.  To date, they have demonstrated a praiseworthy 
  example of ideal, intent, and spirit … particularly in contrast to several adversarial 
  private collectors, who — through their obstruction of research, dissemination, and 
  public understanding — are frequently the unintentional enemies of Dungeons & 
  Dragons history. 
  Bill Owen’s history of the Judge’s Guild, and associated forum posts, were very 
  helpful to this series as well.  A special shout out goes to Michael Popham of the 
  Horror Incorporated Project as well for his outstanding summaries of Twin Cities 
  “Creature Feature” movie showings in the early 1970s.  The Tome of Treasures 
  website, in addition, displays significant resources which allowed me to fill many of 
  the proverbial “blank spaces in the map” concerning the early years of pre-
  Dungeons & Dragons history. 
  Scott “Foulfoot” of the Acaeum.com is also to be thanked for allowing my 
  ongoing coordination of beta readers and commentators for this manuscript via his 
  website forums.  Please feel free to join our discussion in the Acaeum General 
  Forum.  Further, I am grateful to:  the administrators of the Blackmoor Comeback 
  Inn; Paul Stormberg’s esteemed Collector’s Trove; the endlessly-valuable 
  Dragonsfoot and ENWorld forums, which archive much of the fan correspondence 
  shared by Gary Gygax; the Knights & Knaves Alehouse; and the ODD74 Proboards.  
  These valuable resources possess, via their forums, excellent archives of crucial 
  anecdotes and historical posts pertaining to the early Greyhawk and Blackmoor 
  campaigns. 
  Without all of you and the generous availability of your works and research, this 
  book could not exist.  I sincerely thank you all for your generous sharing, memories, 
  and contributions to the cause! 
   
   
  
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  As the enchanted castle crystallizes in the wind, 
  you spy the silhouette of a dragon in the distance … 
  
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  BOOK I 
   
  THE DRAGON RISES 
   
   
  
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  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
   
  Front Cover 
  Page 3 ~ Title Page 
  Page 7 ~ Description 
  Page 8 ~ Dedication 
  Page 9 ~ Acknowledgements 
  Page 13 ~ Table of Contents 
  Page 15 ~ By Way of Introduction:  Chaotic Bards, Lawful Sages 
   
  Page 20 ~ Chapter 1:  Before the Dawn of the Golden Age 
  Page 58 ~ Chapter 2:  And So, Companions Gather 
  Page 83 ~ Chapter 3:  The Great Kingdom Rises 
  Page 104 ~ Chapter 4:  In Honor of Arneson 
  Page 131 ~ Chapter 5:  Blackmoor, the First Crusade 
  Page 167 ~ Chapter 6:  Rapscallions and Rumormongers 
  Page 193 ~ Chapter 7:  The Dungeons of Blackest Moria 
  Page 216 ~ Chapter 8:  Twists of Fate 
  Page 238 ~ Chapter 9:  An Audience in Loch Gloomen 
  Page 268 ~ Interlude:  The Rats in the Walls … of Greyhawk? 
  Page 278 ~ Chapter 10:  The Castle of Madness 
   
  Page 298 ~ Appendix I:  The Dungeons & Dragons Chronicle (1937-1971) 
  Page 345 ~ Appendix II:  Gygaxian Arcana 
  Page 408 ~ About the Author 
  Page 410 ~ Other Books by Kent David Kelly 
   
   
  
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  What’s the real story?  Is the saga prettier than some dry retelling of mere names 
  and numbers?  Not to worry.  History is a story, inherently.  A bardic saga.  And 
  whenever in doubt and gravitas, if there’s any confusion as to what really 
  happened anod how entertaining it really was, you can always blame the bard. 
  
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  BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION: 
  Chaotic Bards, Lawful Sages 
   
  Chaos often breeds life, 
  When order breeds habit. 
   
  — Henry Brooks Adams 
   
  THE LEGENDS and history surrounding the creation of the very first and preeminent 
  Fantasy Role-Playing Game (FRPG), Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), together 
  comprise a fascinating and labyrinthine epic tale filled with surprising tricks, 
  deceptive traps, and monstrous setbacks … much like the imagined dungeon 
  environs of the adventure game itself. 
  As dreamers, fantasists, storytellers and gamers, many of us love to relive these 
  glimpses of a time I term the Golden Age:  discussing misinterpreted events, or 
  sharing stories with the people who were fortunate enough to actually be there.  
  There is nothing quite like hearing the tales of momentous occasions such as the 
  creation of the Arch-Barony of Blackmoor, the first explorations of the netherworld 
  sprawling beneath Castle Greyhawk, the derring do of crafty and infamous Sir 
  Robilar, or the many wilder misadventures from the people who first played “the 
  ultimate game” before it was ever published as Dungeons & Dragons. 
  While many of the most engaging and entertaining persons who were involved 
  with Blackmoor, Greyhawk and/or Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) during the seventies 
  and eighties (such as Jeff Berry, Mike Carr, Ernie Gygax Jr., Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, 
  Rob Kuntz, David Megarry, Frank Mentzer, Mike Mornard, Erol Otus, Greg 
  Svenson, James M. Ward and David Wesely) are still with us and sharing stories, 
  the game’s forefathers — Ernest Gary Gygax and David Lance Arneson — are sadly 
  no longer with us, having passed in 2008 and 2009.  Many of us who still play and 
  enjoy our “outmoded” pen-and-paper game in this age of the Internet miss these 
  men, not only as inspiring mentors, but as our lost friends from afar.  For diehard 
  fans of the game, our losses of Gary and Dave have serendipitously led us into a 
  time when developments in RPG research are bringing forth a myriad of 
  unprecedented rediscoveries. 
  Until recently, the most commonly accepted accounts of Dungeons & Dragons 
  history were largely anecdotal.  Throughout their later lives, Gary and Dave and 
  
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  others were frequently asked to recall exacting specifics about their many products, 
  game sessions, legal matters and publishing deals — the crucial elements which 
  fundamentally created the RPG (along with the MMORPG) industry as we enjoy 
  and know it today.  Many of these recollections, however, were made by people 
  concerning events which they had participated in some twenty, thirty or even forty 
  years prior to being asked for their remembrances. 
  The haze of memory and the attrition of time have caused some dates in the 
  understood chronology of D&D’s history to remain in question.  Many “commonly 
  known” and “uncontested” dates — including those found in the official histories 
  published by D&D’s current publishing body, Wizards of the Coast — are actually 
  untrue.  As a result, our understanding of the entire history of D&D is now in a state 
  of flux.  These matters of confusion, while slowly clearing over time, created ripples 
  which inevitably have made their way into this current work.  We will never know 
  the entire story — the pool of history is now too deep — but nevertheless, many 
  details beneath the surface are becoming clearer all the time. 
  This is a daunting, unavoidable, and yet enticing new reality.  In creating HAWK 
  & MOOR, I simply wrote the best chronicle that I could over the years, given the 
  diverse and fragmentary sources at hand.  Please note that there are many hundreds 
  of tenuous accounts recorded herein, stories which were shared and refuted many 
  times.  Sometimes, deceptively reasonable details were provided only a few years 
  after an event, but then a more detailed account would appear some fifteen or 
  twenty years later.  All told, these myriad accounts are understandably imperfect, 
  and are now impossible to fit together into a mosaic without some damaging 
  friction arising between the pieces. 
  Although it is certain that the people involved in the game’s creation commonly 
  believed they were always telling the truth, the actual truth of momentary details is 
  now forever lost.  What I can do with this dangerous trove of conflicting data, 
  however, is to stitch all of these accounts together, and to smooth things over 
  (wherever possible) by using proven documentation.  This “Frankenstein” approach 
  to the history of Dungeons & Dragons — building the monster, one stitched-
  together scrap of flesh at a time — allows for the development of a fascinating and 
  living (undead?) history, which is the closest we can now approach to the lost 
  reality.  The preliminary and ongoing results of those years of work are now held 
  in your hands. 
  This book was not created within a void.  Major historical research efforts in this 
  field have already been conducted by fan-collectors on the Acaeum website 
  (Acaeum.com, 2000-present); in the Old School Renaissance (OSR) movement (a 
  loose conglomeration of many independent resources, circa 2001-present); and by 
  FRPG researchers and contributors who have developed their own popular and 
  
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  academic studies, such as Shannon Appelcline (primary work of interest — Designers 
  & Dragons:  A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry:  The 70s), Matt Barton 
  (Dungeons & Desktops), David M. Ewalt (Of Dice and Men), Brad King and John 
  Borland (Dungeons & Dreamers), Robert J. Kuntz (one of D&D’s earliest 
  contributors, now developing his El Raja Key Archives and other works in progress), 
  Robin D. Laws (40 Years of Gen Con), Jon Peterson (Playing at the World), 
  Lawrence Schick (Heroic Worlds), Michael J. Tresca (The Evolution of Fantasy Role-
  Playing Games), and — following my own publication — Michael Witwer (Empire 
  of Imagination). 
  Adding to this already-excellent collection of works, I am hoping to share my 
  own research and discoveries (to be represented throughout the HAWK & MOOR 
  series) in an affordable, accessible, and potentially collaborative ongoing endeavor, 
  so that the history of FRPGs can remain growing, communal, and open to all. 
  Tragically, despite all of these advances in our understanding of the poorly-
  documented history of the game, we have mourned the loss of other beloved D&D 
  luminaries such as Bob Bledsaw (founder of Judges Guild, d. 2008), Dr. John Eric 
  Holmes (editor of the “blue book” D&D Basic Set, d. 2010), Tom Moldvay (co-
  creator of The Isle of Dread, “red book” Basic and many other D&D products, d. 
  2007), and David C. Sutherland III (illustrator of the Monster Manual, Dungeon 
  Masters Guide and other classic works, d. 2005).  Recently, renowned D&D artist 
  David A. Trampier has passed away as well.  In the face of these irreplaceable losses, 
  we find that more and more of the great stories, jokes, recollections, and untold 
  adventures are being taken away from us by the day.  I hope that by making this 
  book a gatherum of first-hand tales, I can encourage readers to embrace the living 
  history of the game, and to reach out to those good men and women who were 
  there.  Those who inspire us should always be honored and remembered, before 
  their own time is past. 
  And so, in reflection, I now realize that the purpose of this book is twofold:  
  first, I have written this meager summary to reaffirm many of the error-filled 
  accounts in a hopefully-corrected historical context, so that these irreplaceable 
  stories are placed within an appropriate and human landscape with as much 
  accuracy as is currently possible.  If we were to focus our efforts solely upon 
  documents, the human soul of the living history would be lost.  Secondly, I am a 
  decent writer and storyteller, but an unorthodox historian.  I am a gamer most of 
  all.  And that is why this book is written not as a history text, but rather as an 
  enjoyable saga filled with personal moments, so that readers can be regaled by these 
  storied men in their own voices, even though many are no longer with us.  These 
  books are, in a way, a secret-filled Campaign Journal chronicling the very first 
  Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to a depth never publicly revealed before.  (And 
  
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  this is by far the most personal aspect of this work, as I am far more interested in 
  telling the tale of gamers and game designers, as opposed to the scientific study of 
  gaming systems.) 
  With those oft-conflicting goals in mind, I have written this book to reveal the 
  human history of early Dungeons & Dragons — not as a dry scholarly dissertation, 
  but as an adventure in the shared imagination.  This is the story of gamers creating 
  an entirely new and entrancing kind of game, the exploration of a brave new world 
  within the consensual mind.  This book is intended for everyone who ever wanted 
  to know what it was like to be there, in the classic days when the ruins of (Grey) 
  Hawk and (Black) Moor were still unfolding their dark blooms from out of the 
  dreams of their creators. 
  This is a book of gamer chat, the masters’ own insights, and the spirit of 
  adventure.  If you as a reader are less interested in the rules minutiae explaining 
  how 19th-century Kriegspiel distantly affected the underpinnings of games like 
  Fletcher Pratt’s Naval War Game — and are more interested in hearing precisely 
  what happened when the mad and cackling dwarf Obmi turned the beam of his 
  infernal gravity-ray contraption on unsuspecting adventurers — then this is the book 
  series for you. 
  HAWK & MOOR is primarily a folkloric history, and only secondarily an 
  analytical one.  If we can regard the ongoing historical research effort to discern the 
  factual past of RPGs as a “Lawful” endeavor conducted by “Sages,” then HAWK & 
  MOOR represents a counterbalancing “Chaotic” labor of love.  Its mission is to 
  preserve facts, ruminations, speculation, the game’s ever-conflicting folklore, and 
  the hazily-recollected game sessions of the past in a single source which will change, 
  grow, and become more epic over time — a chronicle of the “Bards,” if you will. 
  As frequently as possible, I have therefore used the words of the people who 
  were actually there.  However, wherever colorful recollections conflict with the 
  actual evidence, the evidence necessarily takes its precedence. 
  As a result of this precarious balancing act, some of the material in this book is 
  going to be proven wrong.  Whenever it does, I as the author will strive to offer 
  updates and corrections to this living history, so that it will always be up to date 
  with the latest research.  This book will never have the treasures of the entire truth 
  locked between its covers, because that is not within the realm of human possibility.  
  And yet, in admiration I have preserved here the words and heartfelt memories of 
  many amazing people, and their story is a remarkable one which I think you will 
  enjoy. 
  But enough of justification and preamble.  Let us return to the Golden Age.  Let 
  us begin to relive the adventure!  The imperious world of the Great Kingdom, the 
  
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  lavish spectacle of Greyhawk and the frigid mystery of Blackmoor all await us 
  beyond the gate. 
  Let us now take that very first step ... 
   
   
  The White Rabbit put on his spectacles.  “Where shall I begin, please your 
  Majesty?” he asked.  “Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on 
  till you come to the end; then stop.” 
  — Lewis Carroll 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 1 
  Before the Dawn of the Golden Age 
  (1937 – 1969) 
   
   
  An idyllic glimpse of a steam landing 
  in early Lake Geneva, 1909.  Public domain. 
   
  THE STORY of fantasy role-playing, and of Dungeons & Dragons, begins with one 
  E. Gary Gygax, an eccentric and affable gentleman who always preferred to be 
  known simply as Gary.1 
  Gary’s parents were married on a Sunday, August 15th, in 1937.  Gary’s mother 
  was Almina (always affectionately known as “Posey”) Emelie Burdick, a lovely 
                                                             
  1 According to family lore it seems that Gary’s middle name was a nod to the actor Gary 
  Cooper, of whom Gary’s mother was a huge fan.  Refer to Empire of the Imagination, by 
  Michael Witwer, pg. 16. 
  
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  woman born into a longstanding and highly regarded family in Lake Geneva, 
  Wisconsin.2 
   
   
  Postcard image of the Lake Geneva region, 1914.  Public domain. 
   
  The Burdick family’s presence in North America predates the United States, with 
  the first Burdicks arriving in colonial Rhode Island in about the year 1642.3  The 
  Burdicks later settled in the frontier lands of Wisconsin, in 1836.4  At that time, much 
  of Wisconsin was still a wilderness; Michigan was not formally separated from the 
  Wisconsin Territory until July 3rd of that year, and Wisconsin did not officially 
                                                             
  2 For many more interesting notes on Gary’s childhood and Burdick family heritage, 
  please refer to his online article “Around Grandfather Burdick’s Dining Table,” which he 
  wrote in 2006. 
  3 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted 
  October 20th, 2005. 
  4 Online interview:  The d-infinity.net interview with Gary Gygax.  By Michael O. Varhola.  
  Posted on July 27th, 2013. 
  
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  become a state until May of 1848. 
  Gary’s father, Ernst, had been born in Seeberg, in the canton of Bern in 
  Switzerland.5  He was born on January 19th, 1884.  After coming to the United 
  States as a youth in the 1880s,6 Ernst would later choose to Anglicize his name to 
  the more American “Ernest,” a name he was destined to later share with his son.  
  Ernest Sr. was a man of many gifts, possessed of an imaginative and winsome spirit.  
  He was an accomplished violinist as well, and — according to Gary’s familial 
  recollection —  his father may have played professionally with the Chicago 
  Symphony Orchestra.  (More recent research has put this particular point into 
  contention, however, as the Symphony archives appear to insinuate that Ernst 
  Gygax Sr. did not actually play for the Orchestra proper.  He may have been a 
  substitute, or he might have been a member of one of the ensembles that played in 
  the Orchestra Hall.)7 
   
   
  A rare glimpse of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (at that time, simply the 
  Chicago Orchestra) in 1897, just 7 years after its founding. Public domain. 
                                                             
  5 The family name Gygax, as well as the related name Ghikas, are derived via Switzerland 
  from the Greek Gigas, meaning “Giant” (as in “gigantic”).  Family in this bloodline 
  apparently also settled in Bleienbach and Thunstetten in the same canton; some say this 
  was in the 1700s, some earlier. 
  6 Online interview:  The d-infinity.net interview with Gary Gygax.  By Michael O. Varhola.  
  Posted on July 27th, 2013. 
  7 Refer to “Did Gary Gygax’s Father Play for Chicago Symphony Orchestra?” as featured 
  on the Save Versus All Wands blog, posted February 8th, 2014. 
  
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  Gary, then, was born to Almina on the morning of July 27th, 1938 at St. Joseph’s 
  Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.  He would live in a little house with a big yard, situated 
  on Kenmore Avenue just a few blocks north of Wrigley Field.8  By that time, Ernest 
  Sr. (who was well into his fifties when Gary was born)9 was working as a suit 
  salesman in the premiere Chicago department store which was owned by the 
  extravagant multimillionaire, Maurice L. Rothschild.10  Gary was born after his father 
  had set his Jacob Steiner violin forever to rest, and so he never had the chance to 
  see or hear his father play. 
  By a curious twist of fate, the years 1937 and 1938 also saw the birth of a 
  revolutionary phenomenon in children’s and fantasy fiction:  The Hobbit, by English 
  author John Ronald Reuel (J. R. R.) Tolkien.  This now-classic tale of thrilling 
  adventure, lurking goblins, hulking trolls, dwarven treasure and a merciless dragon 
  was published in the United Kingdom on September 21st, 1937.  The very first 
  American edition of The Hobbit followed via Houghton Mifflin Co. in the spring 
  of 1938.  The harrowing misadventures of the titular Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, as he 
  arose from the humblest creature of comfort to a dragon-defying hero, would later 
  inspire (and become irrevocably intertwined with) Gary’s own signature 
  masterpiece, the game of Dungeons & Dragons. 
  When he was still a young child, Gary’s mother would read to him to ease his 
  restlessness.11  One of the most compelling tales to young Gary’s mind involved the 
  tale of the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga, which strode along through haunted Russian 
  forests upon its giant magical chicken legs. 
                                                             
  8 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  9th, 2005. 
  9 Online interview:  The d-infinity.net interview with Gary Gygax.  By Michael O. Varhola.  
  Posted on July 27th, 2013. 
  10 As a point of trivia, Rothschild’s store was especially famed for its beautiful hats.  One 
  of the more notorious customers who purchased a fine hat there, specifically one straw 
  boater borsalino, was none other than Al Capone.  As a 1931 ad would proudly proclaim, 
  “Our hat department is actually the largest in the world, largest in space, in stock, in 
  variety.” 
  11 Dragon magazine, issue #95, pg. 12. 
  
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  An intrepid maiden preparing to explore the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga.  One of 
  the Hut’s chicken legs can be seen behind her outspread arm. 
  
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  Jack and Jill magazine, produced for the first time in November of Gary’s birth 
  year (and still going strong to this day), later featured this tale and many others,12 
  and was soon Gary’s favorite source of tales.  Jack and Jill may also have, 
  interestingly, also marked the naissance of Gary’s own affection for alliterative titles 
  for creative endeavors (Swords & Sorcery, Castle & Crusade, Dungeons & Dragons, 
  Dangerous Dimensions, Dance of Demons, and so forth). 
   
   
  Brownies infiltrate many a moonlit castle built from the imagination … 
                                                             
  12 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted June 
  16th, 2005.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VIII, posted March 1st, 2005. 
  
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  Gary’s mother would also read the Sunday funnies for him while he marveled 
  over the pictures.  His favorite piece every week was the Teenie Weenies, a famous 
  strip concerning elfin and pixie-like folk dwelling secretly in a strange world filled 
  with bumbling giants (aka human beings).13  After a long hiatus, this classic strip was 
  reinstated on Sundays in the Chicago Tribune in May of 1941. 
  We can therefore presume that by the age of three, Gary was fully immersed in 
  the worlds of storytelling, capricious adventure, and illustrated fantasy.  A little later 
  in life, collected fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang would heighten 
  Gary’s interest in faerie folk, which began with the Teenie Weenies.14 
  While he was still three years old, Gary also made the first crayon drawing that 
  his mother would decide to keep for posterity.  This was a sketch of “a great ugly 
  troll, because I loved the stories of the Billy Goats Gruff.  It was a vaguely cubical 
  thing with a great many legs and eyes.”15 
  Gary later commented that “Most of the influences on my creative work were 
  acquired from childhood on.”16  Many of these highly imaginative elements would 
  later appear in Dungeons & Dragons, and the troll bridge from the Grimm tale in 
  particular would apparently make an appearance in Gary’s first Chainmail Fantasy 
  game in early 1971.17 
   
                                                             
  13 Gary’s lifelong fascination with the “little people” would percolate throughout 
  Dungeons & Dragons, with particular notices prominently featured in the Monster Manual 
  (leprechaun, nixie, pixie, sprite), Descent into the Depths of the Earth (jermlaine), Shrine 
  of the Kuo-Toa (svirfneblin), and the derivative Fiend Folio (booka, killmoulis). 
  14 In Dragon magazine #95, on pg. 12, Gary explains that after being exposed to fairy 
  tale reading by his mother (who read him stories from Jack and Jill magazine), he then 
  went on to read the Brothers Grimm collection on his own. 
  15 This quote was found on an obscure temporary Tripod web page, preserving an 
  interesting interview with Gygax.  See also Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV, posted 
  September 29th, 2005:  “My mother actually saved my first crayon ‘art,’ depictions of 
  square things with big eyes and mouths, squiggly legs that were ‘great ugly trolls.’  I 
  believe they are now lost, but I recall them well, even drawing them.” 
  16 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 5th, 2002. 
  17 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  
  Posted September 22nd, 2005. 
  
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  “Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the Troll. 
   
  His burgeoning interest in fantasy was gently encouraged by his father as well.  
  As he once recollected, “My father was a marvelous storyteller.  What a treat it was 
  for me at age three and later to have him tell me a bedtime story.  Those tales were 
  usually of giants and dragons, wise old wizards with magic rings, cloaks of 
  invisibility, and always a little boy involved in the adventure and derring do.”18 
  (It thus seems possible that Ernest Sr. may have regaled Gary with the tale of The 
  Hobbit or at least scenes inspired by that book, but this is speculation on my part.) 
  With his parents’ encouragement, Gary began reading fairy tales on his own 
  around 1943, and then moved on to books filled with fables, legends and 
  mythology a few years later on.19  He would enact some of these tales in play with 
  his own small collection of metal dime store soldiers, a collection cultivated and 
                                                             
  18 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #2, July 2005.  “How It All 
  Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2.  See also the online post in the Dragonsfoot Gary 
  Gygax Q&A, Part V, posted June 1st, 2006. 
  19 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VI.  Posted 
  February 29th, 2004. 
  
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  encouraged by his father.  Every Saturday night Gary would earn a present, and 
  more often than not these were Barclay-brand toy soldiers.  The figures were about 
  65 millimeters tall, cast in metal and finely detailed.20 
   
   
  A glorious time for wild tales of adventure. 
                                                             
  20 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII, posted 
  November 5th, 2007. 
  
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  These engagingly painted $0.10 figures were no mere trifles, considering that a 
  dime could be more responsibly used to purchase a loaf of bread.  Gary’s ever-
  growing armies would be arrayed “with blocks and Tinker Toys adorning the 
  battlefield,”21 an early instance of his interest in the nuances of terrain and cover 
  which would later inform his own particular modes of play. 
  As we shall see, Gary would never quite outgrow his love of toy soldiers; he 
  would in fact make a living sharing his enthusiasm for them with the world through 
  his own amateur and professional game designs. 
   
   
  The chessboard imagined as a world of idle war, gaming, adventure, and 
  exploration … from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, by 
  Lewis Carroll, and as illustrated by Sir John Tenniel. 
   
  But that was yet to come.  In that grim and escapist era of the American home 
  front during late World War II (when Gary himself was yet to experience television 
                                                             
  21 Online interview:  The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax, with Ciro Alessandro Sacco 
  of dungeons.it; hosted at thekyngdoms.com. 
  
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  on a frequent basis),22 he relied on storytelling, reading, imagination and radio to 
  fill his days with dreamt-of adventure.  The greatest game of all proved to be that 
  ageless standby of children the world over, “Let’s Pretend.”  Gary occasionally 
  managed to share and even control this social activity with other Chicago children.  
  “I had a full back yard,” he once mused, “so I generally got to call what make-
  believe game we would play … my first experience as Game Master.”23 
  At the tender age of six (1944), Gary learned how to play the game of chess 
  under the mentorship of his grandfather, Hugh.24  Chess would teach Gary the 
  importance of balance, predictability, and regimentation in strategic gaming … 
  lessons he would carry forward into his wargames designs, and lessons which he 
  would act against in the development of more unorthodox role-playing games. 
  And also at around this time, Gary was able to visit the Chicago Field Museum 
  with his father on many a Sunday, a jaunt which occurred about once a month.  He 
  fell in love with Egyptology due to the museum’s impressive mummy and artifact 
  displays.25  These memories would later inspire his conception of the arch-villain 
  Acererak (as featured in Dungeon Module S1, Tomb of Horrors), as well as parts of 
  his Necropolis game setting and a novel, The Anubis Murders.  Gary also enjoyed 
  the taxidermy displays and the enormous loxodonts, and was the lucky recipient of 
  some great tyrannosaurus and triceratops toys from the museum gift shop26 (which 
  might have inspired his inclusion of many prehistoric beasts in the 1977 Monster 
  Manual).  In many ways, through such adventures of the imagination he could claim 
  a happy and imaginative early life.27 
  Not all was peaceful in Gary’s Chicago childhood, however.  There were fierce 
  rivalries between neighboring children that often erupted in competitions which 
  became far more dangerous than mere games and roughhousing.  (Gary’s mates, by 
                                                             
  22 For some of Gary’s interesting memories of the World War II era, refer to ENWorld Gary 
  Gygax Q&A, Part XIII, posted November 5th, 2007. 
  23 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 1, Number 2 (Issue #2), 
  July 2005.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2. 
  24 Dragon magazine, issue #103, pg. 56. 
  25 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted March 
  14th, 2003. 
  26 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  February 6th, 2008. 
  27 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted March 
  14th, 2003. 
  
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  the way, christened themselves the “Kenmore Pirates.”)28 
  Gary once explained:  “Back in Chicago in the early 1940’s we used wooden 
  swords and garbage-can or peach-crate lids, reinforced with cardboard shields, to 
  have ‘wars’ against the ‘enemy gang’ that were at the North End.”29  The battle 
  became quite intense, with a BB gun being used to hold back the “invaders” and 
  Gary’s friend Jerry Paul knocking out one of the more aggressive kids (the leader, 
  Rex) with a well-thrown piece of brick.  That worst fight had apparently started 
  when Rex broke a basement window in Gary’s father’s building, and Gary 
  demanded that Rex pay up for the damage.  In response, Rex stomped off and 
  came back with about twenty of his “flunkies” and things escalated from there.30 
  The explanation for all of this fracas was simple, a sign of the times:  “The 
  neighborhood in 4100 North Kenmore Avenue was declining rapidly throughout 
  the war.”31 The increasing violence of these North Side encounters would soon 
  cause Ernest Sr. to move his family from Chicago to Burdick land — within the quiet 
  Wisconsin resort town of Lake Geneva — in July of 1946.32 
  This was at first considered a temporary move of one year’s duration, a pause 
  in life to “regroup” with the extended family.  Gary’s parents at that time planned 
  to make a permanent move to family property in La Jolla, California.33  However, 
  another house would need to be built first, and Ernest Sr. was having difficulty 
  finding lucrative employment prospects out in California.  During the delay, Gary 
  and his parents fell in love with Lake Geneva.  It was a far better place than Chicago, 
  at that time, to raise a child.  And Gary’s mother’s family hailed from there, and 
  urged Ernest Sr. to consider a move there.  Gary’s father sagely agreed that this was 
  indeed the right thing to do. 
                                                             
  28 Empire of Imagination:  Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons, by Michael 
  Witwer, pg. 13. 
  29 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  5th, 2005. 
  30 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  
  Posted March 27th, 2007. 
  31 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  November 6th, 2007. 
  32 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  5th, 2005.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part XIII, posted November 6th, 2007. 
  33 This information appears in several places on the web, in various levels of detail.  See 
  for example Gary’s online article “Around Grandfather Burdick’s Dining Table,” at 
  burdickfamily.org, which he wrote in 2006. 
  
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  A bird’s-eye view of Lake Geneva, 1882.  Public domain. 
   
  Gary made many deep and lasting friendships in Lake Geneva, the most 
  important being a reunion with his buddy Donald Raymond Kaye.  Gary and Don 
  had met earlier (c. 1944)34 when the Gygax family would spend their Augusts in 
  Lake Geneva,35 and they became best friends when Gary moved up for good in 
  1946.  Gary and Don trusted one another implicitly, and the closeness of this 
  relationship would one day result in their becoming partners in business as they 
  founded Tactical Studies Rules in October of 1973. 
  * * * * * 
  Despite such strong and lasting friendships, Gary was a private person in many 
  ways.  He was extremely sensitive in nature, claiming that he recalled memories of 
  sunlight experienced when he was only six months old.  While Gary’s sensitivities 
                                                             
  34 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted June 
  23rd, 2005. 
  35 Refer to the online article “Around Grandfather Burdick’s Dining Table,” which Gary 
  wrote in 2006. 
  
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  grew with age and the simple “Cowboys and Indians,” “Private Detective” and 
  “Recon Patrol” games began to flourish into more convoluted realms of role-play, 
  the superstitious borderline between reality and fantasy became more permeable.  
  Gary had a vivid imagination; he was always receptive to the possibilities inherent 
  in the unlikely.  He frequently, even sixty years later, insisted that as a child he had 
  experienced the supernatural.  “Of course there is the paranormal,” he once insisted.  
  “To deny it is to flout reason. There are things that happen that cannot be explained 
  by any scientific means.”36 
  The first grim instance of this experience occurred in the early summer of 1946 
  or 1947, when he was eight.  His mother and father had gone to San Diego 
  (intending to better secure their plans involving the land in La Jolla), leaving Gary 
  at home with some house-sitting family friends, the Dimerys.  This was no occasion 
  for sadness; in fact, Gary had instigated the matter and convinced his parents to 
  leave him behind because he wanted to have some unsupervised fun with one of 
  his buddies.  Joe and Jean Dimerys’ son, David, was another of Gary’s good 
  companions, having met and befriended Gary in Chicago.37  (David had in fact been 
  one of the Kenmore Pirates in Gary’s neighborhood “gang.”)38 
  One evening, having been put to bed early and then joking with David until 
  almost midnight, Gary got himself in a bit of trouble.  He had the ill-fated lower 
  bunk, while David enjoyed the upper.  David and Gary were shouting and playing 
  and having a great time, forgetting the late hour.  David’s parents heard the boys’ 
  horseplay when they approached from down the hall, and summarily separated the 
  two by dragging David into another bedroom across the hall.  Gary took the hint 
  and went to sleep. 
  Not long after dozing off, he was wakened by a thundering crash overhead, as 
  something massive shook the entire attic.  Whatever it was, it stomped over Gary’s 
  ceiling, as if seeking something.  There were seven long strides in all, taking the 
  unknown figure from one end of the attic to the other.  Someone was up there.  
  Whoever it was, he was heavy and huge. 
  Was there an intruder?  Was Mr. Dimery, perhaps, doing something up there in 
                                                             
  36 Online interview:  The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax, with Ciro Alessandro Sacco 
  of dungeons.it; hosted at thekyngdoms.com.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part 
  VIII, posted March 4th, 2005. 
  37 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 21st, 2002. 
  38 Empire of Imagination:  Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons, by Michael 
  Witwer, pg. 17. 
  
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  the middle of the night?  As Gary hid beneath his covers, Mrs. Dimery surged in and 
  demanded to know what Gary was up to.  Gary could not see her; he was curled 
  up under his sheet.  It was only then that they both realized that no one in the 
  house had made the sounds.  Alarmed, Mr. Dimery waked and checked on his son, 
  but David had managed to sleep through the entire visitation. 
  Mr. and Mrs. Dimery, with a hastily awakened David and a nearly petrified Gary 
  reluctantly in tow, crept down the long shadowy hall which ran the entire length 
  of the house.  Mr. Dimery went ahead, carrying a baseball bat, and opened the 
  door which led up into the attic. 
  He crept up the stairs.  This was followed by long silence, and then finally his 
  return.  But there was nothing up there to be found.  Regardless, the Dimerys made 
  certain to lock the attic door before they all went back to sleep.  The only person 
  permanently affected by it all, it seems, was Gary.39 
  And that was not the only instance.  In November of 1948, Gary suffered an 
  even more striking encounter with the supernatural.  It was a dark and frigid school 
  day and an unusual one, at that.  While Gary was just making his way home, his 
  mother was enjoying an outing with family in the Chicago suburbs, leaving her ten-
  year-old son all alone.  Feeling the press of isolation upon arriving home, Gary 
  sought out his beloved tomcat, Cueball.  He decided the weather was perfect for 
  some reading — something Gothic — and so he selected his grandfather’s copy of 
  Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe.  He turned on a lamp, curled up in Grandpapa 
  Burdick’s chair, and Cueball jumped up beside him. 
  While immersed in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and reaching the point 
  where the Lady Madeline is pounding away in her escape from the crypt, Gary was 
  startled by a jolt of pain.  Cueball rose, arched and hissing while raptly staring at 
  the half-open door which led into an old maid’s chamber.  Floorboards creaked, 
  first from behind the door, then nearer in and around the door.  The untouched 
  door creaked visibly open, and inward.  The cat hissed louder.  Gary could see 
  nothing but the moving door, and yet the sounds were moving toward him.  The 
  creaking presses swept straight toward his chair.  And then?  Only a trembling cat 
  slowly returning to his ease, and silence. 
  There was nothing there.  But if there were no more noises, no more footsteps, 
  was the unseen presence standing right over the back of Gary’s chair? 
                                                             
  39 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 9 (Issue #9), 
  May 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2. 
  
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  What’s wrong with a little midnight fun? 
   
  After long heartbeat-driven seconds of being frozen in fear, Gary leapt up out 
  from the chair (poor Cueball went flying), and went on a frantic crusade.  He turned 
  on every light that he could reach, and gathered up a few of his trusty friends:  a 
  bow, some arrows, a baseball bat, his hunting knife, and even a machete.  Then 
  
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  Gary sat back down again, and watched.40  It must have been a very long vigil.  His 
  mother did not return until seven that evening. 
  Despite these disturbing experiences, Gary enjoyed reading of (but not 
  experiencing!) the supernatural.  His love of fantasy fiction took firmer root within 
  his heart and mind.  He would be forever changed when he read his first story by 
  Robert E. Howard, in Conan the Conqueror.  Today, this story is more commonly 
  entitled The Hour of the Dragon.  The tale was “an early taste of the elixir of 
  fantasy,” Gary wrote, “to which I rapidly became addicted.  …  After I finished 
  reading that piece of Sword & Sorcery literature [Conan the Conqueror] for the first 
  time, my concepts of adventure were never quite the same again.”41 
  Howard’s passionate, vigorous and dynamic prose would have a lifelong 
  influence on Gary’s imagination.  Quite simply, drawn in through the gateway of 
  Howard’s tales, Gary fell irrevocably in love with the pulp fantasy fiction genre now 
  known as Swords & Sorcery.42 
  In Howard’s tale, the formerly barbaric Conan has become a dark and jaded 
  older man of earthly power and earthly apprehensions.  Having slain King 
  Numedides of Aquilonia, he has taken the throne as his blood prize and veritably 
  trapped himself in a life of eternal suspicion.  His enemies, in the name of 
  Numedides’ rightful heir Valerius, use black and forbidden magic to raise the corpse 
  of an Acheronian sorcerer, the dreaded Xaltotun.  Conan is seized by treacherous 
  men, but is later saved by the lovely slave maiden Zenobia.  In the end, Conan is 
  forced to risk his life so that he can annihilate Xaltotun, and then finally claim the 
  bold Zenobia as his queen.43 
  Gary was hooked, and for him the saga of Conan was only the beginning.  He 
  would later (in Wargamer’s Digest #7) describe his enthusiasm for Swords & Sorcery:  
                                                             
  40 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 9 (Issue #9), 
  May 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2.  Gary by the way had a lifelong 
  love of, and respect for, weaponry of all kinds.  He owned various knives and sabers.  
  Growing up in rural Wisconsin, he also became acquainted with firearms early on.  He 
  had a BB pistol by 1948, a Daisy lever-action BB gun by 1949, and a .22 Winchester rifle (a 
  gift from his grandfather) by 1952. 
  41 Dragon magazine, issue #95, pg. 12. 
  42 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 3, Number 5 (Issue #5), 
  Winter 2007.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 1. 
  43 This tale cast a long shadow in Gary’s imagination.  Although the lich monster in 
  Dungeons & Dragons would be inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s “The Death of Halpin 
  Frayser” and Koschei the Deathless in Slavic folklore, it is virtually certain that the original 
  inspiration was this deathly, deathless wizard Xaltotun, High Priest of Set. 
  
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  “Somewhere in between the children’s works and the (often dry and slow) so-called 
  adult works there lies the world of “Swords & Sorcery” — fast-paced, heroic yarns 
  which are filled with brawny swordsmen, magic swords, wicked magicians, 
  monstrous beasts, and beautiful women who must be rescued from them.” 
  He soon discovered that he loved the imaginative concepts underlying not only 
  the Swords & Sorcery yarns, but those of science fiction tales as well.  The first sci fi 
  story he ever encountered was “The World the Children Made,” later entitled “The 
  Veldt.”  The author was Ray Bradbury. 
  In this story, the concept of virtual reality is explored.  Two young children live 
  in a nursery with holographic screens, quite similar to the later Holodeck featured 
  in Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  The screens respond to the children’s telepathic 
  wishes, endlessly entertaining them with vistas of the primitive and savage Earth of 
  long ago. 
  The nursery is enthralling, however.  It is intelligent and self-protective.  The 
  children grow spellbound by visions of African predators, and even though they 
  scream at the sight of bloody beasts feasting upon prey, they cannot look away. 
  Eventually, the imprudent parents become concerned by this obsession, and turn 
  the nursery off.  The deprived children beg for one last moment to share in secret 
  with their nursery, so that they can say goodbye to their virtual friend.  The parents 
  reluctantly agree, and leave the room.  Forming an unspeakable primal link with 
  the nursery AI, the children do something ... wrong.  Then, they encourage their 
  parents to enter the room. 
  When the parents come in again, the children lock them in and leave.  Bradbury’s 
  story ends with the parents screaming, as the holo-screens project deathly lions 
  crawling through a veldt.  Licking their fangs in anticipation, the lions crawl straight 
  off the screens (much like the horrific Samara in The Ring).  And once again, they 
  feast … but this time, the blood they taste is real. 
  What a story to usher in a love of science fiction!  Gary, who had never read 
  anything like this before in his life, was enthralled.  “I loved it,” he once wrote, 
  “[and] was horrified by the action of the children, and gave it to my mother to 
  read.  She too was taken aback, for she wondered if I wanted to feed her and my 
  father to lions.  I assured her that was not the case.”44 
  While Gary estimated that he had read the story in 1948, it appears to me that 
  the tale was not published until September 23rd, 1950 in the Saturday Evening 
                                                             
  44 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted May 6th, 2006. 
  
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  Post.45 
  Gary related that he found the story in Blue Book magazine, a publication 
  known for selected reprints of pulp adventure and science fiction.  So it is likely that 
  Howard came first, and Bradbury thereafter.  Gary may have been remembering 
  the later version entitled “The Veldt,” which appeared in a collection called The 
  Illustrated Man in February 1951.46  But whenever “The World the Children Made” 
  was actually read, it is intriguing to note this ghostly theme resonating once again 
  in Gary’s life:  the bridging of the real and the unreal, a crossing of fantasy and 
  reality where the imagined becomes more tangible and malleable than reality itself. 
  While signature works by these dark masters — Bradbury, Howard, Poe — 
  definitively formed Gary’s nascent tastes in speculative fiction (tastes which would 
  later encompass L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, 
  Michael Moorcock and especially Jack Vance), a few tales were never enough.  
  “From 1950 on I was a devoted science fiction and fantasy fan,” he explained.  “I 
  read a book or pulp ‘zine or two a day.”47 
  Gary read whatever else he could find that spoke to his curious inclinations, 
  regardless of the genre:  “The books at my house were most influential in forming 
  my mindset, one of non-conformity and love of adventure.”48  Books were not 
  always enough, however.  Sometimes Gary felt compelled to bring the literary 
  adventures to life.  Gary once joked, “My mother said her worst mistake in raising 
  me was reading Tom Sawyer to me.  I loved reading myself, but being read to 
  allowed more visualization of the story.  Indeed, a friend of mine helped me to 
  build a raft to float around on the lake [Geneva] when I was around age 12.”49 
  * * * * * 
  In the 1950s, fantasy literature did not yet formally exist as a respectable genre 
  (at least from the majority viewpoint of adults in America).  Pioneers such as Lord 
  Dunsany, Arthur Machen, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Algernon Blackwood made 
  considerable inroads into dark pockets of the imagination, which were later tapped 
                                                             
  45 Internet Speculative Fiction Database, “The Veldt.” 
  46 Internet Speculative Fiction Database, “The Illustrated Man.” 
  47 “Jack Vance & the D&D Game,” an article by Gary Gygax which originally appeared 
  in The Excellent Prismatic Spray, Volume 1, Issue #2, 2001.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax 
  Q&A Part VI, posted February 18th, 2004. 
  48 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 3, Number 7 (Issue #7), 
  August 2007.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 1. 
  49 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX, 
  posted April 10th, 2007. 
  
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  more deeply by H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.  But 
  without genre solidification and the resultant ease of access to fantasy fiction, Gary 
  sometimes had to make do with whatever he could find. 
  Therefore, throughout the 1950s he read a seemingly random assortment of 
  readily available works which would include Thorne Smith’s racy Topper 
  supernatural pulps, older works such as Victor Appleton’s Tom Swift and His Giant 
  Cannon (1913), and the vibrant, unfettered fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs.  
  Favored tales by Burroughs ranged from the quite worthy Tarzan and the Jewels of 
  Opar (1916-1918), to the rather more brusque and shameless Cave Man and Cave 
  Girl (1913-1917).  Cave Girl by the way was Gary’s first Burroughs novel, and so 
  would lead to Gary picking up A Princess of Mars later in life.50 
  He read many stories by Robert A. Heinlein, John Wyndham’s The Day of the 
  Triffids (c. 1953),51 and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation saga as well (c. 1951).52  Beyond 
  science fiction, one remarkable Burdick family favorite was William Clarke’s The 
  Boy’s Own Book:  A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions — Athletic, 
  Scientific, and Recreative — of Boyhood and Youth (London, 1828; Boston, 1829).  
  This crafty tome is basically a 19th century survival manual, its ideals perhaps best 
  represented today by spiritual successors such as The Boy’s Book of Adventure and 
  The Dangerous Book for Boys. 
  This voracious reading of speculative fiction and other “adventure” works would 
  continue unabated through 1956, when Gary felt that he had finally “caught up” 
  with most of the published classics written up to that point.  He read “literally 
  thousands of S[ci] F[i], fantasy, folklore, and mythology books” during those 
  formative years.53 
  He once also mentioned that he read “about every book of Fantasy and Science 
  Fiction published in the US.”54  And “by the tender age of twelve,” he wrote 
  separately, “I was an avid fan of the pulps … and I ranged afield to assimilate 
                                                             
  50 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted March 
  13th, 2003. 
  51 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VII.  Posted 
  February 14th, 2005. 
  52 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XI.  Posted July 
  21st, 2006. 
  53 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part XI, posted July 
  19th, 2006. 
  54 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted 
  February 17th, 2003. 
  
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  whatever I could find which even vaguely related to these exciting yarns.  
  Meanwhile, I was devouring ancient and medieval history, tales of the American 
  frontier, historical novels of all sorts, and the [Horatio] Hornblower stories in the 
  old Saturday Evening Post.”55 
  (The Horatio Hornblower tales, by the way, ran prominently in the Post in 1951, 
  ’52 and ’53, with a smattering of dates before and after.) 
  He even went back in time, as it were:  “I bought used pulps so as to read back 
  through the entire 1940-on era,” he wrote.  “That’s why I included so extensive a 
  reading list in the [Dungeon Masters Guide] … I read and enjoyed, was inspired by, 
  a large number of authors.”56 
  The finest of these books, and his strongest recommendations, would be culled 
  into a list which he would publish in his Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) as 
  “Appendix N” (with several later additions).57  Dungeons & Dragons, in itself, can 
  in some ways be considered a highly complex synthesis of Appendix N and many 
  earlier historical games, as we shall see. 
  There were other inspirations as well.  While these enticing books were 
  boundless and radio was virtually omnipresent, for Gary the movies of Hollywood 
  were a rarer and more impressive treat.  One of the most captivating films he saw 
  in his teens was Ivanhoe (released in July 1952), an award-nominated Robert and 
  Elizabeth Taylor epic set in the age of Richard the Lionheart.  The movie’s fight 
  scenes featured knights in shining armor (including a great skull-and-raven crested 
  helm), caparisoned horses, jousting, archers repelling a shield wall formation of 
  harried men-at-arms, sword fights in castle stairwells, and a very dangerous-looking 
  axe-vs.-flail battle fought both on and off horseback.  (Spoiler:  the axeman wins in 
  a frenetic dismounted melee, but only barely.)  
   
                                                             
  55 Dragon magazine, issue #95, pg. 12. 
  56 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted 
  February 17th, 2003. 
  57 Gary’s list of authors which he would add to Appendix N, if he had the chance, was 
  surprisingly small.  It included Glenn Cook (specifically the saga of The Black Company) 
  and Terry Pratchett (specifically the Ringworld saga). 
  
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  “Quickly, before our parents see us!” 
   
  And here again, boring reality would be dashed with fantasy:  the Ivanhoe joust 
  and tourney scenes inspired Gary to engage in one of his many bouts of rowdiness:  
  
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  “The movie inspired me to make a flail.  …  [Boyhood friend] John Rasch and I 
  actually were able to smite each other’s garbage-can lid shield several mighty blows, 
  before we were spotted by anxious parents and the tournament brought to an 
  untimely end.”58 
  This surging interest in medieval battles was heightened when the famed German 
  toy company of O(tto) & M(ax) Hausser began releasing their composite plastic 
  “Elastolin” historical figures in 1955.  A series featuring Prince Valiant and cohorts 
  seemed to have been the most popular line.  These immaculately painted 
  masterpieces would eventually include the knights of King Arthur, Huns, Vikings, 
  Romans, Templars, Lansquenets, American Indians and frontiersmen, all intricately 
  sculpted.  These coveted “Haussers” were little works of art, which put Barclays and 
  lesser toy soldiers to shame.  Animal, army and domestic figures were crafted by the 
  company as well.  As an example of range and production quality, the company’s 
  1958 Lineoplastik Dresden catalog (for example) features draft horses in full harness, 
  realistic farm animals, wildlife with accurate fur markings, and a variety of jungle 
  primates. 
  It seems that Gary tried to create an early wargame using his own figures during 
  the early 1950s.  As he once said in an interview, “I got into military miniatures 
  when I was in my teens, just trying to make up a game with all of the neat toy 
  soldiers I had.”59  He and Don Kaye tried to devise rules for Gary’s collection of 
  World War II figures and tanks, as well as for his 54 mm Britons soldiers.  The fact 
  that they could only think to use coin flips instead of dice for combat resolution 
  slowed the game down drastically, and the use of ladyfinger firecrackers ensured 
  that the collection would not have survived too much play testing.60 
  Gary and Don therefore abandoned the idea of codified wargaming until little 
  later in life (when they would discover it another in an entirely different published 
  form). 
  Games were not the only events in Gary’s life at this time, however.  Escapism 
  brought him comfort, and it also protected him from sorrow.  He suffered a great 
  loss on January 1st, 1956, when his father died.  Ernest Sr. had been suffering from 
                                                             
  58 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 2, Number 4 (Issue #4), 
  Spring 2006.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 1.  See also Dragonsfoot Gary 
  Gygax Q&A Part VII, posted August 15th, 2006. 
  59 Masters of Fantasy:  TSR, the Fantasy Factory.  A documentary which aired on the Sci-
  Fi Channel in 1997.  The comment appears at approximately 7:05. 
  60 Refer to the Foreword to H. G. Wells’s Little Wars, the 2004 Skirmisher Publishing LLC 
  edition, written by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  cancer, and lingered over the Christmas holidays.  “It is all too recent in memory,” 
  Gary wrote in 2002, “despite the many years that have passed.”61  This event and 
  others would hurt him deeply.  Later in life, he would sometimes feel that he had 
  lost his way during his final teen years.  Gary never did graduate from high school, 
  but he did attend junior college while he was living in Chicago (likely in the late 
  1950s and early 1960s).  He resided in the city near Bryn Mawr and Broadway, 
  where he would live for about eight years.62 
  School was not everything, of course.  Gary’s competitive gaming habits took 
  further hold around 1958, when he attended the Chicago Chess & Checker Club.  
  However, the veteran players there wanted to play for money, and so he spent his 
  time at the Rogers Park Chess Club instead.63 
  While working on his education he enjoyed anthropology, sociology, and 
  English classes.  His professors knew he was intelligent, and he managed to make it 
  onto the Dean’s list and to be admitted to the University of Chicago.  Regardless of 
  his further educational potential, when all was said and done he decided to take a 
  job in insurance instead.64 
  That was a few years in the future, however.  Throughout his teen years, Gary 
  was still obsessed with stories.  In the early to mid-1950s, he was “fascinated by 
  castles, medieval history, and secret passages and hidden treasure rooms.”65  He 
  spent his free time creating rudimentary floor plans to supplement the many 
  adventures he read about in his books.  “Most [of these maps] were of castles,” he 
  once related, “or castle-like mansions with secret stairs and rooms.”66 
   
   
                                                             
  61 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  December 17th, 2002. 
  62 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  
  Posted October 17th, 2005. 
  63 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VI.  
  Posted June 19th, 2006. 
  64 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VI.  Posted 
  February 16th, 2004. 
  65 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted June 1st, 2006. 
  66 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 10 (Issue #10), 
  October 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2. 
  
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  Old floor plans for refurbished castles, manor houses, and Victorian mansions and 
  sanitariums tend to offer interesting opportunities for creative embellishment … 
   
  Such vivid imaginary exploration of fearful secret passageways, however, was 
  never sufficient to satisfy Gary’s ever-increasing appetite for adventure.  He was in 
  later life rather cagey about the details, but it is known that he loved to explore the 
  dangerous multi-level ruins of the “Crazy House,” more colloquially known as the 
  Oakwood(s) (or “Oak Leigh,” per medical journals, or as Gary called it, “Oak Hill”) 
  Educational Sanitarium on Catholic Hill. 
   
   
  
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  An early Sanitarium view in Lake Geneva, c. 1905-1910.  Contrast added to show 
  the figures at ground level for scale. 
   
  (A warning:  There are apparently two separate historical Sanitarium institutions 
  — one at the lakeside, and one on the hill; one torn down, one not; one having 
  been opened in 1884/1885, and the other in 1903 — so some of the tales and 
  directions between the two become conflated in the telling.  The record is not 
  entirely clear, and I am hoping to make this distinction clearer in the future.  Herein, 
  I will simply call Gary’s remembered edifice “the Sanitarium” to avoid further 
  confusion.) 
  It seems that one of the Sanitariums was run by one Dr. Mary E. Pogue as of 
  1903, Medical Superintendent, for the purpose of aiding troubled youths who were 
  suffering from various physical and mental illnesses.  Both institutions was highly 
  regarded, and some of the wealthier families of Chicago kept their afflicted children 
  in the Sanitarium’s secrecy and care.  Dr. Pogue’s theory was that mental illness was 
  
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  a hereditary condition, and that it could be prevented (at least for the benefit of 
  future generations) through civil learning and careful attention to the youthful 
  developing mind.  This misguided but well-meaning belief gave the “Educational” 
  Sanitarium its name, and soon enough its prestigious reputation. 
  Some of the more dire afflictions attended to at the Sanitarium are mentioned 
  as having included cerebral palsy, epilepsy, meningitis, sensory deprivation, trauma, 
  and “dementia praecox” — now more commonly known as youthful-onset 
  schizophrenia.  The Chicago Medical Directory of 1905 lists the Sanitarium as 
  benefitting “feeble-minded children,”67 and Dr. Pogue herself was noted for 
  specializing in “sterilization, segregation or custodial care of mental defectives.”68 
  Gary also provided some more historical information (from local recollection, 
  spiced with a bit of folklore) in his own personal account of the Sanitarium.69  Gary 
  explained that around 1880, a mill was built upon the White River which exits Lake 
  Geneva.  The Sanitariums arose thereafter, one in 1884-1885 and another in 1903.  
  The earlier facility “kept a large … boat on [the mill pond’s] shore so as to be able 
  to recapture escaped patients swimming in it.”70  According to Gary’s folkloric 
  account, a little after 1910 the managing doctor of the Sanitarium went insane.71  
  The tale is a bit of a lurid haunted house aside, of course. 
  I have yet to determine whether Mary Pogue was ever indeed stricken with 
  mental illness during her career.  However, this was almost certainly a 
  sensationalized urban legend, because the 1916 Program of the Annual Meeting (for 
  the American Association for the Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality) lists Dr. 
  Pogue as serving on the Committee of Membership in that year.72  Nevertheless, it 
  makes for a good story and I have no doubt that the lurid tale was shared with 
  absolute sincerity by the brave Lake Genevan boys who sought to explore the 
                                                             
  67 Specifically, refer to pg. 231, second column.  The Directory can (at the time of this 
  writing) be accessed via archive.org and other online sources. 
  68 The Illinois Medical Journal:  The Official Organ of the Illinois State Medical Society, 
  Volume 26 (July to December, 1914). 
  69 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  70 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  71 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  72 This book, among several other sources relevant to the Sanitarium, can be accessed 
  via books.google.com. 
  
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  “haunted” Sanitarium on many a cold October night. 
  Gary had several adventures in the five abandoned stories of that ominous 
  Sanitarium, as well as in the pitch-black subterranean steam and laundry tunnels 
  underneath. 
  A beautiful tree-lined drive led up to the five-storied primary building, and one 
  period mention in the Chicago Medical Recorder noted that the facilities were 
  “situated on high ground, in a park of seventy-three acres of exceptional beauty, 
  overlooking the lake and city of Lake Geneva.”73  But Gary insisted that the forested 
  location was eerily desolate at night, with a full orange moon rising behind the ruins 
  of its silhouetted towers!74 
  Around the autumn of 1949, Gary and two friends entered the Sanitarium on a 
  dare.  The other boys wanted to catch pigeons for sport, while Gary — eager to 
  prove that he was not afraid, although he was and very much so — tagged along.  
  Inside, the beautiful building had once been replete with paneled walls, marble 
  floors and gold and silver fixtures.  Most of the more portable prizes had been 
  vandalized and stolen long before Gary’s time.  The jaunt that night went off 
  without a hitch, and Gary’s craving for more venturesome sallies in the future grew 
  omnipresent.75 
  Several of the building’s features would later inspire Gary’s rendition of traps, 
  tricks and secret rooms in the Castle Greyhawk dungeons.  The Sanitarium had a 
  mechanical elevator for the transfer of patients from floor to floor.  The nearby 
  laundry facility was connected to the Sanitarium by an underground tunnel which 
  was difficult to find.  The central bell tower may have inspired the “Endless Stair,” 
  which spiraled from the heart of Gary’s imaginary castle.  The Sanitarium building 
  was also said to have featured several sealed treatment rooms which could be 
  flooded with smoke to knock a “rampaging inmate” unconscious.76  Another 
  makeshift locale the daring boys called “Big Mike’s secret room” would later inspire 
  Gary to fill more fantasy maps of his own devising with sliding walls and secret 
  doors. 
                                                             
  73 This fascinatingly evocative advertisement, along with many others, can be found in 
  the back of Volume 31 of the Recorder. 
  74 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  75 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  76 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  Clearly, it would have been very easy to imagine the ruin as being filled with 
  “monsters” too.  On one occasion, along on yet another dare-jaunt with some 
  friends, Gary was prowling about the ruins in the middle of the night.  Suddenly, 
  there was a huge crash (a wild animal shifting the debris, perhaps?) and everyone 
  but Gary leapt out of the shattered windows, leaping from some 8’ to 12’ off the 
  ground.  Fortunately, no one was badly hurt. 
  In another Sanitarium adventure, Gary and company finally discovered the blind 
  and nightmarish “maze of tunnels” awaiting beneath the ruin.77  And so, his first-
  ever “dungeon crawl” began.  Using penlights to pierce the shadows, holding their 
  collective breath and pushing spider-infested cobwebs aside, the boys explored 
  much of the claustrophobic labyrinth which — as they soon learned — really did 
  stretch beneath and beyond the main building’s massive structure.  Feeling reckless, 
  Gary also climbed all the way up to the roof, where he almost got arrested by an 
  exasperated patrolman (who was likely reduced to shouting threats at Gary from 
  ground level, some sixty feet below).  Another time, he nearly saw friends fall to 
  their death; and once, when he was trying to impress a girl, it was almost Gary 
  himself. 
  He never forgot the place, nor the delicious fear born of these dangerous 
  adventures.  Gary once wrote that the asylum ruins “were [very] influential in 
  inspiring the D&D game … the place had the tunnels under it, and ‘secret rooms’ 
  created by the boys who haunted [explored] the place.  Such places were needed, 
  for the police took a dim view of us being in the building.”78  “If anyone has any 
  doubts,” Gary wrote, “about where much of the inspiration for castle ruins and 
  dungeon adventures came from after reading about the Oak Hill Sanitarium, I have 
  failed in communicating.”79 
  There were other clear influences for Castle Greyhawk as well.  When Gary and 
  his friend Tom Keogh (or “Keoghtom,” as he is known to Greyhawk gamers) were 
  teenagers, they created a secret imaginary “torture chamber” in Gary’s basement.80  
                                                             
  77 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  78 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted 
  October 14th, 2005. 
  79 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax 
  Q&A Part IX, posted October 14th, 2005. 
  80 Tom Keogh Sr. would be the inspiration for a magic item in the Dungeon Masters Guide, 
  Keoghtom’s Ointment.  The father of Gary’s friend was a freelance artist who worked for 
  
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  They painted the door to the root cellar gray, so that it would blend in with the 
  dimly-lit wall … a perfect “concealed door” in later Dungeons & Dragons 
  terminology.  This newly-concealed door was locked, and a second more secret 
  entrance was created by removing a block from the farther concrete wall.81  This 
  setup was probably inspired by “Big Mike’s” improvised secret room in the 
  Sanitarium, which had in turn been devised to frighten friends as well as to offer 
  emergency sanctuary from the annoyed policemen who were sent in to hunt the 
  death-defying boys down (for their own good, of course).82 
  Tom and Gary also created rope manacles for their own “torture chamber,” and 
  fastened them to the wall.  Soon thereafter however it seems that there was almost 
  a nasty incident involving two other boys and a young girl who had been taken 
  into the secret chamber.  But fortunately, Gary caught the miscreants in time and 
  threw them out.  In doing so he learned not to hold underage parties when his 
  parents were away.83 
  * * * * * 
  Such risky youthful adventures had finally been reigned in by the time Gary 
  discovered board-based wargames during the Christmas season of 1958, when he 
  purchased the Avalon Hill game Gettysburg at the Chicago bookstore Kroch’s & 
  Brentano’s.  This game’s price was $4.98, a princely sum when we consider that the 
  c. 2017 equivalent would be over $40.  The game was in fact so expensive that 
  Gary and Don had to save their money before they could afford to jointly purchase 
  it.84  Gary played the game endlessly with his good friend Don Kaye.  As Gary would 
  later comment, “[Gettysburg] sufficed to make me a convert to board 
  wargaming.”85 
  Entranced by this new (and safer!) diversionary venture, Gary and Don kept 
                                                             
  Walt Disney, and a great lover of speculative fiction himself.  Imagination certainly ran in 
  the family. 
  81 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 11 (Issue #11), 
  August 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  82 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 12 (Issue #12), 
  September 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  83 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 11 (Issue #11), 
  August 2008.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  84 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted 
  January 31st, 2003. 
  85 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  March 1st, 2005. 
  
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  playing the Civil War game and exploring its full potential.  A lot.  In fact, the game 
  would waken Gary’s interest in serious game design, and the lessons he learned 
  modifying the board and rules for various other battles would influence many 
  design decisions made later in his career.  It seems that by the spring of 1959, Gary 
  had written four lined-paper pages of “house rule” additions for the Gettysburg 
  game.86  However, he noted that these rules were “tossed aside,” because they 
  added complexity to the game but not enjoyment.  This first attempt at game 
  design, although regarded as a failure, would inform his later rules decisions made 
  in writing Chainmail and many other games.87 
  Gettysburg with its original release had made the Avalon Hill company an 
  “overnight success.”88  As such, multiple new editions would be forthcoming 
  throughout the 1960s.  The game was re-released with hexagon (“hex”) grid maps, 
  which replaced the original square-grid maps, in 1961.89  As Gary’s wargaming 
  hobby became an obsession, he tried his own hand at map and game design with 
  some more serious Gettysburg scenario revisions.  It should be well-noted that Gary 
  created many professional games throughout his career before and after Dungeons 
  & Dragons, including Alexander the Great, Arsouf, Don’t Give Up the Ship! (an 
  important game designed in collaboration with Dave Arneson), Dragon Chess, and 
  Lejendary Adventure.  Many of the earlier games are now relatively obscure, but in 
  their day virtually all were highly regarded. 
  Becoming intrigued by the limitless potential of the hexagon game boards, Gary 
  was apparently the first person to inquire with Avalon Hill concerning the 
  availability of blank hex sheets for new map designs.  He wanted five sheets for the 
  creation of custom gaming maps, presumably so that he and Don would be able to 
  play test the other battles of the Civil War.  It is not known if these early maps still 
  exist, but a lifelong precedent was certainly set by Gary’s plans.  The path was clear:  
  “The desire to create games for a living struck me in the early 60s,” he once wrote.90  
  Gary would continue to create hundreds if not thousands of similar game maps over 
  the next 40-plus years.  Incidentally, the person he wrote to in 1963 to acquire these 
  hex sheets was one Tom Shaw.  Much later (in 1973), Gary would invite Mr. Shaw 
                                                             
  86 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  March 7th, 2005. 
  87 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  Posted 
  August 17th, 2003. 
  88 The General, Volume 1, Number 1, pg. 1. 
  89 Refer to the Boardgamegeek page for Gettysburg. 
  90 Random Events, the TSR Newsletter, June 1983, pg. 1. 
  
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  to consider his own game Dungeons & Dragons for publication by the Avalon Hill 
  company.  Shaw’s lack of a concrete answer may have convinced Gary that he 
  needed to found his own game design company, so that he could fulfill his dreams. 
  Following Gettysburg, Gary discovered H. G. Wells’ Little Wars and Fletcher 
  Pratt’s Naval War Game in the 1960s.  His copy of Little Wars was loaned to him 
  by a friend,91 and in 1976 he would devise a magazine of the same name devoted 
  to the subject of historical miniatures gaming. 
   
   
  Mr. Wells, measure in hand, prepares to give the forces of his miscalculating 
  gentleman friends a belligerent pounding. 
   
  Also in the 1960s (perhaps in the second half of 1968), Gary became involved 
  with a fascinating and groundbreaking play-by-mail (PBM) science fiction wargame, 
  entitled War of the Empires.  The original game was invented by Tullio Proni, and 
  it involved (as Gary defined it) “a universe-wide power struggle between two 
  socially hostile groups.  On the one hand was the Greatest Empire, a 
                                                             
  91 Refer to the Foreword to H. G. Wells’s Little Wars, the 2004 Skirmisher Publishing LLC 
  edition, written by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  monarchy/aristocracy with dreams of binding every habitable planet to the throne.  
  Opposed to this colonialist empire was the League of All Worlds, basically a 
  confederation of all planets, systems, and multi-system governmental forms wishing 
  to resist the expansion of ‘The Empire.’”92 
  Mr. Proni served as the “Master Computer,” parsing the many move requests 
  received from the players by mail, and then dictating the outcome of the many 
  disparate results.  The game was played “in the blind,” meaning that players were 
  at the mercy of calculated guesswork due to limited reconnaissance and the PBM-
  engendered “fog of war.”  Moves and their residual aftermath were all reported by 
  Proni in a short-lived fanzine entitled “The War Report,” beginning in February of 
  1967.93 
  The game was a deliberate exercise in confusion.  Conflicting attempts at 
  colonization upon the most desirable and resource-rich planets would inevitably 
  lead to conflict, and the pulses of simultaneous movement — combined with 
  haphazard reconnaissance in the form of reports from inferior scout ships — would 
  quickly devolve into entertaining chaos.  The best players, it seems likely, would be 
  the ones who could patiently wait for two or more rivals to nearly wipe each other 
  out over a particularly desirable world.  A savvy lurker fleet’s crews could then 
  swoop in as “saviors” and claim the ill-won prize.  The game would probably also 
  have encouraged a certain degree of metagame communication between players 
  (in terms of treaty declarations, or proposed trade agreements, or even 
  pronouncements of intended territory), if the community had ever grown 
  sufficiently to support such derivative communiqués. 
  But despite the game’s many promising innovations, the time-consuming referee 
  role was dropped by Mr. Proni for unknown reasons during the spring of 1967.  
  The dozens of players were left in the hopeless dark of “the void” as soon as the 
  decisive proclamations from the omniscient Master Computer lapsed into static and 
  silence. 
  A while later, Gary became interested in the game’s mysterious legacy.  He tried 
  for many weeks (in early 1969) to get a written response from Mr. Proni, to 
  determine if the interstellar campaign would ever continue; but there was no 
  answer forthcoming at all.  Around the spring of 1969, Gary “took the bull by the 
  proverbial horns and went to work on the project,” which seems to indicate that 
                                                             
  92 The Dragon, Volume 1, Number 3 (Issue #3), October 1976.  “Does Anyone Remember?  
  War of the Empires?” pg. 4. 
  93 The Dragon, Volume 1, Number 3 (Issue #3), October 1976.  “Does Anyone Remember?  
  War of the Empires?” pg. 4. 
  
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  he started running War of the Empires as the Master Computer himself, with or 
  without Mr. Proni’s regards.94 
  Gary expanded the game “into a larger and more complex system” and then 
  encouraged people to send in moves via mail once again.  This time, mail was to 
  be directed to Lake Geneva.95 
  He even published a successor fanzine, “The New War Reports,” in April and 
  May of ’69 so that the game might take hold and potentially spread afar by way of 
  positive word of mouth or gaming fanzines.96 
  A small ad appeared in The General magazine as well:  “If you’re interested in 
  space warfare,” it read, “certain issue [heirs] of The Galaxian [a zine] have printed 
  rules to a game designed by Tullio Proni pitting members of ‘The Greatest Empire’ 
  and ‘League of All Worlds’ against each other in one tremendous holocaust.  To 
  find out how you can join either of these two factions, contact Gary Gygax, 330 
  Center Street, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147.  A form will be sent that will be the 
  basis for your ‘Potential Rating’ as determined by the ‘Master Computer.’”97 
  A third issue of “The New War Reports” appeared in early September, when the 
  campaign had blossomed to included forces controlled by over 60 players … the 
  most ever in the game’s existence!  Gary’s eager successor in the project, Bill 
  McDuffie, kept this new fanzine going for another year.  But the game again fizzled 
  out, likely due to the colossal amount of time-consuming calculations and minutiae 
  which required constant tracking.  Without such work on the part of the DM-like 
  Master Computer, it would be impossible for anyone to keep the starfarers’ battles 
  ongoing, accurate, timely and fair. 
  Mr. McDuffie may have succumbed to fatigue as well.  Another hardworking 
  and creative gentleman named Alan Lucien (later of Tomb of Horrors fame, as we 
  shall see) tried to summon the game’s third phoenix-like incarnation in late 1971, 
  but alas, all that remained were ashes.  The players were weary of the on-again, 
  off-again nature of turn parsing and ever-sporadic battle reports.  “By then,” Gary 
                                                             
  94 The Dragon, Volume 1, Number 3 (Issue #3), October 1976.  “Does Anyone Remember?  
  War of the Empires?” pg. 4. 
  95 Online interview:  The RPGnet interview with Gary Gygax, part 2 of 3.  Conducted by 
  Scott Lynch, May 17th, 2001. 
  96 The Dragon, Volume 1, Number 3 (Issue #3), October 1976.  “Does Anyone Remember?  
  War of the Empires?” pg. 5. 
  97 Please refer to the May-June 1969 issue of The General, pg. 15. 
  
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  reported, “participants had undoubtedly lost both interest and faith.”98 
  Nevertheless, in daring this endeavor Gary had learned a lot not only about 
  speculative fiction game design, but also about campaign logistics, referee-driven 
  mass combat, and creative tactics to assist in handling collaborative parties 
  comprised of many allied players.  These lessons, supplementing his numerous prior 
  experiences in wargame design, would serve him well in future years when he 
  would be running dozens of eager players through his own campaign … a 
  speculative fiction setting which would soon become known as the World of 
  Greyhawk. 
  * * * * * 
  Many other games appealed to Gary as well, but perhaps the most significant 
  game which had a profound influence on the future creation of Dungeons & 
  Dragons was a medieval battle scenario created by a hobby shop owner named 
  Henry Bodenstedt, entitled The Siege of Bodenburg.  This game was published as a 
  serialization in issues of Strategy & Tactics (S&T) magazine, beginning in July of 1967 
  and completed by that December. 
  The Siege of Bodenburg was meant to be played with toy medieval soldiers.  
  Henry, as designer, had a vested interest in encouraging his readers to buy the model 
  Elastolin plastic castle and soldier figures required to play his game.  And why, 
  precisely?  Because Henry could provide the full needed sets to interested buyers!  
  He worked hard to import the figures from Germany and to make them all available 
  to North American customers. 
  The Bodenburg game itself features archers, knights, arquebusiers (gunners) and 
  catapults.  Interestingly, each unit has a Combat Value, indicating how many “hits” 
  that unit can take before being killed — an early example of the concept of hit 
  points. 
   
                                                             
  98 The Dragon, Volume 1, Number 3 (Issue #3), October 1976.  “Does Anyone Remember?  
  War of the Empires?” pg. 5. 
  
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  Siege calamitous, the walls are breached! 
   
  The huge castle required to play Bodenburg was part of the Hausser Elastolin 
  Forten en Kastelen series.  To this day, the castle is still an impressive piece of work.  
  The “miniature” is about 2’ x 2’, featuring the castle’s entire bulk embedded high 
  upon a craggy hill.  A drawbridge crosses over a partially-encircling moat, leading 
  into a gatehouse barbican and thereon into a small rising courtyard.  A great tower 
  and a few colorfully-roofed fortifications complete the elaborate piece.  This is, once 
  again, a specter of the future silhouette of Castle Greyhawk. 
  The Bodenburg scenario surrounding this castle, as outlined in the S&T articles, 
  involves the besieged forces of one Count von Boden, waiting for winter supplies.  
  The Count’s forces, weakening with hunger, are suddenly assaulted by a horde of 
  Turks and Huns.  In the skirmish and siege game which follows, each figure 
  represents a single man.  In other early wargames, a single unit would often 
  
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  represent 20, 50, or even 100 men or more, which tended to make the 
  determination of casualties a rather abstract affair.  The Siege of Bodenburg, 
  however, employed a 1:1 representation (one figure representing a single fighting 
  man).  This intimate scale — especially when coupled with the detailed Hausser 
  soldier figures — creates a tense air of personal investment and loss as each casualty 
  takes place.  Each imaginary soldier, however anonymous at the beginning of the 
  game, is soon given his own dire tale to tell.  Every wound would be an event, an 
  almost cinematic occurrence.  This unusual game mechanic, while now 
  commonplace, would have a profound effect on Gary Gygax (and a fellow 
  medieval wargamer, Jeff Perren) some years later on, influencing profound choices 
  in game design. 
  Outside of this key innovation of scale, a full game of The Siege of Bodenburg 
  can be a rather dragging and dull affair.  The rules are effective and detailed, yet 
  rather blasé (admittedly, from my own biased and 21st-century perspective).  There 
  are some intriguing asides hidden away beneath the doldrums, however.  Interesting 
  details include a sally gate, from which castle defenders can rush out to attack the 
  besiegers at their peril; the morale and scatter rules, simulating wounded men in 
  panic; and the rather grisly option of allowing starving knights to sacrifice their 
  horses to add to the castle’s rations.  Gary read these rules with interest, and later 
  (in the summer of 1968, as we shall see), he got to play the game with Elastolin 
  miniature figures for the first time. 
  In later years, Gary would pay respectful tribute to The Siege of Bodenburg by 
  modeling the ruined Moathouse in his own work (Dungeon Module T1, The Village 
  of Hommlet, 1979) directly upon Castle Bodenburg’s scenario and floor plan.  The 
  Forten en Kastelen model is almost exactly represented by the module’s map of the 
  Moathouse Ruin, and the history of Greyhawk itself pays homage to the battle.  For 
  in T1, we can read: 
  “Only after the battle which destroyed the main armies of the Temple of 
  Elemental Evil had ended was attention turned to this place [the Moathouse itself, 
  situated to the east of Hommlet].  ... A detachment of horse and foot with a small 
  siege train came to the marshlands to lay the castle low.  The common folk for miles 
  came to help, and the Moathouse was surrounded, cut off, and battered into 
  extinction.”99 
  This game would later inspire Jeff Perren to make his own medieval miniatures 
  rules, and a passing mention of soldiers running through “underground passages” 
  to reinforce parts of the castle may have been the kernel which would later get 
                                                             
  99 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Module T1, The Village of Hommlet, by Gary 
  Gygax.  TSR, 1979. 
  
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  Dave Arneson’s and David Megarry’s minds running about the potential for 
  medieval dungeon adventures. 
   
   
  We’re going to need a bigger castle. 
   
  Many other games would follow after Bodenburg, several of Gary’s own 
  devising.  His interest in creating and play testing rules for medieval miniatures and 
  siege warfare — already a strong inclination — would be greatly intensified by his 
  next wargaming experiences during a gaming convention of his own creation, the 
  now-legendary Gen(eva) Con(vention). Gary’s founding of Gen Con would involve 
  not only a business venture; it became his personal playground. 
  To the good man’s credit, he would always be happy to share that playground 
  with anyone else who shared his sense of fun, and his thirst for untold adventures. 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 2 
  AND SO, COMPANIONS GATHER 
  (1967 – 1970) 
   
  FROM THIS point forward, it would be well to note that there are many 
  wargaming-specific activities and organizations, not directly related to Dungeons & 
  Dragons, which Gary was involved in at this time.  As a result of these social 
  connections, Gary had a deep awareness of the wants and game preferences of his 
  many wargaming colleagues.  He knew that his love of wargaming was shared by 
  many, but most of his fellow gamers were most interested in strategic board games 
  (such as chess, Shogi and Diplomacy), or historical military simulations (particularly 
  those involving Napoleonic warfare and World War II).  The eccentric people who 
  were interested in miniature figures of the medieval period were still few and far 
  between. 
  Nevertheless — even in the common genres — the historical wargaming 
  community was being challenged by simple realities of distance between individual 
  wargame aficionados.  When two or more players of the same game managed to 
  find one another (either locally, or through magazines and letters), they would 
  often find that their games were enhanced by a widening of play circles.  The more 
  the merrier, quite simply.  There never seemed to be enough players for reliable 
  and frequent play.  Recognizing these stubbornly omnipresent barriers of geography 
  and obscurity which were stifling their fun, many wargaming groups reached out to 
  one another to form devoted societies of mutual interest.  Other gamers who were 
  simply too far apart experimented (often successfully) with play-by-mail scenarios 
  or solitaire variants.  Not bad for legions of gamers dwelling in a lonesome world 
  before our ubiquitous Internet! 
  Despite these innovations, the Holy Grail for gamers seeking peers, then as now, 
  was a gaming convention.  Such get-togethers were still rare in the 1960s, due to 
  logistics, money, risk, and the unpredictable numbers of attendees.  A poorly-
  attended convention, held in the wrong venue, the wrong city, or even the wrong 
  weather, could spell disaster for a tiny hobby society dependent upon the members’ 
  volunteerism and donations.  I am greatly simplifying the history of wargaming in 
  this regard, but from Gary’s perspective the trouble was very clear:  there were not 
  enough players for medieval miniature wargamers in specific, and not nearly 
  enough gaming conventions for all wargamers in general.  Gary was very interested 
  in running his own convention, but he was wisely trepidacious about the entire 
  
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  endeavor.100 
  Eventually, his interest in a Wisconsin gaming con’s potential won out over his 
  caution.  In the summer of 1967 (very likely in August, about a month after the 
  publication of the first serial section of The Siege of Bodenburg), Gary arranged an 
  experimental weekend get-together at his house by inviting his friends and fellow 
  gamers.  He invited about twenty people, and all of them were interested and leapt 
  at the opportunity.101  To the disorganized gamers of Lake Geneva, Gary’s call was 
  very simple:  “Come play.”  And play they did. 
  Gary prepared a map of the city of Stalingrad (converting his dining table, for 
  the delight of the players, into a World War II-inspired urban wasteland), while 
  Fletcher Pratt’s famous Naval War Game was played in the living room.  Gary 
  particularly enjoyed this latter game; it did not feature toy soldiers, but it did 
  involve miniature 1/1200 scale warships crafted by Superior Miniatures.102  Card 
  tables, for more gaming, were set up on the front porch as well. 
  This event at Gary’s house, while chaotic, was a complete success.  He variably 
  recalled that between twelve and twenty people showed up to enjoy the 
  festivities.103  As he wryly commented much later, “Everybody but my then-wife 
  loved it.”104  And as Scott Duncan recalls hearing from Gary later on:  “[Gen Con 
  Zero was held] … much to his wife’s merry chagrin probably, because I think there 
  were like 20 people that crashed at their house, and it wasn’t a very big house, and 
  he already had 4 or 5 kids by then so there were like 7 people in this house in, I 
  think, 3 bedrooms.  So there were people all over the floor in his living room, as I 
                                                             
  100 In the informed opinion of IFW member Scott Duncan, Gary was probably inspired to 
  establish and run Gen Con Zero because he had wanted to go to a July 1967 wargaming 
  convention in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and had been unable to go.  That in turn inspired 
  him to run a similar event at his house. 
  101 See for example the memory of participant Bill Hoyer, as noted at the Collector’s Trove 
  web page summarizing the history behind his gaming auctions. 
  102 For more details, please refer to 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. 
  (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007.  See particularly pg. 10. 
  103 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 13 (Issue 
  #13), pg. 4.  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax.  See also RPGA News (aka 
  Polyhedron), Volume 1, Number 1 (Issue #1), Summer 1981, pp. 6-7.  See also 40 Years of 
  Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 9. 
  104 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 13 (Issue 
  #13).  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  recall him telling me.”105 
  The games probably began on Saturday and went well into the weekend,106 
  because Gary once noted that half of the invited players “spent the night there in 
  their sleeping bags.”107  Word of mouth spread in the months to come, and Gary 
  was provided with a vital proof of concept:  wargamers near and far would indeed 
  gather in considerable numbers in Lake Geneva, eager to meet, socialize and play 
  their favorite games.  Fewer than two dozen people came over to Gary’s house for 
  that very first experimental “con,” but they did come.  And that was the important 
  thing.  And what if (Gary later wondered) the only limitation to having twice, or 
  even three times as many wargamers show up to play, was simply the question of 
  meeting space? 
  This self-inquiry demanded exploration.  And so, with the backing of his gaming 
  organization (the International Federation of Wargaming, or IFW) and several 
  friends, Gary decided that he would plan his own big gaming convention for the 
  following summer of 1968.  This time, however, the games would not be held at 
  Gary’s house.  This would be a real convention, perhaps even an event which might 
  receive some national attention. 
  The Lake Geneva Wargames Convention, incarnation number one, came into 
  being.  To this day and by another name, it is one of the most famous gaming cons 
  in the world. 
  Gen Con, thus, was well and truly born. 
  For some attendees of Gen Con Zero, Gen Con I began in much the same 
  manner.  As Gary’s wife Mary Jo once recalled, “All the attendees [that year, who] 
  slept on our living room floor — those that didn’t game all night in our house — 
  [woke] up our baby, Cindy, several times.”108 
  Beyond this veteran group crashing over at Gary’s, one of the neophyte 
  attendees of this “Gen Con I” — a name the convention only received in retrospect 
  — was the game designer and future TSR employee named Mike Carr, who today 
  shares the honorable distinction of being the only person in the world who has 
                                                             
  105 Refer to Best 50 Years in Gaming:  The Events of the Gen Con Gaming Convention web 
  page, featuring an interview with Scott Duncan. 
  106 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 13 (Issue 
  #13).  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  107 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 13 (Issue 
  #13).  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  108 This information comes from a Facebook post made on March 25th, 2015. 
  
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  attended every single Gen Con over the last 40-plus years.  Carr had seen an ad for 
  the con in the IFW magazine, and had talked to Gary by letter as well, and so he 
  convinced his family to take a brief vacation in Lake Geneva so that he could 
  attend.109 
  As Mike once explained in an interview, “My original [first time] attending the 
  [Gen Con] convention was on a family vacation.  I was in high school, and I said 
  to my parents, ‘You know, they’re having this gaming thing in Lake Geneva.  It’s 
  only 300 miles from the Twin Cities.  Can we maybe go down there?  I’d like to go 
  to this thing, it’s on a Saturday.  And by the way, Lake Geneva’s got a great setting 
  with boat cruises!  …  Fortunately, bless their hearts, my parents agreed and … off 
  we went.”110 
  Attending the event was great fun.  Running it, however, simply involved an 
  extraordinary amount of work.  Gary in turn once wrote, rather formally in 
  recollection, that he ran the event “on behalf of the International Federation of 
  Wargaming, of which I was an officer.”111 
  For this first and now-legendary convention hall gathering, he managed to rent 
  out the Horticultural Hall, a beautiful site very close to his home.  The Hall had 
  been built by the esteemed architectural firm Spencer & Powers for the Lake Geneva 
  Horticultural Society in 1911, for social events in which gardeners would showcase 
  their talents.  Gygax and co. rented the 50’-long Hall for one day, August 24th, for 
  the princely sum of $50 — as much as he and the IFW could afford at the time.112  
  (Incidentally, in 2014 the same space was running for about $825-$1,700 for one 
  weekend day, depending on the wedding season!) 
  At the time, Gary was working as a supervising underwriter and risk assessor for 
  the Fireman Fund’s America Insurance Company of Chicago, and this was not a 
  small measure of his personal funds.  He therefore chose to plan the convention for 
                                                             
  109 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  11. 
  110 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 1:03:25.  See also genconwisconsin.com, Mike Carr 
  interview section. 
  111 Dragon magazine, issue #65, pg. 4. 
  112 IFW member Scott Duncan provides some more details on precisely where the money 
  came from:  “I had managed to convince a bunch of IFW people to cough up another 
  5 bucks to kind of keep the club [IFW] going.  I sent Gary money, $35, and Gary came up 
  with 15 and it cost $50 to rent the Horticultural Hall.  That's where the money came from 
  to make the first Gen Con happen.  Partly from IFW and then Gary coughed up about 15 
  bucks for it.” 
  
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  that single day, and Saturday, August 24th, seemed the most likely to attract a large 
  crowd.  Hoping to get at least fifty attendees, he set the entrance fee at one dollar.  
  Perhaps, he hoped, he might come close to breaking even.  No refreshments were 
  provided, simply because there were not enough people to do the work.113  He set 
  up the tables and chairs that Friday night (apparently with the assistance of then-
  IFW President, the adroit Lenard “Len” Lakofka), went to bed, and hoped for the 
  best. 
  Interested gamers started showing up on the premises later that Friday night.  
  Due to being a well-loved resort town frequented by tourists, summer prices for 
  food and lodging in Lake Geneva were (then as now) quite high.  People who could 
  not afford to stay in a hotel camped nearby, while waiting for the games to begin 
  on Saturday morning. 
  That following fateful day, people flooded into the cramped Horticultural Hall 
  to play their miniatures games of choice.  There were dozens of attendees, ranging 
  from hardcore wargamers to bored curiosity seekers.  The event “attracted about 
  100 people,” Gary would later fondly remember, “only half of whom were 
  gamers.”114 
  Fletcher Pratt’s game was again popular, as were games for Napoleonics and the 
  battles of World War I.  Mike Carr’s classic game Fight for the Skies, also known 
  now as Dawn Patrol, featured exciting dogfights with Fokkers and Sopwith Camel 
  biplanes.115  Observer and journalist Ray Py, writing for the Beloit Daily News, 
  regarded the attendees as “a group of well-mannered, well-dressed and well-
  behaved intellects who find the reenactment of all the world’s battles [a] fascinating 
  pastime.”116 
  This is also when and where Gary taught Len Lakofka how to play everyone’s 
  favorite proto-RPG strategy game, Diplomacy.  Len was deeply impressed, and 
  would buy his own game set in Chicago that Christmas season.  He would also 
                                                             
  113 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  11. 
  114 Dragon magazine, issue #65, pg. 4. 
  115 Gary and Don Kay had played Fight in the Skies earlier that year, and enjoyed it.  Gary 
  and Mike corresponded over FitS rules questions, and Gary invited Mike to come down 
  to the summer con:  “We corresponded,” Mike remembered, “and he encouraged me 
  to come to Gen Con for the first time when it was conceived for Lake Geneva in 1968, 
  which I did.” 
  116 As rediscovered by Jon Peterson as reported in his Playing at the World blog post for 
  August 11th, 2014. 
  
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  found the long-running Diplomacy fanzine Liaisons Dangereuses (“Dangerous 
  Liaisons”) to record his play group’s machinations.117  Gary would later wryly admit 
  that he was indeed “at least partially responsible for foisting Len Lakofka upon an 
  unsuspecting wargame hobby some years back.”118  Len would return the favor in 
  later decades, appearing many times in the pages of Dragon magazine as the 
  masterful mage-and-sage “Leomund,” and his Lendore Isles campaign would 
  provide material for several dungeon modules and many gods of Greyhawk. 
  People were having fun, making lasting friendships … and stranger things were 
  occurring along the sidelines.  One small group who labeled themselves “The Neo-
  Numenorians” was even devoted to Tolkien gaming.  But the most entrancing game 
  of all during that first con would be none other than The Siege of Bodenburg. 
  Saturday was a grand success, and the con broke even from a monetary 
  perspective.  Many of the gamers scattered, bearing priceless positive word of 
  mouth away to their homes, families and friends.  Most of these gamers were 
  perfectly content with the way the day had gone.  Gary, however — either by savvy 
  design or simple accident — had picked the perfect day to rent the Horticultural 
  Hall.  He was responsible for his own clean up, and would likely be charged extra 
  if he did not do a good job.  So he told many of the gamers to come back on 
  Sunday for some “cleaning” (by which he really meant, more surreptitious fun).  
  One intrepid volunteer was stationed at the front door with a broom, looking 
  workmanlike.  Everyone else, with admission for the unofficial bonus day 
  completely waived, snuck inside to play some more games.  Two glorious spans of 
  gaming for the price of one! 
  One particularly devout wargamer by the name of Jerry White had driven all 
  the way from Oregon to show off his favorite game to this Wisconsin gathering.  
  The Siege of Bodenburg was set up, and Gary had a chance to see the skirmish rules 
  in actual play with Haussers.  He was spellbound by the model castle and Jerry’s 
  small collection of the expensive Elastolin figures.  “I became enamored with them,” 
  he would fondly recall.119 
  Seeing the one-to-one scale skirmishes enacted in miniature, with each figure 
  representing a single man fighting for his life — hacking with a broad sword, firing 
  arrows over the battlements, suffering grievous wounds and fighting on — the light 
                                                             
  117 Liaisons Dangereuses #44, May 18th, 1973:  “A Short History of Liasons Dangereuses.” 
  118 Liaisons Dangereuses #70, May 18th, 1976:  “Dunned for a Dragon Article” 
  119 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, Volume 4, Number 13 (Issue 
  #13).  “How It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part 
  IX, posted May 23rd, 2005. 
  
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  bulb went off in Gary’s head.  The imagined game had been quite something when 
  he was reading the rules, but the actual game seen firsthand was simply amazing.  
  This, to his mind, represented the future of wargames. 
  Back home exhausted after his experience with “bonus Sunday,” Gary had time 
  to reflect on the event and the many games that he had seen.  The Siege of 
  Bodenburg, especially, with its painted miniatures and simulated melees, very likely 
  made his early Gettysburg games seem like a poor imitation of the real thing.  
  Therefore, he began seeking the ever-elusive Elastolin miniatures which he had 
  gotten to touch and play with in Jerry’s game.  He even ran a few ads seeking to 
  purchase such figures (later in 1968), and it seems that he would still be seeking a 
  Hausser collector by the spring of 1969. 
  While he was waiting to purchase such a collection, Gary was busy expanding 
  his wargaming hobby in other ways.  During the autumn of 1968 (or, according to 
  some sources, in 1969), Gary and Don Kaye pooled together their meager moneys 
  to buy some raw materials:  6’ x 10’ plywood sheets, nails, green paint, wood glue, 
  and bulky bags of sand.  They dragged this sundry heap of goods down into Gary’s 
  basement, and (much to the chagrin of Gary’s beleaguered wife, Mary) built a huge 
  sand table for their own upcoming wargames.  Behold:  Gen Con Eternal, Basement 
  Edition.  All wargames, all the time! 
  Some assembly required. 
  The table was a hardcore carpentry project, but Don and Gary managed to see 
  this task through to the end. When it was done, the boxed-in piles of sand could be 
  sculpted to form vague terrain, and an extra plywood sheet served as a tabletop 
  “cover” so that the sand surface could be hidden whenever a more staid and level 
  surface was required. 
  When the table was fully tested (and his good wife either dodged or appeased), 
  Gary and Don invited a mutual acquaintance by the name of Jeff Perren up from 
  Rockford, Illinois.  Jeff was not only a medieval wargamer and an all-around good 
  guy; he possessed an epic Elastolin figure army.  Mr. Perren was kind enough to 
  drive the 50 miles up to Lake Geneva, bringing his precious figures and a few pages 
  of custom (Siege of Bodenburg- and Tony Bath-inspired) medieval wargaming rules 
  in tow.  Rob Kuntz was there, and has said that Perren’s rules comprised merely 
  “four mimeographed pages that had blank backs.”120  These meager yet seminal 
  notes would soon by many steps become the core of Gary’s and Jeff’s later 
  collaborative medieval game, Chainmail, and so they are the grandfatherly seeds to 
                                                             
  120 Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin Brown of Grognard 
  Games.  The story begins at approximately 13:10. 
  
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  Dungeons & Dragons as well. 
   
   
  Chevaliers on the move.  Murderous fun is serious business. 
  
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  The medieval games played down on Gary’s and Don’s sand table — which had 
  formerly been used for Tractics-style armor gaming121 — were intense and amusing, 
  and the skirmish rules got better with every session as various tactics and formations 
  were tried.  Playing with Perren showed Gary and Don that “1 figure:1 fighting man” 
  rules were not only engaging, they were highly malleable.  The removal of all large-
  scale military unit preconceptions, in favor of knightly figures, did not just eliminate 
  the visually uninspiring cardboard counters.  It removed a layer of abstraction from 
  the action of the game.  These Perren and Gygax “toy soldier” games might soon 
  be frowned upon by hardcore simulationists, but they would appeal to the more 
  imaginative and creative players of all ages. 
  The timing of these basement games was opportune, because Gary would 
  experience another fateful meeting toward the end of 1968.  He made the friendly 
  acquaintance of a troubled young man living in his neighborhood, a boy named 
  Robert J. Kuntz.  It is likely that Gary saw some of himself in Rob’s unorthodox and 
  imaginative nature, and early on he seems to have realized that he had discovered 
  a kindred soul.  Rob shared some interesting details concerning his past (and Gary’s), 
  which I have taken the liberty of summarizing here. 
  Rob, who would soon prove to be an intelligent and creative free spirit and 
  Gary’s good friend, was only thirteen at the time.  He lived just three blocks away 
  from the Gygax family home.122 
  His father had died in a car accident when he was only two years old, and Rob 
  had no memories of the man.  His hard-pressed mother experienced many hardships 
  that winter (1968-1969), and so Rob was being cared for (or at least watched out 
  for) by his neighbors.123 
  Rob’s interest in a game advertisement, found in a magazine, led him to the local 
  Shultz Brothers’ Five and Ten Cent Store, where a few Avalon Hill board games 
  were being sold.  The store’s assistant manager, Larry Zirk, let Rob know that these 
  games could be played over at Mister Gygax’s house.124  His interest raised, Rob 
                                                             
  121 Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin Brown of Grognard 
  Games.  The story begins at approximately 13:10. 
  122 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org, “Q&A with Rob Kuntz.”  Posted August 19th, 
  2015. 
  123 Some of the details of this meeting are derived from the thought-provoking Rob Kuntz 
  interview featured on the Hill Cantons blog, “No Borders:  A Conversation with Rob Kuntz” 
  (August 15th, 2011). 
  124 “My Life in Wargaming,” by Rob Kuntz, as featured at the diffworlds.com website.  
  November 2004. 
  
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  introduced himself to Gary a week later and accepted an invitation to play some 
  games.125  As Rob once fondly remembered in an interview:  “I was kind of taken 
  in by the family.  I was thirteen years old … I went through all the pains and 
  pleasures of the family.  Gary took me under his wing … and kind of pushed me to 
  read things and to experience things.”126 
  This was the beginning of a friendship that would endure for forty years, until 
  Gary passed away in 2008.  Rob, as we shall see, would prove to be instrumental 
  in the play testing and refinement of both Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons. 
  * * * * * 
  Months passed, many more games were played, and “the basement” quickly 
  became known as Lake Geneva gamer central.  The time flew by and soon, it was 
  time for Gary to start planning for Gen Con II.  Everyone was expecting it, although 
  Gary himself was not so enthusiastic as of yet.  After all, somebody had to take the 
  financial risk and do all of the work! 
  The work was not trivial, either.  When Gary had first been setting up the 
  Horticultural Hall in preparation for Gen Con I, and then especially in that event’s 
  aftermath, he had vowed he would never run a gaming convention again.  But 
  much like having children (or a beloved hobby requiring any serious toil), in time 
  the tiring memories become nostalgic, while the negative realities fade away.  It is 
  worth it, after all.  It is good to have something difficult to enjoy. 
  By the early summer of 1969, Gen Con II seemed like a great idea.  And besides, 
  many of the gamers who attended Gen Con I had told their friends just how 
  amazing it was to meet fellow enthusiasts arriving from scores, hundreds, or even 
  over a thousand miles away.  How could there not be another Gen Con?  The 
  wargamers needed it, and they loved it.  A tradition had been born. 
  Having witnessed the successes and failures of that first gaming convention held 
  over a sweltering summer weekend, Gary and his companions knew exactly which 
  improvements were required for the second incarnation.  As a result, Gen Con II 
  (August 23rd-24th, 1969) featured more goodies in the form of hot dogs and Coca 
  Cola, cheerfully vended out by Gary’s daughters.  Elise would remember, “I was the 
  original hot dog and soda girl.  When I started, I could barely see over the 
                                                             
  125 “My Life in Wargaming,” by Rob Kuntz, as featured at the diffworlds.com website.  
  November 2004. 
  126 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip, ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The comment appears at approximately 4:00. 
  
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  counter.”127  Despite all of the quizzical “big people gaming” going on, the girls had 
  an avid personal interest in these strange festivities, because they got to keep all of 
  the dimes and quarters they received as pay.  Score! 
  Returning attendee Mike Carr would later note that the non-stop volunteerism 
  exhibited at Gen Con II was really a major aspect of the event’s developing spirit 
  … something that would keep it going for many years to come.  “It was really the 
  volunteers,” he noted.  “Not just the people that offered to run game events, which 
  are extremely important — because that’s what really makes the convention great, 
  is offering a variety of activities.  … But also, the people behind the scenes, who are 
  manning the door and doing the preregistration and just kind of all of the … back 
  of the house sort of stuff that makes these things a success.”128 
  Rob Kuntz was there as well, ready and eager to enjoy his first-ever gaming 
  con.129  There were far more friends this time around, and fewer strangers.  Gen 
  Con II also appears to have been the first time that Gary Gygax and Minnesota 
  wargamer David Lance Arneson met face to face.  Dave was happy to have a gaming 
  con to go to, as opportunities to find new potential wargame club members in 
  Minnesota were somewhat lacking at that time.  Therefore, Dave had journeyed 
  down to Lake Geneva and had brought several of his friends along, driving them 
  all the way from the Twin Cities, some six hours and 330 miles away. 
  When Dave and Gary met (Gary was enticed by Dave’s collection of miniature 
  sailing ships),130 they realized that they shared many interests and similar ideas about 
  how rigid rules systems might be further (and sometimes wildly) improved with a 
  little creative thinking.  These two men would rarely see eye to eye on the exact 
  tweaks they believed needed to be made to any game, but all in all they got along 
  famously ... for a time. 
  A designer-to-designer rapport developed between the two men which would 
  result in a naval combat game called Don’t Give Up the Ship!, and later would find 
  them working as co-authors on the material which eventually became Dungeons & 
  Dragons.  This Gen Con meeting would also serve to create stronger ties between 
  the small yet robust wargaming societies which were active at that time both in Lake 
  Geneva, and in the Twin Cities. 
                                                             
  127 http://www.genconwisconsin.com/elisegygax.html, Elise Gygax interview section. 
  128 See Best 50 Years in Gaming:  The Events of the Gen Con Gaming Convention web 
  page, interview with Mike Carr. 
  129 Many of these details come from 40 Years of Gen Con, as well as The Crusader Journal 
  #13 and other sources. 
  130 Don’t Give Up the Ship!:  Rules for the Great Age of Sail.  TSR Rules, Foreword. 
  
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  Events included an auction, Napoleonic wargaming, the Fight in the Skies 
  tournament, Diplomacy, and World War II scenarios (particularly the siege of 
  Stalingrad).  Worthy persons such as the returning Mike Carr (running Fight in the 
  Skies, and soon to help Gygax and Arneson with edits to their naval rules), Bill 
  Hoyer, Washington Perry, David Wesely (originator of the influential “Braunstein” 
  wargame and role-playing scenarios), and many other gamers would play and 
  converse at Gen Con II as well.  Mr. Perry played in an intriguing cerebral and social 
  role-playing game (of sorts) called Inter-Nation Simulation, which required 
  diplomacy, eloquence, quick thinking and well-reasoned appeals to game referees. 
  In all, an incredible number of paid attendances were counted for the con … 
  nearly 200 in all!  Even better, the event was held over a span of two days 
  (officially, this time).  Gen Con II was a complete success, and the demands for a 
  regular annual event were all but inevitable.  In the future, Gary would certainly 
  have his work cut out for him. 
  Following Gen Con II, Gary’s gaming continued throughout the fall and winter 
  of 1969.  The “sand table play group” grew, and ever more creative scenarios were 
  improvised.  Eventually, perhaps at the end of 1969 (and certainly before April of 
  the following year), Gary — along with Rob Kuntz and the rest of the Lake Geneva 
  regulars — finally managed a long-awaited coup, procuring a collection of the 
  prized Hausser Elastolin figures.  According to Gary,131 these treasures were from the 
  already-appreciated collection of Jeff Perren.  (Mr. Perren once noted, by the way, 
  that he didn’t ever play Chainmail after it was published, because Gary had all of 
  his figures.)132  Gary would later supplement this rare Hausser collection by buying 
  directly from Henry Bodenstedt. 
  Perren was solely interested in historical wargames, but having Perren’s figures 
  without his physical presence would now give Gary an opportunity to push his 
  creative gaming a little farther.  Crucially, this is the moment at which Gary says he 
  first got the idea to begin experimenting with fantasy games:  “[The Elastolin figures] 
  were so heroic looking that it seemed a good idea to play some games which would 
  reflect the action of the great Swords & Sorcery yarns.”133 
                                                             
  131 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax.  See also Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A Part V, posted 
  May 31st, 2006. 
  132 Youtube video, “Jeff Perren Interview Gary Con VIII 2016.”  The quote appears at the 
  beginning of the video. 
  133 The Dragon, issue #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of 
  the Game,” pg. 7. 
  
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  As noted earlier, Jeff Perren had written a few pages of medieval miniatures rules 
  to go along with the figures.  Gary had enjoyed the rules, but he now felt that he 
  could expand upon them in an unexpected way.  He asked Jeff for permission to 
  build upon these proven medieval rules, and Jeff kindly acquiesced.  (As Jeff was 
  one of the strongest proponents of the historical simulation movement, he would 
  have had little interest in further developing these rules in Gary’s direction of Conan- 
  and Elric-inspired Swords & Sorcery.)  “I loved those figurines, enjoyed those rules,” 
  Gary once said, “and so I expanded them into around 16 pages.”134 
  Great things were about to happen. 
   
   
  Domine dirige nos.  Lord(s) of the C&CS, in play direct us. 
   
  That March, Rob Kuntz, Gary and others founded a medieval gaming interest 
                                                             
  134 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted March 13th, 2006. 
  
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  group, which would become known as the the Castle & Crusade Society (C&CS).  
  This was a sub-group of the wargaming organization they were already members 
  of, the International Federation of Wargaming (IFW).  On February 27th, 1970, 
  Gary had written a letter announcing the Lake Geneva gaming group’s intention to 
  create this specialized gaming group.  He wrote, “Rob Kuntz is currently working 
  on the formation of a society for medieval wargames.  It would be in cooperation 
  with our local group … no formal name has yet been chosen for the society.  A 
  short article requesting response from interested parties has been sent to Mike Carr 
  for inclusion with his material.”135 
  The C&CS’s new fanzine was entitled the Domesday Book, inspired by William 
  the Conqueror’s land survey of the same name, which had recorded the lands and 
  livestock owned by the citizens of 11th-century England.  The original Domesday 
  Book was a king’s tome, basically, detailing all that was worth fighting for, and who 
  possessed it.  It was a good name for a fanzine revolving around the play of 
  medieval struggles for dominance.  This C&CS gaming periodical would soon 
  become the virtual gathering place for medieval wargamers from near and far, 
  ready to war with one another for domination. 
  The single-sheeted Domesday issue #1 was produced in crude and hasty 
  mimeograph by Gary, using “the Xerox at his job in Chicago.”136 
  One of the most entertaining aspects of the C&CS group was that each member 
  was afforded a noble title, demonstrating the relative prominence of that person 
  within the Society.  People who helped out (such as with helping to publish the 
  Domesday Book itself, or at least offering insightful articles) increased in rank, while 
  those who were less active fell into obscurity. 
  The effect of this clever system of friendly competition was to encourage all of 
  the members to vie creatively with one another in the name of chest-thumping fun, 
  with the hope of deposing the “Great King” (Rob Kuntz) in the name of personal 
  glory.137 
  Fans of the published World of Greyhawk setting might be interested to know 
                                                             
  135 Refer to the Youtube clip “A History of D&D in Twelve Treasures,” posted by Jon 
  Peterson.  The commentary appears at approximately 2:25. 
  136 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Q&A with Rob Kuntz.”  Posted August 13th, 
  2015. 
  137 Rob would note that as a teenager during the Domesday Book’s run, he was actually 
  overthrown as Great King of the C&CS by a real-world circumstance:  “I was deposed,” 
  he wrote, “due to my mother’s pressure on Gary for me skipping too many high school 
  classes.” 
  
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  that the hereditary Great King (later known as the Overking), ruling over the many 
  nobles in the Great Kingdom which dominates the eastern Flanaess, is indeed a 
  distant echo of this original hierarchy within the Castle & Crusade Society.  The 
  eventual ranks of the C&CS owe much to medieval peerage, but in their relative 
  strengths and values we can also see the first primitive semblance of an experience 
  level title system (an idea only partially developed for Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, 
  which would later become a classic hallmark of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 
  system as presented in Gary’s Players Handbook of 1978). 
  These actual ranks, rewarding a little study, offer us some interesting curiosities.  
  When we take the hindsight-inspired liberty of hypothetically inverting this “king of 
  the mountain” peerage list into something more like a “noble” character class 
  experience progression table, we end up with a new derivative system — strictly 
  for D&D comparison purposes only, mind — that looks something like this: 
   
  COMPARATIVE RANKS OF PEERAGE 
  IN THE GREAT KINGDOM 
  “Noble Level” 
  (Compare to 
  class experience 
  levels in D&D) 
  Peerage Rank(s) 
  (Compare to experience 
  point thresholds within 
  a level in D&D) 
  Title 
  (Compare to level titles for classes 
  in D&D, Veteran, Warrior, etc.) 
  1 
  25 to 41 
  Gentleman (Abbreviated Gent.) 
  2 
  20 to 24 
  Esquire (Esq.) 
  3 
  14 to 19 
  Knight (Kt.) 
  4 
  13 
  “OMS” (Most likely according to 
  precedence indicating “a Knight of 
  the Order of Merit of Savoy”; 
  briefly, “Knight of Merit” (Kt. 
  OMS), above “Knight”) 
  5 
  10 to 12 
  Baron 
  6 
  9 
  Baron and High Constable 
  
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  7 
  8 
  Baron and Justicar 
  8 
  7 
  Baron and Parsuivant 
  (A heraldic officer of arms; the 
  rank of Dave Arneson in the fall 
  (that means ‘autumn,’ for you 
  Euros out there!) of 1970) 
  9 
  6 
  Baron and Chamberlain 
  10 
  5 
  Viscount and Chief Scrivener 
  (Scribe, royal historian) 
  11 
  4 
  Viscount (OMS) and Mercenary 
  Captain 
  12 
  3 
  Viscount and Lord Prince of Arms 
  13 
  2 
  Earl Palatine 
  (The rank of Gary Gygax in the 
  fall of 1970) 
  14 
  1 
  King 
  (The rank of Rob Kuntz in the fall 
  of 1970)138 
   
  This modified list as noted above is particularly interesting to compare to the 
  “level title” systems which Gary would later develop for the AD&D paladin (1975-
  1978), cavalier (1982-1985), and the many nobles listed for the Dungeon Masters 
  Guide (1979) and the World of Greyhawk Gazetteer (1980, 1983).  Each hierarchical 
  list has shades of (pure Gygaxian, most likely) repetition while remaining its own 
  creative entity. 
  Consider the bolded entries in the table hereafter, and my apologies that this 
  gets a bit technical as we reveal the parallels: 
                                                             
  138 The originally-formatted 1970 list is available for further online study at the Domesday 
  Book research page, at the Acaeum.com. 
  
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  COMPARATIVE RANKS OF PEERAGE 
  IN THE FRPG WORKS OF GARY GYGAX 
  Great Kingdom 
  Rank Title 
  (1970) 
  Paladin 
  Level Title 
  (1978) 
  Cavalier Level 
  Title 
  (1983-1985)139 
  DMG / Greyhawk 
  Noble Title 
  (1979-1983) 
  GENTLEMAN / GALLANT 
  GK1 – Gentleman 
  ~ 
  P1 – Gallant 
  P2 – Keeper 
  C1 – Armiger 
  C2 – Scutifer 
  GH1 – Gentleman 
  ~ 
  ESQUIRE 
  GK2 – Esquire 
  P3 – Protector 
  C3 – Esquire 
  GH2 – Esquire 
  LOW-LEVEL KNIGHT 
  ~ 
   
  ~ 
  P4 – Defender 
   
  P5 – Warder 
  C4 – Knight Errant 
   
  C5 – Knight 
  Bachelor 
  GH3 – Knight 
  Companion 
  GH4 – Knight 
  Bachelor 
  KNIGHT 
  GK3 – Knight 
  P6 – Guardian 
  C6 – Knight 
  DMG1, GH5 – 
  Knight 
  HIGH-LEVEL KNIGHT OF RENOWN 
  GK4 – Knight OMS 
  P7 – Chevalier 
  C7 – Grand 
  Knight 
  DMG2 – Baronet 
  BARONIAL RANKS 
                                                             
  139 The cavalier class premiered in the pages of Dragon magazine in 1983, and then was 
  somewhat revised for its more informal inclusion in the AD&D game in Unearthed Arcana, 
  1985. 
  
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  GK5 – Baron 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  DMG3, GH6 – 
  Baron / Baroness 
  GK6 – Baron and 
  High Constable 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  GH7 – Lord Baron 
  GH8 – Archbaron 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  C8 – Banneret 
  GH9 – Knight 
  Banneret 
  GK7 – Baron and 
  Justicar 
  P8 – Justiciar 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  GK8 – Baron and 
  Parsuivant 
  P9+ – Paladin 
  (“name level”) 
  C9 – Chevalier 
  ~ 
  GK9 – Baron and 
  Chamberlain 
  P9+ – Paladin 
  (“name level”) 
  C10+ – Cavalier 
  (“name level”) 
  GH10 – Knight 
  Commander 
  VISCOUNT 
  GK10 – Viscount 
  and Chief Scrivener 
  DMG4 – Viscount / Viscountess 
  GH11 – Viscount 
  GK11 – Viscount 
  OMS and 
  Mercenary Captain 
  GK12 – Viscount 
  and Lord Prince of 
  Arms 
  ~ 
   
  ~ 
  ~ 
   
  ~ 
  COUNT / EARL 
  GK13 – Earl Palatine 
  DMG5 – Count (Earl) / Countess 
  GH12 – Count / 
  Earl / Graf 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  GH13 – Count 
  Palatine 
  MARQUIS 
  
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  ~ 
  DMG6 – Marquis / Marquise 
  GH14 – Marquis / 
  Margrave 
  PRINCE 
  ~ 
  DMG7 – Prince / Princess 
  GH15 – Prince 
  DUKE 
  ~ 
  DMG8 – Duke / Duchess 
    
  GH16 – Duke / 
  Herzog 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  GH17 – Grand 
  Duke 
  GH18 –Archduke 
  KING 
  GK14 – King 
  DMG9 – King / Queen 
  GH19 – King 
  ~ 
  ~ 
  GH20 – Overking 
   
  Presumably, wargamer-members of the C&CS could go up (and down!) in 
  “experience level” along the entire early Great Kingdom peerage scale, dependent 
  upon the worth of their contributions to the overall Society.  Dungeons & Dragons 
  was still far in the future, but it is likely that this system is one of the things that later 
  inspired Dave Arneson to concoct some creative reinterpretations of Rob and Gary’s 
  C&CS ranking system when he worked on rudimentary experience level systems in 
  1971. 
  In the early days (to be succinct, things got ugly later on), the Castle & Crusade 
  Society served as a near-ideal venue allowing gamers with similar interests to gather 
  remotely, and to share their collective research and preferred modes for medieval 
  gaming.  Dave Arneson joined the C&CS about a month after it was created, a short 
  while after the printing of Domesday Book issue #3.  (Gary mailed that issue to 
  Dave on April 14th, a day before the ‘zine’s cover date.)140  Issue #3 was formally 
  dated April 15th, 1970.  The members of the Castle & Crusade Society listed at that 
                                                             
  140 Online web forum post:  The Comeback Inn forums, “Did Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor 
  campaign actually start in 1970?” 
  
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  time were Rob Kuntz, Gary Gygax, Jeff Perren, Tom Webster, Read Boles, Paul 
  Cote, Chris Schleicher and H. Axel Krigsman.141 
  When Dave was exposed to the aforementioned kingdom map and peerage 
  system — “He began playing in our loosely organized campaign game,” Gary would 
  later write142 — he liked them and wanted to stamp his own Minnesota-inspired 
  fantasy borderlands upon the Society’s map.  As Frank Mentzer noted in 2007:  
  “The early maps of the first ongoing Chainmail campaign (before it was even called 
  Chainmail) portray an alternate-reality version of the upper Midwestern US, with 
  realms portioned out to (and named by) various Society members. ‘Black Moor’ 
  was roughly in the location of Minneapolis, and Greyhawk similarly at Lake 
  Geneva.”143 
   
  An illustrative map of Saint Paul, 1867.  Public domain. 
  Therefore, in the words of Gary, Dave “established his barony, Blackmoor, to 
                                                             
  141 Refer to the Youtube clip “A History of D&D in Twelve Treasures,” posted by Jon 
  Peterson.  The commentary appears at approximately 4:20. 
  142 The Dragon, issue #26, pg. 28. 
  143 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Frank Mentzer, commenting in the 
  Dragonsfoot thread “Q&A with Tim Kask.”  Posted May 13th, 2007. 
  
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  the northeast [sic] of the [Castle & Crusade Society’s] map, just above the Great 
  Kingdom.  He began a local medieval campaign for the Twin Cities gamers and used 
  this area.”144  Please note that “northwest” was intended where “northeast” was 
  given; perhaps Gary had misplaced the Great Kingdom map by the time he made 
  this comment, and was unable to make an accurate review of it at that time.  The 
  Barony of Blackmoor (originally “Black Moors,” and later “Black Moor,” and never 
  really consistently named until much later on) was located beyond the Great 
  Kingdom’s frontier, across a river and upon the western shore of the Great Bay. 
  Blackmoor would soon become the birthplace of fantasy role-playing games.  
  We will explore this revolutionary development in great detail in the chapters yet 
  to come. 
  * * * * * 
  Throughout the remainder of 1970, Gary worked on and occasionally published 
  pieces of his ever-evolving miniatures rules.  The Domesday Book and other fanzines 
  featured bits and pieces of this work.  These advanced and modified “Gygax-Perren 
  rules” would become Gary’s obsession over the months to come.  And soon, the 
  codified rule set would — before the end of 1970 — become the rough draft of 
  Gygax’s and Perren’s now-famous Chainmail:  Rules for Medieval Miniatures.  If 
  The Siege of Bodenburg is the great-grandfather game from which Dungeons & 
  Dragons ultimately descended, and Perren’s system is the grandfather, then the 
  Swords & Sorcery “Fantasy Supplement” of Chainmail can be considered the father. 
  As the medieval wargame play tests continued on Gary’s sand table, these “Lake 
  Geneva system” rules would go through many permutations.  By the early summer, 
  the rules were already sophisticated enough to merit notice for potential (and 
  professional!) publication beyond the fanzines.  By the time of Gen Con III (August 
  22nd-23rd),145 fellow wargamer and retired Air Force captain Donald S. Lowry met 
  with Gary and expressed an interest in publishing these rules, along with other 
  worthy wargames, through his own new mail order company.146 
  This company was first known as Lowry’s Hobbies, and later as Guidon Games.  
                                                             
  144 As related by Gary Gygax in The Dragon, issue #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on 
  Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the Game,” pg. 7. 
  145 Gen Con III was basically “the calm before the storm” from a Chainmail and D&D 
  history perspective, but it was an interesting fest in its own right.  Events included the Fight 
  in the Skies tournament, auction of wargaming items, Napoleonic miniatures battles, 
  naval miniatures, the Diplomacy tournament, and World War II scenario gaming. 
  146 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted May 31st, 2006. 
  
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  A “guidon” by the way is a heraldic pennant carried by a commander at the 
  forefront of a cavalry charge ... a fitting name for a bold upstart company rising 
  against Avalon Hill and into the larger field of World War-dominated historical 
  wargaming. 
  With Don’s admiration and encouragement, Gary then began to develop and 
  codify his medieval rules more seriously.  The most significant additions he first 
  made in response to Lowry’s interest were improved “man-to-man” scale rules 
  (meaning again that one figure represented a single warrior, as opposed to twenty 
  or a hundred), and a set of jousting rules for mounted and dueling knights.147 
  When it became clear that these updated rules were soon going to be perfected 
  enough for marketable publication, Don offered Gary a tentative business 
  partnership.  At that time, Don’s offers were tempting, because Gary was wearying 
  of his unimaginative (and unfulfilling) work as an insurance underwriter.  Gary was 
  deeply interested in becoming a full-time author and game designer, but he was a 
  family man and the financial realities dissuaded him.  As he once recalled, “I had 
  wanted to quit my job and strike out as an author, but my then-wife discouraged 
  that.  Although she hated gaming and gamers, she was right, as I had four children 
  by then.  Nonetheless, I spent much of my free time working on games and game 
  rules.”148 
  This situation was made more complex by late October, when the insurance 
  company Gary worked for made a strategic headquarters move from Chicago to 
  San Francisco.  The mandate was simple:  Gary needed to move to California, or 
  lose his job.  Having grown up in Chicago and Lake Geneva, and with strong family 
  ties to the region he loved, moving seemed unthinkable.  One of Gary’s co-workers 
  was raised to the department head position which Gary was competing for, and so 
  he lost his job.  At one point Gary told his wife very clearly that he was going to 
  pursue his dream:  “Now I’m going to do it,” he said to her according to one 
  interview,149 “I don’t care what you say to me, I’m going to be a writer, I’m going 
  to be a game designer.”  Gary explained his mentality at the time in another 
  interview as follows:  “I just finally said, ‘No, I’m tired of this.  I’m going to write 
                                                             
  147 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted March 13th, 2006.  See also post entered on May 31st, 2006 in the same thread. 
  148 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  149 As featured on d-Infinity.net. 
  
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  games, I’m going to try to write stories.  I want to be a kid again and have fun.’”150 
  We have no record of what his wife thought about this decision, although Gary 
  himself would later write that he was “absolutely delighted” to be out of the 
  underwriting business for good.  “There were too many boundaries in insurance,” 
  he explained. “All I really wanted to do was write and design fantasy games.”151 
  From that day forward, Gary was determined to see just where his dream of 
  being a more widely published game designer might take him.  He was determined 
  to change direction.  He apparently turned down offers from several other large 
  Chicago agencies that would have been happy to have him.  By being forced to 
  make such stark decisions about his future employment, Gary was also made to 
  question his own dreams and the lengths he would go to fulfill them.  Thankfully 
  for gaming and the legacy we now enjoy, he made the frightening choice of letting 
  all of these employment opportunities slip away.  He sought employment in other 
  fields as well, but floundered for a while.  He wrote about thirty hours a week on 
  writing and game design and would proceed to — as he later remembered it — 
  “starve for about four years.”152 
  At some point, Gary asked if the standing offer to partner with Don Lowry was 
  still on the table, and Don replied that it most certainly was.  Gary accepted 
  immediately and would later become (the largely unpaid) Editor-in-Chief of 
  Lowry’s Guidon Games.  He would later note — cheerfully and sarcastically — “My 
  association with Guidon Games cemented my downfall, for I learned much about 
  the business of wargaming during that time.”153 
  Having secured his dream job, Gary would later (in August of 1971) be forced to 
  attend to the more practical matter of cash flow by purchasing machinery for shoe 
  repair.  This apparatus was moved down into his basement, so that he could learn 
  to work as a cobbler while writing and editing games for Don.  The financial 
  necessity was clear:  “To support the family while earning very little in gaming I 
  learned to be a cobbler,” he wrote, “and did that for four years until becoming a 
                                                             
  150 Masters of Fantasy:  TSR, the Fantasy Factory.  A documentary which aired on the Sci-
  Fi Channel in 1997.  The comment appears at approximately 1:45. 
  151 Inc. magazine, February 1982.  “TSR Hobbies Mixes Fact and Fantasy,” by Stewart Alsop 
  II. 
  152 Refer to the Gary Gygax chat preserved in the user comments at Slashdot.org for 
  February 22nd, 2003 entry entitled “A 1974 Review of D&D.” 
  153 The Strategic Review, issue #5, December 1975, pg. 2. 
  
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  full-time employee of TSR.”154 
  Gary spent three weeks learning shoe repair from the man who had sold him 
  the repair equipment.  And then he was on his own.  It would take a fair amount 
  of practice before Gary would gain proficiency in his new Useful Secondary Skill:  
  “One of the reasons my wife makes great fun of me,” he once joked, “is that my 
  mind tends to go off; I ... get my fingers caught in the shoe-repair machinery.”155 
  This makeshift home business would demand a fair amount of space, and so 
  Gary would enlist his good friend Don Kaye to help with breaking down the 
  wargaming sand table.  The table found a new home in Don’s garage, where Gary 
  and his friends would still frequently play their wargames. 
  A lesser man might well be terrified by these uncertain times and prospects, but 
  Gary was actually excited.  “I was set to seek my fortune doing what I loved.”156  In 
  the meantime, however, he would be enrolled on unemployment. 
  His play group did some more serious play testing of the imminent Chainmail 
  rules as 1970 began to wind down.  But the fantasy elements were still missing from 
  Gary’s game.  The rules were enjoyable, but not yet magical.  They were not 
  inspiring.  The Elastolin toy soldiers certainly added a visceral appeal to the 
  Chainmail play tests; but so far, only the “soldier” aspect of the figures was being 
  exploited to full potential.  The “toy” aspect, and the simple heartfelt demands of 
  gaming for fun (as opposed to mere historical military simulation), were not yet 
  being served.  And so the man who had once, as a boy, hammered on his friend’s 
  garbage-can lid shield with a makeshift flail prepared to add something crazy to his 
  serious little game. 
  And where would the dragons come from?  Well, that’s where the tale becomes 
  a little odd.  An unsung hero had already developed a fantasy wargame, and it had 
  been demonstrated in public and won an award.  Gary would soon be drawing his 
  fantastical inspirations from this mysterious predecessor and calling the work his 
  own. 
  It was perhaps over the Christmas season of 1970, or in early in 1971, that he 
  incorporated that other person’s work into his own game design.  What he did, and 
                                                             
  154 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 16th, 2002. 
  155 Inc. magazine, February 1982.  “TSR Hobbies Mixes Fact and Fantasy,” by Stewart Alsop 
  II. 
  156 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  the resultant wild scenarios that were played as a result, will be the intriguing subject 
  of our next chapter. 
   
   
  Two beasts, two legacies, one glory. 
  What good is a fantasy kingdom without conflict? 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 3 
  THE GREAT KINGDOM RISES 
  (LATE 1970 – MARCH 1971) 
   
  AN UNEXPECTED journey, and a curious sideshow too:  here is where the tale 
  begins to get a bit complicated.  The overall story of Dungeons & Dragons has been 
  confusing and misleading for many decades, and it seems that Gary neglected to 
  ever mention where the fantasy part of his Chainmail rules set really originated.  
  Basically, from what we can now tell, it seems that the dragon-and-wizard rules and 
  guidelines which would be featured in Gary’s upcoming Chainmail game (in early 
  1971) were originally dreamt up by a guy you’ve probably never heard of. 
   
   
  Never forget to honor and name your dragons … 
  especially if you’re going to pinch a few coins 
  from their troves in the name of inspiration. 
   
  Gary had lots of inspiration on his own, of course.  And creative talent to spare.  
  In drafting Chainmail from Jeff Perren’s notes he would draw from his own life’s 
  worth of experiences with military toys, fantasy fiction, monster movies, Diplomacy 
  variants, tales of magic told by his mother and father, and the nebulous yet 
  ubiquitous golden age of “Let’s Pretend.”  There was another secret ingredient, 
  however.  That recently rediscovered spice involves one Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, 
  and an obscure (and of course unlicensed) fantasy wargame inspired by his writings. 
  
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  RPG history researcher Jon Peterson can be credited with the rediscovery of this 
  direct and crucial link between Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth and the creation of 
  Gary’s fantasy wargaming rules, which would soon be published in Chainmail.  
  Peterson found through his independent research that a forgotten-yet-important 
  wargamer named Leonard Patt — then a young man, studying at Boston’s 
  Northeastern University157 — had written a simple two-page rules set entitled “Rules 
  for Middle Earth.”  This experimental system was published in the New England 
  Wargamers Association’s (NEWA’s) journal The Courier, Volume 2 issue #7, in late 
  1970.158  (The Courier was published eight times a year, or about once every six-
  and-a-half weeks, so we can estimate that this issue came out in early November or 
  thereabouts.) 
  Further, it seems that these rules were tested and demonstrated earlier by Mr. 
  Patt’s gaming associates.  The rules appeared in The Courier thereafter.  The first 
  public demo of Patt’s Middle Earth rules took place at the Philadelphia miniatures 
  wargaming convention, on October 10th, 1970.  This demonstration was fully 
  played out with figures, terrain, and even a well-built stronghold.  Close eyes159 
  have noted that the photographed stronghold used in this session was actually 
  customized from two Airfix-brand Roman Forts.  (The set used was almost certainly 
  #1706, which was first issued as a small set piece in 1969 and then popularized with 
  a larger fort-and-figure release in 1970.)160 
  The demonstrated scenario involved a reimagining of the Battle of the Pelennor 
  Fields, as featured in Tolkien’s The Return of the King.  An enthusiastic mishmash of 
  elements — inaccurate, but likely included in the game for extra flair — involved 
  Smaug the dragon, the wizard Gandalf, some Orcs of the Red Eye, the Entwood, 
  and the ever-worthy Riders of Rohan. 
  The fantasy wargame was a hit with the convention crowd of 300-odd souls.  
  This novel demonstration turned many heads, and indeed it ultimately won Best of 
  Show:  “Complete with fire-breathing dragons and walking trees,” reads the succinct 
                                                             
  157 Refer to the Playing at the World blog, “A Conversation with Len Patt,” posted February 
  5th, 2016. 
  158 For those who are interested in owning a copy (for only 99 cents!), you can purchase 
  a PDF copy of this issue via WargameVault.com.  The full title of the currently-offered 
  edition is “The Courier: Bulletin of the New England Wargamers Association V2 #7 1970,” 
  from Don Perrin. 
  159 The credit for this observation goes to Mr. Phil Dutré, posting in the comments section 
  of Peterson’s Playing at the World blog entry, on January 21st, 2016. 
  160 Refer for example to Vintage-Airfix.com, HO-00 Forts, http://www.vintage-
  airfix.com/airfix/ho-oo-forts/roman-fort-p-741.html. 
  
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  after-report, “it was a game based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy of fantasy, The Lord 
  of the Rings.” 
  A lot of that juicy fantasy gaming detail would soon appear in Gary’s Chainmail, 
  too.  We know now that the initial evolution of these key concepts preceded Mr. 
  Gygax and originated with Mr. Patt.  The crucial elements which Gary borrowed 
  and did not attribute would include:  guidelines for dragon flight and movement 
  rates; rules for breath weapons; the concept of wizards hurling “fire balls” (much 
  like Gandalf with the pinecones, or Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, when she 
  torches the Scarecrow in the 1939 movie, taunting:  “Wanna play ball?”); archetypal 
  heroes and antiheroes, the Ents, orc armies, humanoid tribal rivalries, and clean, 
  clear melee combat results which predate the saved-or-slain effects of D&D saving 
  throws.  It’s all there in just a couple of pages.  But still, despite these elements being 
  critical to our history, they represent only the merest beginning of the fantasy 
  gaming genre.  Gary would carry these ideas much further in the months and years 
  to come. 
  We know that Gary was a fan of The Hobbit, yet that he found The Lord of the 
  Rings tiresome and frequently felt that Tolkien was a bit overrated (or perhaps over-
  credited).  No such reservations come from Len Patt, however, as evident in his 
  preceding game.  Mr. Patt made his own modest intention to tentatively emulate 
  Tolkien’s work explicitly clear:  “The rules and uniform information presented 
  below are by no means complete,” we read in his rules, “and are only a guide to 
  start a Middle Earth wargame.” 
  “A Middle Earth wargame” and Middle Earth-themed Diplomacy sessions would 
  eventually lead to Chainmail, Dungeons & Dragons, and the entire MMORPG 
  industry as it stands today.  Len Patt left that door to the realms of fantasy wide 
  open for future expansion by other people, and basically walked away from 
  wargaming altogether.  This new genre thrived without his future contributions, of 
  course.  After all, what end could there be to the realm of fantasy wargaming, once 
  the initial concepts had been celebrated and ordained?  Gary was inspired by his 
  example, but many other people we’ve never heard of probably were as well.  This 
  was not a big deal at the time.  Refining other amateur developers’ wargaming 
  concepts in unexpected ways was just an integral part of the hobby in those days.  
  Borrow, refine, and move on.  Who could ever have guessed that such a random 
  idea could indirectly lead to a future entertainment industry? 
  The road from Patt’s game, to Gygax’s and Perren’s game of Chainmail, is a 
  rough one that is still incompletely mapped from our current perspective.  How 
  exactly these elements from Patt first informed the Fantasy Supplement in Chainmail 
  is not yet fully clear.  There does not appear to have been any correspondence or 
  
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  collaboration between Patt and Gygax.  We can figure out some of the details, 
  however:  Toward the end of 1970 (mid-November?), Jeff Perren would have 
  received his copy of The Courier V2N7 in the mailbox.161  It seems very likely that 
  he would have shared this information with Gary (or, Gary received a copy of The 
  Courier on his own).  And it is very obvious to us now — the coincidences in 
  concept, detail, and language are far too exact to leave us with any doubt — that 
  Gary lifted quite a few of Mr. Patt’s best ideas, and drafted the Fantasy Supplement 
  as his own major expansion of that inspirational-and-inspired game material.  Patt’s 
  ideas were thus added to an ambitious brew already being formulated by Perren 
  and Gygax and crew. 
  Even with Patt’s strong influence though, Gary’s Fantasy Supplement was 
  certainly its own unique thing.  Gary’s rules were carefully written “to add magic 
  armor and swords, wizards casting spells, and a large number of fantastic creatures 
  — fire-breathing dragons, elementals, giants, trolls, [and] ogres” to the game.162  
  And there was much more.  The goals of this Fantasy Supplement were truly 
  ambitious:  they would allow venturesome gamers to “refight the epic struggles 
  related by J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and other fantasy writers,” and 
  would even empower the most creative gamers to “devise [their] own ‘world,’ and 
  conduct fantastic campaigns and conflicts based upon it.”163 
  Gary — through his reading of Len Patt’s published demo report, his own 
  observations, and other sources — knew full well that The Lord of the Rings was 
  already popular with the gaming crowd.  The (frequently illegal) paperbacks of 
  LOTR which were appearing everywhere in America were awakening the 
  imaginations of college students, hippies, wargamers, soldiers, and dreamers alike. 
  Against Tolkien’s own snooty wishes — as if he could ever control such a thing 
  — wide-eyed American readers were already equating Sauron with the President, 
  the War of the Ring with the Vietnam War, Riders of Rohan with American draftees, 
  Gondorians with vets, the Shire with idealized-and-idyllic San Francisco nigh the 
  West, 
  hobbits 
  with 
  war-resisting 
  hippies, 
  pipeweed 
  with 
  enlightening 
  hallucinogenics, Gollum with the war buddy who got corrupted and sold out to 
  “The Man,” and all manner of other crazy allegories. 
  For those reasons and more, collegiate America was falling in love with Middle 
                                                             
  161 Refer to the discussion at RPG.net, “Unearthed:  Chainmail rules borrow heavily from 
  earlier fantasy wargame system by Leonard Patt,” January-February 2016. 
  162 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  163 Chainmail:  Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 3rd Edition, pg. 28. 
  
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  Earth.  The enthusiasm inherent in such an imaginative embrace of Tolkien’s fiction 
  was misguided, amusing, and highly contagious.  None of this made much sense in 
  many cases, but those random and wild stirrings were actually mere symptoms of a 
  far greater and truly wonderful disease:  a new generation of young Americans were 
  suddenly craving heaping helpings of fantasy, elves, wizards, halflings, magic rings, 
  swords of destiny, evil overlords, and dragons.164 
  Therefore, in Gary’s own Fantasy Supplement the works of Tolkien were 
  borrowed from quite heavily, because he suspected that in doing so he would 
  increase Chainmail’s future sales.  As he once wrote, “When I saw so many people 
  taken [in] by the Rings Trilogy, I added as much as possible of it into Chainmail.”165 
  Gary, for decades before the dawn of the Castle & Crusade Society, had of course 
  been a devotee of fantasy fiction, and the Lord of the Rings novels had been 
  republished in very affordable paperback editions (at 75 cents a pop) by Ace Books 
  in the mid-1960s.  By 1970 this popular fantasy feeding frenzy had been going on 
  for several years.  The publication of Frodo’s legendary journeys had awakened an 
  interest in the fantastic for hundreds of thousands of Americans, most especially 
  among the nation’s impressionable and disillusioned college students. 
  As one parallel to this surge of interest, the Society for Creative Anachronism 
  (SCA) was founded on May 1st, 1966, bringing together medieval history buffs with 
  fantasy fans, people eager to play out mock battles and to engage in improvisatory 
  role-playing.  At around this time, there were also several different attempts at 
  “Tolkien wargaming,” including a Middle Earth variant for the ever-popular 
  Diplomacy game.166  Len Patt’s game did not pop up in a featureless vacuum; his 
                                                             
  164 The nearest reference I can find to the Tolkien phenomenon hitting Gary’s region is 
  that the Tolkien Society at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was founded in September 
  of 1966.  There’s nothing proving that Gary had any contact with those folks, to the best 
  of my current knowledge; but the existence of the Society at that time and in that place 
  gives us an idea of just when “Tolkien fever” might well have been taking hold in even 
  rural Wisconsin.  If it was hitting college students there in September 1966, it was probably 
  filtering down to lots of friends, family, and younger siblings by the summer of 1967. 
  165 Refer to the Gary Gygax chat preserved in the user comments at Slashdot.org for 
  February 22nd, 2003, entry entitled “A 1974 Review of D&D.” 
  166 There were actually lots of ME Diplo games, each with different scenario details.  The 
  design notes for the Middle Earth IX variant — yes, Diplomacy saw that many Tolkien 
  gaming adaptations and many more — indicate that the initial Middle Earth Diplomacy 
  variant, by James Wright, was created in 1965.  (The Ace paperbacks were raging across 
  American in the summer of ’65, and the Diplomacy variant followed thereaftafter.)  The 
  popular Middle Earth II variant, by Don Miller, which followed and deviated from it was 
  initially published in February 1966, and updated later that year. 
  
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  attempt at Middle Earth simulation was only one of many.  There were probably 
  dozens if not hundreds of amateur Middle Earth games circulating in private circles 
  by this time.  We tend only to cite the ones which can be proven in retrospect to 
  have influenced crucial concepts in D&D. 
  * * * * * 
  Tolkien was not the only driving force in USA’s fantasy fiction scene at this time, 
  although he was certainly the most influential one.  I note also, however, that some 
  of the interesting new paperbacks which appeared on the bookstore shelves 
  between December 1970 and February 1971 — when Gary was likely finishing up 
  the Fantasy Supplement for Chainmail’s upcoming publication — included the 
  following:  The Gods of Mars and The Warlords of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs; 
  Kothar and the Wizard Slayer, by Gardner F. Fox; and yes, the popular Ballantine 
  reprints of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, by J. R. R. Tolkien. 
  There were also numerous H. P. Lovecraft collections reprinted during those 
  months, including At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror, The 
  Doom That Came to Sarnath, The Lurking Fear and Other Stores, and The Tomb 
  and Other Tales.  Also noteworthy was the anthology Warlocks and Warriors, 
  edited by L. Sprague de Camp, which featured The Gods of Niom Parma (by Lin 
  Carter), The Hills of the Dead (by Robert E. Howard), Thieves’ House (by Fritz 
  Leiber), Chu-Bu and Sheemish (by Lord Dunsany), and other tales of fantasy. 
  When we consider Gary’s earlier-mentioned claim that he read “about every 
  book of Fantasy and Science Fiction published in the US,”167 such releases are 
  certainly of passing interest to our history.  He probably either picked a lot of these 
  tales up now and prior to Chainmail’s publication, or he had already them! 
  The following passage from the introduction to Warlocks and Warriors (written 
  by L. Sprague de Camp) is especially interesting, when we consider that the 
  hardcover came out in 1970 and the paperback (a Berkeley Medallion Book) came 
  out in January 1971: 
  * * * * * 
  “This is a collection of stories of heroic fantasy — or, as the genre is also called, 
  swordplay-and-sorcery stories.  This is pure escape literature and makes no bones 
  about it.  Reading for serious purposes is fine, but even the most serious reader is 
  better off if he sometimes reads something for the hell of it.  In these stories one 
  escapes clear out of the real world.  One enters an imaginary world, more or less 
                                                             
  167 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted 
  February 17th, 2003. 
  
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  ancient or medieval in aspect, where magic works and where modern science and 
  technology have not yet been discovered.  This is a world where gleaming cities 
  raise shining spires against the stars, sorcerers cast sinister spells from subterranean 
  lairs, baleful spirits stalk through crumbling ruins, primeval monsters crash through 
  jungle thickets, and the fate of kingdoms is balanced on the blades of bloody 
  broadswords.” 
  Now isn’t that an interesting coincidence that this book, from an author and 
  editor that Gary was reading heavily at the time, came out precisely when he was 
  devising his seminal Chainmail Fantasy appendix despite the preferred habits of his 
  oh-so-serious wargaming friends? 
  * * * * * 
  Also, the SCA was thriving by this time.  This growing audience for fantasy craved 
  more material, simulation, a connected fandom, and “let’s pretend” gatherings and 
  play.  There was not much organization yet, but the shared and avid interest was 
  surely there.  Gary had noticed already that many (but by no means all!) of his 
  compatriots in the Castle & Crusade Society were sharing such interests beyond 
  medieval wargaming, and perhaps intuited that these interests could be pointed 
  toward fantasy gaming experiments with a shared and guided leap of faith.  If that 
  was indeed the case, then why not include his optional fantasy rules in Chainmail 
  to gauge the effective market for such things?  The game manuscript was already 
  complete, and by putting the Fantasy Supplement in the back of the book, Gary 
  thought that anyone not interested in such frivolities could simply ignore that 
  unneeded chapter. 
  There was dissent, however, too.  Gary knew from earlier inquiries that there 
  was already a marked resistance against fantasy innovations in wargaming from the 
  “grognard” 
  (grumbling) 
  contingent 
  of 
  hardcore 
  and 
  historical 
  military 
  simulationists.  To many war hawks and veterans, wargaming was about honoring 
  the past, or celebrating the armed forces, and it was a serious pursuit.  Fantasy had 
  no place beside the dignified gravitas of such solemn and bellicose simulations.  To 
  put it more lightly, the deadly serious WWII and Napoleonic gamers didn’t want 
  any Tolkien chocolate slopping its way into their tasty Patton ‘n’ Bonaparte peanut 
  butter. 
   
  
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  “Do you not understand?  This is a very deadly serious history of fun and games.  
  VERY DEADLY!  And if you are having any fun at all, any bitsy smile or ha-ha, you 
  should feel very bad.  VERY BAD!” 
   
  Outside of wargaming, far less structured fantasy “Tolkien” play was casually 
  being embraced to varying extents.  The SCA crowd, naturally, tended to be the 
  most receptive toward such things, but the degree to which they would embrace 
  the strictures and formality of wargaming remained to be seen.  This unspoken 
  audience for fantasy-themed simulations — scattered and nameless as it still 
  remained — would be difficult for any gaming company to reach. 
  There was no harm in trying, however.  Gary decided that Chainmail 
  represented his best chance to bridge these groups together, because Tolkien-
  inspired wargaming was far more similar to medieval wargaming than it was to 
  
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  anything else:  “Most of the fantastic battles related in novels,” he explained in his 
  Chainmail manuscript, “more closely resemble medieval warfare than they do 
  earlier or later forms of combat.  Because of this, we are including a brief set of rules 
  which will allow the medieval miniatures wargamer to add a new facet to his 
  hobby.”168 
   
   
  Dwarves or goblins?  Gnomes or kobolds? 
  The finest fairy tales are always open to shadowy interpretation. 
                                                             
  168 Chainmail:  Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 3rd Edition, pg. 28. 
  
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  The novels Gary was alluding to here were primarily the early pulps, those classic 
  Swords & Sorcery yarns featuring Conan, Fafhrd, and similar burly swordsmen.  He 
  liked Jack Vance’s decadent characters Liane and Mazirian and all the others, too.  
  To Gary’s mind, these were the heroes in a genre which Professor Tolkien had only 
  poorly dabbled in.  As he once explained:  “When I began to add elements of 
  fantasy to medieval miniatures wargames … of course the work of Jack Vance 
  influenced what I did.  Along with Robert E. Howard, de Camp & Pratt, A. Merritt, 
  Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, Poul Anderson, J. R. R. Tolkien, P. J. Farmer, 
  Bram Stoker — and not a few others, including the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm 
  and Andrew Lang, and conventional mythologies.”169 
  Gary knew however that despite his own preferences, and the many fantasy 
  reprints of the day, many of these authors were not being read widely with wild 
  enthusiasm any longer.  New readers who were discovering these older works were 
  frequently doing so through the distorting lens of first experiencing The Lord of the 
  Rings.  Young readers simply hadn’t been there for Lovecraft, Howard, Weird Tales 
  and all the rest.  The grandiose Middle Earth tales of Tolkien — being not only 
  popular, but also highly available — were ruling the imaginations of the young. 
  And so, in silent acknowledgement of this predicament, Gary made a 
  calculatedly casual announcement in the next issue of Wargamer’s Newsletter:  he, 
  as a matter for open curiosity, was developing rules for “Tolkien fantasy games.”  
  Len Patt had already set down some similar rules and was fairly well-received in 
  doing so, so why not?  What could it hurt to try? 
  The hardcore and grognard wargamers, predictably, were less than thrilled by 
  this unexpected proclamation.  Gary was one of them, the respectable grognards, 
  not a fantasy freak.  It was as if one of their favorite game researchers and organizers 
  had suddenly veered wildly toward, and then gone merrily plummeting off, the 
  deep end. 
  * * * * * 
  Gary didn’t care if anyone thought he was going crazy, however.  He was 
  gaming, creating, pretending and playing.  He was having fun. 
  Of course, all of these crazy new concepts represented in his newfangled Fantasy 
  Supplement would need to be tested and balanced in regards to the existing 
  medieval warfare structure of “core” Chainmail prior to publication, and that meant 
  that some fantasy-themed play tests would need to be conducted on Gary’s sand 
                                                             
  169 “Jack Vance & the D&D Game,” an article by Gary Gygax which originally appeared 
  in The Excellent Prismatic Spray #2, 2001. 
  
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  table.  And soon! 
  Don and Rob and others were happy to help, although the more serious 
  devotees of historical simulation — Jeff Perren, apparently, among them — would 
  exit the Chainmail game tests at this time.170  The new flavor of gaming was not for 
  everyone.  Gary would later write that Jeff was simply “not captivated by giants 
  hurling boulders and dragons breathing fire and lightning bolts; nor did wizards 
  with spells, heroes and superheroes with magic armor and swords prove compelling 
  to [him].”171  This meant that Gary and his core group of players would be 
  responsible for the play testing of the Fantasy Supplement on their own. 
  The monsters, from an historical gamer’s perspective, were — along with spells 
  — one of the strangest and most unpredictable aspects of the new game.  Each 
  would require testing.  The first few monsters that Gary devised for those earliest 
  “Chainmail Fantasy” sessions included (to his much later recollection) a red dragon, 
  a giant, a troll, ogres, orcs and elementals.172 
  The enthusiastic players (disregarding the serious historical wargamers who 
  wholly abandoned the play test before it began) had a great deal of fun, assembling 
  armies led by heroes and wizards, slinging spells at enemy infantry, slaying dragons 
  and summoning elementals to do the bidding of their sorcerous magi.  It seems that 
  the very first Chainmail Fantasy scenario — in intriguing parallel to Dave Arneson’s 
  own early Blackmoor scenario, which would later be conducted in April of 1971 — 
  apparently included a scene from one of Gary’s favorite fairy tales, “Three Billy 
  Goats Gruff.”  As Gary explained, “a great ugly troll rushed out from under the 
  bridge one side’s forces had to cross.  Fortunately, one of their leaders was a Hero 
  and defeated it.”173 
  Chainmail Fantasy would permanently change Gary’s gaming group.  He once 
  wrote that “The reception of fantasy elements in the medieval tabletop wargame 
                                                             
  170 Gygax and Perren did, however, enjoy other games together outside of fantasy 
  wargaming.  For example, in the Skirmisher Publishing LLC edition of H. G. Wells’s Little 
  Wars, Gary indicates that he and Jeff used to play historical Little Wars scenarios together.  
  It seems that Jeff was a crack shot with toy cannon-launched toothpick rounds. 
  171 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part III.  Posted April 
  6th, 2003. 
  172 Refer to the Gary Gygax chat preserved in the user comments at Slashdot.org for 
  February 22nd, 2003 entry entitled “A 1974 Review of D&D.” 
  173 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  
  Posted September 22nd, 2005. 
  
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  was incredibly enthusiastic by about 90% of the old group.”174  The players helped 
  to develop the rules, and a rudimentary mythology began to take place as the 
  tabletop games were played.  As Gary once described the process, “Magic-users 
  defended their strongholds from invading armies, heroes met trolls, and magic items 
  of great power were sought for on the same sand table which had formerly hosted 
  Normans, Britain English and tanks in Normandy.”175 
  The group was having a grand time, but no one could possibly guess that in a 
  few years’ time a new game called Dungeons & Dragons — based directly on 
  Chainmail Fantasy with further inspirations from David Lance Arneson— would 
  change everything.  “Little did I — or the other members of the Lake Geneva Tactical 
  Studies Association — realize as we fought out fantasy miniatures battles on my 
  sand table,” Gary later wrote, “that the publication of the rules we used to do so 
  … would pioneer a whole new form of game.”176 
  Interestingly, although the idea of a single fantasy character being played by a 
  single player is frequently attributed to Dave Arneson or to David Wesely’s 
  Braunstein experiments, Gary once wrote that he experimented with the concept 
  (seemingly by accident) during the Chainmail Fantasy play tests of 1970-1971 too, 
  prior to the full development of Blackmoor.  “When heroes, superheroes, and 
  wizards were considered in the Fantasy Supplement,” he wrote, “the concept of a 
  player with but a single figure on the table born.  I would use my point buys to take 
  a superhero in magic armor, with a magic sword, backed up by a wizard with 
  fireball spells.  The superhero would assail the mass of enemy troops, and when 
  they gathered round to attack him the wizard would drop a fireball on the lot. The 
  superhero was very likely to come out unscathed, much to the fury of my 
  opponents.”177 
   
   
                                                             
  174 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part III.  Posted April 
  6th, 2003. 
  175 The Dragon, issue #26.  “D&D, AD&D and Gaming,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 28. 
  176 The Dragon, issue #16, pg. 15. 
  177 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  3rd, 2005. 
  
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  “Blast it, if you’re going to cast it, cast it now, ye grizzled gray-maned grimalkin!” 
   
  
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  This experimental testing process involved more than just playing the fantasy 
  game and arguing over the rules, however.  A large part of the fun was in converting 
  the miniature figures for play, because in that day and age, serious figures intended 
  for fantasy wargaming simply did not exist.  Gary provided some details on these 
  intrepid figure conversion efforts in later forum posts and conversations:  “Many 
  dime store figurines were made to do for fantasy monsters when we played 
  Chainmail Fantasy miniatures … as no one made metal ones based on games then.”  
  And further:  “When we played Chainmail Fantasy on the sand table in my 
  basement … we used 40 mm Hausser Elastolin figurines as man-sized [fighting men], 
  Jack Scruby’s 30 mm troops for orcs, and an assortment of things for monsters — 
  90 mm Hausser figurines for giants, plastic dime store Indians of around 60 mm 
  scale for ogres, [and] a plastic stegosaurus I converted to a dragon.”178 
  There were many of these unique and handmade customization projects that 
  were later remembered with particular fondness.  The stegosaurus was clearly 
  intended to metamorphose beyond its saurian roots and to represent Smaug from 
  The Hobbit, because his belly was covered with glitter to represent a protective 
  embedded layer of sparkling gemstones.179  A club-wielding blue giant was made 
  from a 90 mm Elastolin Viking, and Gary noted that he got in trouble with his 
  daughter a short while after he made that particular figure:  “Hair snipped from one 
  of my daughters’ old dolls gave him a real ‘fright wig’ too,” he wrote.  “Yes, my 
  rude theft of hair was discovered, and I was in deep kimche with my youngest 
  daughter for a long time because of it.”180 
  Not to be outdone, his friend Don made another kind of “dragon” out of a toy 
  brontosaurus.  This large beastie may have actually been a representation of the 
  Japanese movie monster King Ghidorah, complete with wings and three different 
  heads.  “Giant” ants for the sand table came straight out of plastic toy bags.181  One 
  particular bag of now-coveted Hong Kong monster toys would eventually 
                                                             
  178 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  
  Posted July 2nd, 2005.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part IX, posted December 
  22nd, 2005.  For readers who are interested in the particulars of these unique customized 
  figures, Rob Kuntz gives some very detailed descriptions in the Pied Piper Publishing 
  thread “Appearance of Monsters.”  Gary also provided some further details about the 
  stegosaurus figure in particular in The Slayer’s Guide to Dragons (2002). 
  179 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted 
  December 22nd, 2005. 
  180 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 19th, 2002. 
  181 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld forum thread, “Gygaxian Monsters.”  
  Posted October 8th, 2007. 
  
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  (throughout the years c. 1971-76) give rise to such classic D&D beasties as the bulette, 
  owlbear, rust monster, umber hulk and troglodyte.  Gary created stats for these new 
  horrors based on the appearances of the available figures, fitting his imagination to 
  the materials at hand. 
  Realizing that other players attempting to use the Fantasy Supplement would 
  soon be facing this same lack of monster figures in the market, Gary wrote an article 
  detailing his group’s ongoing customization efforts which would later appear in 
  Wargamer’s Newsletter, issue #127.  The article’s preamble is intriguing because it 
  both confirms the influence of Tolkien over the Fantasy Supplement, while also 
  highlighting Gary’s belief that there were other approaches just as worthy of being 
  taken:  “Tolkien purists will not find these rules entirely satisfactory, I believe, for 
  many of the fantastic creatures do not follow his ‘specifications,’ mainly because I 
  believe that other writers were as ‘authoritative’ as he.” 
  That being said, Gary provided recommendations for the customization of the 
  expensive Hausser Elastolin figures, as well as oblique references to Marx and Airfix 
  figures in various scales.  The trusty 1964 Robin Hood miniatures — from Airfix 
  HO/OO boxed set 01720, for those keeping score182 — were noted in particular for 
  their nice selection of weapons and armor (including axes, bows, staves and 
  swords).  And the Elastolin line of figures were also very helpful.  They did not just 
  feature soldiers and frontiersmen; dogs, foxes, and even moose were represented 
  in this toy line as well.  And if these farm and forest animal toys were available to 
  Chainmail’s future readers, then why not also mix up the play tests with other 
  creatures?  Above all, in these improvisational efforts Gary stressed to his readers 
  the importance of resourcefulness, ingenuity and imagination.  After all, isn’t 
  creative reinvention one of the greatest arts a Dungeon Master can hope to perfect? 
  Beyond the issue of the lack of fantasy figures, there were far more rulings to be 
  extemporized as well.  (Len Patt’s original rules served as a guide, but Gary still had 
  to make things work well for his players, testing his own rulings and specifications.)  
  Spells could be roughly simulated with the catapult and artillery rules in Chainmail 
  proper,183 while power scales and stats for magical creatures might be crudely 
  extrapolated from already-existing rules for knights, horses and Mongol raiders. 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  182 For reference, see for example the information which you can find at 
  http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/review.aspx?id=35. 
  183 In the Foreword to the Skirmisher Publishing LLC edition of H. G. Wells’s Little Wars, Gary 
  notes that the catapult and fireball area of effect rules were inspired by the Little Wars 
  artillery rules.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part XIII, posted June 27th, 2007. 
  
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  While all of this rudimentary guesswork (and borrowing!) was going on, Gary 
  was also working to strengthen and stimulate the social network for serious 
  medieval wargaming, as exemplified by the Castle & Crusade Society.  A fateful issue 
  of the group’s Domesday Book fanzine (issue #9, probably written around the 
  beginning of 1971 and published soon thereafter) included the earlier-created map 
  of the group’s collective fiefdoms and holdings, featuring the imaginary Great 
  Kingdom.  Presumably (in addition to vividly illustrating the previously-discussed 
  peerage system), this map was made by Gary184 so that gamers who would agree 
  to play a certain type of medieval scenario might document their play and then 
  provide a “battle report” to the Society, as if an actual battle had taken place.  The 
  borders of the Great Kingdom’s fiefs could wax and wane as heroic victories shaped 
  the imaginary world.  As Gary explained, “Members of the Society could then 
  establish their holdings on the map, and we planned to sponsor campaign-type 
  gaming at some point.”185 
  This concept had developed over a period of time.  Issue #6 of the Domesday 
  Book, for example, reads in part, “All members should be aware of efforts to create 
  a mythical world for our Society.  To date we have a map showing our ‘Great 
  Kingdom,’ as well as our neighbors — several sovereign principalities, kingdoms, 
  nations, the ‘Dry Steppes’ of the nomads, and the ‘Paynim Kingdom.’  (Paynims are 
  pagans, or more specifically non-Christians.)  Great nobles (earl and above) of the 
  Great Kingdom, as well as members who attain independence with fiefs of full 
  kingdoms or nations, will take part in service to the King in his wars, fight each 
  other, of [sic] rebel against their liege, and that includes any sovereign.  Exact 
  method of play is yet to be determined, but before any final decision is reached we 
                                                             
  184 There is quite a bit of confusion over who made the Great Kingdom map that we can 
  see online, which is simply a matter of copying, misunderstanding, limited information, 
  and “who had what when.”  If it matters, the score so far:  David Megarry has an 
  annotated copy of the map, apart from the original.  It has more details because it was 
  used in play in later years.  Jon Peterson has noted that the original is in color:  “Gygax 
  drew the original map in colored markers, and some colors came out better in the black-
  and-white photocopies than others did.”  The “original” (not really) that we most 
  commonly see copies of was designed by Gary, but apparently Dave had taken a crack 
  at it first and we’re really seeing Dave’s version (I think?).  From a June 17th, 2017 post by 
  the Secrets of Blackmoor group:  “Rob Kuntz says that an interesting thing about the 
  published Domesday maps, is that Gary asked Dave to draw one up and then did not 
  like it.  So Gary drew one up of his own to use in Domesday.  Somehow the printing 
  company [?] misplaced the Gary map and the Arneson map is the one that gets used 
  in the first article on the medieval campaigns.”  Make of that what you will. 
  185 The Dragon, issue #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of 
  the Game,” pg. 7. 
  
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  will publish the map and general rules for vote by the full peerage.”186 
  This was probably not the play map’s fulfilled purpose, however.  The map was 
  perhaps more inspirational than practical … depending on who you talk to.  As 
  Rob Kuntz once noted, from his perspective the Great Kingdom “was not 
  considered a setting, but a realm that was expanding for societal purposes and 
  thereby had no strict gaming potential.”187  Dave Arneson went even more directly 
  to the point:  “The Society set up a mythical map where ‘kingdoms’ were assigned 
  to the ‘lords’ of the Society; and a Society-wide campaign, using medieval 
  [miniatures] was proposed, which never got anywhere.”188 
  From our 21st-century perspective, the Great Kingdom map is most interesting 
  not because of its implications for the Society’s own wargames, but instead for the 
  first glimpses it offers us of both the World of Greyhawk and the Arch-Barony of 
  Blackmoor.  Many of the features on the 1970 map will be familiar to fantasy role-
  players who enjoyed gaming in the Flanaess in the 1980s and beyond. 
  For example, the original Great Kingdom map shows features and faction names 
  such as the Far Ocean, Northern Barbarians, a Summer Passage to Far Ocean, Great 
  Bay, Dry Steppes, the Sea of Dust, Nir Dyv (“near dive” is the pun here according 
  to Gary) and the Western Ocean.  In the published World of Greyhawk setting 
  (1980-1983), these features would later correspond to the more widely recognizable 
  Dramidj / Drawmij (aka Jim Ward) Ocean, the Lands of the Frost and Snow 
  Barbarians, the Solnor (perhaps meaning “north sun”?) Ocean, Grendep Bay, the 
  Dry Steppes (basically unchanged), the Sea of Dust (unchanged), the newly-spelled 
  “Nyr Dyv” and the Oljatt Sea. 
  There are some more interesting clues hidden in all of this quizzical mire.  
  Knowing what we do about this direct transition between the C&CS’s 1970 Great 
  Kingdom concept and TSR’s later published game world of the Flanaess, it appears 
  to me that the map (when viewed as a rough conglomeration of Minnesota, 
  Wisconsin and Michigan) indicates Lake Superior (the Nyr Dyv, with the same 
  characteristic shape), Ontario and Thunder Bay (making Canadians, amusingly, the 
  “Northern Barbarians”), Lake Huron (the edge of the Western Ocean), Isle Royale 
  and Passage Island (within the Great Bay), Big Sandy Lake (the Sea of Dust), and so 
  forth.  Surely, some of the coastal land shapes between these real world locales and 
                                                             
  186 Refer to the Youtube clip “A History of D&D in Twelve Treasures,” posted by Jon 
  Peterson.  The commentary appears at approximately 4:45. 
  187 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Rob Kuntz Q&A.  Posted 
  January 5th, 2010. 
  188 The Space Gamer, issue #21.  “An Interview with Dave Arneson.” 
  
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  the Great Kingdom — such as Sibley Peninsula (where the Northern Barbarians 
  dwell) and Saginaw Bay (the unnamed bay on the Western Ocean) — are far too 
  similar to be entirely coincidental.  The core of the Flanaess prominently features 
  fantasy versions of Wisconsin and Minnesota without a doubt. 
   
   
  A 1917 map of Lake Superior, whose shape would be emulated as Nyr Dyv in the 
  published World of Greyhawk map drawn by Darlene Pekul in 1980. 
   
  Indeed, within the Society Gary himself was known as the Earl of Walworth, 
  which is another in-joke pointing to Walworth County, where the town of Lake 
  Geneva lies.189  Walworth County, on the Society realm map, is situated 
  immediately to the north of the Nir Div and near to the Great Kingdom.  This makes 
  it abundantly clear that the map is indeed a fantastical reflection of Wisconsin and 
  the immediately surrounding area.  When we consider further that Dave Arneson 
  discerned this “Walworth” distinction Gary had made, and then placed his Arch-
  Barony of Blackmoor in the northward borderlands, we can see that one of the 
  northern edges of the Great Kingdom would verge on fantastical Minnesota too.  
  The paired Castle and Village of Blackmoor, more simply, comprise a satirical 
                                                             
  189 As pointed out by Rob Kuntz in the Dragonsfoot forums.  Refer to Rob Kuntz Q&A, 
  posted January 26th, 2010. 
  
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  fantasy equivalent to Arneson’s own Twin Cities (with a little Duluth mixed in for 
  coastal purposes, apparently). 
  Curiouser and curiouser, eh? 
  * * * * * 
  (A 2017 update on the matter of Great Kingdom follows for the curious; you 
  can skip this bit if you’re more interested in to learning much more about Dave 
  Arneson.) 
  Further information has been unveiled about the connections between 
  Blackmoore and the Great Kingdom, which make it very clear that Blackmoor was 
  an integral part of the larger Great Kingdom and never really removed from its 
  environs.  The Great Kingdom map (as exhibited by the copy we now know has 
  been held by David Megarry)190 served as something of a “map of the known 
  world” in the Blackmoor campaign, so I would like to talk about that a bit further 
  before we move on.  Some of the further developments and annotations we see in 
  Megarry’s copy of the map date (in his opinion) to c. 1974, but there is still 
  confusion over the dating.  The map is not from Megarry’s own play, but rather 
  from Arneson’s gaming while Megarry was away.  (Sorry for the use of last names 
  here; there’s a lot of Daves in the tales we have to tell.)  Megarry says of the use of 
  this map at that time, c. 1974, “I think Arneson was trying to do a combination of 
  Diplomacy, Braunstein and fantasy gaming, having [the participants] take roles.  But 
  I think it was too ambitious and I was not part of it.”  We don’t know too much 
  about Arneson’s Great Kingdom games at that time, but the map is enlightening 
  nonetheless. 
  The Megarry-owned map is mostly useful (in my opinion) because it clears up 
  some of the geography of Blackmoor and the surrounding regions in Arneson’s 
  games, and its relation to the Great Kingdom setting as a whole.  Blackmoor is 100% 
  confirmed to be the territory to the southwest of the Great Bay, just north of the 
  river (which divides it from the southern Duchy of Ten).  The Egg of Coot is a 
  comparatively huge territory to the north, surrounded by hills and with its capital 
  in the center.  The Great Kingdom proper is a huge realm to the southeast, with a 
  central “Royal Demesne”191 surrounded by 18 provinces (David Megarry thinks they 
  might be duchies and such) and outer regions.  Region #11 is Walworth,192 which is 
                                                             
  190 See the Hidden in Shadows blog, “Arneson’s Great Kingdom Map,” February 3rd, 2017. 
  191 We find this very same Royal Demesne listed in the Greyhawk Gazetteer, pg. 10, in 
  discussion of the Great Kingdom of the Flanaess. 
  192 A “small Earldom of Walworth” is later mentioned by Gygax in the Greyhawk 
  Gazetteer, pg. 15. 
  
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  on the northern shore of the Nir Div.  The Free City of Greyhawk is not shown on 
  this map, but it would be south of the Nir Div, roughly between the County of 
  Yerocundy and the Contested Area.  (Dan Boggs is of the opinion that the Contested 
  Area is equivalent to the Wild Coast in the published World of Greyhawk setting, 
  and this is a reasonable speculation, considering that the twisted geography actually 
  somewhat fits with that interpretation.) 
  To the west of Yerocundy we find other territorial names which will be familiar 
  to devotees of the published Greyhawk setting, including Keoland, the Sea of Dust, 
  the Dry Steppes, and the Duchy of Geoff.  On the Zenopus Archives193, we find a 
  nice insight from Zach that the Yerocundy-bordering “Kingdom of Faraz” might 
  well be one half of the realm that Gary would name Furyondy as a whole.  When 
  we consider that “Fara[z]-Yerocundy” can be combined as “Faracundy,” this 
  certainly seems to be rather likely. 
  The Contested Area can also be arguably mapped not just to the Wild Coast, 
  but also (and alternately) to the later published “County of Urnst,” (and adjacent 
  Urnst-lands) which we can of course interpret as “The County of Ernest” … that is, 
  the domain held by fellow gamer Ernest Gary Gygax.  Sadly Gary doesn’t seem to 
  have been involved in this mapped Great Kingdom game hosted by Arneson; or at 
  least, I’ve seen nothing to date proving such a connection.  However, this entry 
  much later by Gygax might of passing interest:194  “When the Nyrondel won their 
  independence, they took the County of Urnst, and were massing troops to cross the 
  Nesser.”  Similarly, we find an entry in the Nyrond section of that Greyhawk 
  Gazetteer booklet:  “Nyrond also went through a phase of near-imperialism, 
  making both the County of Urnst and the Theocracy of the Pale tributary states for 
  a time.  This course was altered, however, when the wise King Dustan I, called 
  Crafty, saw his realm threatened by internal strife and exterior enemies and called 
  up the Great Council of Rel Mord.” 
  It would certainly be tempting (sadly, it’s probably wishful thinking on my part) 
  to think that Gary might have written a few entries in the World of Greyhawk 
  Gazetteer while recollecting Great Kingdom wargames of times past; but there is no 
  proof of such a thing.  We don’t even know if Gary was keeping tabs on (or even 
  aware of) Arneson’s Great Kingdom map updates of c. 1974.  Nevertheless, if the 
  notes or draft of the Gazetteer ever come to light, it would be interesting to read 
  them with that wild hypothesis in mind! 
                                                             
  193 See “Megarry’s Copy of the Great Kingdom Map,” February 2nd, 2017. 
  194 See the World of Greyhawk Folio booklet, pg. 18. 
  
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  There is much more to learn about the Great Kingdom map and its associations 
  to the pre-history of both Blackmoor and Greyhawk, but that’s as far as I can take 
  things at the moment without further evidence, and without going completely off 
  the rails of our current tale. 
  * * * * * 
  And now that we are beginning to tease apart the secrets of the Great Kingdom, 
  the “true” location of Blackmoor, and also the wild direction Gary would soon be 
  taking his Chainmail Fantasy game, it is time for us to get to know Dave Arneson a 
  little better.  The man’s importance to the development of Dungeons & Dragons 
  cannot be overstated.  For you see, Dave — inspired by the Great Kingdom and his 
  own little makeshift barony in the frigid north — was about to go on a tangent of 
  his own that would change the world of gaming forever. 
   
   
  Every kingdom, no matter how great, has a challenged frontier. 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 4 
  IN HONOR OF ARNESON 
  (C. 1970 – 1971) 
   
  Above the rolling horizon of moor … 
  rises the great snowy dome of Erick’s-jokull … 
  with precipitous sides of black lava 
  towering up like an immense giant’s castle … 
   
  — Grettir the Outlaw (one of the great Icelandic sagas), as translated by Sabine 
  Baring-Gould 
   
  BEFORE WE begin to consider the contributions of Mr. Arneson, I feel that I must 
  repent to some degree. 
  To this point, my narrative has been unashamedly “Gygaxian.”  In other words, 
  my historical anecdotes have been primarily, and even in some cases solely, 
  dependent upon Gary’s own exclusive version of events.  Many people today are 
  surprised to learn that Dave Arneson co-authored Dungeons & Dragons, especially 
  when it is considered that by the time of the FRPG “Silver Age” exemplified by early 
  Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1979), the business relationship between 
  Gygax and Arneson had grown so sour that Arneson was granted absolutely zero 
  official credit on the covers of the Advanced rules volumes.  By that time Gary had 
  redesigned the entire original game, and he felt entitled to take the lion’s share of 
  credit as his own. 
  The end result of this disappointing circumstance is that for any player or 
  Dungeon Master who came into the game after 1977, they may have never seen 
  Arneson’s name in print associated with Dungeons & Dragons.  Or, he may have 
  only been mentioned in passing on a title page, with no details elucidating his 
  considerable contributions to the game. 
  The reasons for this sad turn of events are many and convoluted, but the heart 
  of the matter is this:  Gary was the better rules writer, the far more frequent writer, 
  and the man who was much more interested in risk-taking and the business side of 
  things.  Arguably, Gary was also more social at cons, more forthright, more 
  organized, more of an intensive planner, and he had a better memory.  And most 
  
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  assuredly, he published more than Arneson could ever hope or care to.  Arneson 
  ran his games out of his binder and his head.  Gary cleaned up all of the 
  unpresentable materials, took the financial risks, and made certain that the game 
  products could reach the public. 
  Gary was the doer, in a commercial way; Arneson was the campaign guy who 
  kept his best gaming moments in the basement.  But Gary was never solely 
  responsible for the creation of the game. 
  Arneson’s contributions are vitally important to the legacy of the game, but in a 
  purely historical context we have much less information about where he was and 
  what he was doing.  We hardly ever know what he was thinking, either.  The 
  confusion caused by this absence of available evidence has convoluted things to the 
  point where frequently, in those arcane matters of game design where Arneson was 
  directly involved but Gygax was never present, we have almost no chronological 
  information from Arneson’s perspective at all.  We are left with scraps and 
  guesswork to tell the tale. 
  Indeed, many of the crucial and key historical texts recording Dave’s accounts 
  are extremely rare, and a significant number of them only came to 21st-century light 
  through Jon Peterson’s research, as detailed in his blog and associated book, Playing 
  at the World.  Dan Boggs is also to be acknowledged in this endeavor as well, for 
  his remarkable early work on the key Dungeons & Dragons historical text which is 
  sometimes misleadingly named as the “Dalluhn Manuscript.”  (To be clearer and to 
  cast a bit of Dispel Confusion on that key document:  this nonesuch text — an early 
  version of the D&D rules — was actually found among the papers of M. A. R. 
  Barker, designer of Empire of the Petal Throne; Keith Dalluhn was a later owner of 
  that text.) 
  The “Dalluhn,” unfortunately, is one of the only surviving examples of a 1973 
  D&D rules text which remains in the present day.  There is not much else that is 
  publicly available for us to look at, and many of the crucial documents we need to 
  create a fair and balanced history of the collaborative design approach are missing.  
  The result of this lamentable scarcity of materials is that we almost always have a 
  wealth of information from Gary’s side of the story, but only fleeting glimpses of 
  the mysterious Arneson. 
  Given the tragic fact that these two men greatly disliked each other for a long 
  while, this imbalance in the widely-available record creates a dangerous potential 
  for pro-Gygaxian bias as we strive to re-gather the scattered tale of Dungeons & 
  Dragons.  I myself am far from innocent in this matter.  Growing up (and beginning 
  my play of D&D in 1981), I always knew who Gary was and loved to read his articles 
  in Dragon magazine, but I never knew much about Arneson until I asked older 
  
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  players about their out-of-print editions of the game. 
  Given this bleak state of gaming history, I feel it is important that I provide a 
  finely-colored, if incomplete, profile of Dave before I continue.  Without such a 
  profile, Arneson’s contributions to Dungeons & Dragons may seem minor and 
  intangible, which is absolutely not the reality.  The game never would have existed 
  without his brilliant innovations.  Dave was sometimes unlikable, just as Gary 
  sometimes was, but they were both good men who shared their dreams and 
  thereby, through a leap-of-faith collaboration, managed to bequeath to us what is 
  — in my own opinion — the greatest game ever made. 
  Dave, like Gary, passed away only a few years ago.  But where Gary’s death was 
  widely reported (and even resulted in a resurgence of popular interest in Dungeons 
  & Dragons itself), Dave was rarely mentioned in the news outside of the Twin Cities, 
  and almost no one outside of the gaming community was made aware of the impact 
  of his passing.  Mr. Arneson’s legacy may well be in eventual danger of being 
  forgotten by the younger generations.  Regrettably, instead of having a well-
  guarded estate of memory like Gary’s (which is according to rumor being leveraged 
  into a potential movie deal and other ambitious endeavors),195 Dave’s vast 
  collection of gaming treasures was moved into a storage locker after his death and 
  almost lost to history.  Fortunately, several intrepid collectors managed to save this 
  collection, and significant historical revelations relating to Arneson’s trove are still 
  being unearthed and awaiting full disclosure.  Hopefully, before these treasures are 
  scattered into private collections and their entwined historical associations forever 
  lost, we will be gifted with a research project which will augment our understanding 
  of Arneson and his games by way of this otherwise-unattainable information.  And 
  the upcoming documentaries will help us a great deal as well! 
  … Maybe. 
  (I have been badly burned by D&D-themed documentary promises in the past, 
  so you will hopefully forgive me for the painful guardedness of my optimism.) 
  But for now … awaiting the generous efforts of wiser and silent men … we wait. 
  * * * * * 
  I will share what I know. 
  Dave was born in Hennepin County, Minnesota on October 1st, 1947.  From 
  childhood, he loved history, games, books, movies and television.  Early on he 
                                                             
  195 Fortunately, a David Arneson documentary is in the making at this time (2017).  When 
  I am able to report on the content of this work in progress, and thereby to enhance our 
  knowledge of Arneson the man, I will happily do so in these pages. 
  
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  latched onto the very same game as Gary — Avalon Hill’s Gettysburg, receiving a 
  copy from his parents as a gift in the early 1960s — and took a serious interest in 
  wargaming as both a hobby, and as a means for historical research. 
  He was a brilliant, quick-witted and innovative gamer, at turns trustworthy and 
  wryly backstabbing in his play.  He could be boisterous and cantankerous as the 
  mood suited him, but he always loved good friends, good times and quality works 
  of the imagination.  He especially loved the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and classic 
  horror movies, such as King Kong, Godzilla and The Blob.  And he liked terrible 
  movies too! 
  He enjoyed Kung Fu flicks and cheesy and fantastical television shows, which 
  would inspire his design of the monk character class in the later Blackmoor era.  His 
  brilliance was mercurial, however, and he was much more interested in creating a 
  rough draft of an idea than in going through the technical bore of refining the idea 
  into a workable universal format explainable to others.  A lot of his rules were 
  developed not before play, but rather during play when a judgement of some kind 
  was required to officiate over the unexpected events and creative actions 
  engendered by his clever players. 
  In Dungeons & Dragons terms, these two good men — Dave and Gary — were 
  very different.  Gary could at times be considered Lawful (the organizer), while 
  Dave was more Chaotic (the innovator).  A fateful quote from Arneson’s last known 
  interview reads as follows:  “I dislike ‘Rules Lawyers’ intensely.  I regard them as the 
  enemy.”196  Codification over gaming was simply not his thing. 
  This capricious, dualistic and free-flowing nature would serve Arneson well in 
  game design, but not so well when it came to publishing works of a formal and 
  professional nature.  That, as we will see, was more Gary’s forte. 
  * * * * * 
  Arneson did have one exemplary gift which is often overlooked today, however:  
  he had an uncanny knack for finding like-minded wargamers in the Twin Cities area 
  who would be receptive to bold new ideas.  He was great at choosing intelligent 
  and promising people.  As one example, he met a young man named Mike Carr 
  who would become a player in the fateful wargames, the Braunstein-era role-
  playing games, and the Blackmoor campaign, which were all accidental footsteps 
  on the path which led into Dungeons & Dragons.  Mr. Carr’s recollections in 
  particular are important and fascinating, because they give us a rare and insightful 
                                                             
  196 The Kobold Press interview with Dave Arneson. 
  
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  glimpse of just what Arneson was like as a Game Master, designer, and player in 
  the 1960s and early 1970s. 
  And so, where Arneson’s historical record is lacking, I will supplement the spotty 
  existing evidence with Mike’s own memories as best I can. 
  As Mike recalled a scene for a later interview, he related: 
  “I grew up in St. Paul.  …  In the eighth grade [c. 1963-1964?] I was at a stationery 
  store, and saw an Avalon Hill wargame and made my first purchase … so I got into 
  that.  In those days, Avalon was making one game a year which was coming out 
  every spring, so those of us in that rather niche hobby were always looking forward 
  to what was going to come out next.”197 
  (The first AH game that Mike bought there by the way was U-Boat, a classic 
  which had been released in 1959.)198 
  Mike also noted:  “Through this interest in historical games I happened to meet 
  Dave Arneson — who was several years older than I was — and he was very 
  involved in the miniatures [wargames] and so on.”199  It seems that this fateful 
  meeting with Arneson occurred in early 1967, and as a result of Arneson’s choosing, 
  as Mike explained:  “We [Dave and I] met … I was starting to get involved with a 
  club called Aggressor Homeland, which was one of the larger national clubs for 
  people who enjoyed wargames … I think [Dave] heard about me through that.  
  Not long after that [1967], the International Federation of Wargaming sprung 
  up.”200 
  We will explore this crucial gaming connection between Dave and Mike, and 
  what it means in regards to the sparse historical record, a little further on in this 
  chapter. 
  * * * * * 
  There is more, of course. 
  We should remember always that Dave was not just a gamer.  And to his friends 
                                                             
  197 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 1:25. 
  198 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 2:55. 
  199 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 1:30. 
  200 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 4:00. 
  
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  and close gaming circle, frequently he was not mysterious to all.  His fun-loving 
  spirit, creative impulses, and secretive thought processes were simply facets of his 
  own peculiar nature. 
   
   
  Youth is eternal.  Old age is not a disease; 
  it is a symptom, of a lack of the fantastical. 
   
  He was well-loved by his family, and his own love of both history and fantasy 
  meant that his house was always filled with games involving sailing ships, 
  
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  Napoleonic soldiers, and of course fantasy campaigns where gamers could wage 
  battles in glorious worlds that never were.  When speaking to the press after her 
  father had passed away, Dave’s daughter offered us a rare glimpse of the happy 
  household:  “No matter what house we lived in, our entire basement was always 
  devoted to gaming.  I thought everybody believed in fairies and elves and dragons.  
  I was a little surprised in elementary school when I found out that wasn’t the 
  norm.”201 
  Dave was always a creatively scattered, multi-branched and fairly messy person 
  (much like this author), with all of the best and worst implications those quirks 
  entail.  Where Gary was a refiner, Arneson was more of a generative “idea guy.”  
  Gary was making a name for himself as the supreme organizer of others’ half-formed 
  creations, while Arneson’s more impressionistic designs tended to be poorly-
  documented and fascinating.  And as Dave once told the world, with abject sincerity 
  and wisdom, “Imaginations do tend to be unruly.”202 
  But paradoxically, he was only disorganized to an exterior observer.  He was a 
  master game organizer, and a master wargaming campaign director, to the point 
  that Gygax himself — via the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign and Don’t Give Up 
  the Ship!203 — would learn a lot from his innovative approaches to campaign design 
  and implementation.  And everything made perfect sense within his mind … he 
  simply couldn’t always convey the manner of his thinking to other people.  
  Consider too that in many ways, Arneson was the first person that we — from our 
  history-garnering and backward-gazing standpoint — would regard as a true RPG 
  “Game Master” (a role developed via Diplomacy and later the Braunsteins).  David 
  Wesely had been running free-form role-playing events before Arneson, and indeed 
  later inspired him to run his own, but Arneson would take the core role-playing 
  concept and apply its potential to his own ambitious wargaming campaigns in a 
  creative, expansive, collaborative, and nearly unprecedented manner. 
  Arneson’s own fantasy world of play actually started with an ambitious RPG-
  wargame hybrid which is little known today.  As Mike Carr would recall:  “One of 
  the games we played in those days was with World War II … soldier miniatures.  
                                                             
  201 See “Dungeons and Dragons Co-Creator Dies in St. Paul,” Arts & Culture, Amy Forliti, 
  Associated Press, Minneapolis (AP), April 10th, 2009. 
  202 The Space Gamer, issue #21.  “An Interview with Dave Arneson.” 
  203 For his own part, Dave Arneson would be drawing on his own experiences with naval 
  warfare rules from the Twin Cities play group to broaden the game’s rules systems.  For 
  example, it appears that Arneson drew in the existing morale system from Strategos-N for 
  use in DGUTS!.  See also the Hidden in Shadows blog, “Blackmoor as a Chainmail 
  Campaign,” July 20th, 2017. 
  
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  There was a rules set called Modern War in Miniature, by Michael Korns.  That was 
  a tabletop game, and we were buying model railroad buildings made by Kibri in 
  Germany … [there were] a lot of European town buildings and factories … we’d 
  play the man-to-man combat with a referee.  …  That was one of several precursors 
  of role-playing.”204 
  The Korns war scenario simulation rules are fascinating, but difficult to decipher.  
  There are a few tantalizing glimpses of innovations we now take for granted, such 
  as fictitious individual soldiers (roughly analogous to men-at-arms), descriptions of 
  actions using maps but no miniatures (which could well also be a backward glimpse 
  of European wargames played in earlier centuries), and rapid descriptions of choice-
  based combat action creating an interplay between players and the referee.  But as 
  a wargame with only a few proto-RPG elements, Korns’s Modern War in Miniature 
  requires the judges, or referees, to describe and adjudicate the action for the players.  
  “The judges are very important,” we read in Korns’s seminal treatise.  “They are the 
  only ones who need be familiar with the rules.  The players … are not allowed to 
  see what is going on …  They know only what the judge tells them that their troops 
  can see or hear.”205 
  This “fog of war” approach, with a master judge and limited perspective-based 
  information for the players, is crucial in our consideration.  And this exact approach 
  would be used later on by Arneson in his very first Castle Blackmoor battle scenarios 
  and dungeon romps, as we shall see. 
  Mike also noted the important innovation to wargaming which Arneson created 
  on his own:  the implementation of a massive strategic-level European conflict 
  which featured multiple players, free-form orders, and adjudicated interpretations 
  (by Arneson as the Game Master) of all of the unpredictable situations that could 
  arise.  In other words, this was a convoluted exercise in world building.  Carr 
  explained it this way:  “Dave created and ran a massive Napoleonic campaign that 
  featured Diplomacy, the creation of armies and navies, strategic movements and 
  tactical battles that were resolved using tabletop miniatures.  It was a richly detailed 
  game that kept 15 to 20 players busy, and he did a superb job of running it over a 
  period of several years.”206 
                                                             
  204 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 1:30. 
  205 Modern War in Miniature, by Michael F. Korns, pg. 6. 
  206 Q&A with Mike Carr by Geoffrey McKinney, as featured in the In Search of the 
  Unknown Campaign Sourcebook (compiled and edited by Demos Sachlas), pg. 6. 
  
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  And Carr’s further reminiscences in his Save Or Die interview are worth quoting 
  at length, because they explain precisely how Arneson’s Napoleonics sessions 
  cemented an essential gaming relationship between Arneson and Gygax.  Carr 
  explained: 
  “[Dave ran the Napoleonic campaign] twice over a number of years.  …  It was 
  Diplomacy-based … where you’d start out by making fleets and armies, and then 
  he’d drop down into tremendous detail … you’d have national budgets depending 
  on how much territory you had, and you’d apply those budgets to expend for 
  troops, [and the] training of troops.  ...  There was a naval element, with ships and 
  so on.  He ran this thing … keep in mind this was before the age of computers, 
  where you can tally up things electronically.  …  He had lots of notes and was 
  rolling dice, running this whole thing, and it was quite remarkable.  …  What was 
  most remarkable was the scope of it.  …  He was dicing to see what encounters 
  those [solo privateering] ships would have, and where, and we could fight those 
  out.”207 
   
   
  Easy.  How complex can this be to simulate? 
                                                             
  207 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 6:30. 
  
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  This key innovation — allowing venturesome players, role-playing various naval 
  captains, to plot their own unpredictable courses away from the main action, 
  journeying through a larger imaginary world of conflict where random encounters 
  would be devised — gives us a tantalizing glimpse of how Arneson’s even more 
  ambitious Blackmoor game would soon be played as well. 
  And it is intriguing (and telling) that Gary himself became involved in the 
  Napoleonic campaign as well, as a player who too would marvel at Arneson’s game 
  mastering and meticulous level of detail.  Carr explained, “Interestingly … I think it 
  was in the second campaign … to simulate the role of America [in the European 
  theater of war and politics c. 1800], Dave had Gary Gygax in far-off Lake Geneva 
  — 300 miles from the Twin Cities — play the Americans.  Of course, they had a 
  small but very stout navy in those days, and they would occasionally … be like a 
  wild card showing up in European waters.  …  [It was] kind of a fascinating 
  milieu.”208 
  I must stress for clarity that Gary was the learning player there, and Arneson the 
  veteran referee.  In some ways, therefore — despite Gary’s already significant 
  experience in wargame play and game design — it can arguably be said that beyond 
  Diplomacy, Gary got his first significant glimpse of improvisational role-playing 
  refereeing, and its true potential, when he was playing in Dave’s pre-Blackmoor 
  Napoleonic campaign.  We are also now interested in the rediscovered “Spanish 
  Royals” character sheet from this campaign, which shows us that individual 
  characters in the campaign had names, ages, and ability scores which may have 
  influenced the success or failure of various character actions under game master 
  Arneson’s ever-watchful eye. 
  There are some more fairly significant details about this campaign, which I can 
  derive from Mike Carr’s early 1974 article, entitled “The Twin Cities Napoleonic 
  Simulation Campaign.”209  The games apparently began in the spring of 1969, and 
  eventually encompassed over 25 players with roles as commanders and sub-
  commanders.  The game’s imaginary timeframe began in Spring 1800, and the most 
  recent campaign had only reached Fall 1802 by late 1973.  The game as mentioned 
  involved both troop movements and resource management (money, manpower, 
  cannons, dry goods, etc.), and this process would later be carried over into the 
  more experimental Blackmoor fantasy campaign with some details on troops and 
  ships arriving pretty much intact.  Combat in the campaign was resolved using 
  Arneson’s rules, which drew not only from Diplomacy, but also from various 
                                                             
  208 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 10:35. 
  209 El Conquistador fanzine, Volume 1, Issue 5, January 1974. 
  
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  miniature wargames, and board wargames too.  These rules systems and their 
  various interactions were sometimes reported in Arneson’s sporadic Corner of the 
  Table fanzine.210  Maneuvers where armies and/or ships were about to meet up 
  would be tracked on hex maps, or real topographic maps for the appropriate places 
  in Europe and beyond (whenever possible). 
  It is all very fascinating.  However, the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign’s origin 
  story is exceedingly convoluted.  If you crave the full tale, you can further study the 
  account in Peterson’s Playing at the World.  But if you would rather fancy a tour of 
  just the highlights and milestones without the requisite homework, I can provide 
  that for you here … 
  Dave Arneson started playing Diplomacy in the (mid?) 1960s, perhaps with 
  David Wesely.  There were variants to Diplomacy in existence which involved 
  setting the game in different times, modifying player nations, and so forth.  There 
  were “Napoleonic Diplomacy” variants in existence no later than spring 1968, and 
  probably earlier.  One fanzine211 tells us that a “new McDuffie game will be called 
  ‘Napoleonic Diplomacy.’”  Another earlier zine212 states Napoleonic Diplomacy was 
  considered a basic variant, with 5 players instead of 7, omitting the nations of 
  Germany and Italy. 
  In December 1968, Arneson and his play group were interested in this 
  Napoleonic approach, but wanted Diplomacy-type rules to form the strategic 
  background for a far more detailed wargame involving interlocked battle scenarios.  
  They started looking for rules, systems, and ideas to fuel this ambitious idea, and 
  probably began their attempted campaign in spring 1969 (as mentioned by Mike 
  Carr). 
  At some point in 1969, Gary Gygax developed another variant termed 
  Napoleonic Diplomacy II.  This was published in the Thangorodrim fanzine (c. 
  September), and Arneson’s group seized on Gary’s template with enthusiasm.  They 
  added rules for miniatures battles, more nations, more economic factors (such as 
  wealth and manpower per country), troop experience based on victories, and naval 
  rules.  The naval rules were partly inspired by Fletcher Pratt’s established ship battles 
  game, and the rules would gradually evolve over time to become Don’t Give Up 
  the Ship! (by Arneson and Gygax, edited by Carr).  Arneson’s campaign thus got up 
  to speed and into 1970, but it slowed down under its own weight despite this 
                                                             
  210 To maximize confusion, issues of this fanzine are almost impossible to come by.  Also, 
  they are sometimes alternately titled Corner of the Table Top, or merely COT or COTT. 
  211 Diplomania #26, August 1969, pg. 17. 
  212 Valhalla #1, April 1968, pg. 10. 
  
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  momentum because the Diplomacy strategic turns were stalled while the play group 
  was waiting for detailed battle actions (based on the prior turn’s events) to be 
  resolved. 
  The game lurched along mightily.  Arneson and others were getting increasingly 
  frustrated, because overall play was getting bogged down by too many of these 
  delayed action resolutions.  A wargamer named Randy Hoffa proposed joining an 
  upcoming and competing campaign in spring 1971, which got Arneson — who had 
  enough headaches already — thinking about a more enjoyable medieval-themed 
  game instead of his current Napoleonic quagmire.  That new game would become 
  Blackmoor. 
  The quasi-roleplaying aspects of the campaign grew out of Diplomacy, letters 
  and missives written in character (a few by Gygax and others survive), and the 
  players’ conversations.  As Carr noted at the time, “Such things as personalities, 
  research and development, and espionage provide the ongoing campaign with 
  color, diversity, and intrigue.” 
  As of late 1973, the campaign’s participants and roles were as follows.  I’ve 
  included the entire roster with some D&D-related notes, because you are going to 
  see some familiar names that pop up later in our RPG historical chronicle from time 
  to time! 
   
  PLAYER ROLES 
  IN THE 1973 NAPOLEONIC SIMULATION CAMPAIGN 
  Player 
  Campaign 
  Country / 
  Power 
  Player Title 
  (And my personal 
  observations) 
  Additional Notes 
  Relevant to RPGs and 
  Dungeons & Dragons 
  Ab(e)ler, Jim 
  Lombardy 
  King Abeler (perhaps 
  a prediction of the 
  real-world Kingdom 
  of Lombardy-Venetia, 
  established in 
  northernmost Italy in 
  1815) 
  Played an evil mage in 
  the Blackmoor 
  campaign, companion 
  to the Balrog 
  Arneson, Dave N/A 
  “Campaign founder 
  and director” (what 
  Co-creator of 
  Dungeons & Dragons, 
  
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  we would call the 
  Game Master) 
  creator of Blackmoor 
  Barber, Jim 
  The Papal 
  States 
  Pope Barber (likely in 
  recognition of Pope 
  Pius VII) 
  Played an elf in the 
  Blackmoor campaign; 
  one of the men-at-arms 
  in the first dungeon 
  adventure 
  Belfry, Scott 
  Denmark 
  Chancellor Belfry 
  (probably in 
  recognition of the 
  Grand Chancellorship, 
  although King 
  Christian VII might 
  have been more 
  appropriate to the 
  real-world period) 
  Played in the 
  Blackmoor campaign, 
  explored the Temple 
  of the Frog 
  Belleflower, 
  Bob 
  Brazil 
  Cafetero Belleflower 
  (a term meaning “the 
  coffee grower”; 
  Brazil’s monarchy 
  arose again in 1815) 
  (Unknown; may not 
  have been involve in 
  pre-D&D sessions) 
  Carr, Mike 
  Barbary 
  States 
  Pasha Carr (probably 
  a reference to the 
  various ruling pirate 
  captains of the 
  Barbary Corsairs) 
  Creator of Fight in the 
  Skies, editor of Don’t 
  Give Up the Ship!, 
  future TSR employee, 
  creator of Dungeon 
  Module B1 In Search of 
  the Unknown, played 
  as a cleric in Blackmoor 
  Fant, Dave 
  Austria 
  Emperor Fant 
  (perhaps a nod to 
  Francis I, who ruled 
  Austria 1804-1835 as 
  the son of the Holy 
  Roman Emperor) 
  Played the Baron of 
  Blackmoor 
  
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  Gaylord, Pete 
  Sicily 
  King Gaylord (a nod 
  to Ferdinand III) 
  Played the Wizard of 
  the Woods (the first 
  significant mage 
  character), explored 
  the Temple of the Frog 
  Grant, Phil 
  Greece 
  Rebel Leader Grant 
  (presaging the Greek 
  War of Independence, 
  against the Ottoman 
  Empire, which began 
  in the 1820s in the 
  real world) 
  Played an elf in the 
  Blackmoor campaign 
  Gygax, Gary 
  (United 
  States) 
  Secretary of the Navy 
  Gygax (as of 1971; 
  Gary was not noted in 
  the 1973 roster for the 
  game, likely because 
  he had moved on to 
  his own Greyhawk 
  campaign mastery by 
  then)213 
  Co-creator of 
  Dungeons & Dragons, 
  founder of Tactical 
  Studies Rules (TSR) 
  Heaton, Bill 
  Russian 
  Empire 
  First Minister Heaton 
  (akin to the historical 
  Ivan Andreyevich 
  Veydemeyer in his 
  second term) 
  Played the Blue Rider 
  in the Blackmoor 
  campaign, William of 
  the Heath 
                                                             
  213 We have a pair of entertaining letters, courtesy of the Secrets of Blackmoor blog, which 
  show Gary (in character as Secretary of the U.S. Navy) in rare form writing communiques 
  to other players, seeking to enhance the position of the United States in the campaign.  
  A letter from November 1971 shows Gary acting on behalf of Don Kaye (“President”) 
  asking Don Nicholson (the King of Spain) about the potential sale of Spanish territories of 
  the U.S.  The second letter, from January 1972, shows that Dan didn’t bite … so Gary 
  informed the King that the U.S. armed forces were occupying Puerto Rico, with the cover 
  of combatting piracy in the Caribbean.  The letters show the extents of the players’ clever 
  wheeling and dealing, and the eloquence put into the letters is a clear indicator of Gary’s 
  enthusiasm for the role-playing element (clearly borrowed from Diplomacy).  Refer to the 
  Secrets of Blackmoor notes, Facebook, June 1st, 2017. 
  
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  Jenkins, Duane 
  Great Britain King (Prime Minister?) 
  Jenkins (perhaps 
  modeling the position 
  of the historical King 
  James III) 
  Played Sir Jenkins in 
  Blackmoor, who 
  wanted to be a 
  vampire214 
  Johnson, Rick 
  (“Mel”) 
  Russian 
  Empire 
  Tsar Johnson (akin to 
  the historical Nicholas 
  I) 
  Played Mello the 
  halfling in Blackmoor; 
  one of the men-at-arms 
  in the first dungeon 
  adventure 
  Kirkpatrick, 
  Tom 
  French 
  Empire 
  Emperor Kirkpatrick 
  (roughly 
  approximating the 
  role of Napoleon I) 
  Played a halfling in 
  Blackmoor 
  Krey, Kurt 
  Spanish 
  Empire 
  Prince Krey (perhaps 
  partly a nod to 
  Charles IV) 
  Played an evil wizard 
  in Blackmoor; one of 
  the men-at-arms in the 
  first dungeon 
  adventure 
  Kuntz, Rob 
  United States President Kuntz (in a 
  role formerly played 
  by Don Kaye; perhaps 
  akin to John Adams) 
  Second Dungeon 
  Master of the 
  Greyhawk campaign, 
  and played Sir Robilar 
  Maker, Ross 
  Sweden 
  Regent Maker 
  (probably a nod to 
  Charles, Duke of 
  Södermanland, who 
  served as regent for 
  Gustav IV Adolph in 
  1792-1796) 
  Played a dwarf in 
  Blackmoor; may have 
  been partly responsible 
  for the development of 
  slime monsters in the 
  campaign 
                                                             
  214 Duane Jenkins was important to this history in other ways as well, as we shall see in the 
  “Sir Jenkins” adventures.  David Megarry also had this to say:  “Duane Jenkins is best 
  known as ‘The Third Man.’ [That is, likely after Arneson and Gygax in terms of game 
  mastering.]  …  He may possibly be the first person to play in Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor.” 
  
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  Megarry, Dave 
  Prussia 
  King Megarry (akin to 
  the historical Frederick 
  William III) 
  Played in the 
  Blackmoor campaign, 
  creator of the 
  influential game 
  Dungeon! 
  Nelson, Dale 
  Ottoman 
  Empire 
  Sultan Nelson (akin to 
  the historical Selim III) 
  Played in the 
  Blackmoor campaign; 
  may have played Gin 
  of Salik 
  Nelson, Jim 
  Caribbean 
  Pirates 
  “Black Siegfried” 
  (regional piracy was 
  mostly stamped out 
  by this time, but this is 
  probably a special 
  position to throw a 
  further wrench into 
  the various nations’ 
  naval plans) 
  (Unknown; may not 
  have been involved in 
  pre-D&D sessions) 
  Nicholson, 
  Dan 
  Spanish 
  Empire 
  Regent Nicholson 
  (probably a reflection 
  of the tumultuous 
  royal politics in early 
  19th-century Spain) 
  Played a merchant boss 
  in the Blackmoor 
  campaign and is noted 
  in the First Fantasy 
  Campaign 
  Rocheford, 
  Steve 
  Great Britain Prime Minister 
  Rocheford (akin to 
  the historical Right 
  Honourable Henry 
  Addington) 
  One of the men-at-
  arms in the first 
  dungeon adventure; 
  ran a human empire in 
  the Star Empires 
  campaign 
  Shepro, Ken 
  Marata 
  (India) 
  Maharaja Shepro 
  (perhaps indicating 
  Raghoji II Bhonsle) 
  (Unknown, but may 
  have been a Blackmoor 
  player) 
  Soukup, John 
  Tuscany 
  King Soukup (perhaps 
  modeled toward 
  Grand Duke 
  Played the Balrog in 
  the Blackmoor 
  
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  Ferdinando III) 
  campaign 
  Webster, Tom 
  American 
  Indians 
  Chief Webster (this 
  could be a general 
  allusion to chiefs of 
  the eastern Native 
  Americans, for 
  example Little Turkey 
  (1794-1801) of the 
  Cherokee Nation East) 
  (Ancients gamer, ran 
  the Atlantis wargame 
  setting;215 other 
  participation in pre-
  D&D unknown) 
  Wesely, Dave 
  Holland 
  King Wesely (perhaps 
  a nod to Louis I / 
  Lodewijk I, who ruled 
  the Netherlands 1806-
  1810) 
  Creator of the 
  Braunstein proto-RPG 
  sessions, Strategos N, 
  and played a half-elf in 
  Blackmoor, explored 
  the Temple of the Frog 
   
  Pretty fascinating, eh?  Arneson, Carr, Gygax, Kuntz, Megarry, Wesely, and all 
  the rest.  So many of the epic movers and shakers were role-playing, competing and 
  negotiating in this massive campaign game.  It almost sounds like Dungeons & 
  Dragons in Napoleonic historical mode, with Arneson as GM, before D&D even 
  existed … 
   
   
                                                             
  215 The Atlantis campaign is tangential to D&D history, but it is interesting because it is a 
  game with a few fantasy elements that featured Gary Gygax’s play, and later Dave 
  Arneson’s as well.  (Gary invited medieval wargamers to join the Ancients Society too, 
  but not much came of it, which would arguably lead him to seek to expand the medieval 
  wargaming theme on his own.)  The Atlantis game — concerning Carthaginian raids on 
  a fading Atlantis of dying glory, as imagined in c. 400 BC — was probably established by 
  Tom in 1969.  Gary, having designed Roman and barbarian factions, got more involved 
  around early 1970, with Arneson there perhaps in April (and no later than November).  
  Gary (over the months of 1970) would get weary of waiting for the details from Tom’s 
  rules, so he would go his own way … leading by many steps, of course, to the publication 
  of Chainmail and Gary’s interest in Arneson’s fantasy campaign.  (Also, perhaps these 
  bits of fantasy would give Dave some future inspiration for his own experimental 
  Blackmoor games next year, in the spring of 1971.)  Tom Webster, for his part, would still 
  be playing with this Atlantis theme for quite some time and we find mentions of him still 
  doing so in 1974. 
  
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  Imperial Europe … perhaps the greatest game of all. 
   
  That incredible campaign would also directly inform the wild, extra-detailed, yet 
  tumultuous approach that Dave would soon take with the even more ambitious 
  fantasy game of Blackmoor.  And it is Blackmoor, in turn, which is Arneson’s legacy 
  and memorial triumph (and it is certainly a significant predecessor to every 
  MMORPG, MUD, and computer RPG in existence to this day).  Carr’s assessment 
  of Arneson’s true gaming gift in this regard is very apt:  Dave “was quite remarkable, 
  very imaginative,” he said.  “He not only was very well-versed in Napoleonic 
  history, but of course he knew fantasy and science fiction to a strong degree.  [He 
  
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  and Gary Gygax] were very well-read in that background, and their creativity as 
  Game Masters was quite extraordinary.”216 [4-14] 
  Indeed, it is widely known — but rarely related in any detail — that Dave shared 
  with Gary a heartfelt love of fantasy adventure fiction.  Learning exactly what Dave 
  liked in the fantasy genre requires a little digging, however.  His favorites included 
  the expanded Conan saga (by Robert E. Howard and successors), the Gor novels of 
  John Norman (which would influence elements of Blackmoor, such as tarns and 
  “silk” slave maidens),217 and of course The Lord of the Rings.  Arneson also once 
  stated:  “As far as books go — fantasy books, science fiction / fantasy books that 
  inspired me — we’re talking about Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, and a lot of 
  the other authors, like the author [Robert Adams] of the Horseclans.  Gary Seems 
  to have listed every book he’s ever read in his bibliography, and I’ll be blunt, I don’t 
  think I’ve read a lot of those books.  Although, after having read a few thousand 
  books, I really can’t remember which ones I’ve read anymore.  So a lot of it is, ‘Yes, 
  I was inspired by …’  But where does the inspiration stop and the game design 
  begin?  I mean, you’ve got to make changes.  You’ve got to do variations.  You can 
  be influenced by something you read and don’t even remember reading … [and] 
  incorporate into [the game] world.”218 
  * * * * * 
  You can see how, in such statements, Dave lists a few meager inspirations while 
  more strongly underscoring the fact that he marched to his own drummer whenever 
  it came to game design. 
  Extrapolating and considering the early play reports, it is therefore likely that 
  literary scenes involving (a) dungeon survival (such as Conan’s travails in The Scarlet 
  Citadel), (b) the explorations of Goblin Town and Erebor (in The Hobbit), and (c) 
  the epic confrontation with the Balrog in Moria (famously told of in The Fellowship 
  of the Ring) would all play their parts in inspiring Dave to conceive of dungeons 
  and dystopian netherworlds as potential settings for gaming scenarios.  This is one 
  of the crucial innovations which Gary Gygax, despite creating a Fantasy Supplement 
  for the overland battles featured in Chainmail, had simply overlooked.  Chainmail 
  was an overland game … despite some references to mines and sappers and siege 
                                                             
  216 The Save or Die Podcast:  Interview with Mike Carr, posted December 4th, 2010.  The 
  conversation begins at approximately 6:30. 
  217 These influences show that the Blackmoor play group were at least familiar with, and 
  drawing from, Book 5 of the Gor series, Assassin of Gor … which is where the concept of 
  “silk” slaves was originally introduced. 
  218 Refer to the Comeback Inn forums, “Blackmoor reading list.” 
  
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  tunnels, the netherworld really had nothing to do with the way that Gary’s game 
  was played. 
  Dave adored silly fun just as much, and perhaps more than, he appreciated 
  studying the machinations of historical armies and political détente.  He was a 
  devout fan of Dark Shadows (which was enjoyed even more by his vampire-
  obsessed player Duane Jenkins),219 martial arts pulps, Japanese monster movies, 
  Hollywood and Universal monsters, and especially the eternally popcorn-worthy 
  “Creature Feature” ensembles:  those marathon celebrations of pulpy horror movies 
  shown on late-night television, which were otherwise (by the end of the 1960s) 
  uncommonly seen. 
   
   
  “Carrion crawler?  Never heard of it, this is 1902.” 
   
   
                                                             
  219 Comeback Inn forums, threads “Dark Shadows and Blackmoor?” and “Sir Fang / Baron 
  Fant.”  See also the Dragonsfoot forums, “Early Blackmoor Questions,” posted June 11th, 
  2004. 
  
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  The importance of those monster movies cannot be overstated.  The Creature 
  Feature ensembles enjoyed a massive resurgence in the early 1970s, with staple 
  movies drawing in younger fans, for whom the lurid worlds of black-and-white 
  horror were often entirely new.  Gary Gygax, while older, loved many of these 
  movies as well.  Films which would significantly impact the monsters and design of 
  Dungeons & Dragons would include:  Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The 
  Mummy (1932), Werewolf in London (1935), Phantom of the Opera (1943), The 
  Thing from Another World (1951), The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla, King 
  of the Monsters! (1954), Them! (1954), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), 
  Forbidden Planet (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Blob (1958), 
  The Mummy (1959), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), The Raven (1963) and The 
  Green Slime (1968). 
  These monster movies, combined with images from early childhood tales, would 
  permanently sear themselves into Dave and Gary’s brains.  And we should be very 
  thankful for that, to be sure! 
  The movies most especially left their mark.  Gary also once wrote that the films 
  which scared him the most as a youth included She (likely the 1935 version), the 
  “return of Frankenstein” movies, the “ghost of Dracula” movies, and The Thing.220  
  Gary loved King Kong, too … even before he got to see it.  It seems that his older 
  brother saw the film and told Gary all about it around 1942, but Gary would not 
  get to see it for himself until the late 1950s.221 
  Dave (and Gary) would also be deeply influenced by the peerless stop-motion 
  masterpieces touched by the hand of Ray Harryhausen, such as The Seventh Voyage 
  of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and One Million Years B.C. 
  (1966).  In addition to Dave’s appreciation of these classic monster movies, the low-
  budget and cheesy Kaiju spectacles were especially beloved.  As Rob Kuntz once 
  recalled, “Invariably if I didn’t find Dave reading or writing, I’d find him watching 
  his favorite Japanese monster movies.  He usually had a big bowl of popcorn and 
  was just laughing like a kid at these things.”222 
  Any Dungeon Master who now wishes to recreate the keep and dungeons of 
  Castle Blackmoor can simply watch all of the above, and get a tentative sense for 
  where many of Arneson’s inspirations came from.  The dungeons over the many 
                                                             
  220 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  9th, 2005.  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part XIII, posted April 12th, 2007. 
  221 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted July 
  23rd, 2007. 
  222 Lord of the Green Dragons blog, © Robert J. Kuntz, posted November 15th, 2010. 
  
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  years would eventually feature animated skeletons (perhaps inspired by Jason and 
  the Argonauts), evil plants and mind-controlled minions (likely informed by films 
  such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers), flesh golems (Frankenstein), frogmen (The 
  Creature from the Black Lagoon), ghosts (from too many movies to mention), giant 
  ants (Them!), iron golems (Jason and the Argonauts, Forbidden Planet), mad 
  scientists, masked fugitives, mummies, shape-shifters, slimes (The Blob, The Green 
  Slime), spell-slinging warlocks (The Raven), vampires (Dracula), werewolves, and 
  ludicrous giant beasties of every kind. 
  Most of the fond glosses outlining Arneson’s inspirations that you will find in 
  other places tend to list a few of these cinematic influences, but I felt that it was 
  important to do some additional research, and to try to figure out exactly what 
  Dave was watching and when.  (An impossible task, but I do try.)  In doing so, and 
  in considering the Minneapolis / Saint Paul television broadcasting records of the 
  time, we can come up with a collection of “Creature Feature” showings which will 
  allow us to make some educated guesses toward the months and days in which 
  Dave might have come up with some of his ideas. 
  Most importantly, there is the matter of dungeons and Castle Blackmoor.  Dave 
  himself could never quite remember which movie he had been watching when that 
  genre-mixing inspiration struck him, but a little of this research can bring us close to 
  figuring out the likely influences.  In the Twin Cities, the Creature Feature marathons 
  were bundled by Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. under the title Horror Incorporated.  
  These shock-flicks ran on Saturdays at midnight (and also during the weekend 
  afternoons), each presaged by the classic voice-over:  “Lurking among the corpses 
  are the body-snatchers, plotting their next venture into the graveyard ... the blood 
  in your veins will run cold, your spine will tingle when you join us for an excursion 
  through Horror Incorporated!” 
  This “creep show” was broadcast on KSTP-TV Channel 5 in Saint Paul.  We can 
  verify this connection to Blackmoor because Dave offered up a few tantalizing clues 
  in various interviews, such as:  “I had spent the previous two days watching about 
  five monster movies on Channel 5’s Creature Feature weekend …”223  The 
  following quote is also of interest:  “One Saturday after reading several S&S [Swords 
  & Sorcery] novels, eating popcorn, and watching horror/monster movies all day, I 
  designed a maze-like dungeon and populated it with orcs and similar beasties.”224 
  Armed with such glancing information, we can delve a little further into the 
  genesis of the dungeons under Castle Blackmoor. 
                                                             
  223 Dragon, issue #249.  “Profiles:  Dave Arneson,” by Allen Varney, pg. 120. 
  224 The Space Gamer, issue #21.  “An Interview with Dave Arneson.” 
  
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  Horror Incorporated premiered on November 8th, 1969225, with a special 
  showing of 1931’s version of the original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi.  (The 
  Blackmoor dungeons would by the way feature at least one vampire crypt, undead 
  minions, and several generational curses too.  Bram Stoker can be considered a 
  grandfather to Blackmoor, in a way, if only via films and the Dark Shadows 
  television series.)  From a Dungeons & Dragons inspirational perspective, we are 
  also interested in those movies which were being shown via Horror Incorporated 
  in late 1971 when the Arnesonian dungeon games in the established Blackmoor 
  campaign were getting into gear. 
  There may therefore be some “dungeon mysteries” hiding in these movies.  For 
  the avidly curious scholar who is eager to seek out more of the nefarious mysteries 
  of Blackmoor, some of these lurid movies — and their late 1971 air dates in the 
  Twin Cities, alphabetical by title — include:  The Ape (November 20th), The Beast 
  with Five Fingers (November 27th), Behind the Mask (December 17th), The Black 
  Room (October 16th), The Black Sleep (October 30th), The Brighton Strangler 
  (November 20th), The Brute Man (November 6th), Chamber of Horrors (October 
  30th), Cry of the Werewolf (December 4th), The Devil Bat’s Daughter (November 
  13th), Doctor X (October 30th), The Face Behind the Mask (October 23rd), The 
  Face of Marble (December 17th), Gog (November 13th), Isle of the Dead (December 
  4th), Kronos (October 16th), The Man Who Lived Twice (October 23rd), The Mask 
  of Dijon (October 23rd), The Phantom of Crestwood (November 6th), Return of 
  the Ape Man (October 23rd), The Return of Doctor X (November 27th), Soul of a 
  Monster (December 11th), The Strange Mr. Gregory (December 17th), Svengali 
  (November 13th), Three Strangers (December 17th), and The Walking Dead 
  (December 11th). 
  Also, one of the movies played on April 10th, 1971 — around the time when 
  Dave might have been devising his very first Blackmoor scenario — was the 1943 
  classic Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The Gothic plot of this classic film features 
  treasure-hunting grave robbers, crypts, a werewolf, wolfsbane, resurrection, a 
  family curse, a flesh golem (Frankenstein’s Monster itself, of course), a quest to 
  retrieve forbidden necromantic knowledge (“the secrets of life and death”), and an 
  underground monster vault which lies near to a ruined castle. 
  Does any of this sound familiar? 
                                                             
  225 I am indebted to the excellent not-for-profit Horror Incorporated Project blog, created 
  and maintained by the worthy Michael Popham, for much of this information pertaining 
  to Arneson’s favored movies.  I strongly encourage interested readers to stop by 
  Michael’s blogging site, which features many amusing essays and a fantastic collection 
  of screenshots along with the relevant movie clips. 
  
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  The intrepid reader and B-movie lover who is willing to sit through all of the 
  above will probably wonder even more about Arneson’s creative process than I 
  already have.  To my mind, one of the other interesting movies which presaged 
  Blackmoor’s underground dungeon settings was shown on Christmas Day, on 
  Saturday, December 25th, 1971.  On that day, Horror Incorporated featured Night 
  of Terror (1933) and perhaps more importantly, The Lady and the Monster (1944).  
  In the latter movie are featured a scientist of questionable sanity, a transplanted 
  brain, the undead, telepathic control, necromantic possession, and a fateful 
  wasteland fortress, “The Castle.”  This Castle may thus be one of the many cinematic 
  influences for Castle Blackmoor proper. 
  There are a few other interesting (but sadly more indirect) clues which we can 
  consider.  To this initial imaginary structure may have been added Dave’s 
  recollections of another forgotten movie, The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle (1963).  
  This odd film was directed by D. Harald Reinl (a disciple of Fritz Lang), and based 
  upon a novel by Edgar Wallace.  Wallace is now legendary for having assisted in 
  scripting the initial draft for King Kong (in 1931 and 1932).  If Dave was not familiar 
  with this movie well within his favorite genre, its existence (and its name) is certainly 
  an interesting coincidence! 
  The movie was released in Germany in 1963, and France and Finland in 1965.  
  It was released as Stryparen från Blackmoor in Sweden (a country that Arneson 
  would later visit) in 1969.  The website dvddrive-in notes that the movie was 
  “dubbed into English and shown repeatedly on late-night T.V. in the U.S.,” but 
  unfortunately I do not know the dates for the movie’s American distribution.  The 
  “Krimi” web page at Latarnia.com indicates however that “Almost all of the German 
  [Edgar] Wallace films were made available in English-dubbed versions for American 
  audiences.  Though a few saw theatrical exhibition, most were first seen on 
  American television in the late 1960s and early 1970s, pruned of any nudity and a 
  few distinctive elements, such as the typical introductory credit sequence of gunshots 
  …”  Further, the Horror Incorporated Project website notes that the Twin Cities 
  were shown several Edgar Wallace / Krimi midnight movies, with one example 
  being Chamber of Horrors aka Die Tur Mit Den 7 Schlossern, shown on October 
  30th, 1971. 
  From these mentions and others, I consider it a possibility that Dave Arneson 
  may have viewed the Blackmoor Castle movie on television at some point between 
  1969 and 1971.  Michael Popham of the Horror Incorporated Project has indicated 
  to me in personal correspondence226 that The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle does 
  not appear in the Horror Incorporated program schedule between 1969 and 1972, 
                                                             
  226 This refers to e-mails exchanged between Mr. Popham and the author in July of 2014. 
  
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  but he has also indicated that it is possible that Arneson caught the movie on either 
  Channel 4 or Channel 11 — both of which were known for running late-night 
  movies in the Twin Cities region.  The records in that regard are very spotty at best 
  and sadly I cannot verify if the movie was ever positioned to be captured by 
  Arneson’s roving eye.  (And as I mentioned earlier it was released in Sweden, too, 
  but I have absolutely no way of knowing if Arneson could have possibly caught it 
  there.) 
  It is fun to speculate, however.  The plot of this now obscure noir-slasher film 
  revolves around a gentleman, Lucius Clark, who is celebrating his imminent 
  knighthood with a lavish feast.  While he and his admirers are enjoying themselves 
  inside, a masked madman strangles the poor groundskeeper out in the castle’s 
  courtyard.  The killer then steals his way into the castle in search of a known cache 
  of diamonds.  Unable to find the jewels, the strangler threatens Lucius:  “I shall make 
  your life a Hell on Earth, until you give me what is rightfully mine.”  Lucius refuses 
  to disclose the secret room which holds the treasure, and so the strangler goes on a 
  rampage, killing people left and right in various nasty ways (including strangle-wire 
  decapitations). 
  The crucial aspect of The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, beyond this promising 
  plot, is that the eerie castle is a character in itself.  The castle features the hidden 
  treasure, secret passages, Gothic trappings, antique decorations, decaying walls and 
  endless corridors.  The surrounding countryside encompasses a black swamp, creepy 
  graveyards, and subterranean catacombs.  For a Dungeon Master who is seeking to 
  re-envision the interiors of Castle Blackmoor, movies such as Strangler and The Lady 
  and the Monster might well serve to show the way. 
  As a further note, it is interesting that many of the more supernatural details 
  about Castle Blackmoor and its curses now read (to my eye) as if they were 
  borrowed from the quintessential Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, by Horace 
  Walpole (1764).  Considering Arneson’s temperament and preferences, however, it 
  seems doubtful that he ever read Otranto as a source for Blackmoor.  More likely, 
  he probably observed the Gothic elements which were borrowed from Otranto and 
  other romances via Hollywood and shown in Universal and Hammer Horror 
  movies.  Perhaps then Arneson incorporated these cinematic elements into his own 
  design, without being aware of the older literary source.  But Otranto is 
  undoubtedly exhibited throughout Dungeons & Dragons, however indirect that 
  tale’s influence may be. 
  So there are lots of tantalizing glimpses of the unknown here at this time in the 
  Twin Cities, bubbling to the surface.  As I said, clues and ponderings in regard to 
  Arneson’s imagination are frequently all we ever have. 
  
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  Hero down already?  That was a bit hasty, blast. 
  We may need to rework Gary’s melee lethality rules … 
  
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  We will return to Dave and his imaginings a little later, to explore how his love 
  of Swords & Sorcery and monster movies would soon inspire his most famous 
  fantasy creation, Blackmoor Barony.  This established setting would include the 
  wonderful dungeon settings later (probably beginning in early January of 1972), 
  but Blackmoor was already a living and breathing world of fantasy adventure 
  before Dave conceived its underworld over the Christmas holiday. 
  We need to backtrack a bit however before we can go there.  About a year.  For 
  in early 1971, it was almost time for the campaign in the lands surrounding Castle 
  Blackmoor to begin.  Very soon — not long after Gary and his friends were play 
  testing Chainmail Fantasy, in fact — Gygax’s and Arneson’s destinies would become 
  irrevocably intertwined. 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 5 
  BLACKMOOR, THE FIRST CRUSADE 
  (APRIL 1971) 
   
  … [The] moors of Iceland are … regions with only here and there a scanty growth 
  of vegetation, a little whortleberry, no heath at all, but vast tracts of broken stone 
  and mud and black sand, with perhaps here and there an occasional hill of yellow 
  sandstone.  Most of the rock is perfectly black, and breaks into pieces with sharp 
  angles.  What is called Icelandic moss is a black lichen that grows on the stones … 
   
  — Grettir the Outlaw (one of the great Icelandic sagas), as translated by Sabine 
  Baring-Gould 
   
  AND NOW that we hopefully possess a clearer idea of where the masterful and 
  imaginative Arneson would soon be coming from, we need to consider the initial 
  publication of Chainmail itself.  That event was the catalyst which gave Arneson the 
  framework he would need to build his own fantasy world and dungeons upon. 
  There are repeated assertions that Arneson was deeply involved in medieval 
  wargaming prior to his being exposed to Chainmail, and his earlier involvement in 
  the Castle & Crusade Society (having joined in April 1970) and the Braunsteins 
  makes these assertions perfectly reasonable.  We do know a bit about an early 
  medieval Viking raid scenario, and Dave might also have been inspired by the 
  mythic elements in the Atlantis games he had been playing with Gary and Tom 
  Webster (such as “the Pygmalion” tale in its earliest forms). 
  Unfortunately, we are (or at least I am) bereft of provable information which 
  would lend evidentiary support to a date for the creation of Blackmoor proper, in 
  particular, any earlier than April of 1971.  References to Arneson playing his own 
  medieval scenarios in 1970 probably refer more clearly to the “Braunstein” games, 
  which had originally been created by David Wesely c. 1969.  Arneson’s Blackmoor 
  would be a very separate thing from Wesely’s early experimental historical 
  games.227 
                                                             
  227 Amusingly, David Wesely was one of the most ardent simulationist grognards in 
  Arneson’s play circle, and it seems that when he returned to St. Paul from the military he 
  was not exactly enthused by the new fantasy craze that Gygax and Arneson had started.  
  
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  Please note also that there was a very long confusion in the RPG research 
  community, in which the Blackmoor players recollected that they had begun the 
  campaign in 1970 (a date repeated by Arneson himself); but this was corrected when 
  Greg Svenson reported that Arneson had rediscovered his personal collection of old 
  Corner of the Table newsletters, which confirmed that the Blackmoor adventures 
  indeed started in the spring of 1971.228 
  Importantly, it also seems that Dave Arneson himself once wrote, “I simply used 
  Chainmail for the early magic section in the first month we played Blackmoor.”229  
  In other words, Chainmail preceded Blackmoor and was used as a basis for some of 
  the rules; the precedent of Chainmail here is very clear.  Therefore, In HAWK & 
  MOOR, I maintain a conviction that the fantasy pieces of the Blackmoor game were 
  created as a result of Arneson’s exposure to Chainmail and its Fantasy Supplement.  
  There may have indeed been earlier play sessions in Arneson’s basement which led 
  to the Blackmoor games, but those sessions do not seem to have included the key 
  fantasy gaming ideas which Chainmail manifested.  If anyone can step forward and 
  prove an earlier verifiable date — thus establishing that Arneson created the fantasy 
  aspects of Blackmoor before seeing Chainmail — I would happily be proven wrong.  
  Given Arneson’s quote and some further Chainmail-derived asides in the First 
  Fantasy Campaign, however, proving such a supposition would seem to be a 
  remote possibility. 
  Please note and be reminded that Chainmail was not the only game that was 
  informing Blackmoor, of course.  There were also the Braunsteins, Strategos-N, 
  Strategos-A, the Napoleonics campaign, and much more besides.230  All of these bits 
  of meat were hacked up and thrown in Arneson’s creative stew.  Arneson had been 
  a campaign game master more frequently, and for longer, than Gary at that time.  
                                                             
  “I’m an army lieutenant and a leader of men, and not a college student [at that time] 
  and I’m trying to take myself seriously,” Wesely recalled.  “Here they’re playing with elves 
  and dwarves and such.  I’m thinking, I’m never going to tell anybody I was in this game 
  [Blackmoor].”  Refer to twincities.com, the Dave Arneson obituary, April 9th, 2009. 
  228 Sham’s Grog ‘n’ Blog blogspot, Q&A with Greg Svenson.  Posted May 30th, 2009. 
  229 Refer to the Comeback Inn forum thread “Dave Arneson post:  what’s this?” and the 
  h2g2 website, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:  Earth Edition.  On h2g2, the relevant 
  entry is A683949/ conversation/ view/ F82749/ T190258, “A Conversation for Dave 
  Arneson,” dated June 18th, 2002.  My apologies for this citation being difficult to find … it 
  is obscure. 
  230 The game was also influenced by player suggestions.  As Pete Gaylord once noted, 
  “David was open to suggestions, and if you came out with a suggestion and he liked it, 
  he would implement it.”  (This is seen in the Youtube video The World’s First Wizard, at 
  approximately 3:55.) 
  
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  One might be tempted to say that Blackmoor was decisively Dave’s own game, 
  without any outside influence beyond his own control.  And certainly, from the 
  perspective of many Twin Cities gamers, the Blackmoor games were just a 
  continuation of their Strategos-based gaming style (since Arneson kept his books 
  and ideas close at hand without oversharing). 
  Some of Dave’s gamers never even “saw” Chainmail in their games, it seems.  
  But nevertheless there is a provable connection between Chainmail and Blackmoor, 
  and the two games are bound together — to what degree, it depends on whom 
  you decide to ask and what mood they’re currently in — by some significant 
  Gygaxian game design DNA.  The two men’s early games — Don’t Give Up the 
  Ship!, Chainmail, Blackmoor, the Great Kingdom map-inspired games, and 
  Dungeons & Dragons in particular — really are incontrovertibly intertwined. 
  * * * * * 
  This all brings us back to the first publication of Chainmail. 
  It appears that Gary finished the typeset Chainmail manuscript — Patt-inspired 
  Fantasy Supplement and all — in early 1971.  He managed to convince Don Lowry 
  to publish his game without cutting any of the strange rules featuring heroes and 
  dragons from the back.  “You definitely want to do Chainmail, the fantasy,” Gary 
  later remembered telling Mr. Lowry, “because this is hot.  It would definitely sell a 
  couple of hundred copies at a show.”231 
  Gary was eager and proud to work with Lowry’s Guidon Games, and was also 
  laboring over many other game projects besides Chainmail itself.  But due to his 
  family’s needs and lean financial straits, Gary had a very practical interest in the 
  success of his own publications above all else.  And although he was a game 
  designer, he was still struggling badly.  As he would later wryly note, “The fruits of 
  those early labors [game designs] provided beer money and little else, but I wasn’t 
  discouraged.”232  Guidon would give him a chance to break out and become 
  successful and famous, however slightly. 
  As he later explained of Guidon, “They were small but certainly a legitimate 
  company (I dislike using ‘professional,’ as they professed nothing:  they were a 
  commercial enterprise).  I was paid for the work I did for them, yes. Unfortunately, 
  sales volume did not make the income received thus sufficient to do more than 
                                                             
  231 Online interview:  The d-infinity.net interview with Gary Gygax.  By Michael O. Varhola.  
  Posted on July 27th, 2013. 
  232 From Gygax commentary in the rare TSR newsletter Random Events, June 1983, pg. 1. 
  
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  supplement income from other work.”233 
  Regardless, Chainmail’s first edition was finally published by Lowry in March.  It 
  is, in my (perhaps unfairly modern) estimation, a very entertaining but rather flawed 
  simulation of medieval warfare in miniature.  The research for the time is excellent, 
  and the rules are inspiring, but many of the game’s systems are opaque and difficult 
  to synthesize for modification or expansion.  It’s simply a hard system to decipher. 
  Further, the writing of the booklet clearly assumes a reader already well-versed 
  in the major wargames of the 1960s.  Chainmail, considered by itself, is a relatively 
  easy wargame … but it is not an introductory game intended for abject newcomers.  
  This fact would normally not be a problem, but very soon the game’s Fantasy 
  Supplement would be embraced by novice players seeking a mode for the “Tolkien 
  wargames” (as promoted by Gary and Len Patt and others), and these poor players 
  — in attempting to employ Chainmail on its own — would frequently have no idea 
  what they were doing.  The rules, especially the fantasy rules, are too vague to ever 
  be complete.  In a way, this is a blessing; we as players and next-generation game 
  designers have now been writing “more rules” for Chainmail and Dungeons & 
  Dragons for over forty years, with no end in sight. 
  Chainmail alone is not in my opinion a comprehensive fantasy game, but it is an 
  internally complex one.  And as I earlier explained in my introduction about 
  “Chaotic Bards and Lawful Sages,” I myself have very little interest in the nuts and 
  bolts of Chainmail, except as they directly pertain to the later creation of 
  Blackmoor, The Fantasy Game and Dungeons & Dragons.  The battle reports 
  intrigue me, but the rules are far too dry to excite my studious devotion.  Readers 
  who are interested in understanding the nuances of Gygax’s medieval systems 
  therein are strongly encouraged to study Playing at the World, where Chainmail 
  and other wargames of its ilk are analyzed in great detail. 
  For those readers who would like a quick-yet-detailed summary of the contents 
  of Gygax’s first fantasy system, I offer that in an easily readable alphabetical table 
  format here.  Below you will find a general overview of the 72 important fantasy 
  elements which appear in the various editions of Chainmail Fantasy, aka the Fantasy 
  Supplement (1971, 1972).  These fundamental ideas and rules would later (late 1972-
  1973) form the core basis for the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons (1974).  Please 
  note that this conceptual analysis pertains to elements unique to Chainmail Fantasy 
  only; the mundane medieval wargame rules white comprise the first part of 
  Chainmail are not considered here. 
                                                             
  233 Online interview:  The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax, with Ciro Alessandro Sacco 
  of dungeons.it; hosted at thekyngdoms.com. 
  
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  A summary of FANTASY ELEMENTS 
  As featured IN CHAINMAIL fantasy 
  Element 
  Type 
  Likely Influences 
  A 
  Antihero 
  Character 
  Type 
  The writings of Jack Vance (The Dying Earth) 
  and Michael Moorcock (Elric is specifically 
  mentioned), as well as the Middle Earth rules 
  of Leonard Patt 
  Anti-Magic Shell 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps inspired by the general 
  concept of counter spells and wizard duels, 
  and influenced by Strange Tales / Doctor 
  Strange) 
  Armor, Magical 
  Treasure 
  Mythology and European folklore; examples 
  — impervious armor of Achilles forged by 
  Hephaestus, mail tunic of Beowulf forged by 
  Wayland, helm of darkness of Hades, 
  Tarnhelm of Alberich, etc. 
  Arrow, Enchanted 
  Treasure 
  Greek mythology (Apollo, Eros, etc.) and 
  European folklore (elf shot etc.) 
  B 
  Balrog 
  Monster 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  Basilisk 
  Monster 
  Greek mythology and European folklore, as 
  well as The Book of Imaginary Beings by 
  Jorges Luis Borges 
    
   
  
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  Death comes from below. 
  
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  C 
  Chaos 
  Concept 
  From the writings of Poul Anderson and 
  Michael Moorcock; in my estimation despite 
  Greek mythology, chaos as an ethos goes back 
  chiefly to Milton’s Paradise Lost and the 
  poetic conception of infernally-bent divine 
  law (“when everlasting fate shall yield to 
  fickle chance, and chaos judge the strife”), but 
  that’s an entirely different book … 
  Chimera 
  Monster 
  Greek mythology (and Asia Minor) 
  Cloudkill 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; but likely from the movie version 
  of The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. 
  DeMille, with the crawling green fog 
  representing the Angel of Death.  Perhaps also 
  inspired by Howard’s tale People of the Black 
  Circle, or the Murrain of Beasts in the Doré-
  illustrated Bible) 
  Cockatrice 
  Monster 
  European, heraldic and alchemical folklore, 
  and possibly also the Harold Shea stories 
  Concealment 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps a reference to the 
  obfuscation techniques of stage magicians, or 
  simply designed as a counter spell to 
  Detection) 
  Confusion 
  Spell 
  Perhaps the gray lotus dust scene in Rogues in 
  the House, by Robert E. Howard 
  Conjuration of an 
  Elemental 
  Spell 
  Alchemical writings, and the Elric tales of 
  Michael Moorcock (such as The Stealer of 
  Souls); perhaps also Poul Anderson, 
  Operation Chaos 
  D 
  
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  Darkness 
  Spell 
  Perhaps the darkness magic at the end of 
  Thieves’ House, by Fritz Leiber, in addition to 
  folklore and magical eclipses 
  Detection 
  Spell 
  Perhaps tales of scrying and enhanced senses 
  in folklore and mythology 
  Djinn 
  Monster 
  The Arabian Nights (the Jann) and the tales of 
  Harold Shea 
  Dragon 
  (in general) 
  Monster 
  European folklore, and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, as well as the 
  Middle Earth rules of Leonard Patt 
  Dragon, Black 
  Monster 
  European folklore and Gary’s own writings, 
  and perhaps the Blatant Beast in the tales of 
  Harold Shea 
  Dragon, Blue 
  Monster 
  From Gary’s own writings 
  Dragon, Green 
  Monster 
  From European folklore, Gary’s own writings, 
  and perhaps The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad; 
  chlorine breath weapons are briefly 
  mentioned in the Harold Shea tales 
  Dragon, Purple 
  Monster 
  European folklore and Gary’s own writings 
  Dragon, Red 
  Monster 
  European folklore, and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien (Smaug is 
  specifically noted) 
  Dragon, White 
  Monster 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  (Frost Drake), Gary’s own writings, and 
  perhaps a mention in The Snow Women by 
  Fritz Leiber 
  Dwarf 
  Character 
  Type 
  Norse mythology and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, as well as Three 
  Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson 
   
   
  
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  “Who created us, eh?  Who created you?  None of your damn business, laddie!” 
   
   
  
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  E 
  Efreet 
  Monster 
  The Arabian Nights (the Ifrit) and the tales of 
  the City of Brass 
  Elemental 
  (in general) 
  Monster 
  Paracelsus and alchemical lore, and the Elric 
  tales of Michael Moorcock 
  Elemental, Air 
  Monster 
  Greek mythology (wind spirits, Boreas, etc.) 
  and the Elric stories of Michael Moorcock 
  Elemental, Earth 
  Monster 
  The writings of Paracelsus, and While the 
  Gods Laugh by Michael Moorcock 
  Elemental, Fire 
  Monster 
  Perhaps from The Rape of the Lock by 
  Alexander Pope, and the Elric stories of 
  Michael Moorcock 
  Elemental, Water 
  Monster 
  Greek mythology and the Elric stories of 
  Michael Moorcock 
  Elf 
  Character 
  Type 
  Norse mythology, English folklore, The 
  Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, and the 
  Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  Ent 
  Monster 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, 
  as well as the Middle Earth rules of Leonard 
  Patt 
  F 
  Fairy 
  Character 
  Type 
  English and French Folklore, A Midsummer 
  Night’s Dream by Shakespeare (chiefly 
  Oberon and Titania), and The Faerie Queen 
  by Edmund Spenser 
   
  
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  “… Madmen have such seething brains, 
  Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 
  More than cool reason ever comprehends.” 
   
  Fire Ball 
  Spell 
  From European folklore, The Wonderful 
  Wizard of Oz, and the Middle Earth wargame 
  rules of Leonard Patt 
  G 
  Ghoul 
  Monster 
  From the writings of H. P. Lovecraft and 
  Robert E. Howard (The Hour of the Dragon) 
  and perhaps Michael Moorcock (Kings in 
  Darkness) 
  Giant 
  Monster 
  From Greek mythology, Norse mythology, 
  and European folklore 
  
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  Gnome 
  Character 
  Type 
  From the earth elemental lore of Paracelsus, 
  Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, 
  English and French folklore, and perhaps 
  Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul 
  Anderson 
  Goblin 
  Monster 
  From French folklore, perhaps George 
  MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin), 
  and the Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. 
  Tolkien 
  Griffon 
  Monster 
  From Greek mythology and European and 
  heraldic folklore 
  H 
  Hallucinatory 
  Terrain 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps a reference to Fata 
  Morgana or magical mirages in folklore) 
  Haste 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps an early interpretation of 
  acceleration magic from folklore, Boreas, 
  Zephyrus, Hermes, etc.) 
  Hero 
  Character 
  Type 
  The writings of Howard, Leiber, and other 
  writers of Swords & Sorcery fiction, as well as 
  the Middle Earth rules of Leonard Patt 
  Hero / Wizard 
  Character 
  Type 
  From Michael Moorcock’s Elric, who 
  “combines the attributes of the Hero-type 
  with wizardry” 
  Hobbit 
  Character 
  Type 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  I 
  Insect, Giant 
  Monster 
  From horror movies (The Naked Jungle, 
  Them!, etc.) and perhaps The Beetle Horde by 
  Victor Rousseau and/or Land of Terror by 
  Edgar Rice Burroughs 
  
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  K 
  Kobold 
  Monster 
  Germanic and French folklore 
  L 
  Law 
  Concept 
  The writings of Poul Anderson and Michael 
  Moorcock (see Chaos) 
  Levitate 
  Spell 
  The illusions of stage magicians, popular 
  sensationalization (the tale of Samuel Pepys), 
  tales of Saint Joseph, etc. 
  Lightning Bolt 
  Spell 
  Elric casts a lightning spell in Chapter 5 of The 
  Stealer of Souls; Zeus, Thor, other instances in 
  comics and folklore 
  Lycanthrope / 
  Shape-Changer 
  Monster 
  European folklore, Asian folklore and horror 
  films; werewolf = loup garou, wereboar = 
  berserker, werebear = Beorn, wererat from 
  Lieber, etc. 
  M 
  Moving Terrain 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps inspired by the March of 
  the Ents and their moving trees, the Huorns) 
  O 
  Ogre 
  Monster 
  French folklore 
  Orc 
  Monster 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, 
  as well as the Middle Earth rules of Leonard 
  Patt 
  P 
  Phantasmal 
  Forces 
  Spell 
  Thuvia, Maid of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs); 
  illusionary projection of figures, magic 
  lanterns of Victoriana; perhaps in part the 
  phantasm scene toward the end of Sign of the 
  Labrys, by Margaret St. Clair 
  
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  Pixie 
  Monster 
  English and Celtic folklore 
  Polymorph 
  Spell 
  Probably an extension of the folkloric ability 
  of witches to turn people into frogs or toads, 
  as well as from the tales of Harold Shea 
  Protection from 
  Evil 
  Spell 
  Perhaps an interpretation of holy powers of 
  abjuration, and general protection spells in 
  witchcraft 
  R 
  Roc 
  Monster 
  The Arabian Nights (the Rukh) 
  S 
  Slowness 
  Spell 
  (Unknown; perhaps an early interpretation of 
  time deceleration / nightmare effect magic 
  from folklore, sleep paralysis and hexes, etc.) 
  Spider, Giant 
  Monster 
  From horror movies and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  Sprite 
  Monster 
  English and Celtic folklore 
  Superhero 
  Character 
  Type 
  From Howard and other writers of Swords & 
  Sorcery fiction (Conan is specifically 
  mentioned in this role) 
  Sword, Magical 
  Treasure 
  Norse mythology and European folklore; 
  Balmung, Caladbolg, Claiomh Solais, 
  Durandal, Excalibur, Fragarach, Gram, 
  Hrunting, Joyeuse, Kladenets, Naegling, 
  Nagelring, Nothung, Sumbrandr, Tyrfing, etc. 
  T 
  Troll 
  (ogre-like) 
  Monster 
  Scandinavian folklore and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  Troll, True 
  Monster 
  Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul 
  Anderson 
  
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  (regenerating) 
  W 
  Warg / Worg 
  Monster 
  Norse mythology and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
   
   
  Fenrir, father of vargr, warg, worg … the hungerer. 
   
  
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  Wight 
  Monster 
  The Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  (Barrow Wight) 
  Wizard 
  Character 
  Type 
  European folklore, Swords & Sorcery fiction, 
  the Middle Earth rules of Leonard Patt, and 
  the Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien 
  (the Istari) 
  Wizard Light 
  Spell 
  Perhaps either the light globe in Abraham 
  Merritt’s The Face in the Abyss, or the 
  glowing staff of Gandalf in Moria; or general 
  tales of Saint Elmo’s Fire, etc. 
  Wolf, Giant 
  Monster 
  From French folklore (the Beast of Gevaudan) 
  and the Middle Earth writings of J. R. R. 
  Tolkien 
  Wraith 
  Monster 
  European folklore and the Middle Earth 
  writings of J. R. R. Tolkien (the Nazgul) 
  Wyvern 
  Monster 
  French and heraldic folklore 
   
  Soon after Chainmail was published,234 Arneson (who was probably already 
  anticipating the release, following his interest in the Domesday issues and the map 
  for the Great Kingdom) picked up a personal copy.  This would have been either in 
  March or early April of 1971.  As Dave once related in an interview, “We [meaning 
  his Twin Cities gaming group] were doing some medieval battles, so we bought a 
  copy and tried it out.”235  Gygax and Arneson would also be finishing up around 
  this time on the design of their naval wargame Don’t Give Up the Ship!, so Dave 
  had a specific interest in Gary’s further rules and approaches to simulated land 
  battles. 
  Therefore, Dave probably picked up Chainmail with the intent of both tinkering 
  with the rules, and also talking to Gary about what happened during experimental 
                                                             
  234 The game was published in March of 1971.  The copyright for Chainmail (registration 
  number A299078) was registered by Don Lowry on May 15th, 1971.  For that same day, 
  Lowry also registered the Gygax games Alexander the Great and Dunkirk. 
  235 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19, 2004. 
  
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  play.  And further as Dave once noted, “We [the Twin Cities gaming group] were 
  in correspondence with the group from Lake Geneva through the Napoleonic 
  Campaigns at that time.”236  Refer to the table of Napoleonic Simulation Campaign 
  players I provided earlier to show just how true this assertion was. 
  Gary therefore would certainly not be too surprised to learn that Dave was 
  “looking under the hood” once Chainmail hit the shelves.  As Gary would later 
  write:  “Dave, an expert at running campaign games [another reference to the 
  Napoleonic campaigns], began to develop his own ‘Fief’ as a setting for medieval 
  fantasy campaign gaming, reporting these games to the head of the C&C Society.”237 
  Unfortunately, while these crucial preliminaries are easy for us to date and verify, 
  our images of Dave’s own modified medieval game become much cloudier at this 
  time.  We know that he developed his preliminary Blackmoor maps and system in 
  the spring and into late 1971, but the provable dates of various innovations therein 
  are few and far between. 
  It can be inferred from the available (yet sometimes conflicting) materials that 
  the Blackmoor campaign was actually implemented in two separate and related 
  major phases of development.  There was the initial session in April of 1971, and 
  then Dave left for Sweden in May.  Play resumed when he returned, perhaps during 
  mid- or late July.  It further appears that the dungeons of Castle Blackmoor, as 
  opposed to the surface environs, were created in December 1971 and play tested in 
  January of 1972.  Arneson actually once wrote that “The Dungeon was first 
  established in the winter and spring of 1970-71,”238 but this proclamation is in direct 
  conflict with the fact that Chainmail was not published until March of 1971, and the 
  fact that Blackmoor’s dungeons were inspired by Chainmail monsters and other 
  things.  Therefore, it is much more likely that Arneson actually meant that the 
  dungeons under Castle Blackmoor were created late (in the winter) in 197>1<, 
  implemented at the New Year, and then developed well into the spring of 
  197>2<.)  This is by no means definitive, but with the historical pieces that have 
  been unearthed so far, it is the only solution that really makes sense.  Arneson was, 
  quite frankly, frequently in error and one year off in his later recollections.  He 
  would realize this later, when (as mentioned prior) he located his own personal 
  collection of Corner of the Table newsletters. 
  There were several opportunities for Dave to clarify these matters further over 
                                                             
  236 “An Interview with Dave Arneson” in Pegasus Magazine, issue #1, April / May 1981. 
  237 The Dragon, issue #26, pg. 28. 
  238 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  the years, but unfortunately he was often unable to take them.  There were legal 
  complaints (which Arneson had won) over royalties involving Advanced Dungeons 
  & Dragons, and confidentiality agreements which hinged upon Arneson not sharing 
  information with the public.  Therefore, in later years Dave was understandably 
  cagey whenever he was discussing the formative history of Dungeons & Dragons.  
  But since this guarded silence worsens the already scanty evidence of Blackmoor’s 
  creation, any chronological history of Blackmoor — including my own — is 
  inevitably incorrect.  If you were to demand an excruciatingly definitive history of 
  these matters, I am sad to say that (barring miracles, resurrection, or time travel) 
  such a history can never exist.  I have recreated plausible schemes of major events, 
  but my account of those lost details can never be ironclad.  I simply use logic and 
  deductive reasoning to provide you with the best event-driven chronological 
  summary that I can. 
  Regardless of these frustrating challenges, we know that Dave and his group read 
  and discussed Gary’s Chainmail booklet at one of their gaming get-togethers.  Dave 
  would later mention (perhaps with a hint of damning faint praise for Gary’s 
  historical rules), “We thought the fantasy part [emphasis mine] was interesting.”239 
  Despite the interest of the others, Dave knew that when he started to apply his 
  own imagination to Gary’s recommendations for a fantasy wargame, it was going 
  to be a tough sell for those grognard wargaming buddies … no matter how 
  adventuresome they considered themselves to be.  “I started out with a bunch of 
  dyed-in-the-wool historical miniatures players and board games,” he recalled.  
  “That’s a tough audience.”240 
  The timing of Chainmail’s release was serendipitous.  Dave’s ongoing “Nappy” 
  Napoleonic Simulation Campaign was becoming a painstaking chore (and I am 
  phrasing the reality here with some diplomacy, as you probably know by now), 
  due to personality conflicts, action resolution lag, and that irrevocable “more of the 
  same” malaise which infects any gaming group that plays in the same way for many 
  years.  Participant Greg Svenson241 once explained that the Napoleonic campaign 
                                                             
  239 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19, 2004. 
  240 Dragon magazine, issue #249, pg. 120. 
  241 Greg Svenson had met Dave Arneson in the spring of 1970, at the University of 
  Minnesota, during a gaming group meeting.  Dave invited Greg to come participate in 
  the Napoleonic campaign on the following Saturday, so we can date Svenson’s activity 
  in Dave’s group to spring 1970 as well.  Greg’s involvement expanded thereafter 
  because Dave was very impressed with his play.  Refer to the web page for GDR 
  
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  was also “getting bogged down in long drawn out miniatures battles,” as we noted 
  earlier, which slowed all of the gaming down beyond the point of fun.242  In short, 
  Dave’s gaming group was ready for something new. 
   
   
  “Very well, pigheaded American.  If you truly have no further interest in the way 
  that I revolutionized the French Artillery Corps with my understanding of the 
  repercussions of changes in the 6-pounder and 12-pounder munition-to-cannon 
  horse-drawn carriage weight ratios, then come next Saturday, we shall test your 
  little ‘Troll and Dragon Game.’” 
                                                             
  Magazine, “Intervista a Greg Svenson, il primo giocatore di ruolo,” November 22nd, 2016.  
  The page is in Italian, but submits well to Google Translate. 
  242 “The Great Svenny,” a tale related by Greg Svenson, posted on the Blackmoor mailing 
  list by Gregg Scott. 
  
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  Dave once explained it this way: 
  “One day … I discovered that I was bored.  Faced with a long weekend without 
  gaming, I turned to the television.  I tried to occupy my time sitting on a couch 
  watching cheesy 50’s monster movies and reading ‘fantasy hero’ novels until I could 
  find something better to do.  …  The [Napoleonic] campaign that I was running 
  had become a drag.  It was consumed with these long tedious battles and constant 
  bickering over historical details.  These most recently uncovered details would mess 
  up next week’s battle.  Curses on all such books!  Why not just use one source and 
  be done with it?”243 
  A new and entirely different campaign would be just the thing to bring back 
  some fun to his veteran play group. 
  Dave created Blackmoor based apparently on bits and pieces of Duluth and the 
  Twin Cities, and set his land within the Castle & Crusade Society’s Great Kingdom 
  map.  “In starting my campaign,” he would later explain, “I reserved a small area 
  out of the center of the Great Kingdom map.”244  Because of his own rank within 
  the C&CS as “Baron and Parsuivant” (“pursuivant” being an officer with heraldic 
  duties, and thus perhaps several peerage ranks above a mere Baron), he called his 
  new land the Arch-Barony of Blackmoor.  We don’t know exactly where he got the 
  name, although there is a Blackmore in England, a Black Moor wetland in Germany, 
  a group called the “Druids of Black Moors” in the Sub-Mariner Comics of 1941, and 
  so forth.  He probably just liked the sound of the name.  Who can say where the 
  inspiration really came from? 
  Gygax, in his Foreword to Dungeons & Dragons (written on November 1st, 
  1973), told the story like so: 
   “ONCE UPON A TIME, long, long ago there was a little group known as the 
  Castle and Crusade Society.  Their fantasy rules were published, and to this writer’s 
  knowledge, brought about much of the current interest in fantasy wargaming.  For 
  a time the group grew and prospered, and Dave Arneson decided to begin a 
  medieval fantasy campaign game for his active Twin Cities club.  From the map of 
  the ‘land’ of the ‘Great Kingdom’ and environs — the territory of the C & C Society 
  — Dave located a nice bog wherein to nest the weird enclave of ‘Blackmoor,’ a 
  spot between the ‘Great Kingdom’ and the fearsome ‘Egg of Coot.’”245 
                                                             
  243 From the book Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor, published by Zeitgeist Games Inc., 2004. 
  244 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 11. 
  245 Foreword (“Forward”) to Dungeons & Dragons, 1974. 
  
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  Dave situated this new Barony in an area that would later, in Gary’s Flanaess 
  setting, become known as the North Province, along the chilly coast of the Solnor 
  Ocean.  If you happen to be looking at the published World of Greyhawk maps 
  painted by Darlene Pekul, you will note that the “Greyhawk” land of Blackmoor 
  has been moved from its original locale above the eastern Great Kingdom, far into 
  the northwestern frost-regions of the Flanaess near to the Land of Black Ice. 
  The campaign would feature mundane heroes who would find themselves 
  unceremoniously plopped down into a dangerous and savage world of the 
  fantastical, the technological, and the supernatural. 
  The initial Blackmoor setup is, in a broad thematic way, somewhat similar to the 
  plot of the original King Kong movie which premiered in 1933:  A band of 
  unprepared yet well-armed adventurers depart modernity in search of glory, lucre 
  and destiny.  Far beyond the imperious domain of the world’s great kingdom, these 
  mercenary souls disembark and dare to explore a lost and savage world — the 
  Unknown, the shrouded Wilds filled with death, giant beasts and wondrous 
  monstrosities.  Marking the outermost fringe of mortal sanctity, there lies a way-
  station:  a small walled bastion which is occupied by a few hundred hard-pressed 
  and superstitious warriors.  These grim natives dwell upon a threatened yet fortified 
  coast surrounded by the monsters, and live in fear of an ominous and godlike 
  presence which lords its tyranny over the utmost Wilderland.  The parallels are 
  loose, yet mythic.  In Blackmoor, instead of Kong himself, the enigmatic monstrous 
  power would be the terrible alien Egg of Coot. 
  * * * * * 
  And in another strange coincidence, I note too that the Dark Shadows television 
  show — exceedingly popular with the 18-35 age bracket we are considering in this 
  history — was abruptly cancelled in the middle of a plot line, which led to the 
  ambiguous final episode airing on April 2nd, 1971.  This left the show unfulfilled, 
  and many fans at the time wanted to either find a stronger ending to the series, or 
  to make their own. 
  This television show had featured the enigmatic vampire Barnabas Collins 
  (further glorified via the Dark Shadows films), who would later inspire the creation 
  of the Blackmoor vampire known as Sir Fang.  I cannot say with certainty that 
  Barnabas and the Gothic tales 100% inspired Arneson’s creation of Blackmoor 
  Castle, its lineage or its environs, but I do think that the timing of this show’s 
  cancellation and hanging plot threads is quite fascinating, and I leave this lingering 
  mystery here for future pondering.  Dark Shadows had a lot to offer. 
  Barnabas was not the only intriguing element of the show, however; this Gothic 
  soap opera used many classical tropes which would later appear in D&D (and some 
  
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  in the Blackmoor campaign as well).  Here are some plot elements in the March-
  April 1971 Dark Shadows episodes which I find particularly interesting from a 
  Blackmoor perspective: 
   
  POTENTIAL SYNERGY 
  BETWEEN DARK SHADOWS AND BLACKMOOR 
  Broadcast 
  Date 
  Episode 
  Number 
  Interesting Plot Details 
  March 2nd, 
  1971 
  1202 / 1222 Morgan Collins (a character inspired by Edgar 
  Linton in Wuthering Heights) discovers a secret 
  room in the cursed Collinwood manor house. 
  March 3rd, 
  1971 
  1203 / 1223 Morgan, having infiltrated the secret room, is 
  possessed by a ghost (James Forsythe).  (James, in 
  1680, was the business partner of a Mr. Brutus 
  Collins, who murdered James for having an affair 
  with his wife Amanda, and cursed the Collinwood 
  manor.) 
  March 4th, 
  1971 
  1204 / 1224 Morgan, possessed by James, discovers a skeleton 
  buried in the basement of a cottage.  James prepares 
  to take revenge on the Collins family. 
  March 16th, 
  1971 
  1212 / 1232 
  The ghost of James Forsythe is exorcised from the 
  body of Morgan. 
  March 18th, 
  1971 
  1214 / 1234 
  Gabriel Collins, a madman, escapes from a locked 
  room in a tower. 
  March 
  22nd, 1971 
  1216 / 1236 
  Morgan and Julia Collins discover the dead bodies 
  of James Forsythe and Amanda Collins in the secret 
  room. 
  March 23rd, 
  1971 
  1217 / 1237 
  Morgan hunts down Gabriel through secret 
  passageways.  Gabriel dies when he is impaled by a 
  sword that is held by a suit of plate armor. 
  
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  April 1st, 
  1971 
  1224 / 1244 Trapped in the secret room, Catherine Harridge 
  Collins is possessed by the spirit of Amanda Collins. 
  April 2nd, 
  1971 
  1225 / 1245 The family struggles to lift the manor’s curse.  
  Melanie Collins is bitten by something in the forest, 
  which leaves strange marks on her neck.  A vampire 
  is suspected.  However, a voiceover strangely 
  downplays this development and turns the tale in a 
  “happily ever after” to end the series. 
   
  In addition to the television series and films, there was also a Dark Shadows 
  comic book — a much more lurid and monstrous affair than the soap opera, 
  featuring witchcraft, werewolves, mummies, zombies, a golem, a headless 
  horseman, and of course vampires — which was published by Gold Key, running 
  for 35 issues from March 1969 through February 1976.  (One of the writers was 
  coincidentally named Donald J. Arneson, although I doubt this Silver Age comics 
  author was of any relation to Dave!)  The comic was quite popular on its own, 
  especially after April 1971 because it continued after the cancellation of the 
  television series. 
  But again, we only have tantalizing glimpses here.  If I learn more of a possible 
  connection between the end of Dark Shadows, the films, the comics and the 
  beginning of Blackmoor, you will be among the first to know! 
  * * * * * 
  Back to more solid ground: 
  According to Arneson’s account of the fantasy campaign’s creation, Blackmoor 
  Castle was created first.246  The region’s imaginary background became more 
  convoluted over time, but in the beginning many of these details were happily 
  glossed over in the name of fun.  In preparing his Castle for later publication, Dave 
  simply wrote, “The present work [the stronghold, a rebuilt incarnation of 
  Blackmoor Castle] was built during the reign of Robert I,” by whom he means Rob 
  Kuntz, King of the Great Kingdom (and of the Castle & Crusade Society).247 
  The dark Castle proper was followed in design by the creation of the Village or 
  “Town” of Blackmoor (a war-torn place cursed with a highly fluctuating 
                                                             
  246 First Fantasy Campaign, pg. 4:  “Blackmoor grew from a single castle to include …” 
  247 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  population), a bit of terrain to fill a sheet of paper, and then larger portions of the 
  surrounding wilderness.  The map that Arneson drew and later published in The 
  First Fantasy Campaign reveals a large body of water (Blackmoor Bay) edged by 
  swampy lowlands, and a single rocky promontory which is dominated by the stout 
  works of Blackmoor Castle.  A river (simply, the “South River”) flows into the bay, 
  replete with a Troll Bridge guarding the road which inevitably leads into and 
  through the walled surround of Blackmoor Village.  Scattered hills and forest, ripe 
  for exploration, complete the landscape.248 
  In developing this Blackmoor region and further detailing Gary’s own Great 
  Kingdom map, we know that Dave was using some old Dutch maps (of shores and 
  wetlands, perhaps?) as inspiration.  Considering his home state of Minnesota, it is 
  also very possible that Blackmoor Village represents not only a fantasy shadow of 
  Minneapolis but also of Duluth, with the river being the St. Louis and the shoreline 
  of Blackmoor Bay corresponding to Duluth-Superior Harbor.  The “Troll” Bridge 
  outside the Village might even partly represent the rickety and dangerous toll bridge 
  of old, Arrowhead. 
  The dungeons beneath this region, it seems, would be created in the near future 
  toward the end of 1971.  The campaign was soon going to go completely out of 
  control in a spectacularly entertaining way, but at this time Dave only knew that he 
  was making a new scenario map for his Napoleonic-gaming friends to play.  
  “Unfortunately,” he once said in an interview, “at that time, I visualized that I 
  wouldn’t have to keep track of all those records and maps [as before].  I really 
  thought that it was going to be easy.”249 
  Some say that Arneson may have used his Blackmoor map to run a few casual 
  medieval sessions with his group, without incorporating any fantasy elements, prior 
  to the release of Chainmail in March 1971.  However, while this seems reasonable I 
  do not have enough evidence to assert this personally.  What is known is that Dave 
  prepared a fantasy-themed scenario in April, and he announced that it would be 
  ready to play on Saturday, April 17th. 
  That first game — there were no dungeon levels yet, just Blackmoor Town and 
  Castle — was probably intended to be a simple affair, following the guidelines given 
  in Chainmail and enhanced by Arneson’s own experience in refereeing the 
  Napoleonic Simulation Campaign and successors to David Wesely’s role-playing 
  wargame scenarios, the “Braunsteins.”  Perhaps, the plural form of “Braunsteins” 
                                                             
  248 This map is viewable online at several locations, such as the Blackmoor page in the 
  library of The Acaeum. 
  249 “An Interview with Dave Arneson” in Pegasus Magazine, issue #1, April / May 1981. 
  
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  anglicized as “Brown Stones” may have even inspired Dave to term his new 
  medieval role-playing sessions the “Black Moors.”  “Grey Hawk,” to be envisioned 
  by Gary and company, was still only a future dream. 
  We do not know exactly what the first Blackmoor scenario entailed, but given 
  the details of the map, it was some kind of objective-based skirmish in which an 
  invading force (marching from the domain of the Egg of Coot)250 was repulsed by 
  a smaller force using the Village and Castle of Blackmoor as bases for the defense.  
  The scenario might even have been based on the similar circumstances outlined by 
  the earlier Siege of Bodenburg game.  The outnumbered heroes would run the 
  defense, and the invading “bad guy” leading the alien Coot’s forces would need to 
  be overthrown.  This is probably the very beginning of the scenario which Arneson 
  would later glibly term the “First Coot Invasion.”  It seems that John Snider was the 
  one in control of the Coot faction during those games.251 
  We do know that Dave devised a quick history for the Barony’s bad guys:  a 
  pompous alien being, the horror who bore the name of the Egg[head?] of Coot, 
  had corrupted and beguiled the former Baron of Blackmoor.  Arneson described 
  this loathsome extraterrestrial as being “known to hold an unshakeable grudge 
  against anything that has ever in any way caused it difficulty that was not 
  immediately overcome  ...  This is the result of the Egg’s tremendous self-esteem 
  which admits no failings.”252  It was also no accident that the Egg of Coot bore a 
  strange resemblance to a certain pompous person who had soured Arneson on his 
  Napoleonics campaign! 
                                                             
  250 The Egg of Coot is sometimes referred to as a land, and sometimes as the evil alien 
  entity that rules that land.  From more information revealed through the Secrets of 
  Blackmoor crew, we know a bit more about it now.  As explained by John Snider, “The 
  land [of the Egg] is divided into large city states and small ethnic empires, or holdings.  All 
  have pledged allegiance to The Egg [the entity].  Each [holding] has their own armies 
  and/or militias that, in theory, The Egg can call out to bolster its legions in defense of the 
  land, or to punish those nearby that have transgressed against The Egg.”  Further:  “In 
  theory this all looks good, but the leaders have figured out that although The Egg is 
  powerful, it is constrained in the ‘where’ it can be, since it cannot leave its Island.  They 
  [the rulers of the holdings] never [refuse to] respond to the Egg's demands for tithes, but 
  often what is sent is — shall we say — not what is expected.  The other element that is a 
  constant is internal border strife in the land … [this is] one of the other reasons that The 
  Egg never really conquered beyond the holdings that are on the map [for example, 
  Blackmoor].” 
  251 Refer to the Comeback Inn forums, “John Snider — Egg of Coot Campaign.” 
  252 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  Meanwhile, the good guys had been deceived before they even knew what hit 
  them.  The Baron [David] Wesely of Blackmoor, to soon be known as “the Weasel,” 
  defected and made his way through the northern swamps to serve the power-
  offering Egg.  Before doing so — in an incident which reminds me of Sauron’s 
  seduction of Saruman through the Palantir, and the emergence of the Uruk-hai — 
  the Weasel met with the Egg’s minions in the secrecy of the Blackmoor Castle’s 
  library.  He then invited his loyal associates to meet with him there, and in treachery 
  the Egg’s present minions slaughtered the terrified men without mercy.253 
  Interestingly, this may not have been an entirely willful and evil act; Arneson 
  also explains that “All close servants of the Egg undergo rigorous mental 
  conditioning that is aimed at crushing all [of] their mental initiative.”254  Whether 
  blameless or not (you’d have to ask David Wesely), the wily Weasel accepted 
  command of the Coot’s nefarious legions, and then returned to the Barony to 
  “rightfully” reclaim the Castle and Village he had just betrayed.  A ragtag resistance 
  — ironically represented by several of the players loyal to Arneson’s play group — 
  would rise in righteous defiance. 
  With these opening moves played out, the first scenario of Blackmoor was ready 
  to go.  It was on that fateful Saturday that the players played out the very first 
  Blackmoor session in Arneson’s basement.  The players were encouraged to think 
  of themselves as dimensional travelers, finding themselves lost in a fantasy world 
  “Connecticut Yankee” style.  Anecdotally, these characters may well have been the 
  same worthy and authoritarian personages — presidents, chamberlains, nobles, 
  pirate captains — who were played in the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign, 
  accidentally caught up in a dimensional warp after they crashed a plane in the wilds 
  of Iceland.  (Please note that recollections of the Icelandic adventure are 
  fragmentary and very confused; these notes might well date a bit later to late July 
  or even early August of 1971, after Dave Arneson had returned home from 
  Europe.)255 
  According to a few misty recollections — whenever the Iceland play session 
  actually was — the players’ characters survived the crash and then they entered a 
  cave, perhaps mirroring the mystic journey that was first experienced by John Carter 
                                                             
  253 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 23. 
  254 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  255 Online web form post:  Comeback Inn forums, “Arneson’s Troll Bridge Poker Game 
  (1971).” 
  
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  (of Mars) on his way to otherworldly Barsoom.256  After they left the cave (where 
  they may have been assaulted by horrid trolls),257 they camped by a river at night 
  and were assault by a band of giants. 
  The specific mention of Iceland here is interesting, because it never seems to pop 
  up again in Arneson’s campaign.  And the island seems to be a magical portal 
  between Earth and the alternate fantasy reality encompassing the northern and 
  Arnesonian reaches of the Great Kingdom.  The name Black Moor in Icelandic 
  roughly translates as Svart(ur) Heidi or Svart(ur) Myrlendi; and while there are 
  scattered mysterious places in real-world Iceland such as Hellisheidi (Cave or Nether 
  Moor), Svart (the Black stream), and Myrkvidr (Mirkwood), there does not seem 
  to be any place upon the island which would have given Arneson inspiration for 
  the name. 
  The “Icelandic origin” idea therefore is tenuous at best.  And if Arneson was 
  familiar with the Icelandic sagas and mythology, it was likely either through his 
  history degree, or via J. R. R. Tolkien (who borrowed heavily from the Icelandic 
  tales to envision Middle Earth, sometimes by way of William Morris and Richard 
  Wagner). 
  How promising and/or passive is the conceptual link between Blackmoor and 
  mythic Iceland?  Was it meaningful and worthy of further historical digging, or was 
  it fleeting, Tolkienesque and random?  That is a mystery which may not be solved 
  for a very long time, if ever.  All we can do further in that intriguing regard is to 
  read, research, and ponder.  And recall too that Iceland is home to the Huldufólk, 
  the “Secret People” or “Hidden Elves” who veil the entire netherworld away 
  beneath their enigmatic chasms, tumuli, and cairns.  Rather fitting, that, considering 
  that much of Blackmoor’s secret and icy world eludes us still. 
   
                                                             
  256 For this interesting possibility, refer to Playing at the World pg. 66. 
  257 Refer to twincities.com, the Dave Arneson obituary, April 9th, 2009.  Two individuals 
  have given two cryptic asides relating to this Icelandic adventure, and it is not certain if 
  the trolls in the cave and the giants at the river were separate incidents, or hazy 
  recollections of the same encounter. 
  
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  In glory and enchantment, they tread unseen. 
   
  Back to our cryptic tale.  Iceland, cave, trolls, river, giants, panic, poof, alter ego 
  characters plopped down into Blackmoor without a clue. 
  However, these characters journeyed into the realm Blackmoor, journey there 
  they did.  The stage was set, and for a time the labyrinthine Napoleonic politics and 
  wargames were forgotten.  Roles and new supporting characters were doled out, 
  
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  and the legions of miniature figures were set up on the Ping-Pong table.258  As Gary 
  would later explain it, Arneson “gave his fellows [i.e., the regular members of his 
  gaming group] more or less individual roles to play.”259  This would be a game of 
  strong personalities, and only the mightiest heroes and villains would survive what 
  was to come. 
  This personal role endowment — akin to improvisatory actors taking parts in a 
  partially-unwritten play — was a key innovation which would form the future 
  foundation of the Dungeons & Dragons game (January 1974), and that of every 
  commercial RPG which enjoyed some measure of D&D’s success thereafter. 
  The “good guy” group, not knowing what to expect, was somewhat surprised 
  to find what Dave had planned for them.  At first, the players groaned at the 
  ludicrous ahistorical setup and resisted Dave’s outlandish game.  But fortunately, 
  they buckled down and gave it a try. 
  And they loved it.  “We thought that Blackmoor was great,” Arneson would 
  later write, “and we also thought we were crazy, but it was the fun kind of madness 
  that spreads.”260 
  The scenario may have partly involved Jenkins Hill, the strategic rise overlooking 
  the plain outside the walls of Blackmoor near to the river.  And we hear in the 
  remembrances and reports that some of the evening’s most unusual gaming 
  centered on the (Arrowhead?) “Troll” Bridge which guarded the gated wall and 
  thus the way up to Blackmoor Castle.  This Troll Bridge was probably another 
  parody of the one found in the Grimms’ fairytale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  In 
  that tale, of course, a fearsome and long-nosed troll threatens to eat anyone who 
  dares to tromp over his bridge.  The troll’s greed proves to be his downfall, 
  however, and so the largest Billy goat butts him down into the frigid stream.  Nature 
  triumphs over monstrosity … provided, that is, you can consider a magical talking 
  goat with passive aggressive murderous tendencies to be natural. 
  Beneath the Blackmoor Troll Bridge roiled the town cesspool and garbage heap, 
                                                             
  258 As player Pete Gaylord would note (in David Megarry’s associated Youtube video ‘The 
  World’s First Wizard’), “Arneson had in his basement a Ping-Pong table, and he built 
  Blackmoor on there.  …  Everybody that was in there … had a character.”  Such 
  descriptions of the environs, however brief, are rare. 
  259 The Dragon, issue #26, pp. 28-29. 
  260 Dragon #320, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of D&D and the 28th Anniversary of 
  Dragon. 
  
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  so perhaps the troll dwelled down there in the refuse.261  Dave’s scenario write-up 
  of the bridge also somehow featured a planned poker game of all things.  Perhaps 
  the troll threatened invaders and defenders alike, challenging them to a game of 
  cards?  Victory might allow safe passage, defeat could lead to being eaten.  (Please 
  note that these last details are mere guesses on my part; no one seems to remember 
  exactly what transpired.)  The troll’s poker game was scheduled to last “from sunup 
  to sundown,” which might be a reference to Tolkien’s portrayal of trolls in The 
  Hobbit — the dwarf-hungering trio Tom, Bert, and William — who are ultimately 
  turned to stone when tricked and touched by sunlight.  Surely a cleverer troll, like 
  Arneson’s would hide in the bridge’s shadows during those fearful lighted hours! 
  A later write-up of a very similar set of bridges — one that Dave wrote up for a 
  dungeon in the nearby swamps, the Temple of the Frog — tells us that the nether 
  span hid an entire den of trolls, and that these horrors would swarm and rise up 
  from under the arches to attack intruders:  “This room [beneath the Temple of the 
  Frog] contains a tribe of ten trolls ... laying in wait ... beneath the three bridges 
  north of their room. There is a 1 in 6 chance that when entering passages ... or when 
  crossing one of the bridges that 1-3 trolls will be encountered.”262 
  Concerning the original version near the Blackmoor wall, player Greg Svenson 
  has shared a few more remembered details in regards to this instance:  “There was 
  a bridge over the river within the town walls and initially there had been a troll 
  living under the bridge.  I think [player-controlled characters] William of the Heath 
  and Mello killed the troll, but I am not sure.”263 
  We hear elsewhere that player Bill Meyer’s character (aka Robert the Bald) got 
  “one-shotted” by this terrible troll, getting killed in a single round of combat.  This 
  incident would apparently force Arneson to start thinking about more gradient-
  oriented damage for player character moving forward … an innovation which we 
  would now think of as “hit points.”264  As Bill once explained, “The troll killed me 
  in no time at all, and I was a hero!  I refused to have anything to do with Blackmoor 
                                                             
  261 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 19. 
  262 Featured in the text of Dungeons & Dragons, Supplement II:  Blackmoor, 1975. 
  263 ODD74 Proboards forum thread, “Blackmoor town and dungeon alignment,” reply 
  posted on August 30th, 2010. 
  264 See the Hidden in Shadows blog, “Blackmoor as a Chainmail Campaign,” July 20th, 
  2017. 
  
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  for a very long time after that.”265 
  Bill Heaton’s aforementioned troll-slaying character William of the Heath, by 
  the way, was later known (c. early 1973-onward) as the “Blue Rider” for his sword 
  (named Old Blue)266 “magical” powered armor, and Mel Johnson’s halfling 
  character Mello Feathertoes was ever his faithful sidekick.267  We will learn some 
  more about the adventures of William and Mello a little further on. 
  By the end of the frenetic play session, a fair number of Dave’s players were 
  already won over by this radical new gaming idea.  As Arneson later enthused, 
  “Most [of the players] thought the whole idea was great!”268 
  It was, indeed, the beginning of a very strange and wonderful thing. 
  Whatever else may have happened during that first evening, the defenders of 
  Blackmoor claimed a hard-won victory in the end.  A new Baron was promoted to 
  replace the treacherous Weasel, and a warrior named Jenkins (played by Duane 
  Jenkins)269 became Sir Jenkins as a result of his bold heroics during battle.  (The 
  strategic hill may have been named in his honor at this time; no one can quite 
  remember.)  Overall the game was a wild success, although this was more because 
  of the players’ growing enthusiasm and less because of any elegance or ingenuity in 
  the rules. 
  The new game was not only fun, it was deadly to the imaginary characters too.  
  The lethality of the utilized Chainmail system — at least when applied to a one 
  player, to one character environment — would force a change in wound tracking 
  early on.  The players wanted to protect their surviving characters, and the harsh 
  rules quickly made them realize that a single blow could wipe out a Hero with one 
  unlucky throw of the dice.  Some of the players (like poor Bill, smacked by the troll) 
  apparently lost their alter ego characters, while others decided to retire them before 
  any random deathblows might befall them.  “We quickly decided that we should 
  retire those characters and start new ones,” player Ross Maker once recalled.270 
                                                             
  265 Online web forum post:  Comeback Inn forums.  “CoT — Dave Arneson’s Newsletter,” 
  March 7th, 2016. 
  266  
  267 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.”  See also 
  Dungeon Module DA1, Adventures in Blackmoor (pp. 54 and 64). 
  268 Dragon magazine, issue #249, pg. 120. 
  269 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot forums, “Early Blackmoor 
  questions.” 
  270 Refer to twincities.com, the Dave Arneson obituary, April 9th, 2009. 
  
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  The later introduction of “Hits to Kill” (HtK) or “hit points,” created to represent 
  bleeding and gradually depleted health, would soon replace the binary dead/not 
  dead resolution system.  In Miracle Max terms, hit points would allow for a “mostly 
  dead” distinction of mortal discomfort for unlucky heroes as well. 
  As Arneson explained further in an interview, “We started out using the 
  Chainmail combat system.  ...  I think we used that for two games.”271  (Another 
  admission, by the way, that Chainmail preceded Blackmoor.)  And elsewhere:  “We 
  had to change [the lethality rules] almost after the first weekend.  Combat in 
  Chainmail is simply rolling two six-sided dice, and you either defeated the monster 
  and killed it … or it killed you.  It didn’t take too long for players to get attached 
  to their characters, and they wanted something detailed which Chainmail didn’t 
  have.”272 
  Despite such flaws which required fixing on the fly, the first Blackmoor game 
  was liberating, because — unlike in the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign — the 
  players could not argue with the referee (Arneson) about the realism of any of his 
  rulings.  “We would get in these arguments,” Dave explained, “about historical 
  accuracy ... and what was ‘real.’  Going into a fantasy world was actually again kind 
  of a copout from my point of view. I didn’t want people always coming up with 
  some new book saying we just had to use, because it was ‘right’ and the old one 
  was ‘wrong.’  This was a fantasy world, so who could come up with anything to 
  prove that he was lying or that a monster wasn’t accurately represented?”273 
  After that first game defending Blackmoor from the Weasel and the vile legions 
  of the Coot, the players demanded more.  Many more games would be played, but 
  this early momentum would soon be cut short by Arneson’s graduation and family 
  trip to Sweden (beginning in May 1971).  But even while Dave was gone, the group 
  was buzzing about the game.  “Once play began,” according to another interview’s 
  introduction, “the players were hooked and the Blackmoor Adventures came to 
  dominate the group’s interest with only an occasional break for Napoleonics.”274 
  It appears that the redesign of Blackmoor’s own evolving rules systems was 
  primarily driven by Arneson, but that the group came up with many ideas for new 
  monsters in the week following that first April 17th play session.  They had a lot of 
                                                             
  271 Online interview:  Gamasutra, Dungeons & Dragons’ Arneson:  The Lost Interview. 
  272 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19th, 2004. 
  273 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19th, 2004. 
  274 “An Interview with Dave Arneson” in Pegasus Magazine, issue #1, April / May 1981. 
  
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  great ideas, and Dave added dozens of their monsters before the next Blackmoor 
  session was played.  These monsters were codified based on the Chainmail examples 
  and comparative gauging of creature abilities.  For all of the new monsters, Dave 
  and the others came up with comparable values based on each monster’s perceived 
  power and size.  “And we did that for [all] the monsters,” Dave explained; “we 
  assigned values to them:  giants are big, orcs are little.  We tried to make the 
  creature’s power similar to what its size was.”275 
   
   
  “How many hit dice does he have again?” 
                                                             
  275 Online interview:  Gamasutra, Dungeons & Dragons’ Arneson:  The Lost Interview. 
  
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  The weekly Blackmoor games (likely with some of the new monsters) continued 
  until Arneson left for Sweden, with perhaps one other April session, and perhaps 
  one or two more in May.  The games then resumed when he returned to Minnesota 
  in July.  The games were all played on Saturdays, and the wild free-for-all battles 
  forced many of the other rules to change as well.  To avoid slowing down play, 
  Dave was forced to make arbitrary rulings for weird situations on the fly.  It is very 
  important that I point out here that these were quickly informed and off-the-cuff 
  decisions, not codified systems.  Dave, quite simply, didn’t roll that way.  He knew 
  from the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign that the game could grind to a halt if 
  there were any disagreements or over-complexity in the rules.  And he wanted to 
  have fun, to keep the game moving while the action was hot.  Rulings were written 
  down when there was time and perhaps tweaked and modified once again. 
  This fun-loving attitude, combined with haphazard record keeping, would later 
  give Gary Gygax a huge dose of frustrations which would in turn cause Gary to 
  scrap much of Arneson’s rulings and to lock some cleaner and more codified systems 
  into place for what would later become Dungeons & Dragons (aka The Fantasy 
  Game).  Long before Dave even knew he would be working with Gary in designing 
  The Fantasy Game, the two men’s vastly different play styles were sowing future 
  seeds of discord. 
  Arneson’s rulings were frequently sound, but they were not always made to the 
  detriment of the monsters.  Some of the players played evil characters, so the rules 
  needed to be fairly applied to both sides.  And the monsters which no player was 
  controlling sometimes had significant advantages.  Dave’s game was fully intended 
  to be extremely challenging to the players on either side of that philosophical 
  equation.  As future Blackmoor observer Rob Kuntz would later note (from being 
  able to delve a bit into Arneson’s world in 1972 and later), “In Blackmoor … the 
  playing field was not even, especially in the days when Dave's players were 
  establishing what their environment consisted off, how much there was of it and to 
  what degree, and how fast they could run away if need be.”276 
  Blackmoor was not just a world of heroes, after all.  The foul monsters and 
  otherworldly beasties were often more than a match for mere tasty mortals to 
  contend with! 
  Balance was attempted overall, however.  The players always had a chance.  The 
  monsters were play tested to destruction, literally, and their various powers were 
  adjusted as needed.  Some of the monsters which made their first appearance in 
  Blackmoor included the now-classic gargoyles, giant beetles, Blob-like slimes, and 
                                                             
  276 Online web forum post:  Piedpiperpublishing.yuku.com.  Pied Piper Publishing forums, 
  “The Dungeon Layout.”  Posted January 26th, 2007. 
  
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  various colors and sizes of dragons.277  And because so many new monsters had 
  been added to the game so quickly, Dave was (fortunately!) forced to start 
  documenting a little bit of the wild Blackmoor monster “system.”  As Dave once 
  indicated, “The initial Chainmail [monster and hero power system] was a matrix. 
  That was okay for a few different kinds of units, but by the second weekend we 
  already had 20 or 30 different monsters, and the matrix was starting to fill up the 
  loft.”278 
  Through such innovations, Dave was compelled to begin sorting and compiling 
  all of the varied notes and rulings which hinged on combat and other actions.  He 
  was “building up a set of rules as we went along,” and so he “kept track of ... rules 
  decisions in a big black notebook ... so I didn’t contradict myself too often.”279 
  By the time the second game was over, as I have noted, Dave had noticed that 
  the players wanted to keep playing the same advancing characters, even though the 
  rules were being made up from moment to moment.  Anyone could die at any 
  time, but the survivors were coveted and celebrated by the players.  Therefore, he 
  realized that he also needed to refer to some older guidelines that he and Dave 
  Wesely had used for the earlier “Braunstein” role-playing scenarios, since Chainmail 
  was simply too restrictive to allow for much role-playing that could actually 
  influence the course of actions in the game.  Dave explained not only that Chainmail 
  “did not really work for role-playing,” but also that “it was too restrictive for critters 
  and magic.  So then, the rudimentary and evolving Blackmoor system was 
  necessarily spawned as a way to get around the limitations in [Gary’s] rules.280 
  The Blackmoor campaign grew considerably from July 1971 (with Arneson’s 
  return to America and gaming) and throughout the summer and autumn, well into 
  December.  The sessions became less about individual scenario actions and more 
  about the continuing story of the player-controlled survivors.  With players on both 
  the “Hero” (good) and “Baddie” (evil) sides of the board, the campaign would 
  eventually develop over the years to encompass an entire war-driven 
  socioeconomic fantasy fiefdom simulation … far beyond the lands of Blackmoor 
  proper. 
  This would be quite different from the later adventures featured in Dungeons & 
                                                             
  277 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  278 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19th, 2004. 
  279 “An Interview with Dave Arneson” in Pegasus Magazine, issue #1, April / May 1981. 
  280 ODD74 Proboards forums, Official Dave Arneson Q&A Thread. 
  
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  Dragons.  The published 1974 D&D game, by comparison, would focus more on 
  dungeon exploration by small parties.  Arneson’s Blackmoor game at its most 
  complex, however, was much more of a freeform role-playing wargame with some 
  dungeon adventure components bolted on, and various factions vying for 
  supremacy. 
  In Dave’s more refined games, the players would be given control of a 
  potentially powerful character who in turn controlled a body of troops and 
  servants.  Most characters controlled a territory, and each was given a budget to 
  run the territory, raise armies, purchase siege weapons, establish trade routes, wage 
  wars and so forth.281  Most, but not all, of the players were allied with one another 
  as the Heroes.  Rulings and test systems continued to be written down.  Some of 
  this experimental campaign information would find its way into D&D by way of 
  castle descriptions and baronies for “name level” characters, but a full simulation of 
  fiefdoms on Blackmoor’s level would be out of the reach of published Dungeons & 
  Dragons for quite some time. 
  The grand Blackmoor experiment proved to be both ugly and magnificent.  
  Dave’s game was a veritable Frankenstein of random joy, melee, desperate plans, 
  more desperate rulings, blood and shrapnel, but it worked.  Despite all of its sloppy 
  “rules,” missing records, vague descriptions and frustratingly absent written history, 
  Blackmoor was a flawed and glorious masterpiece far ahead of its time. 
   
   
                                                             
  281 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  CHAPTER 6 
  RAPSCALLIONS AND RUMORMONGERS 
  (C. APRIL — DECEMBER 1971) 
   
  I entered the grave of Karr the Old, 
  I rived his sword away; 
  I strove with the troll at Thorod's-stead, 
  Before the break of day. 
  With Thorbiorn Oxmain in the marsh 
  I fought, and his blood I shed; 
  Against Thorir of Garth have I stood in arms, 
  Who long would have me dead. 
   
  — Grettir the Outlaw (one of the great Icelandic sagas), as translated by Sabine 
  Baring-Gould 
   
  DUE TO the random gifts of Fate, the tale of Blackmoor’s other early games no 
  longer needs to abruptly end after that second monster-filled session, likely played 
  in late April, 1971.  We can delve a little further. 
  Until relatively recently, our understanding of mid-1971 Blackmoor was limited 
  mostly to Arneson’s interview asides, scattered accounts, the faded memories of 
  veteran players, and a few meager published pieces of data as I have described 
  above.  Fortunately, due to some major research work conducted over the last 
  several years by Jon Peterson — coupled with some great forum posts by past 
  Blackmoor campaign participants — it is now possible for us to reconstruct many 
  of the details of what actually transpired in this next “secret” batch of Blackmoor 
  games, played out in the spring and summer of 1971.282 
                                                             
  282 Please note that for my tentative reconstruction of several of these details, I am 
  indebted to Jon Peterson’s notes on Arneson’s old newsletter, the Blackmoor Gazette 
  and Rumormonger.  The history of the Blackmoor campaign is convoluted and heavily 
  obfuscated by time, and specific chronological events may need to be restricted in the 
  future as more privately-held information becomes publicly available … slowly. 
  
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  The story, many of its details long lost, goes something like this: 
  At various points, the larger assemblage of players in Dave’s campaign created 
  rudimentary characters, termed either as Flunkies (future Heroes) and/or Magician 
  Apprentices (future Wizards), based on their preferred melee-or-magic archetype as 
  presented in Chainmail.  Some of these characters were created in the early April 
  tests, while more were added later as casualties were suffered and the game 
  expanded.  Player Dave Fant’s character for example was the Baron Fant (new ruler 
  of Blackmoor Castle);283 Pete Gaylord’s was the Wizard of the Wood,284 who has 
  sometimes been called the first wizard of all.285  The Wizard of the Wood was a 
  “chubby, slovenly” Radagast-type outsider named both “the Wizard Gaylord” and 
  “Sildonis,” who commanded a force of ents and pixies.286  
  Meanwhile, Duane Jenkins played the Sir and Baron Jenkins (the ruler of another 
  nearby Barony on the borders of Blackmoor’s holdings, and victor over the Coot 
  Invasion).  John Snider played John of Snyder (aka Bozero, the Inspector General 
  and agent from the far-off Great Kingdom of King Robert I, to which the Barony 
  paid either tribute or token fealty).287 
  It is likely by this time that the two Barons, along with John of Snyder, were 
  each veteran “Heroes” in Chainmail terms, capable of surviving horrors which many 
                                                             
  283 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  284 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  285 Refer to the David Megarry-hosted Youtube video, “The World’s First Wizard.” 
  286 Refer to Dungeon Module DA1, Adventures in Blackmoor (pg. 59) and The First Fantasy 
  Campaign (pg. 4).  The preserved Wizard Gaylord character sheet (along with some 
  other sources revealed in 2016 and 2017) includes some additional details which are of 
  interest.  It seems that the Wizard was an “organic type” spell caster in Arneson’s system, 
  meaning that he was a druidic mage.  His power was derived from the magical super 
  berries which grew in the Wizard Wood.  As Pete once explained (see the Youtube video 
  The World’s First Wizard), “As a magic-user, I would take the super berry and we did get 
  a spell going, and the super berry would enhance the spell.”  Pete explained further:  
  “There was a [miniature] tree, it was off a railroad game, and it was supposed to be an 
  orange tree.  But the oranges were about the [scale] size of basketballs, in proportion to 
  the people.  So he [Arneson] called them ‘super berries.’  So I [playing as the Wizard of 
  the Wood] was able to take the super berry … and you can throw spells that are for 
  higher [level] people.”  This was apparently part of the beginning of level-oriented magic, 
  and the hierarchy of spell power.  And instead of having a THAC0 score, Gaylord’s stats 
  on the sheet include combat scores or “weapon classifications” for twenty-one different 
  weapon types, from dagger to bombard. 
  287 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  
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  mere warriors, soldiers and other breeds of Flunky could never hope to endure. 
  We learn from The First Fantasy Campaign that “The Baron Fant was placed in 
  command of Blackmoor Castle after his successful operations during the first Coot 
  invasion.”  Also, Baron Jenkins was the man who ruled “the northernmost march 
  of the Great Kingdom, which rests on the actual frontier with the Egg of Coot.” 
   
   
  “The Egg, or Blackmoor … 
  which ruler and direction ever shall be the more dangerous, 
  that is the question …” 
  
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  We also now have some more concrete early play information from player 
  David Megarry as well.  David knows he was not at the earliest Blackmoor sessions 
  (April-May), and he currently estimates that he began playing around July of 1971.  
  And blessedly, thanks to Megarry himself, Secrets of Blackmoor, and Dan Boggs, we 
  have knowledge from Megarry’s earliest Blackmoor character sheets and some 
  additional (ongoing) analysis to help us fill in a few more of the cryptic puzzle 
  pieces.288 
  David Megarry thinks that he might have rolled up an initial test character to 
  learn the ropes under player Duane Jenkins’ tutelage, but he can’t 100% remember 
  … and even if he did, the test character certainly didn’t last long.  Following that 
  came Megarry’s recorded character McDuck.  McDuck, the bandit chief, died fairly 
  quickly and early on.  This in turn led to Megarry’s play of the various successor 
  characters listed in columns on Megarry’s first character sheets, including the more 
  successful Number One (a second bandit chief), “Hey You” (a galley captain), and 
  the intrepid dungeon delver, H. W. Dumbo.289 
  We’ll talk about Mr. Dumbo a little later on, when we’re detailing the secrets of 
  the not-yet-created dungeons, to be discovered in the stony depths underneath 
  Castle Blackmoor. 
  * * * * * 
  As these games progressed, each player chose (or was assigned) their own 
  territory in the region of Blackmoor Village as a sole domain, and so the simulation 
  continued while assimilating the deeper details of role-playing and unpredictable 
  player involvement.  As I will explain shortly, it appears that Arneson may have 
  designed his early game so that each campaign year passed in monthly turns, with 
  adjudication of expressed player character actions occurring in the later-developed 
  referee reports.  Passing time allowed for realm upkeep, resource generation, force 
                                                             
  288 Refer to Secrets of Blackmoor (Facebook), as well as the Hidden in Shadows blog, 
  “Megarry Early Blackmoor Character Matrix,” October 9th, 2016. 
  289 There were other characters after H. W. Dumbo that we currently know very little 
  about, including David “Diamonds” Balfour, Baron He(r)cebeiner the “Herk,” the 
  “Badland Herk,” the Scholaress, and so forth.  The Scholaress would apparently be alive 
  in the campaign in 1974.  Hopefully, in the future we will have enough information to tell 
  some of the adventures of each of these wanderers … but don’t hold your breath!  We’re 
  entirely at the mercy of new discoveries. 
  
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  recuperation, and Arneson’s later “Gypsy Saying”290 and “Chance Card”291 systems, 
  which in turn generated omens and random events.  Examples of Chance Card 
  events include raids, migrations, uprisings, caravans, droughts, storms, earthquakes, 
  and the ever-dreaded plague.292 
  The game year (not real year) was apparently set as 1071 “AC” (perhaps an 
  acronym for “Arneson Campaign,” or “Arneson Chronology”) which may also be 
  a reference to the real year of 1971 AD, as well as a nod to the era of the influential 
  historical “campaign” manuscript known as the Domesday Book (compiled in the 
  11th century, with years similarly numbered 10XX). 
  That is all well and good, but this background information doesn’t tell you the 
  reader how Arneson’s campaign systems really worked.  So before going on and 
  getting too deeply mired in the stories, I should explain a bit about timekeeping 
  and event coordination in the Blackmoor campaign. 
  You have probably come to the uncomfortable realization — from the way I am 
  writing and describing all of this — that the cryptic historical hints we have now (as 
  outside observers 40+ years later) range from the mildly confusing to the downright 
  baffling, taunting us with uncertainties as we try to interpret what happened.  
  Almost none of the things we know about the campaign are 100% concrete and 
  certain.  We do know that “real time” and “game time” in Blackmoor were entirely 
  separate things, because of the precedent set by Diplomacy and the long seasonal 
  turns the play group experienced during the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign 
  (NSC).  Arneson seemed to prefer that model.  Blackmoor, in some ways following 
  the model of the NSC, was set up with Arneson-designed Scenarios which may have 
  lasted approximately 1 Game Year (but not Real Year!) each.  Scenario 1 for example 
  was probably the First Coot Invasion.  Scenario 3 involved “The Great Invasion,” 
  and played out in four seasonal Stages (I - Spring, II - Summer, III - Fall, and IV - 
  Winter).293 
  There may have also been as I mentioned 12 Turns per Game Year, based on the 
                                                             
  290 The Gypsy Saying cards were first used in the second game year of the Blackmoor 
  campaign; refer to First Fantasy Campaign, pg. 47. 
  291 Separate from the Gypsy Saying cards, the Chance Cards were first used in the third 
  game year of the campaign for more concrete events beyond mere omens and 
  forewarnings.  Again refer to First Fantasy Campaign, pg. 47. 
  292 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition.  See pp. 48-49. 
  293 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 4. 
  
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  Game Months (1 as January, 2 – February, 3 – March, and so forth).  As we read at 
  one point in some of Arneson’s very partial game instructions:  “You will roll at 
  random for the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September to see 
  when these groups of five [farmers and children] enter the [game] board.”294  These 
  monthly turns may have primarily been used internally, as a GM-only tracking 
  mechanism for predestined campaign events.  Players may have received specifically 
  tailored “Game Month” monthly updates on their ongoing actions, and/or they 
  may have been given opportunities to undertake new actions at various times of 
  the year. 
  And there is more.  As we read in Arneson’s account concerning event 
  generation, “A set of Chance [random event] Cards was set up.  Each month, one 
  was drawn from the deck and its effect was worked into the game.  As Judge, I 
  drew the cards one game year in advance to allow for a logical progression of 
  events.”295  It appears further that individual player-and-force actions and 
  movements (marches, sieges, quests, etc.) were broken down into months, weeks, 
  or days as necessary for micro-management, while the planned and predestined 
  (GM-generated) campaign events served as the larger overarching experiences 
  which interspersed the random and player-driven activities. 
  The campaign rules were made even more complex as time went by, with Game 
  Year 1 featuring a mix of planned and improvised events only (with most 
  happenings caused or modified by players’ emergent play).  Then Game Year 2 
  featured the aforementioned Gypsy Sayings / Legends for random prophetic omens, 
  while Game Year 3 further featured the Chance Cards for influential out-of-the-
  region events.  Meanwhile, income in gold for each realm and power was 
  apparently replenished every 4 Game Months (turns) to allow for player-
  determined purchases, research, repairs, trade, and the replacement of various losses 
  in the field.296 
  Additionally, every power / force (the Egg of Coot, the Duchy of Ten, 
  Blackmoor Town and Castle, etc.) in the region was given a differing predesignated 
  total number of Army Points which allowed the players — or Arneson the GM, as 
  needed — to assign or raise decent amounts of various unit types such as infantry, 
  ships, and monsters.  The powers were designated as either Evil Forces (aka “the 
                                                             
  294 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 10. 
  295 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 47. 
  296 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 4. 
  
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  Baddies”), Good Forces (the “Good Guys”) or Neutral Forces (those mercurial and 
  opportunistic factions which were picked on or exploited by both sides, as dictated 
  by the circumstances).  Each of these powers was also given a frequently-changing 
  “Alignment Rating” (AR) so that Arneson plan for each power’s role in the overall 
  campaign over time.  This AR code was not an ethical Alignment in the D&D sense 
  as we understand it; rather, it was rather a seasonal military classification which 
  determined a power’s general strategic intent, troop movements, and/or political 
  machinations. 
  For example, for Scenario 3, the Good Force known as Glendower is coded in 
  Arneson’s plan as I – GV, II – GD, III – GV, IV – GA.  This means — per Arneson’s 
  partial and somewhat cryptic explanatory notes — that in Stage I (the spring), 
  Glendower served as a “Good Diversionary.”  This likely indicates the Glendower’s 
  ruler and troops were involved in confusing the Evil Forces in the spring as to the 
  other Good Forces’ tactical movements.  In Stage II (the summer), Glendower was 
  changed to a Good Defender, deflecting evil assaults. 
  Then in Stage III (the fall), Glendower served as a Good Diversionary again 
  (perhaps spreading misinformation about incoming good reinforcements between 
  engagements?), while in Stage IV (the summer) it served as a Good Attacker.  For 
  the length of Scenario 3, there were 20 such powers, with 4 seasonally planned 
  Alignment Ratings each, and we can assume that all of those powers which were 
  not player-controlled were instead run and controlled by Arneson according to his 
  calculated Army Points, income notes, seasonal Alignment Rating and notes on 
  special forces (including Chainmail creatures and characters such as dwarves, heroes, 
  hobbits, pixies, and so forth).297 
  And to give you an idea of the general vicinity of Blackmoor, I would like to 
  provide a quick detailed description of the area.  This summary is based on 
  Arneson’s earliest campaign map, with a few additional features that emerged 
  through campaign play and which were mapped and featured in The First Fantasy 
  Campaign.  Please note that the First Fantasy map is misleadingly excellent, because 
  it rotates the entire region, twists features, changes names, and also gives lots of 
  otherwise-mysterious details.  This necessitates cautious interpretation of the earliest 
  pre-publication map — carefully offset by the later published version — to make 
  any sense of Arneson’s original vision. 
                                                             
  297 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 4. 
  
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  you can refer to my symbolic map, which is very un-detailed, so that the 
  copyright of Blackmoor is protected while still providing you with a general 
  understanding of the region.298 
   
   
  Blackmoor and Environs 101. 
   
  The heart of the area is the Blackmoor Castle promontory [1], which juts into 
  the southernmost part of Blackmoor Bay [2].  North of the promontory and within 
  the bay is a small rocky island [3] with a cave entrance upon its south face [4], 
  labeled as Serpent Rock, aka Dragon Rock.  The shores of this watery region feature 
                                                             
  298 If you’re interested in this topic, be sure to also check out the Secrets of Blackmoor 
  post on Facebook from December 2nd, 2016, which reveals some more mapping and 
  environ details from player David Megarry. 
  
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  shipwrecks from failed Skandaharian Viking raids [5].  Presumably, the Norse realm 
  of Skandahar lies far to the north over the open waters beyond the Bay [6], perhaps 
  where Gary located “Northern Barbarians” in the world of the Great Kingdom. 
  If we attempt to coincide these details with the Great Kingdom map that Arneson 
  was inspired by, we see that Blackmoor is situated upon the river which runs from 
  the mountains north of Per(r)unland, flowing northeast into the Great Bay.  To 
  make this arrangement work, the mouth of that river — which runs due east in the 
  Great Kingdom portrayal — needs to be interpreted as curving to the northeast just 
  as it enters the bay.  Blackmoor Castle promontory is immediately to the northeast 
  of the river’s snaky end. 
  Just south of the promontory, on the mainland, is Blackmoor Town [light green 
  ellipse with black border, 7].  This is a walled elliptical region with jagged-formation 
  walls (detail not shown), split into rough quarters by a single crossroads.  The north 
  branch of the crossroads (Castle Road) [8] leads past the graveyard [9], onto the 
  promontory and up to Blackmoor Castle [star on the map, 10].  The south branch 
  (the South Road) [11] goes through the South Gate [12], toward Tonisburg.  The 
  east branch (perhaps the Swamp or Wolf Road) [vicinity of 13] goes through the 
  Swamp Gate [14], with that road turning northeast toward Svenny’s Freehold [15] 
  and on through Wolf’s Head Pass [16] toward the Wizard Wood.  And, the west 
  branch (Troll Bridge Lane) [vicinity of 17] goes directly to the nearby river via the 
  Troll Gate [18], where the now-infamous Troll Bridge [19] runs northwest past 
  [Duane] Jenkins Hill (a strategic rise overlooking the Bay)299 [20] all the way to 
  Glendower. 
  There appear to be 40 family residences and other minor buildings within the 
  “city” walls, and a few other major buildings which are centered upon the main 
  crossroads.  (The center core where this crossroads nexus meets is known as Victory 
  Square [21], and that is where the oft-used hangman’s gallows are.)  The major 
  buildings there around Victory Square are the Comeback Inn (northeast quarter) 
  [22], the Church of Blackmoor (sometimes wryly called the Church of the Facts of 
  Life, southeast quarter) [23], the Warehouse [24] and Merchant’s Store (southwest 
  quarter) [25], and another edifice which might be named the Smoke Dragon Inn 
  [26].  The originally inked name of that place is too cramped and smeared for me 
  to fully decipher, but The First Fantasy Campaign map labels it clearly as “Town 
  Inn.” 
                                                             
  299 Jenkins Hill would later be known as Vampire Hill, due to the machinations of the 
  vampire Sir Fang.  See Secrets of Blackmoor, Facebook, December 2nd, 2016. 
  
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  Using these many features and a few other proffered names to hazily envision 
  the daily hustle and bustle of Blackmoor Town, the quarters could tentatively be 
  called the Wharf Quarter (northeast),300 the Horseman’s Court Quarter (southeast), 
  the Merchant’s Quarter (southwest) and the Cemetery Quarter (northwest).  It 
  appears that the northeast is used mainly for shipping in the Castle’s shadow, the 
  southeast is used for troop mustering and ritual, the southwest is used for goods 
  storage and sales, and the northwest is primarily historic and defensive, leading out 
  both to the Troll Gate and up to the Castle rise. 
  The town would later have two major political factions:  the thieves and 
  underground criminal faction (portrayed in a map in red), who would be led by a 
  “bandit chief” character (the aforementioned “McDuck”) run by David Megarry; 
  and the merchant (and guards and allies), who would be controlled by Dan 
  Nicholson.301 
  Blackmoor was portrayed as a dangerous frontier town, and so the merchant 
  would be the local boss … much like the tough foreman in control of an 1800s 
  lumber camp.  He would be running the company store where everyone spent their 
  money, giving him a great of control.  Influence would shift between McDuck and 
  the merchant, with heists, thefts, guards protecting shipments, and so forth.  
  McDuck was something of a reckless daredevil (we’ll be nice and not say he was 
  incompetent), and he would die in an early adventure.  He was then replaced by a 
  lieutenant — also played by Megarry — who would be christened with an enigmatic 
  code phrase, “Number One” (much like a Commander Riker to a Captain Picard. 
  * * * * * 
  So there you are, Blackmoor in a nutshell.  That’s the simple version.  Clear as 
  mud? 
  Most excellent. 
  This, fortuitously, means that you’re now ready and eager for the bad news:  we 
  only know the Game Time for a few of the reported Blackmoor events, and the 
  Real Time for a few others, and there are conflicting partial accounts which give 
  different crucial details, while we also need to guess at the timeframes for everything 
  not mentioned or improperly recollected, based on these scant and faded mile 
  markers which we find looming forth from the mists of absolute gaming Chaos from 
  time to time. 
                                                             
  300 This would be the home area for David Megarry’s character H. W. Dumbo, which we 
  will have quite a bit more to say about later on. 
  301 Refer to Secrets of Blackmoor, Facebook, December 2nd, 2016. 
  
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  Perfectly comprehensible.  And how fun!  We’ve totally got this.  Let’s figure out 
  as much of this mind-boggling chronicle as we can. 
  * * * * * 
  And so, we journey back to our early Blackmoor play reports … 
  As the games progressed, the Wizard of the Wood was able to secure a pet red 
  (?)302 she-dragon, whose name was Gertrude.  It may even be that “Gerti” was the 
  mate of a he-dragon named “Tiger,” or they were one and same, because “Gerti” 
  is simply an anagram of “Tiger”; the details are a bit confused. 
  Despite an allusion that Gerti was the only dragon extant in early Blackmoor,303 
  it appears that Tiger may have been an entirely separate beastie.  It is also said that 
  Gerti dwelled inside a cavern situated on Dragon Rock, the stony isle dominating 
  Blackmoor Bay, near to the Castle proper.  This strategic position allowed her to 
  control the influx of treasure and merchants coming in from ports afar.304 
  In the autumnal phase (perhaps still in Scenario 1, or maybe Scenario 2), Baron 
  Jenkins was forced out of his Barony by a second wave of evil invaders.  These were 
  perhaps the surviving forces of that strange alien entity known as the Egg of Coot.  
  Jenkins therefore fled south into the allied Barony of Blackmoor, bringing several 
  thousand troops along to protect him. 
  Due to the earlier alliance against the Weasel and the Coot, his sister was the 
  wife of Baron Fant,305 and so Baron Jenkins had good reason to believe that he 
  could seek sanctuary in Castle Blackmoor once again. 
   
                                                             
  302 Gerti’s actual color — likely of interest to fans of Gygaxian chromatic dragons, as well 
  as his early Tolkienesque dragon articles — is one of those random pieces of minutiae 
  that is impossible to pin down.  Gerti might as well be a rainbow dragon, or an oversized 
  chameleon, because of the conflicting accounts.  For example Chirine ba Kal 
  (Comeback Inn forums, “A Post I’m Not Happy About Writing” says in passing that Gerti 
  was a great golden dragon in the game, but that the miniature created to represent her 
  was gray.  Others say she was red or green or something else. 
  303 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition.  See pg. 17. 
  304 Online web forum posts:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Q&A 
  with Jeff Berry” and “Gertrude the Dragon.” 
  305 Online web forum posts:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Jon 
  Peterson’s book and scans.” 
  
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  “An unlikely alliance to be sure.  No strings attached, aye?” 
  “But of course.” 
  
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  One of the early random events in the campaign involved a gypsy caravan 
  rolling up to camp outside the village walls.  Most of the populace went out to 
  enjoy the rare festivities offered by these wanderers.  Baron Fant himself even 
  invested in “private performances by individual female members,” as well as some 
  intense sessions of fortune telling for the sake of prophecy. 
  Given Arneson’s play style, it is likely that he was allowing his friend Dave Fant 
  to expend some gold in an attempt to foresee (and perhaps influence) the future 
  happenings of the campaign.  As Dave once coyly mentioned, “The infamous Gypsy 
  Sayings merely state what might happen, and allow the players a chance to get out 
  of the steamroller’s way.”306 
  Another random event in the autumn involved a sudden earthquake,307 which 
  caused these gypsies to flee.  Castle Blackmoor was damaged, and the village slums 
  were leveled.  As the seasons progressed into the next game year, “Gerti” the dragon 
  hatched a clutch of eggs (was “Tiger” the father?), and five little dragonets were 
  born.  These slithy horrors promptly terrorized the countryside by feasting on 
  livestock, stealing their tasty kill-burgers from nearby farms.  The creatures the 
  dragonets preyed upon were not cows, but rather the hardy and cold-loving beasts 
  of Blackmoor:  “Oversized member[s] of the bison family.” 
  These acts of predation were by no means welcomed by the already hard-
  pressed denizens of Blackmoor, and so the Wizard — as the dragonets’ owner — 
  was forced to provide restitutions in the form of a hefty penalty in gold.  Further, 
  the Wizard was at pains to assure the Barons Fant and Jenkins that Gerti’s progeny 
  would be leaving the Barony, as soon as they were able to fly dependably on their 
  own. 
  Gerti herself was tolerated, however, due to the powerful deterring effect she 
  had on foreign invaders.  It seems that the locals knew that they needed to pay 
  tribute to Gerti from time to time (the price of doing business and staying alive, one 
  might suppose), but every once in a while a band of daring foreigners would sweep 
  into the Bay and fall prey to this indignant guardian who dominated the icy Baronial 
  shores.308 
                                                             
  306 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  307 Very tentatively, this event probably dates between fall 1971 and the beginning of 
  1972.  We know this because when David Megarry’s character H. W. explored the 
  dungeons below the castle, he found tunnels blocked by cave-ins.  Now naturally, this is 
  sheer speculation … but I’m not the only person convinced that this might be the case! 
  308 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Q&A 
  with Jeff Berry.” 
  
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  With spring turning into summer, the resulting thaw allowed travelers to journey 
  from the southern Great Kingdom up into Blackmoor for various reasons.  The most 
  troubling of these delegations was led by John of Snyder, the King’s Inspector 
  General himself. 
  The rampages of Gerti’s young, as well as invasions by other evil monsters, had 
  caused the Great King Robert to order a troop of horsemen (led by John) to conduct 
  a “tax receipt review” at Castle Blackmoor.  After all, if livestock were being killed, 
  such losses (in another nod to the real life nature of the Domesday Book) would 
  directly affect the Great King’s income!  Completely unacceptable. 
  John of Snyder was thus able to happily pressure Baron Fant with reports of the 
  Great King’s concerns, and in response the good-and-shifty Baron raised taxes on 
  his beleaguered people.  But Fant’s shrewish wife drove him to drink excessively, 
  which ended up causing a disturbance when he and his men got drunk at the local 
  tavern — an edifice enchanted by wild magic, known as the Comeback Inn309 — 
  and smashed it to pieces.  More gold, naturally, would need to be paid out by 
  Baron Jenkins for repairs.310 
  And as the Blackmoor campaign expanded, it became weirder, more non-
  traditional, and more amusing.  The Tolkien-inspired bounds of orthodox medieval-
  esque fantasy did not exist.  In fact, there were no barriers at all, save for Arneson’s 
  imagination and the whims of his unpredictable players.  Technology both ancient 
  and new was uncovered by various, and alien worlds were strongly hinted at.  The 
  campaign would thus come to feature “steam power, gunpowder, and submarines 
  in limited numbers.  There was even a tank running around for a while.”311 
   
                                                             
  309 Dungeon Module DA1, Adventures in Blackmoor, pg. 5.  The Comeback Inn in 
  Blackmoor was inspired by a real-world pub in Melrose Park; refer to Havard’s Blackmoor 
  Blog, entry dated November 10th, 2010. 
  310 My apologies if I have gotten any of the relationships between characters or other 
  details wrong; the record is very confusing. 
  311 Dragon magazine, issue #249, pg. 120. 
  
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  “With the wind and hard to port, Svenson.  Do be on the watch for dragons.” 
   
  One of the truly great things about the open-ended structure (or lack thereof) 
  was that the players needed to explain their curious actions, ask questions, get 
  feedback, and wholly assume the roles of their newfangled characters.  “The 
  emphasis [was] on the story,” Dave explained, “and the role-playing.”312  In many 
  ways, the lack of rules became the game, defining possibilities instead of restrictions 
  imposed upon the unlimited mode of play. 
  And so it went.  The game would continue in this manner with revenue counted, 
  expenses tallied, actions stated, encounters generated, and so on until the players 
  tired or there was a clear “winner” of the campaign.  The goal, it seems, was not 
  only to acquire gold and power, but to inconvenience rival players in unexpected 
  and amusing ways. 
                                                             
  312 Dragon magazine, issue #249, pg. 120. 
  
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  As can be seen, after these early sessions Dave’s game was already moving well 
  away from Chainmail and into the uncharted waters of improvised fantasy role-
  playing.  The more each player conducted surprising actions, the more Dave was 
  forced to make and record new rulings to handle their feats.  Gary noted later that 
  Dave had not only “worked up a campaign from the Chainmail fantasy rules,” but 
  that he had also made “considerable expansion in many areas.”313 
  By mixing wargaming and role-playing in such unpredictable ways, Dave and his 
  players were unknowingly shifting the entire paradigm of improvisatory play.  The 
  Fantasy Role-Playing Game as we know it had finally been born. 
  We’re getting ahead of ourselves with all of this Blackmoor musing, however!  
  Which is the price we pay, at times, for telling a coherent story without too many 
  interruptions.  But we need to backtrack for a while to grant the next big 
  evolutionary steps their true and necessary context, so … let’s check back in with 
  the Lake Geneva gamers in Wisconsin. 
  * * * * * 
  At about this same time, Gary’s group was beginning to enjoy the widening 
  popularity of their own innovative fantasy wargaming rules.  After the publication 
  of Chainmail (March 1971), Gary and friends found themselves playing with many 
  more other people who were interested in (and excited by) the new concepts of 
  Swords & Sorcery in wargaming.  “The Chainmail Fantasy games soon were drawing 
  crowds to the basement sand table,” Gary wrote, “where but a handful of 
  wargamers once played.  It got so crowded that we had to turn gamers away unless 
  they were regulars — no room around the table.”314 
  Later in 1971, Gary would publish a battle report of a very interesting game 
  played with some out-of-towners during this period — a report which may have 
  recorded a pivotal game dated to earlier that year — entitled “The Battle of Brown 
  Hills.”315  When we consider the earlier lag between Gygax’s written “Tolkien 
  fantasy game” notice and that blurb’s eventual publication, and considering how 
  news of this battle scenario was spread to other gamers, we arrive at a very tentative 
  month for the playing of the Brown Hills scenario:  either March or early April, 
  following immediately after the publication of Chainmail itself.  It is still possible, 
  however, that this scenario dates even earlier, to the first Chainmail Fantasy play 
                                                             
  313 “Swords and Sorcery — in Wargaming,” appearing in Wargamer’s Digest, Volume 1, 
  Number 7, May 1974. 
  314 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part III.  Posted April 
  6th, 2003. 
  315 Wargamer’s Newsletter #116. 
  
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  tests conducted around January and February of 1971. 
  Gary’s play report is quite intriguing, because it offers us one of our most detailed 
  glimpses of the Chainmail Fantasy battles in action.  As such, I will offer a detailed 
  account here. 
  First, Gary notes that he was inspired to devise the scenario for his players when 
  he rediscovered “an old map I had drawn of a mythical continent, complete with 
  many fantastic inhabitants.”  This is almost certainly a reference to the Great 
  Kingdom map featured earlier in the Domesday Book.  Gary used the map to plan 
  an entertainment for both his regular players, and a friendly rival group from 
  Madison as well. 
  The Brown Hills scenario appears to be set in a newly-added southern extension 
  of the existing Great Kingdom map.  These details may be of interest to some World 
  of Greyhawk devotees, for — despite the inevitable differences between Gygax’s 
  personal Oerth and the published version — there are deeper glimpses of a far and 
  unknown corner of the published Flanaess we know.  The 1971 names provided in 
  the battle report, and their conjectured (but very rough) 1981 equivalents, include:  
  the Desert of Sorrow (similar to the later Sea of Dust); the Dwarfrealm (perhaps the 
  Lortmils); the Gnyxyg Sea (Azure Sea); the Mountains of Bitter Cold (the 
  Crystalmists); the Giant Mountains (the Jotens); the Home of Dragons (perhaps the 
  Drachensgrab?); Lake Iuz (Whyestil Lake); and the Brown Hills themselves (likely 
  the Kron Hills near the elven kingdom of Celene).  The geography is all wrong of 
  course, yet the atmospheric resonances remain. 
  Gary’s battle report tells us that the forces of Chaos (played by the Madison 
  visitors) arose along the Drearshore, and then by way of the Valley of Iuz they 
  surged into the Dwarfrealm.  This force, led by the fearsome Warlock Huldor ap 
  Skree and the Giant King Verdurmir,316 consisted of Drearshore Horsemen, Land’s 
  End Infantry, Ogres of Iuz, Orcs of the Vile Rune, and Longspear Orcs of the 
  Mountains. 
  The hard-pressed dwarves were forced to abandon their homeland, fleeing into 
  the Brown Hills bordering upon the allied Old Kingdom of mankind.  The Count 
  of Aerll, controlling his regal County situated within the Kingdom, called upon the 
  paladin lords of the Great Keep.  The footmen of the Meadowlands were called 
  into service, as were the elves of the Cairnstones regions and the horseman who 
  dwelt beyond the eastern Silent Forest.  These mighty forces of Law assembled in 
                                                             
  316 By the way, Rob Kuntz would later point out one of Gary’s clever in-jokes hiding here:  
  “Verdurmir,” as written, roughly translates to “The Jolly Green Giant.”  Ho ho ho!  [Lord of 
  the Green Dragons blog, November 18th, 2010.] 
  
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  the hamlet of Lea deep in the shadows of the ominous Brown Hills. 
   
   
  “Hmm, hoom.  Are you truly the one they call ‘Superhero,’ little man?” 
   
  
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  Meanwhile, the Horde of Chaos marched through the mountain passes until they 
  emerged along the Darkling River.  The Count of Aerll boldly moved his forces to 
  constrict the Brown Hills region the pass flowed down to, despite having only 
  marshaled three quarters of his needed force.  There in the Hills, the lords of Law 
  fortified their holdings and stood in defiance.  The Count’s force, led by himself and 
  the esteemed Magician of the Cairn, consisted of Hero-led legions of human infantry 
  and cavalry, as well as elven archers and human knights. 
  The Horde of Chaos charged into the right wing of the assembled legions of 
  Law.  The Count, as champion, charged and engaged Verdurmir in one-on-one 
  combat.  But alas, the rules of chivalric warfare mean nothing to the corrupt!  The 
  Count was also beset upon by a craven Anti-Hero, and so he fell.  The morale of 
  Law’s legions began to crumble, and the formations faltered.  The elven archers 
  wiped out the Longspear Orcs, but the mighty Verdurmir led a charge which 
  neutralized Law’s catapult artillery.  The Magician of the Cairn, instead of being 
  able to rally the legions, was forced to hurl lightning bolts at Verdurmir to send him 
  reeling back. 
  The Magician’s hated rival Huldor ap Skree seized the advantage, and conjured 
  a powerful air elemental.  This, coupled with assaults made by the Ogres of Iuz, 
  caused the army of Law to almost be torn asunder.  Daring counterattacks by the 
  human horsemen, aided by the hard-pressed Magician, forced Huldor onto the 
  defensive at last.  Huldor gave his air elemental free reign, and summoned and 
  bound a fire elemental to defend his immediate surround.  The Magician retreated 
  with his remaining horsemen, hoping to save the Count’s supply and treasure 
  wagons.  But due to horrendous losses, the hosts of Law were by then terribly 
  outnumbered. 
  Gary improvised a nasty event at this point, so that the game would not 
  immediately end in a crushing victory by Chaos.  A hill-dragon had been wakened 
  by all the tumult, and as it observed the fleeing Magician, it saw something very 
  appealing down there where all of those unfortunate mortal insects were busy a-
  dying.  Treasure!  The dragon swooped down, just as Verdurmir and Huldor led 
  their charges in ultimate triumph. 
  The dragon landed amidst the wagons of gold, and killed the nearest guardian 
  — the poor Magician! — with a gout of its fiery breath.  Verdurmir and the air 
  elemental destroyed the dragon, but not before it slaughtered the Ogres of Iuz.  The 
  Chaos Horde of Madison reigned victorious, and the ravaged Legions of Lawful 
  Lake Geneva were compelled to admit defeat. 
  There was a glimmer of hope, however.  The Count of Aerll’s enchanted sword 
  had been lost on the field of battle, and in their frenzy the minions of Chaos did 
  
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  not think to sweep it up.  Perhaps, one day, new heroes of Law would come to 
  seize the sword and to swear their vengeance upon Huldor and the Giant King ... 
  As you can see, the random actions of battle on the sand table, mixed in with 
  Gary’s terrain and improvisations, created an adventure which fires the imagination.  
  This type of gaming was type different from that of Blackmoor, but it created epic 
  events all the same.  We do not know if the forces of Law ever recovered from this 
  catastrophic defeat, or if this was a chronicle of the Great Kingdom’s fabled fall; but 
  the fact that everyone had a great time with the Chainmail Fantasy game is Pyrrhic 
  victory enough. 
  * * * * * 
  While busy running these entertaining fantasy battles, Gary was also stuck in the 
  unenviable position of sweating the success of his newly-released Chainmail game.  
  Fortunately, Chainmail was proving to be a certified “hit” in the small North 
  American wargames market, selling approximately 100 copies a month.317 
  These staid and classic medieval rules were fairly well-received by the wargaming 
  community.  Feedback concerning the outré Fantasy Supplement, however, was 
  much more divided.  Many wargamers reacted with disdain at this frivolous 
  material.  “They wouldn’t speak to me,” Gary said of his critical friends in a later 
  interview.318  In fact, Professor Leon Tucker — a friend and fellow wargamer who 
  took simulationism very seriously indeed — refused to talk to Gary at all after the 
  Fantasy Supplement had been published.319 
  To make things even worse, hardcore fantasy readers were taken aback by 
  Gary’s synthesizing approach, which merged accounts from various fantasy sources 
  to create approximated rules for spells and monsters in a single cohesive universe.  
  Gary was admirably trying to create a synthetic and unified fantasy world comprised 
  of several authors’ sources.  In doing so, he was slighting “the master” Tolkien and 
  his famous halfling tales.  In other words, people were writing letters reprimanding 
  Gary because his “Tolkien wargame” did not solely adhere to Tolkien to the 
  exclusion of other authors! 
  One example of this conundrum (and the perceived problems it would cause) 
  can be seen in Gary’s definitions and rules for trolls.  He provides details for 
                                                             
  317 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  318 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  319 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot forums, “Castle & Crusade 
  Society Tribute Chainmail Game.”  See also ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part III, posted 
  April 6th, 2003; and Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A Part IX, posted February 28th, 2007. 
  
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  “normal” trolls, inspired by the Brothers Grimm and the fairy stories translated by 
  Andrew Lang, equating them with ogres.  But he also notes a sub-species of “true” 
  trolls, which he interpreted from Poul Anderson’s novel Three Hearts and Three 
  Lions and the story The Roaring Trumpet.  The fantasy readers who commented on 
  the Fantasy Supplement, in turn, were mostly devotees of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and 
  The Lord of the Rings.  In those books, an entirely different interpretation of trolls 
  is given.  One Tolkien troll sub-species lives in the mountains, while another is 
  nocturnal and can be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. 
   
   
  *Sniff sniff* 
  “And lo, which sub-species of ‘Boy’ are you?” 
  
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  A fair number of Tolkien devotees responded to Fantasy Chainmail by writing 
  Gary to report such “errors” wherever he had dared to stray too far from Tolkien’s 
  lore.  It must be said that poor Gary left himself wide open for this predicament by 
  drawing up rules for Nazgul, Balrogs, Hobbits, and other creatures found exclusively 
  in Middle Earth, and in no other literary source.  Further, he went so far as to 
  subdivide Chainmail’s orcs into the following groups:  Orcs of the Red Eye, the 
  White Hand, Isengard, and Mordor.  Readers noting these direct borrowings from 
  Professor Tolkien would therefore feel quite justified in noting that Gary had made 
  seeming errors wherever he deviated from this vaunted “Tolkien norm.” 
  Gary, however, had included Tolkien monsters in the Fantasy Supplement not 
  because he loved Middle Earth (he enjoyed The Hobbit, but found The Lord of the 
  Rings to be boring, and never seemed to have made it through the explanatory 
  appendices), but rather because he knew that The Lord of the Rings was by far the 
  most read work of fantasy fiction in the United States.  He included Tolkienesque 
  monsters to encourage sales, although his own tastes leaned more towards the 
  classic pulp adventures of Swords & Sorcery.  From the beginning, a disconnect 
  between Gary’s fantasy games and the fans’ interpretation of his material was 
  inevitable. 
  Nevertheless, despite these frustrations Gary was happy and amused to see that 
  the Fantasy Supplement was the one part of Chainmail that everyone was talking 
  about.  Not everyone loved it, but it was new, innovative and daring.  “Because of 
  the concurrent interest in fantasy literature due to J. R. R. Tolkien’s works,” Gary 
  later explained, “fantasy wargaming was received with considerable enthusiasm.”320 
  Gary’s friend and gaming colleague Len Lakofka noted, “Soon thereafter 
  [following the first publication of Chainmail], Gary began getting more and more 
  response to the supplement than to the manuscript.”321  And in Gary’s own words, 
  “That Fantasy Supplement was the tail that wagged the dog.”322  Incredibly, 
  according to his recollection, “About nine out of ten purchasers were attracted by 
  the fantasy element.”323 
  In answering readers’ questions, Gary came to realize that there was an untapped 
  potential market for fantasy wargaming entirely beyond the historical realm of the 
                                                             
  320 Little Wars #1. 
  321 Editorial note in “Dunned for a Dragon Article,” by Gary Gygax, in Liaisons 
  Dangereuses #70. 
  322 Online web forum post:  The Quarterofthree/CGM Gygax interview. 
  323 Wargamer’s Digest #7. 
  
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  grognards.324  “I had the duty of answering fan mail that the publisher of the work 
  [Don Lowry] forwarded to me regularly,” he once wrote.  “The book was selling 
  well.  The mail poured in.  Several thousand enthusiasts were immersed in the 
  fantasy aspects of miniature gaming ... surprising news!  Although the fact may have 
  been only vaguely perceived as such at the time, this set of rules … was the 
  breakthrough that led to the creation of the first [published] role-playing game.”325 
  * * * * * 
  While Gary was wrestling with these new and welcome difficulties, trying to 
  discern the nature of fantasy wargaming’s newborn fandom, Dave Arneson was 
  learning to more steadily run his unpredictable Blackmoor campaign.  Dave had 
  had a lot of time to think about his new game, the things that had gone wrong, the 
  things that had gone overwhelmingly right, and the types of actions the players 
  were implementing to progressively develop their characters.  Please note that an 
  exacting chronology of Dave’s expanding innovations — point by point — is 
  beyond the realm of possibility, and that some of his new concepts may have been 
  added to his game either in the spring, or later in the winter of 1971-1972, or even 
  later.  Regardless, I summarize these matters here to provide a clearer understanding 
  of what the Blackmoor campaign was and where it was going. 
  Overall, Dave greatly enjoyed the free-wheeling nature of his game.  “I had 
  gotten excited about it,” he said, “because it was different and I wasn’t tied to 
  historical restraints.  I could let my imagination run rampant which it wasn’t usually 
  allowed to do.”326  Planning for the introduction of more characters to be played 
  through many game sessions, he developed the experience progression rules.  These 
  rules would allow the “Flunkies” (the minor warriors and men-at-arms) to become 
  Chainmail’s much stronger Heroes, and eventually for the surviving Heroes to 
  become Superheroes.327  Sometimes the Superheroes would possess wizardly 
  elements as well.  Arneson had already roughed out this crude idea of individual 
  progression at some point prior to 1972, likely in regards to the troop experience 
                                                             
  324 Polyhedron #1.  Also know as RPGA News, Volume I, Number 1, Summer 1981.  “Special:  
  Interview with E. Gary Gygax,” perhaps conducted by Frank Mentzer. 
  325 Role-Playing Mastery, a book by Gary Gygax. 
  326 “An Interview with Dave Arneson” in Pegasus Magazine, issue #1, April / May 1981. 
  327 Player Greg Svenson would note that Dave Arneson’s “leveling up” rules were in place 
  early on.  As he noted in an interview (rough translation), “For the first adventure the rules 
  that Dave used were based on a pre-print version of Chainmail.  However, even in that 
  first version of what was then our characters could progress to level, from ‘Flunky’ to 
  ‘Hero.’  (Please note that this is a translation from the Italian, and is not a verbatim 
  Svenson quote.) 
  
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  levels featured in his Napoleonic Simulation Campaign.328 
  The precedent for this potential system is latent within Gary’s troop values in 
  the original Chainmail, where the footmen are worth 1 or 2 points, horsemen are 
  worth 3 to 5 points, Heroes are worth 20 points, and Superheroes are worth 50.  
  Gradients of individual heroic power, measured by such points, were already 
  suggesting themselves.  The blanks in the rules already implied some manner of 
  unspoken progression:  each “level” of warrior was more experienced than the 
  previous lower-valued one.  There were listed values for men of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 20 
  and 50 points ... but what were men called at points 6 through 19, or points 21 
  through 49? 
  What was still missing, however, was the actual means of skill- and achievement-
  based progression through these archetypes.  If a dragon-slaying knight became a 
  Hero, then would a man who had slain two dragons become a Superhero?  The 
  entertaining C&CS peerage system which measured member precedence, it seems, 
  would also influence Dave when he would come up with his own brilliant idea of 
  experience levels.  Dave may also have been influenced by his knowledge of U.S. 
  Army rank codifications, where officers can progress from Lieutenant (NATO code 
  OF-1) to Captain (OF-2), Major (OF-3), Lieutenant Colonel (OF-4) and so forth.  
  But where C&CS members gained their real-world “ranks” by writing a certain 
  number of article pages for the Domesday Book, the imaginary characters in the 
  Blackmoor game would gain their ranks by killing monsters, acquiring treasures and 
  earning experience points. 
  By allowing player characters to gain these points through skilled play, and 
  roughly following the concept of military rankings, Dave established the now time-
  honored RPG ideal of advancement via combat experience.  It may seem like a 
  small step in retrospect, but at the time it was revolutionary.  As Gary explained it, 
  “Players began [in Blackmoor] as Heroes or Wizards.  With sufficient success they 
  [Heroes] could become Superheroes.  In a similar fashion, Wizards could become 
  more powerful.”329  “That was Dave’s main thing,” Gary stated later, “to start as a 
  zero level Hero and go from there.”330  Clearly, from Gary’s perspective this was 
  the key rules component which Arneson provided to advance the Gygax-and-Perren 
  Chainmail rules to the next level of adventure. 
                                                             
  328 “The Great Svenny,” a tale related by Greg Svenson, posted on the Blackmoor mailing 
  list by Gregg Scott. 
  329 The Dragon, issue #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of 
  the Game,” pg. 7. 
  330 Online web forum post:  the Gygax Quarterofthree/CGM interview. 
  
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  Dave also provided rules for basic equipment to be carried by the characters.  As 
  can be seen in the account of the first Blackmoor game “turns” (the months and 
  seasons I described), there were already many circumstances in which a character 
  might want to hold a torch or a pack of food instead of a sword, and the future 
  adventures in dungeons would soon turn this want for survival equipment into an 
  absolute necessity.  Gary explained, from there “it started to become a matter of 
  whether you had a sword or an axe, and a backpack, and rope and spikes and all 
  of these spelunking tools.”331 
  Also, perhaps drawing on Gary’s brief mention of Elric of Melniboné being both 
  an Anti-Hero and a Wizard in Chainmail, Dave developed rules so that characters 
  could advance through both the rank series of “Flunkies to Superheroes” and 
  “Warlocks to Wizards” simultaneously.  This was done to make the player characters 
  stronger in relation to the monsters and the other challenges they faced.  As Dave 
  once explained, “Magic-users in the beginning were more of an effort to give the 
  players more firepower.”332 
  But while the Blackmoor veterans progressed and were able to handle more 
  dangerous encounters, they also ended up suffering more wounds.  This was 
  problematic because heavy wounds could cause a character to “lose a turn,” as it 
  were, in the ongoing campaign.  Some characters would die through no fault of 
  their own.  That was a major dis-incentive to heroic risk taking, and Dave wanted 
  the game to be mostly about adventure and crazy fun.  And so, in Dave’s words 
  about a month after the mage sub-ranks were worked out, “The clerics were added 
  to heal up players more quickly.”333 
  Dave reported on these early games in his own Blackmoor Gazette and 
  Rumormonger, and later in the Domesday Book journal as well.  He published 
  “battle reports” of the Blackmoor campaign which caught Gary’s intrigued 
  attention.  Further inquiries would soon lead Gary to realize that the Twin Cities 
  games were a strange beast indeed, a mode of play which Gary himself had never 
  envisioned.  “Dave Arneson related that his college group were playing the system 
  on a pure player-for-hero (or wizard) basis,” Gary once wrote, “with mercenaries 
                                                             
  331 Online web forum post:  the Gygax Quarterofthree/CGM interview. 
  332 Online web forum post:  Odd74.proboards.com.  ODD74 Proboards forums, “Was 
  Arneson’s Blackmoor Classless?” 
  333 Online web forum post:  Odd74.proboards.com.  ODD74 Proboards forums, “Was 
  Arneson’s Blackmoor Classless?”  Posted June 10th, 2008. 
  
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  for hire to add to the force.”334  This “one character per player” basis, of course, 
  would soon lead to the collaborative efforts which would result in the creation of 
  Dungeons & Dragons. 
  But even before that fateful collaboration, there was much more to come in the 
  mysterious realm of Arnesonian adventure.  Dave’s next innovation would change 
  everything:  over the Christmas holiday, he created the labyrinthine dungeons 
  beneath Castle Blackmoor, and dared his overconfident players to explore them. 
   
   
  “Abandon hope all ye … that is, do come in.  And welcome.” 
   
   
                                                             
  334 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Q&A with Gary Gygax.  Posted March 15th, 
  2005. 
  
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  CHAPTER 7 
  THE DUNGEONS OF BLACKEST MORIA 
  (JANUARY — APRIL 1972) 
   
  Thou who dost the wave-shine shorten, 
  My attempt has been to find 
  In the barrow what was hidden, 
  Deep in darkness black and blind. 
  Nothing of the dragon’s treasure 
  With the dead is left behind. 
   
  — Grettir the Outlaw (one of the great Icelandic sagas), as translated by Sabine 
  Baring-Gould 
   
  (Please Note:  Blackmoor’s dungeon timelines are especially confusing.  In 
  reconstructing a chronicle for Blackmoor’s dungeons that actually makes sense and 
  coincides with the known facts, I have regrettably been forced to disregard several 
  conflicting and internally inconsistent accounts from Arneson which confuse the 
  order in which various aspects of the campaign (the Castle, Village, Surround, Castle 
  Interior and Dungeons) were created. 
  Despite Arneson’s occasional assertions to the contrary, there is as of yet no reliable 
  evidence that he prepared his dungeons before the Christmas holidays of 1971, and 
  there are also several hints that the underground was not developed until well after 
  several earlier-mentioned Blackmoor battles had already been played. 
  In its current incarnation hereafter, my narrative draws upon my belief that the 
  dungeons were created several months after the original map, which featured only 
  exterior locations.  If evidence contrary to this assertion is presented, this chapter 
  will then be amended to reflect a clearer picture of what actually transpired.  To 
  this date, however, a plausibly distinct version of that picture does not yet exist.  
  ~KDK) 
   
   
  
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  THE BLOODY and frenetic Blackmoor campaign continued, and so the heroes and 
  baddies wandered and fought their way across Arneson’s imaginary world.  The 
  original scenarios involving the Coot-legion invasions had been situated in 
  Blackmoor Village proper, sometime bleeding over into the near surrounding 
  countryside. 
  Interactions with the Egg of Coot to the north, the Great Kingdom to the south, 
  and various pirates and sea monsters arising in Blackmoor Bay led the players to 
  question the exact dimensions of their domain.  If this was a game where anything 
  was possible, then what was to stop them from journeying across the world? 
  Blackmoor proper needed to be bigger. 
  At first, Dave considered redesigning the interiors of Blackmoor Castle’s upper 
  works, or even erasing the castle and creating a larger version.  However, he was 
  using a German “Kibri” kit — the Italian “Burg Branzoll” model 7304, to be 
  precise335 — and the mapped-in walls and towers had been modeled after the kit’s 
  actual dimensions. 
  Pondering this, Dave came up with his clever solution to the problem.  He 
  wanted to keep the Castle as the heart of the campaign, the center of the action.  
  But how to put new major locales on the original map, when that map was already 
  full?  The answer, in retrospect, was obvious:  move the map into three dimensions.  
  It was time for the Blackmoor campaign to go underground.  As he explained, the 
  castle model “was a neat kit, and I didn’t want to abandon it, so the only way to 
  go was down.”336 
   
   
                                                             
  335 The Comeback Inn forums, “Dave Arneson Memorial Event (St. Paul, Minnesota” and 
  Havard’s Blackmoor Blog, “The Original Castle Blackmoor” (March 7th, 2010). 
  336 Interview with Dave Arneson, Kobold Quarterly #9.  See also Gary’s assessment in 
  Masters of Fantasy:  TSR, the Fantasy Factory, a documentary which aired on the Sci-Fi 
  Channel in 1997.  Gary’s comment appears at approximately 8:20. 
  
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  “Why aren’t we wearing plate and mail again?” 
   
  
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  This was a crucial innovation.  Gary Gygax would soon recognize the idea’s 
  greatness, and so would many others.  Bob Bledsaw of Judges’ Guild rightly 
  acknowledged Dave Arneson as “the originator of the Dungeon Adventure 
  concept,”337 and there is a good reason why Dungeons & Dragons is prominently 
  named to feature this thematic improvement.  Moving the action underground 
  created an entirely new type of game, completely beyond the “land war” 
  constraints of traditional wargaming. 
  As I have formerly mentioned, in developing such “roofed” and enclosed spaces 
  for fantasy adventure, Dave was following the tradition of Conan tales such as The 
  Scarlet Citadel and Red Nails (which Gary declared as his favorite Robert E. Howard 
  tale), in which an entire city is roofed and therefore envisioned as a multi-level 
  “dungeon.”  Similar influences include Goblin Town and Erebor from The Hobbit, 
  and the dwarven underworld of Moria. 
  David Megarry explained that the Blackmoor group had been very impressed 
  with Tolkien’s portrayal of Moria especially.  “We all were steeped in the Tolkien 
  trilogy [The Lord of the Rings],” he remembered, “and we agreed that Gandalf 
  leading [the Fellowship] through the caves of Moria … [was] a dungeon crawl of 
  magnificent proportion.”338 
  In addition to Tolkien’s Moria, I personally believe The Scarlet Citadel is 
  particularly important too, because in that tale Howard describes “nameless pits 
  below the hill whereon [the] palace sat.”  The following passage from that tale — 
  where indeed we learn about deadly dungeons, monsters created by an evil wizard, 
  and bardic rumors of horrific encounters, overheard by an adventurer — is 
  particularly interesting: 
  * * * * * 
  “He [Conan] glared fearsomely at the outer gloom, and thought of the grisly 
  tales he had heard of Tsotha’s necromantic cruelty, and it was with an icy sensation 
  down his spine that he realized that these must be the very Halls of Horror named 
  in shuddering legendry, the tunnels and dungeons wherein Tsotha performed 
  horrible experiments with beings human, bestial, and, it was whispered, demoniac, 
  tampering blasphemously with the naked basic elements of life itself.  Rumors said 
  that the mad poet Rinaldo had visited these pits, and been shown horrors by the 
  wizard, and that the nameless monstrosities of which he hinted in his awful poem, 
                                                             
  337 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  338 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 1:10. 
  
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  The Song of the Pit, were no mere fantasies of a disordered brain.” 
  * * * * * 
  Moria too was a fantastic locale for Dave to emulate, because as described it was 
  virtually endless.  And since Gary had already created Chainmail statistics for classic 
  Middle Earth monsters such as orcs, goblins, trolls and Balrogs, creating a Moria-like 
  “mega-dungeon” would simply be a process of drafting the labyrinth maps on graph 
  paper and populating the chambers with the Chainmail and Blackmoor beasties in 
  every room. 
  In a curious coincidence, and noting the similarity between “Black Moor” and 
  “Moria,” I went back to my Middle Earth research from years ago in search of the 
  meaning of Moria in Tolkien’s language schema.  It turns out that Moria in the 
  Sindarin tongue means “Black Chasm.”  It seems that Dave was not aware of this 
  synchronicity.  Nevertheless, there is a satisfying symmetry in this accidental “hidden 
  interpretation” of the Blackmoor dungeons’ origins. 
  The actual background of the Blackmoor Dungeons remains mysterious, but the 
  following description from The First Fantasy Campaign may be of interest:  “A 
  sadistic Duke or Baron would make cruel use of the Castle’s Dungeons and Torture 
  Chambers for their own amusements and purposes.  As a result, the Dungeon area 
  of the Castle is supposedly abound[ing] in wandering spirits of the poor wretches 
  that succumbed within those confines.”  This allusion bears a striking similarity to a 
  1785 Marquis de Sade novel, The 120 Days of Sodom, in which a depraved torturer 
  known as the Duke of Blangis committed unspeakable acts on innocent victims.  
  Much like a similar allusion to The Castle of Otranto, it seems likely that Dave was 
  exposed to this idea cinematically, through his B-movies (or Dark Shadows episodes) 
  featuring mad scientists lairing in crumbling Gothic castles. 
  In most Swords & Sorcery tales featuring underground environs — and in similar 
  stories such as Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, A. Merritt’s The Face in 
  the Abyss, and H. P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath — the 
  netherworld itself is either the goal of exploration, or the obstacle.  Rarely is there 
  any other reason to go somewhere so daunting and terrible than simply to get 
  through it, “in search of the unknown.”  This is a great device for fiction, but the 
  Blackmoor campaign involved players controlling characters and gathering gold 
  through trade and conquest.  Huge expenditures of gold allowed the “Blackmoor 
  Bunch” to build and repair castles, raise armies, and even to learn esoteric skills and 
  thereby to acquire more power.  These characters were thus always short on gold, 
  and their efforts were frequently devoted to getting more treasure so that they 
  could control the region and “beat” the other players in the struggle for dominance. 
  Perhaps by considering Conan’s mercenary streak, or Smaug’s ill-won treasure 
  
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  trove in the depths of Erebor, Dave saw through to how he could lure his players 
  into exploring the dungeons:  fill them with loads of treasure.  If the dungeons were 
  made into the most lucrative (and dangerous) locale in all the realm, then the 
  players’ characters would flock back to Blackmoor Castle to get that loot. 
  This nod to the players’ shameless greed, as we shall see, turned out to be too 
  successful.  But that only makes the stories of the dungeons more entertaining. 
   
   
  “Just think how many brand new Domesdays 
  and brown boxes I could buy and put away with this …” 
  
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  Besides the lure of monsters guarding treasure, there was another benefit to the 
  dungeon mode of “inside exploration”:  it made Dave’s job as the referee easier, 
  because the players could not be quite so unpredictable while their characters were 
  underground.  As Dave explained, “Dungeon crawls were, I think, the easiest things 
  to set up … [the players] couldn’t go wandering off where you didn’t have a map 
  because it was solid rock.”339  Even better, any time the players did exhaust a map, 
  Dave could simply add a staircase and situate another dungeon level beneath the 
  current one.  In theory, of course! 
  While “digging” beneath the Castle, Dave decided to create a total of six 
  dungeon levels to encompass the totality of Castle Blackmoor’s underground.  Later 
  additions would eventually expand Arneson’s mega-dungeon to feature 25 different 
  levels.  The maps we can now find (particularly in The First Fantasy Campaign) are 
  mostly from a later incarnation, c. 1975-1977, but they tell us much about Dave’s 
  mapping style.  They reveal a huge maze of diagonal passageways designed to 
  confuse potential mappers and casual explorers.  Each level has a few dungeon 
  chambers and many dead ends, creating a nightmarish labyrinth where anyone not 
  familiar with the place would soon become hopelessly lost.  (And in Dave’s opinion, 
  it was precisely when the adventurers got lost and the screaming started that the 
  fun could really begin …) 
  After the subterranean level structures were completed, Dave needed to 
  populate the encounter keys in that fun-yet-laborious process now known as 
  “dungeon stocking.”  As the world’s first Dungeon Master (as opposed to merely a 
  campaign referee), Dave had no pre-existing system to help him with stocking the 
  dungeons.  How could the task be done?  He could script every room with a new 
  idea from his own imagination, but the ideas would run out before the dungeon 
  was fully stocked and ready for play.  Some kind of random system would need to 
  be invented. 
  Dave first considered what he already had to work with in Chainmail’s Fantasy 
  Supplement.  Unfortunately, he could never quite recall how he stocked the first 
  Blackmoor dungeon.  He did provide us with a clue, however:  “Having gone over 
  all my records, the surest indication is that the point values given in the First Edition 
  [of] Chainmail formed the basis for my system.”340  It is therefore likely that he 
  reviewed the monsters in the Fantasy Supplement and their respective point values, 
  and then devised a list of relative monster power levels.  Then he split these 
                                                             
  339 Online interview:  Gamespy:  The Dave Arneson Interview, conducted by Allen Rausch, 
  published August 19, 2004. 
  340 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  monsters into three different hierarchies, so that he could roll dice according to the 
  dungeon level’s depth and difficulty to generate the random lairs. 
  From this information and other hints provided, we can surmise that the 
  monsters included in the earliest version of the dungeon were perhaps something 
  like this: 
  * * * * * 
  Group III, the Low-Level Monsters (the weak ones):  (1) Hobbits, (2) Kobolds or 
  Goblins, (3) Orcs, (4) Dwarves or Gnomes, (5) Elves or Fairies (6) Sprites or Pixies. 
  Group II, the Mid-Level Monsters (the fearsome ones):  (1) Ghouls, (2) 
  Werewolves or Werebears, (3) Ogres or Trolls, (4) Heroes, (5) Rocs (precisely how 
  they might fit into the dungeon is unknown!), (6) Superheroes. 
  Group I, the Deep-Level Monsters (the deadly ones):  (1) Wraiths, (2) Elementals 
  (Air, Earth, Fire or Water), (3) Ents or Giants, (4) True Trolls, (5) Balrogs, (6) 
  Dragons. 
  (And the relative difficulty level of individual encounters could be controlled by 
  adjusting the number of monsters appearing in each locale.) 
  * * * * * 
  The system was structured so that the Group III monsters would mostly be found 
  on dungeon levels 1 and 2; the Group II monsters on levels 3 and 4; and the Group 
  I monsters on levels 5 and 6.  There is not enough data to be certain of every detail 
  of this approach, although a gradual introduction of the more powerful beasties 
  would make the most sense. 
  To this basic randomly-generated structure, Dave also sprinkled in some 
  additional special encounters of his own design.  Some of these “showpieces” 
  featured the new monsters that he and his play group had created by extrapolating 
  from Chainmail’s existing guidelines.  For example, we know that there was an early 
  encounter with a dangerous slime, as well as another with giant spiders.  (The 
  spiders were probably inspired by Shelob’s brood in The Hobbit, and also the 
  monstrosity which Conan faced in The Tower of the Elephant.) 
   
  
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  Orb weavers of Nether Leng, ach. 
  Lack of heroic purging breeds the big ones. 
   
  
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  Later versions of these dungeons would also include gnolls, giant toads, giant 
  hogs, giant worms, manticores, “man-eating seaweed” and worse. 
  In the later-year incarnations,341 the ability of the Blackmoor dungeons to 
  constantly spawn new evil monsters would be explained away as an effect of the 
  “wild magic” inherent in the black bedrock which lies beneath the accursed land — 
  the same fell and arcane power which created dimensional ruptures, gates to other 
  worlds and the curious ensorcelments which grace the Comeback Inn and the 
  Temple of the Frog.  The dungeon below would never run out of monsters, but it 
  would certainly serve as a deadly funhouse and meat grinder to deal with even the 
  most intrepid of adventurers. 
  This process of monster stocking took a while to work out, and longer to 
  implement.  As player Greg Svenson (whose character would soon begin thriving 
  late in the campaign’s first year)342 once recalled, Dave “had been working all week 
  to prepare [the] map of tunnels and catacombs under the town and especially under 
  the Castle.”343 
  Finally however, the stocking and planning process was complete.  Very soon 
  the dungeon prototype (and Dave’s experiment) would face its trial by fire as it 
  came into contact with the enemy:  imaginative players.  Then, Dave’s plans would 
  need to change.  “I had a few rules and no plans for anything beneath the sixth 
  level in the dungeon,” he explained.  “With the basic idea laid out, there were still 
  questions to answer.”344  But for now, the dungeons were big enough and complex 
  enough, he decided.  It was time to play some games. 
  These dungeons were the scene of many of Blackmoor’s greatest and funniest 
  moments.  Again, however, there are frustrating and serious problems with 
  Blackmoor’s chronology.  Very little was written down that has come to light, and 
  the stories from the players tend to blend into one another as they confuse hundreds 
  of dungeon excursions with earlier or later journeys.  This well-intentioned mess of 
  partial remembrances makes it extremely difficult to come up with a coherent story 
  of the dungeon campaign that I could share here in its entirety.  There are too many 
  tangled threads in this tapestry for it to ever lie flat again.  But I will try my best to 
  give you a picture of some of what happened beneath the Castle! 
                                                             
  341 Dungeon Module DA1, Adventures in Blackmoor (pg. 45). 
  342 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition.  See pg. 53. 
  343 “The First Dungeon Adventure,” by Greg Svenson, posted on the Blackmoor mailing list 
  by Gregg Scott. 
  344 Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor, published by Zeitgeist Games Inc., 2004. 
  
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  * * * * * 
  When the “Blackmoor Bunch” of players came down to Dave’s basement for 
  their next game — perhaps on Saturday, January 1st, 1972 — they learned that they 
  were once again about to be subjected to “something special.”  As Greg Svenson 
  (then 17 years old) would later remember, when he went down to Arneson’s 
  basement, the Ping-Pong table was not set up for a major miniatures battle.  Instead, 
  there was a landscape with a village overlooking a bay, and a large castle on the 
  heights.345 
  There were eight players in all that day.  The players had grown clever in 
  navigating Dave’s random campaign event systems, and also in gaming the financial 
  models for baronial taxes and expenses.  But now, the imaginary world they knew 
  so well was changing once again.  It was time for expert mode, and Dave was 
  opening a deadly netherworld intended as a Hell-bent, survival-of-the-fittest arena 
  for gold-stealing mayhem. 
  As player David Megarry would explain, Arneson “drew a big map, which we 
  didn’t know anything about, and then we were exposed to it by his storytelling.”346 
  These very first underground sessions were wild and amusing.  To prepare for 
  one early adventure (perhaps the very first one in January), one of the newer 
  players — Greg Svenson — created a character who would eventually be known as 
  the Great Svenny.  (It seems that Dave Arneson had difficulty pronouncing the name 
  “Svenson,” and so he would refer to Greg from time to time as “Zvenzen.”347 
  Greg provided a fantastic account of this dungeon crawl, which can be read 
  online at The Blackmoor Archives:  The Ultimate Blackmoor Fansite.  The tale of 
  his deadly indoctrination goes something like this: 
  The treacherous Weasel (Dave Wesely), corrupted minion of the Egg of Coot, 
  had been defeated by the heroes.  Castle Blackmoor was reclaimed.  Player Dave 
  Fant’s character, the Baron Fant, was still the Lord of Blackmoor and resident in the 
  castle.  Two other players, Jim Abler and John Soukup, were allowed by Arneson 
                                                             
  345 Refer to the Italian interview with Greg Svenson for GDR Magazine, “Intervista a Greg 
  Svenson, il primo giocatore di ruolo,” from November 22nd, 2016.  Several details of this 
  account are from there, but where details seem to be slightly off from earlier accounts, 
  the earlier details have been allowed to stand.  I fully sympathize with trying to remember 
  minutiae from a game that took place over 40 years before! 
  346 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 5:45. 
  347 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  
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  to play an evil Wizard and a summoned Balrog respectively.348  Everyone else 
  would play the role of a castle guard, just following orders. 
   
   
  “Looks like meat’s back on the menu!” 
   
  In some way, these two new evil superpowers were rudely introduced to the 
  campaign.  We don’t know exactly what happened, but when we consider Tolkien’s 
  tale of the Balrog known as “Durin’s Bane” rising out of netherworld to wipe out 
  the gold- and mithril-tempted dwarves commanded by the mighty Balin, we can 
  get a pretty clear picture of what transpired. 
  Fans of Game of Thrones may find this commentary from the 1977 First Fantasy 
  Campaign — featuring (spoiler alert!) a Red Wedding-like description of carnage 
  from a similar earlier event in Blackmoor’s history — to be a bit uncomfortable:  
                                                             
  348 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  
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  “The Barbarians sent a delegation of ten to meet with the Fort’s Commander ... and 
  they were conducted to the then-main Reception Hall.  Having been searched for 
  weapons and since a truce was in effect, most of the local dignitaries and their 
  families assembled in the Hall.  At that point, the enemies’ deception took its true 
  form when the Wizard ... released his spell through the ten enemy representatives 
  there in the Hall.” 
  At the time of this new Wizard’s advent (or was it a return?), poor Greg 
  Svenson’s character was a mere Flunky swordsman in the Baron Fant’s employ, and 
  he was there when all Hell broke loose.  The Wizard attacked the Baron’s men in 
  the Castle, frying them with his vile spells. 
  The guards called for reinforcements.  They were told that the Wizard was 
  plundering the Castle.  The evil Wizard was forced to retreat into the accursed 
  dungeon, which had until then been locked and sealed and never talked about due 
  to a terrible curse.  (Shades of the Dark Shadows episodes I mentioned earlier, 
  anyone?)  The horrors of the past, festering for years, had been forgotten.  And 
  there in the festering deep, the evil had grown. 
  The relentless Baron Fant was infuriated by this daring incursion.  He drew up a 
  company of thirty intrepid Flunkies from his troops, and sent them into the dungeon 
  seeking their lord’s vengeance upon the intruder.  Greg and five other players 
  played some of these soldiers, of course, with the other two dozen “grunts” 
  presumably played by Arneson as “spear carriers” (or “Red Shirts,” to use the Star 
  Trek parlance).  They were loyal, daring, and completely outmatched.  They were 
  the ultimate expendables. 
  It was time for a vengeful pursuit of the evil Wizard.  The Flunkies armed 
  themselves and prepared for war.  Torches and other supplies were procured (using 
  Arneson’s equipment rules).  The Flunkies went down a great staircase leading from 
  the Great Hall of Castle Blackmoor, down into the cellars.  Numerous and 
  mysterious doorways led from there into the dungeon labyrinth.  Taking a collective 
  deep breath, the Flunkies lit their torches, chose a door and went on through. 
  Dave stopped the game.  “Follow me,” he told his players.  He played a 
  variation on one of his favorite tricks, taking his players to the narrow, tunnel-like 
  laundry area of the basement, and positioning each person in the marching order 
  of their characters.  Then he turned off the lights, saying that a gust of wind had 
  extinguished the torches.  Greg Svenson explained:  “When Dave wanted to see 
  how the players would react to a situation, he would set it up so that it would seem 
  like we were in that situation and then see how we react.”349  And so of course it is 
                                                             
  349 The Kobold Quarterly website. 
  
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  perfectly logical that Dave lined up his players and screamed at them in the dark. 
  Before the players could figure out what the Hell was going on, Dave flicked the 
  lights back on, observed some new positions taken by his scattered and startled 
  players, and then went back to the gaming table.  The baffled players followed, and 
  Dave explained that when the torches had been extinguished by the gust of wind, 
  something horrible had happened.  A massive black slimy amoeba (very much like 
  the monstrosity in that classic horror flick, The Blob) had poured out and engulfed 
  the legs of one of the Non-Player Character (NPC) Flunkies that Arneson was 
  controlling.  The players, back in their roles, pressed the attack and tried to save 
  their dissolving companion. 
  It was too late.  The acidic slime devoured the man, armor and all.  Some of the 
  other men tried to relight their torches while others attacked the slime with their 
  steely blades.  The engorged slime grew, absorbing the last tasty bits of skeleton and 
  internal organs.  The other warriors’ swords did very little damage, as their blades 
  dissolved in the slime’s acids even as they struck.  Other men were attacked, and 
  one had the bright idea of using his relit torch as a weapon of last resort.  A 
  pseudopod of the loathsome slime fried off, and the thing recoiled.  The men lit 
  more torches, and fighting hard they forced the thing back into a corner of the 
  dungeon chamber.  Several more soldiers died horribly, but finally the thing was 
  fried.  (We are left to wonder whether this is the exact moment when the freshly-
  cooked “black slime” became a “black pudding” for posterity!)350 
  When the last of the slime was burned away, the grim survivors crept deeper 
  into the dungeon.  Another room was revealed, filled with a gauze of thick and 
  silky whitish ropes.  Several of the men entered the room, and torches were set to 
  clear the ropes away.  The “ropes” thrummed, scuttling horrors hissed from 
  overhead, and many-legged beasties dropped down from the ceiling to prey on 
  these bold intruders.  Giant spiders! 
  The spiders leapt out of their webs and feasted on screaming swordsmen.  More 
  men were killed, slashed by venomous mandibles and left to collapse in twitching 
  heaps.  Eventually, the spiders were destroyed.  The remaining and now battle-
  hardened Flunkies discovered some marrow-drained bones, shattered weapons, 
  and a few copper farthings stuck in the webs or between the flagstones.  But still, 
  there was no sign of the evil Wizard anywhere.  He must have fled deeper into the 
  dungeon, relying on these nightmarish monsters to destroy the Baron’s host. 
                                                             
  350 Gary once noted that in inventing the slime monster, Arneson “evidently disliked 
  English black pudding,” but whether “he was thinking of Shoggoths when he envisaged 
  the critter, only [he] knows.” 
  
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  But the soldiers may have feared their master’s punishments even more than 
  they did the spiders.  The Flunkies, undeterred, bravely descended another staircase.  
  In a monster-forsaken chamber, they discovered a fallen statue of Poseidon which 
  glittered there in the torchlight.  Beyond this enigmatic scene, archways beckoned 
  the men deeper into the maze.  They pressed on.  More claustrophobic corridors 
  followed.  An encounter with a deadly fire elemental brazier probably resulted in 
  even more deaths, but even against that magical inferno and its fireballs, the 
  diminished troops stood triumphant in the end.  A magic sword was discovered!  
  One player-controlled Flunky tried to wield it, but the ensorcelled blade merely 
  dismissed this presumptuous mortal with a surge of imperious lightning. 
  From Greg’s telling of the tale, it seems that this latter treasure was one of Dave’s 
  special magical swords which could only be wielded by a man of pure heart.  A 
  later incarnation of Dave’s rules c. 1977 reads as follows:  “Should a player [i.e., 
  character] pick up a sword that has origins [divine alignment with law or chaos, 
  good or evil] other than the player, that player cannot use the sword.  Also, if the 
  player should pick up the sword, then that player will suffer damage at the 
  following rates ...”351 
  In short, the dude got zapped and was nearly killed.352 
  However, this was a treasure beyond compare.  It was worth many lifetimes’ 
  pay.  Several other men tried to wield this angst-ridden cousin of Excalibur, but only 
  one in the end — a character played by Bill (Heaton?) — was able to grasp the 
  sword without receiving an electric shock.  Reluctantly, the magic sword accepted 
  its new owner.353 
  The other men were deeply impressed.  Clearly, this anonymous young soldier 
  was divinely favored by the Fates!  Dave, following his roughed-out character 
  progression notes, decided that the sword-bearer had been instantly elevated to the 
  glorious rank of Hero. 
  The problem, of course, was that this approach was somewhat arbitrary, and 
  the power jump from Flunky to Hero was abrupt and extreme.  If a Hero’s 
  progression could be evened out and made more gradual, the players would have 
  many more incremental goals to encourage further play down in the dungeons.  
  When Dave thought some more about this vexing problem, he would develop the 
                                                             
  351 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  352 Sham’s Grog ‘n’ Blog blogspot, Q&A with Greg Svenson.  Posted May 30th, 2009. 
  353 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  “Eras of Blackmoor publication.” 
  
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  concepts of earned experience and character levels. 
  But that innovation was in the future. 
  Armed with the magic sword, the nameless Hero immediately assumed the 
  command.  Not only was he Fate-chosen, he now had some serious firepower for 
  the dungeon’s monsters to contend with.  Emboldened, the survivors left the 
  elemental’s chamber and wended their way even deeper through the maze.  The 
  group eventually made it down to dungeon level four, where they set up camp to 
  rest and heal their wounds. 
  During the “night,” the newly-risen Hero endured his first trial while he stood 
  the watch.  A beautiful maiden approached the circle of sleeping men, and 
  enthralled the Hero with her dark magic. 
   
   
  Partake.  Trust in me. 
   
  
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  Greg’s Flunky character, Svenny, woke just in time to see the “maiden” shape-
  shifter revealing its true form as a giant snake.  She unwound her slithering coils, 
  and drew the enraptured Hero into her deadly embrace. 
  A battle cry was raised, and the other men jolted awake.  The serpent-thing was 
  slain by the horrified Flunkies, but their Hero fell as well.  The process of 
  determining who could wield the magic sword was repeated.  The men would not 
  survive without the sword, that much was clear.  But who else was worthy to wield 
  it? 
  The sword was taken up again, although it seems that the new owner was 
  reluctant to press forward.  With their total troop reduced to about twenty men, 
  the players decided that their characters needed to return to the surface for 
  reinforcements.  They packed up their camp, honored their dead, and followed 
  their old dusty footsteps back toward the ascending staircase. 
  But none of them were pathfinders, and the dust was not thick enough to reveal 
  the entire path.  At some point along the way back they became hopelessly lost.  
  After many misadventures, they managed to return to a recognizable portion of 
  dungeon level two, where they were forced to camp again and rest. 
  While all of this was going on, the patient “baddie” players Jim and John — 
  playing the evil Wizard and his Balrog — were receiving reports from their thwarted 
  monster minions.  Some of the monsters had survived their encounters, and had 
  slithered down to relate their battle reports to their evil masters.  The tale of the 
  hard-won sword was likely told, and the Wizard and the Balrog grew concerned.  
  Realizing that the Flunkies were going to escape and perhaps bring back dangerous 
  legions of reinforcements, the two “baddie” players decided to act. 
  The plan was simple, and brutal in its directness.  The Balrog surged up through 
  the mazes and attacked the encampment, focusing on the wielder of the magic 
  sword.  The new wielder was slain, but the screams awoke the rest of the troop.  
  The Flunkies rose up in a panic and fought to the death.  Blood flew, and a few 
  sword cuts found their way home in the demon’s putrid flesh.  But no mere mortals 
  could stand against such a fiend without the powers of sacred magic.  The Balrog 
  slaughtered all of the diehard Flunkies, all but one:  Greg Svenson’s character 
  Svenny. 
  Towering over the helpless soldier and the piles of mangled bodies, the Balrog 
  told Svenny what he must do:  rise and return to the Great Hall of Castle Blackmoor, 
  bearing a warning that something even worse would happen if the Baron Fant 
  should dare to send any more troops into the netherworld.  The evil Wizard 
  (remotely) cast spells of light to guide poor Svenny up to the Great Hall, and so the 
  lone survivor carefully picked up the magic sword — with a piece of cloth, and 
  
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  without daring to wield it — and returned to the Hall of Blackmoor. 
  A somber private audience was held.  The Baron Fant heard the story with grim 
  acceptance, and offered his goodly servant a pile of 150 gold coins for the magic 
  sword.  The sword was sold, and the exhausted trooper thus lived to tell the tale. 
  This would not be the last time the bloodied veteran managed to survive where 
  lesser men would fall.  Dave Arneson would later tell the legend of this Superhero, 
  saying, “Many a time, alone, the Great Svenny has dragged himself from the 
  dungeons bleeding from a dozen wounds, vowing never to enter the Dark Passages 
  beneath Blackmoor again, but always he responds when they [the Lords of 
  Blackmoor] make an offer he cannot decline.”354 
  Although Baron Fant and Greg’s shell-shocked character were the only ones to 
  be rewarded in that luckless first expedition, there would be many more dungeon 
  wars waged with the evil minions of the Wizard and Soukup the Balrog.  The game 
  had lasted from 1 PM Saturday, all the way to 4 AM Sunday … a 15-hour marathon 
  session of blood and glory! 
  Greg was hooked:  “By the end of the weekend I had fallen in love with the 
  game.”355  And Dave related, “Once begun, they [the rest of the players] were 
  hooked, and for some months they plumbed the depths.”356  The players were so 
  hooked, in fact, that very soon their characters would completely neglect their 
  surface Barony holdings to focus on treasure hunts in the dungeons. 
  Player David Megarry once offered some explanation of Arneson’s early play 
  style during these ever-evolving dungeon games:  Arneson “would say, ‘You’re at 
  the mouth of a cave,’ [and] you’d go into the cave and go 10’, 20’ … [at] 
  intersections, you could go left or right or down.  And then you’d expand on that 
  to get into more fantastical descriptions.  …  The Tolkien description of the caves 
  of Moria [gave us] a fantastic understanding of what a dungeon crawl is all 
  about.”357 
   
                                                             
  354 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  355 “The First Dungeon Adventure,” by Greg Svenson, posted on the Blackmoor mailing list 
  by Gregg Scott. 
  356 The Space Gamer, issue #21.  “An Interview with Dave Arneson.” 
  357 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 5:45. 
  
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  “Hell of place to map, and all that noise from the surface, too.  So what do you 
  think is going on up there?  Is someone feeding the war hounds?” 
   
  Even better, Megarry has found some notebooks, maps and sheets relating to 
  the Blackmoor dungeon adventures, so we now know a little more about the entire 
  subterranean setting.  Megarry’s adventures were quite separate, frequently, from 
  the doings of the nefarious Blackmoor Bunch.  “You must understand,” he once 
  reminded readers, “I was mostly a loner in the Blackmoor campaign.”358  And, 
  referring to his dungeon delving solo character, “H. W. Dumbo was mostly a loner 
  [too].”359 (We can get an idea of the seriousness with which Megarry coded his 
  characters:  following after McDuck, Dumbo is apparently the second one named 
  after a Disney cartoon character.) 
  Following after the fates of McDuck and Number One, H. W. Dumbo would 
  leave the criminal underworld (and the scuffles with the merchant boss) to other 
  players while Megarry focused on the new lucrative killer sport of dungeon delving.  
                                                             
  358 See David Megarry’s comments at the Zenopus Archives, “Megarry’s Copy of the 
  Great Kingdom Map.” 
  359 Refer to Secrets of Blackmoor, on Facebook, January 17th, 2017 and Megarry’s 
  comments there. 
  
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  For this narrative section, thanks are due to Dan Boggs and the Hidden in Shadows 
  blog (and Secrets of Blackmoor, December 30th, 2016) as most of this information 
  was analyzed at his site under the title “The Oldest Maps in D&D History” (January 
  16th, 2017).  Please refer to that post if you’d like more details on the history behind 
  the H. W. Dumbo tale.  Basically, it tells us more about the Blackmoor dungeons 
  than we ever knew before.  It also shows us that Judges’ Guild First Fantasy 
  Campaign booklet — while lacking in some details and with a few errors — features 
  some surprisingly accurate Blackmoor dungeon maps.  (We also finally get 
  confirmation that the scale on the FFC maps is indeed 1 square = 10’.) 
  As Megarry would explain, “I would have one-on-one sessions with Arneson.  
  (There may have been some men-at-arms under Megarry’s control. ~K)  I [H. W. 
  Dumbo] spent most of my time underground, mapping and running away — when 
  possible — if I tripped up a monster.”360  Megarry mapped the dungeons as Dumbo 
  explored them, and we can tentatively date these solo adventures with Arneson to 
  early 1972 … the height of the Blackmoor dungeon exploration craze. 
  The good news is, Megarry was an excellent map maker.  The bad news is, his 
  findings were sporadic because he was doubling back, fighting, fleeing, and trying 
  to get out alive.  As a result, we have meager glimpses of most of the dungeon levels 
  beneath Arneson’s Castle Blackmoor. 
  Arneson did not make mapping easy.  The labyrinthine layout was supposed to 
  be part of the fun.  As Megarry notes, “The basic scenario [would be] Arneson 
  telling us, [for example,] ‘10 feet, 20 feet, room 20’x20’ with an up staircase in 
  southeast corner, down staircase in northwest corner, a passage on the north wall 
  and east wall, and an ugly troll standing in the middle of the room.  What are you 
  going to do?’  We had about 10 seconds to react.  And then, he would announce, 
  ‘The troll is attacking.  Who is in front?’  We would be scrambling like mad to figure 
  out a strategy.  We would have been drawing the map by hand, on loose graph 
  paper.  If the room was unusually hard to describe, he would draw what we could 
  see on our map.  We never got to see his map.” 
  Gary Gygax, most assuredly, would experience this same phenomenon in 
  November of 1972 … and he would carry the tense, exploratory play style on into 
  his own Greyhawk games.  In this way, Arneson’s hiding of the master dungeon 
  maps — however it was accomplished at the game table — was an early instance 
  of a Dungeon Master’s screen. 
  So what did Dumbo find?  Here’s some quick samples: 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  360 Refer to Secrets of Blackmoor, on Facebook, January 17th, 2017. 
  
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  On Dungeon Level 1 (which was probably about 20’ down from the surface, 
  with the great hall of Castle Blackmoor just above):  Some tunnels blocked off by 
  cave-ins, and a tunnel leading out to the side of the bay-overlook cliff.  The cave-
  ins might have been caused by the earlier earthquake on the surface, which was a 
  campaign event. 
  On Dungeon Level 2 (about 40’ beneath the surface):  Here there is a torture 
  chamber — perhaps later maintained by Sir Fang, the vampire — and prison cells 
  for victims. 
  On Dungeon Level 3 (about 60’ beneath the surface):  A pool of (non-magical?) 
  water, situated at a tunnel intersection.  There is also a fire pit chamber, and several 
  other rooms. 
  On Dungeon Level 4 (about 80’ beneath the surface):  There is a continuation 
  of the fire pit shaft, which began on level 3, above.  There is also a dangerous 
  “devil’s fountain” which we know very little about … but it certainly sounds bad. 
  At some point, Dumbo acquired enough treasure from the dungeon’s monsters 
  to build a strategically-placed house361 on the surface, right near the shoreline in 
  town.  He would even dig a tunnel down from there to the dungeons, so that he 
  could have (a) an escape tunnel to hide from any thieving rivals, and (b) a secret 
  and private entrance to the dungeons below.  It apparently took about two 
  months362 of game time to build the house and to excavate the precarious tunnel. 
  Because of the exact place where Dumbo dug his tunnel — and the way that the 
  dungeon levels line up beneath the surface, as Arneson would measure staircase by 
  staircase — he didn’t hit pay dirt until dungeon level 5 … 100’ below the surface!  
  In other words, he dug straight past dungeon levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, barely missing 
  various chambers and tunnels along the way. 
  On Dungeon Level 5 (as noted, 100’ beneath the surface):  Here, dumbo may 
  have found (sprung?) a deadly spike trap of some kind.  He failed to find a secret 
  door which we can see on the master maps, but he did manage to find a long, 
  descending stairway.  This stair went all the way down past level 6 and into level 
  7.  This level is where his tunnel came out, so it seems likely that Dumbo may have 
  explored level 6 after level 7, by going up some stairs.  Perhaps, Arneson was also 
  compelled to create a seventh level ... we don’t know if any other adventurers had 
  made it down to this area just yet. 
                                                             
  361 On the Blackmoor town map which you can view at the Secrets of Blackmoor 
  (Facebook) post from December 2nd, 2016, you can see the house situated on the 
  southwestern isthmus which connects the Castle Blackmoor promontory to the town. 
  362 See the Secrets of Blackmoor, on Facebook, December 23rd, 2016. 
  
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  On Dungeon Level 6 (perhaps 120’-150’ below the surface, as it appears there is 
  more space between the “deep levels”):  Here, Dumbo found a secret passage which 
  he noted on his personal map. 
  On Dungeon Level 7 (confirmted to be 200’ beneath the surface):  This is the 
  deepest that Dumbo got.  Here, he found evidence of dwarf-crafted excavations, 
  or signs of dwarven exploration.  This seems to hint that the deep dungeons were 
  very old indeed … perhaps dating to the civilization which had dwelled here before 
  the humans of Blackmoor Town ever came.  He also found a lair filled with ten 
  nasty ogres, and a “gold(en) dining room.”  (This seems to be an allusion to treasure, 
  but it might be a magical trick of some kind.)  There was also a lair warren 
  overflowing with over 160 goblins, and a horrible secret treasure vault which was 
  home to 33 trolls (!)  We can easily see why Dumbo would have given up on his 
  solo excursions in to the netherworld! 
  At some point, Dumbo went on some outdoor adventures, too.  We don’t know 
  much about them, sadly.  But we do know that he helped Greg Svenson with the 
  planning of Svenny’s Freehold. 
  There is much more to learn, but Megarry’s find of the Dumbo mapping book 
  basically doubles our knowledge of the mysteries which lie beneath Castle 
  Blackmoor.  Watch this space for future revelations … if more is unearthed in the 
  future, I will do my best to let you know! 
  * * * * * 
  To Dave’s bemusement and then chagrin, the sideshow of the dungeons would 
  soon become the main spectacle of the entire campaign.  This situation became so 
  dire that eventually there was no significant force in Castle Blackmoor at all, and so 
  evil invaders would surge in and burn the entire Castle to the ground. 
  Dave loved the new dungeon game, but he soon realized that if the players 
  continued in their obsession over dungeon crawls, the entire dungeon was going to 
  be plundered and emptied in short order.  He explained, “It became quickly 
  apparent that there was a need for a greater variety of monsters, more definition 
  even within the type of monsters, and certainly a deeper dungeon.”363 
  The dungeon stocking system required elaboration, so that Dave could include 
  more of the newer monsters without necessitating “special encounter” creation 
  whenever some variety in lairs was desired.  Also, the experience progression 
  requirements and other rulings would soon necessitate an additional level of 
                                                             
  363 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  
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  character detail, differentiating Flunkies and Heroes from one another with greater 
  granularity.  Otherwise, only the equipment carried and treasures found would 
  make the Heroes unique; colorful personalities could only be defined by what they 
  had, not what they actually were.  As a result, it is likely that Dave refined the 
  “personality” (ability score) system in early 1972.  We know from the Wizard 
  Gaylord character sheet that the personality scores included the following attributes 
  and skills (and there may have been more besides):  Brains, Looks, Credibility, Sex, 
  Health, Strength, Courage, Horsemanship, Woodsmanship, Leadership, Flying, 
  Seamanship and Cunning.364 
  The black binder was probably getting quite big at this time! 
  By the spring, the infamous binder was stuffed full of haphazard rules.  As the 
  characters finished their dungeon romps and cleared out all six levels of Blackmoor’s 
  dungeons, it was time for Dave to inject some unexpected events to return the 
  players’ attention to the surface.  It was time to burn down the Castle. 
   
   
                                                             
  364 Refer to the Youtube clip “A History of D&D in Twelve Treasures,” posted by Jon 
  Peterson.  The commentary appears at approximately 6:50. 
  
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  CHAPTER 8 
  TWISTS OF FATE 
  (MAY — OCTOBER 1972) 
   
  A rock troll did her burden throw 
  Down on Skeggi’s skull, I trow. 
  O’er the battle-ogress saw I flow 
  Ruby rivers all aglow. 
  She her iron mouth a-gape 
  Did the life of Skeggi take. 
   
  — Grettir the Outlaw (one of the great Icelandic sagas), as translated by Sabine 
  Baring-Gould 
   
  FIRST GLORY, then chaos.  By the late spring of 1972, the Blackmoor campaign was 
  a glorious mess.  Invaders swarmed into the Village, charged up the slope, plundered 
  the treasuries, burned the Castle down, and then leveled the remains.  The heroic 
  guardians of Blackmoor were not there to defend their subjects; they were busily 
  traipsing through the dungeons far below, slaughtering monsters and stealing pretty 
  treasures.  When they finally emerged into the “Great Hall” up the main dungeon 
  stairs, they found only a smoking ruin. 
  Understandably, the people of Blackmoor Village rose up and exiled the players’ 
  characters from civilization.  The shamed and fallen Heroes were forced at sword 
  point into Loch Gloomen (Lake Gloomy), a monster-infested marshland — centered 
  upon an eponymous and miserable swamp-town — situated far away from 
  Blackmoor proper in the misty south.365  As player David Megarry recalls, 
  “Apparently the other players had depleted NPCs from the town of Blackmoor and 
  the surrounding villages in their adventuring.  This incensed the character played by 
  Arneson (the Earl or Duke, I can’t remember what title Dave A. used) and he 
  banished all the players to the swamp.  I am fairly convinced he wanted us to play 
                                                             
  365 Dungeon Module DA1, Adventures in Blackmoor (pg. 43). 
  
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  test the Temple of the Frog scenario he had created.”366 
  This is an historically interesting moment, because it may help us to tentatively 
  date some of the other confused events in the Blackmoor campaign.  Dave once 
  wrote that the heroes were exiled to Loch Gloomen “at the end of the 3rd year,”367 
  which indicates that his chronicle of game events was likely being retold in the Game 
  Years and not in Real Years.  Also, we can note that near to the end of 1972, 
  Arneson wrote an issue of his Corner of the Table newsletter (Volume IV, Number 
  6) which featured updates on his play group’s four major campaigns being played 
  at that time.  In addition to Blackmoor, there were also games for “Space War” 
  (later to become the TSR game Star Probe), World War II and Napoleonics.  The 
  Blackmoor report in this same Corner of the Table issue is the one that records the 
  exile of the shamed heroes to Loch Gloomen.368 
  The exit of the fallen heroes was decidedly ungraceful:  “Under heavy escort, 
  they [the player characters] all ended up in Lake Gloomy with [only] the goods they 
  could carry, and were dumped there.”369  David Megarry’s character was spared 
  this dismal fate:  “Arneson told me that I was not subject to the banishment as I had 
  never used NPCs in my adventures [and not gotten them killed, which is what 
  Megarry is getting at here].”370  But it seems that Megarry decided his character 
  would follow a different path: 
  “[Arneson] told me I [Megarry’s character] could stay and continue in Blackmoor 
  … but I would be out of the mainstream of what the rest of the players would be 
  doing.  I could go [to] the Temple of the Frog, but would have to make the journey 
  on my own.  [Instead,] I choose to follow the group.  I ‘cleverly’ decided I would 
  travel there as a leper, and [so I] acquired a robe and bell.  Unbeknownst to me, I 
  choose the wrong color for the robe!  So I followed the group, ringing my bell, 
  thinking I was being a leper.  Pete Gaylord, [playing] the Wizard [of the Wood], 
  was part of the rear guard for the group.  He finally noticed me and Arneson 
  explained to him that a figure in a white robe with a bell was following the group.  
                                                             
  366 See David Megarry’s February 3rd, 2017 comment at the Zenopus Archives, on the 
  blog post thread for “Megarry’s Copy of the Great Kingdom Map,” which was posted on 
  February 2nd. 
  367 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 59. 
  368 Refer to the Youtube clip “A History of D&D in Twelve Treasures,” posted by Jon 
  Peterson.  The commentary appears at approximately 8:45. 
  369 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  370 See Megarry’s February 3rd, 2017 comment at the Zenopus Archives. 
  
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  (Leper robes are supposed to be yellow!)  Pete looked at me for a while, and 
  decided I was some powerful Wizard and decided to leave me alone, as long as I 
  was keeping a safe distance from the group.  I, of course, am keeping a safe distance 
  from the group as I don’t want to get involved with ‘imperial entanglements’371 to 
  coin a phrase.  I was revealed when we finally got there, but was told that Pete was 
  on the verge of throwing one of his ‘fireballs’ at me.  But [Pete] decided that if I 
  was a powerful wizard, I could harm him, so he didn't do anything!  How much 
  Arneson dissuaded him by his description of my actions, I will never know.” 
  Surely, Arneson was chuckling merrily in his mind, seeing how his players were 
  making the adventure even more interesting by causing accidental confusion with 
  one another! 
  Additionally, it seems that the people’s favorite local-boy-gone-famous, the 
  Great Svenny, was allowed to remain to protect the Village from further incursions.  
  The reasons for this peculiar predicament are rather interesting:  it seems that Greg 
  Svenson, Svenny’s player, was out of town while this scenario was being played.372  
  His fate was therefore controlled by Dave Arneson, with his daring (foolhardy?) 
  actions directed by the other players.  Greg noted, “As I understand it, the other 
  players decided to see how far Svenny could go without their support.  They may 
  have thought that Svenny could win the battle by himself.”373 
  While the on-autopilot hero Svenny was quick to garrison Blackmoor, his efforts 
  were to no avail.  Poor old Svenny by that time possessed enchanted armor and a 
  magic sword of his own, but his supporting garrison entailed only sixty sour-
  demeanored Flunkies in all.  The forces of evil saw another opportunity for mayhem 
  when the majority of the Heroes were exiled into the Gloomy Swamp, and so the 
  monsters struck again without delay.  The valiant Svenny mustered his troops, 
  hunkered down in formation, and met the onslaught at the southwestern edge of 
  the village.  The attack was repulsed, and Svenny managed to valiantly slaughter 
  more than 200 orcs single-handedly before he was finally struck down.374 
  Weeks later, Greg would return to learn that his cherished character had been 
  killed fighting in this heroic final stand.  Dave apologized to Greg, and Mike Carr’s 
                                                             
  371 Star Wars fans will of course note the allusion to Han Solo and his rather foolhardy 
  (cocky) escapades. 
  372 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Loch 
  Gloomen Invasion.” 
  373 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Loch 
  Gloomen Invasion.”  Posted June 30th, 2013. 
  374 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Loch 
  Gloomen Invasion.” 
  
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  priest character was allowed to resurrect Svenny so that his superhuman adventures 
  could continue. 
   
   
  Come play with us … 
   
   
  
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  Meanwhile, the exiles were trying to survive the swamp by sending squads of 
  their still-loyal troops out from the swamp-town to march about, scouting the 
  surround.  The icy and poisonous swamp was filled with haunted houses, caves and 
  various underground complexes, which proved to be the lairs of ogres, trolls, 
  wights, werewolves and other less identifiable horrors of the dark.375 
  Dozens of footmen were killed by the swamp monsters during these trying times, 
  but at some point the Barons Fant and Jenkins managed to redeem themselves 
  through various (yet sadly mysterious) heroic actions. 
  While this Blackmoor Bunch was suffering in Loch Gloomen, and Svenny 
  assigned to the Village defense, the mount of Castle Blackmoor was taken over by 
  a cohort of elven warriors.  This was not necessarily because the elves wanted to 
  rule the Castle or even defend the Village, but rather because they feared what 
  might occur if the surface exit out of the Balrog’s dungeon was left unguarded.  
  Faced with the dread certainty that the undead, demons and other unholy fiends 
  would soon be rising out of the dungeons in force to invade the Village of 
  Blackmoor and indeed the entire Barony, the guardian elves created holy water 
  pumping systems.  Blackmoor player Jeff Berry (who played the Tékumel character 
  Chirine ba Kal) has noted376 that Dave Arneson concocted this seemingly 
  anachronistic detail after considering the practicality of Roman aqueducts, ancient 
  pressurized pumping techniques, and similar pre-medieval technologies. 
  As a result of the Blackmoor Bunch’s scouting skirmishes around the formerly-
  neutral town377 of Loch Gloomen, the forces of evil became aware that the rest of 
  the Heroes were still stuck in the swamp with limited means of defense.  This was a 
  perfect chance for them to wipe out the Blackmoor Bunch once and for all.  A 
  deadly surge of giants and other monsters (led by an evil Anti-Superhero riding a 
  dragon, played by Kurt Krey)378 attacked Loch Gloomen before the Heroes could 
  gain a firmer foothold in the region. 
  We know little of this Captain Krey, but Arneson once noted that “Krey turned 
  traitor and joined Soukup [playing one of the Egg of Coot’s lieutenants, perhaps 
  the Balrog], and [Krey] betrayed [Blackmoor] Castle during the first [real world] 
                                                             
  375 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pp. 59-60. 
  376 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “Q&A 
  with Jeff Berry.” 
  377 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 4. 
  378 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  
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  year.”379  Krey was the first dark wizard of the Blackmoor campaign, hungry for 
  power and glorification.  (And hey, who wouldn’t want to be an epic dragon rider?)  
  He had sold his soul to Soukup the Balrog, and thereby became a champion of 
  darkness.380 
   
   
  “Treachery pays, and handsomely.  Time for a mount upgrade, eh?” 
                                                             
  379 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition. 
  380 Havard’s Blackmoor Blog, “Captain Krey — First Dark Wizard” (July 15th, 2010). 
  
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  Captain Krey led the charge, swooping down to torment Loch Gloomen’s 
  defenders.  A giant was killed by cannon fire, but the horde of evil counterattacked 
  and one of the player character Heroes (played by Dave Belfry) was shredded by 
  the nefarious dragon soon thereafter.  Some of the other player characters (including 
  the hero soon to become known as the “Blue Rider,” but still at this time more 
  plainly as William of the Heath)381 managed to raise additional troops to wipe out 
  an orcish regiment and to rescue Loch Gloomen, but the repulsed evil army turned 
  its flank around and destroyed the valorous relief force. 
  Disaster was averted when Baron Jenkins, with his trusty Flunky lieutenant 
  (played by David Megarry, who was perhaps still playing H. W. Dumbo, we don’t 
  yet really know),382 managed to fight his way into Loch Gloomen and to secure a 
  workable supply line.  The characters played by three other players — David Wesely 
  (playing a Superhero), Scott Belfry (a Hero) and Ross Maker (another Hero, 
  apparently a beleaguered dwarf that Ross would always play)383 led a force of 
  cavalry against Kurt Krey’s dragon, and managed to send it fleeing into the air.  
  With the dragon gone and a giant’s cannonball-shattered corpse sprawled in the icy 
  mud, the forces of evil finally broke and scattered into the marshes. 
  Evil was defeated, but it was a Pyrrhic victory.  Dave Arneson, always deeply 
  entertained by these wild heroic struggles, was having a blast.  Perhaps he was still 
  teaching a lesson, punishing the players for neglecting their fiefdoms in the name of 
  dungeon adventures. 
  Dave’s ambitious but limited write-up of the Blackmoor campaign to date was 
  published in the late spring of 1972.  One of the most interested readers of the 
  account, when it was first released, was none other than Gary Gygax. 
  At that time, Gary was still busy promoting his Chainmail release and working 
  on other materials for publication by Guidon Games.  In July, Guidon released a 
  new edition of Chainmail to meet the pleasantly surprising surge in demand.  
  Fantasy wargaming, despite the controversy it caused (Why would serious historians 
  ever want to play a mere child’s game?  Pshaw!) was creating a groundswell in 
  interest for the Fantasy Supplement and “Tolkien wargames” in general.  This was 
  good news for Gary, and Chainmail’s new edition had some clarifications which 
  cleaned up the wizard rules and added a few new spells.  A few other general 
                                                             
  381 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 16. 
  382 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 2:55. 
  383 Refer to twincities.com, the Dave Arneson obituary, April 9th, 2009.   
  
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  improvements were made as well. 
  In fact, things were going so well that Chainmail had become Guidon’s best 
  seller.  Dave Arneson was not the only person experimenting with expansions to 
  Chainmail Fantasy, although he was definitely the major innovator.  Word of 
  mouth was slowly getting stronger for this nascent hobby, but still the sales were 
  not fully sufficient for Gary and his family to live by.  While Dave was happily 
  gaming down in his parents’ basement, Gary was still working on shoe repairs in a 
  basement of his own. 
  Therefore, it probably came as quite an unpleasant shock when, later that July, 
  Don Lowry announced that Guidon Games would be moving its operations to 
  Belfast, Maine.384  Gary was forced to seriously consider following along, because 
  if he agreed to go, his position as Editor-in-Chief would become full time. 
  We know (from the earlier 1970 move of Gygax’s insurance company, which 
  caused him to lose his underwriting job) that Gary was too attached to Lake Geneva 
  to move away.  Also, Gary once noted that family concerns came into play in his 
  decision to remain.  There was also the serious matter of young Rob Kuntz.  You 
  may recall that Rob’s father had died before Rob ever knew him, and that Rob’s 
  mother was having a difficult time keeping things together and raising teenagers on 
  her own.  Rob, present in the Gygax home almost every day, had been part of 
  Gary’s extended family since 1968.  This arrangement (from a legal perspective) was 
  informal, and Gary was not officially Rob’s guardian.  If Gary uprooted his family 
  to follow Don Lowry to Maine, what would happen to Rob? 
  The Gygax family seriously suggested adopting Rob at about this time.  As Rob 
  once told the story:  “He [Gary] had an offer from Don [Lowry] to move his whole 
  family to Maine and to become permanently in residence there, working for Guidon 
  Games.  And so one day I got off the bus, and when I’d come home from high 
  school I’d get dropped off at the Gygaxes instead of three blocks away at my house.  
  So I took a different bus.  And I came walking in — no need to knock in those days 
  — I was part of the family.  And the whole family was gathered at the table during 
  the afternoon, which I thought was odd.  And I said, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’  And 
  they said, ‘We’re talking about you.’  And I said, ‘Oh yeah?  For what?’  And they 
  informed me about the offer and how they were going to speak to my mother 
  about adopting me [to take] me with them, because I was that close to the 
                                                             
  384 Online interview:  Refer to the Rob Kuntz interview featured on the Hill Cantons blog, 
  “No Borders:  A Conversation with Rob Kuntz” (August 15th, 2011). 
  
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  family.”385 
  Sadly, the adoption proved for various reasons to be untenable.  Gary also later 
  noted386 that even beyond these sobering familial concerns, he also felt serious 
  doubts concerning Guidon’s sustainability.  Guidon Games’ service to buyers was 
  becoming slower and more erratic, and it seemed likely that a move to the coast 
  would only make those matters worse.  In Gary’s estimation, Guidon was on the 
  verge of falling apart.  Therefore, he politely declined Don Lowry’s offer of full-
  time employment. 
  This fateful decision would have major ramifications later on, because Don 
  would then be much less likely to take on a risky game called Dungeons & Dragons 
  for publication.  Don’s rejection of that game in the following summer would then 
  compel Gary to form his own game company, Tactical Studies Rules, in October of 
  1973.  If Gary had decided to go to Maine instead, who knows what fate could 
  have befallen fantasy role-playing?  D&D might have been released by Guidon, only 
  to fail due to that company’s business problems.  If that had happened, we might 
  not be playing D&D at all today.  The entire landscape of published role-playing 
  games, not to mention computer MMORPGs, would probably have been vastly 
  different from what we now enjoy. 
  Indirectly then, Gary’s devotion to his loved ones and Lake Geneva set gaming 
  upon its fated course.  From that point on, he would begin to pull away from both 
  Guidon and Lowry.  He became more vested, for better and for worse, in the 
  potential (and the business risks) inherent in his own creative endeavors. 
  As August approached, it was time to conduct the fifth annual Lake Geneva 
  wargaming convention, Gen Con V (Saturday and Sunday, August 19th-20th, 1972).  
  In the past, Gary as founder had taken it upon himself — assisted by family and 
  International Federation of Wargaming staff, such as IFW president Len Lakofka — 
  to plan out, set up and run the convention for the many anticipated hundreds of 
  gamers.  This year, however, Gary had made a formal resignation from wargaming 
  (meaning the political side of organization, not the fun side of casual gaming), which 
  meant that the IFW had to try and run the event without him.  The improvised 
  plan they ended up with looked great on paper, but as they say, no plan ever 
  survives contact with the enemy.  And the enemy, in this case, was a legion of 
  grouchy gamers. 
                                                             
  385 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip, ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 5:25. 
  386 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  Gen Con had by this time gotten so successful that the convention had run out 
  of space.387  The IFW required a larger venue than the quaint Lake Geneva 
  Horticultural Hall, and so Gen Con V was held at the George Williams College 
  Campus of Aurora University in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.  The site was (and is) an 
  isolate series of roomy halls, with rustic cottages that could be rented for people to 
  stay there. 
  Unfortunately, the place was also rundown and uncomfortable.  Due to the con 
  being run on a weekend, there were no significant food facilities open.  Anyone 
  (meaning everyone) who got hungry had to bring their own food.  And since this 
  fact was not communicated very well, con attendees were constantly forced to stop 
  their gaming and to drive over to Lake Geneva, Walworth, or Fontana to get a bite 
  to eat. 
  To make things even more obnoxious, the game events were spread all over the 
  place.  People were wandering around the campus, stumbling into games after they 
  had already started late and short-handed, and the events were starting to flow into 
  one another’s time slots with no contingency plan in place to get things back on 
  track. 
  Yes, it was a mess.  The following year would find the Gen Con franchise — 
  now, with a rather sullied reputation — back in its rightful hometown, Lake Geneva. 
  We do know a little bit about what occurred there:388  there were armored tank 
  battles using the Tractics rules, lots of other World War II games (Stalingrad, D-Day, 
  Battle of the Bulge, Luftwaffe, etc. under the lofty term “the Old Masters’ 
  Tournament”), Fight in the Skies, Napoleonics, and medieval miniatures. 
  And a few other very good things did happen at Gen Con V, of course, as they 
  always will when gaming and gamers are concerned.  For example, a young man 
  named Mike Mornard met Dave Arneson for the first time, and Mike would later 
  (in the fall of 1973) become a greatly valued player in the Blackmoor campaign.389  
  He would soon play in Gary’s Greyhawk games (late 1972 to mid-1973), and would 
  even become the auspicious link between Professor Phil Barker (of Tékumel fame) 
  and future TSR staff artist, David C. Sutherland III. 
  Arneson did not bring his Blackmoor game to that ill-fated Gen Con, simply 
  because it was too cumbersome to extract a reasonable semblance of the actual 
  game from the copious notes and scribbled maps.  Blackmoor was not an easy game 
                                                             
  387 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007. 
  388 See for example Liaisons Dangereuses #136, June 15th, 1972, which has a decent 
  advertisement for the event. 
  389 The Collector’s Trove Presents:  The Michael Mornard Collection. 
  
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  to pick up, move or demonstrate.  It was easy for Dave to invite new players down 
  to his basement to try a game, but attempting to teach strangers the bizarre rules 
  within the confines of a gaming convention’s time slots was simply out of the 
  question. 
  At around this same time however, either at that Gen Con or (perhaps more 
  likely) via an Arneson-penned article in the newly-released Domesday Book #13, 
  Gary managed to learn more about Arneson’s highly unusual Chainmail-derivative 
  game.  The more Gary learned about it, the more he wanted to know.  It was 
  becoming clear that Arneson had taken Gary’s Chainmail Fantasy and stripped it 
  down to a hollow shell, which had then been souped up until it became a bizarre 
  (and volatile) hot rod.  As Gary once related, Dave “was running a campaign where 
  he was applying [unusual statistical] figures, and it was played on a map ... although 
  you could do an outdoor adventure, too.  And I said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool, 
  Dave.’”390  Putting his intrigue mildly, Gary also said, “I thought that this usage was 
  quite interesting,”391 and further that Arneson’s “variant ... sounded fascinating.”392 
  Gary also learned that one of Arneson’s regular players, David Megarry, had 
  taken an interest in simplifying Arneson’s Blackmoor dungeons into a cleaner board 
  game format that could be easily transported and played just about anywhere, by 
  players of any skill level.  Megarry, with Arneson’s blessing, had developed a 
  prototype of this new game and called it The Dungeons of Pasha Cada, and Gary 
  would later become quite impressed by Megarry’s distilled approach.393  Arneson, 
  it seems, was quite impressed with Megarry’s efforts at dungeon and game design.  
  As Megarry would remember, “It wasn't until I showed Arneson Dungeon! [at this 
  time, still named Pasha Cada, not Dungeon! ~K] that we became closer in our 
  friendship … as a mutual recognition of talent was established.”394 
  Megarry once explained how he decided upon the name of the game:  “Pasha 
  is an honorific in the Ottoman Empire, and I wanted the name to have an ‘Eastern’ 
  flavor to it.  Cada is more from a Latin origin, meaning death.  It is the Latin word 
  that cadaver is derived.  So I was trying to change ‘The Dungeon of Lord Death’ to 
                                                             
  390 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  18. 
  391 The Dragon, issue #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of 
  the Game,” pg. 7. 
  392 Online interview:  RPG.net Interview with Gary Gygax, May 2001. 
  393 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted July 
  2nd, 2006. 
  394 See David Megarry’s comments on the Zenopus Archives, “Megarry’s Copy of the 
  Great Kingdom Map.” 
  
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  something more exotic.”395 
  Megarry went on to explain that the game was inspired by Blackmoor’s 
  dungeons (as explored by H. W. Dumbo), The Lord of the Rings (probably meaning 
  Moria in particular), and Chainmail.  On that last influence:  “As to the influence of 
  Chainmail:  it [offered] a handy list of monsters to populate the dungeon.  It was 
  like going to a mythology book and getting monster information.  I had a lot of 
  Tolkien monsters and creatures in my original prototype, which had to be 
  eliminated for copyright reasons. Gary used OD&D monsters to fill in the ones taken 
  out.”  So while David Megarry was the creator of the game, the influence of 
  Arneson and Gygax was there from the very first. 
  The game was certainly needed, from a gaming group logistics perspective.  As 
  Megarry later explained in an interview, Pasha Cada “came out of my experience 
  with being a part of David Arneson’s play group …  We struggled with David being 
  the only referee [for the Blackmoor dungeons].”396 
  Arneson greatly enjoyed being the referee for Blackmoor, but it was exhausting 
  all the same.  As Megarry recalled, “It got to … a point where [Arneson] would 
  spend like 14 hours on Saturdays trying to do dungeon expeditions with all of us.  
  And then we finally figured out that we didn’t need to actually be physically there.  
  We could call [Arneson] on the phone.  And so, the evenings all of a sudden became 
  filled with [dungeon exploration].”397 
  But due to the imperative need for the sole referee, Arneson and Megarry were 
  both interested in coming up with a different game format for the Blackmoor 
  dungeons which might be easier for other groups to play without all the prep time.  
  If they could simplify things enough, Arneson might even get a chance to explore 
  his Blackmoor world from the point of view of a character!  As Megarry explained, 
  “As we expanded on that [the Blackmoor campaign and most particularly its 
  dungeons], as we experimented with it, it became overwhelming to David.  …  
  How could he cut it down?”398 
  Megarry then had the key inspiration for a new and leaner game format:  “Let’s 
                                                             
  395 Online web forum post:  The Comeback Inn forums.  “Dungeon and Blackmoor,” 
  February 7th, 2017. 
  396 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The comment is made very early in the interview. 
  397 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 0:45. 
  398 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 3:45. 
  
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  get rid of the referee.  What do I have to do to eliminate the referee out of this 
  game?” he remembered.  “And that was the spark that drove me to make the 
  [Dungeons of Pasha Cada] game.”399 
  Arneson would indeed get to be one of the first players of Megarry’s prototype 
  board game.  “The weekend after I invented it,” Megarry remembered, “I took it 
  to the Arneson basement and presented it to the world after they had finished their 
  battle.  And we all enjoyed it.”400 
  * * * * * 
  The simplification was highly effective.  Gary would later remember of hearing 
  about Megarry’s Dungeons of Pasha Cada, “That came around the same time that 
  Dave Arneson was telling me about his dungeon crawl campaign.”401  Gary talked 
  to David Megarry about this interesting simplified (and referee-free) game mode, 
  and from what Gary heard, he liked the general idea. 
  As defined later by Gary, Pasha Cada “is a board game where each player takes 
  the role of a fantasy character:  a Wizard, a Hero, a Superhero, or an Elf.  You move 
  them on a board through a six-level dungeon.  You enter the room and fight the 
  monster and have to roll on 2d6, pretty much the way Chainmail operates.”402  
  Megarry was an intelligent young man with a highly systematic mindset, who 
  possessed a gift for distilling others’ designs down to the essentials.  In treating the 
  dungeon symbologically and distilling the Arneson map types down to a load-
  balanced board matrix, Megarry was able to create an excellent branching dungeon 
  map with balanced lairs and treasures, which would reward path selection and 
  strategic play. 
  Some of the cool monsters featured in the original Pasha Cada rules, printed in 
  Megarry’s own handwriting, include:  Anti-Heroes, Anti-Superheroes, brown 
  dragons, evil sorceresses, giant snakes, giant spiders, giant worms, green slimes, grey 
  puddings, wererats and weretigers.  This tantalizing list gives us an idea of a few 
  more of the monsters which originated with the Blackmoor play group, as opposed 
                                                             
  399 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 6:20. 
  400 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 3:55. 
  401 Online web forum post:  Quartertothree/CGM interview with Gary Gygax. 
  402 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  18. 
  
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  to the later Greyhawk game.403 
  Astute readers may note that this board game sounds suspiciously like Dungeon! 
  (released by TSR in 1975), and that is exactly what it is.  Pasha Cada was published 
  under the Dungeon! name only after an arduous, winding journey through 
  rejections, edits, play tests and refinements. 
  After Megarry had completed his Pasha Cada prototype — which had been 
  conceived as a family game, since a veteran wargaming referee was no longer 
  necessary for dungeon play — he queried with Parker Brothers to see if they would 
  consider publishing it.  But he didn’t hear anything back, and he would not get a 
  decision from Parker Brothers on his submission until the beginning of 1973.  (The 
  rejection letter he would later receive was dated December 28th, 1972.  December 
  28th was a Thursday before a holiday weekend, so it seems unlikely that Megarry 
  would receive the letter before the beginning of January.)404 
  In the meantime, the silence from Parker Brothers was surely frustrating.  The 
  next step to publication, it seemed, would involved Megarry asking Gary for a little 
  consideration.  Megarry told Gary:  “I can’t get anybody to look at it [Pasha Cada].  
  Would you be my agent?”  And Gary answered, “Sure, if you don’t mind my 
  cleaning up a few things.”405 
  Intrigued by the creative lengths which the Twin Cities play group had gone to 
  in stripping down Chainmail and turning its skeleton into two entirely new beasts, 
  Gary began to realize that he just might have stumbled upon an answer to his own 
  brewing conundrum.  Chainmail was growing more popular, but that was almost 
  solely because of the Fantasy Supplement, and new players were often frustrated 
  to learn that they needed to study a medieval wargame before they could play the 
  “fun part.”  If Arneson and Megarry had found new ways to take the best of fantasy 
  gaming out of Chainmail, then perhaps the two Daves had also found a way to 
  speed Gary’s path toward more independent fantasy game design.  In short, 
  Blackmoor was even more fantasy-ish than Chainmail Fantasy was, and Pasha Cada 
  could provide an excellent entry-level introduction to dungeon crawls. 
  Very likely, at this point Gary was already seriously considering potential 
  collaboration with both Arneson and Megarry.  He therefore invited both Daves to 
                                                             
  403 See also The Acaeum forums, thread “Dungeon board game by David R Megar[r]y 
  TSR Games 1975?” 
  404 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 13:30. 
  405 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  18. 
  
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  bring their unique games to Lake Geneva, so that Gary and his play group could see 
  how the new games’ innovations worked firsthand.  Some sources indicate that this 
  occurred in August or the early autumn, although November is also cited. 
  The invitation was probably quite exciting to Arneson and Megarry.  Gary still 
  had strong connections through Don Lowry and Guidon Games, and his own games 
  were highly regarded.  Arneson was already collaborating with Gygax on Don’t 
  Give Up the Ship! and its related scenarios, and Megarry could expect serious 
  consideration of his own Pasha Cada dungeon variant too.  The invitation to Lake 
  Geneva then would not just be a call to come down and play some games with 
  distant friends; it would also be a chance for Gary and his fellow testers to gauge 
  the new games’ potential commercial viability. 
  Arneson and Megarry agreed to come.  They got busy trying to figure out how 
  on Earth they were going to explain the concept of dungeon crawls to players who 
  had never yet experienced such a thing.  But the Lake Geneva players were veterans 
  of many types of games.  Perhaps the best way would simply be to surprise 
  everyone, show up, and sit and play. 
  At around this time (perhaps in November), Arneson got too busy to manage 
  the continuing Blackmoor campaign effectively.  Greg Svenson relates that Dave 
  offered up “some of his notes and let me referee a couple of times when he was 
  busy with other things.  Dave tells me that I was the third D[ungeon] M[aster] 
  ever.”406   Also, a game called Outdoor Survival was released by Avalon Hill (AH) 
  in September 1972, and this is noteworthy because it had an excellently-designed 
  wilderness map imprinted upon a hexagon grid.  Arneson used this map to run 
  wilderness adventures whenever the characters ventured out of Blackmoor’s 
  confines, and Gary would later recommend the AH game as a play accessory for 
  Dungeons & Dragons (1974).407  Knowing the month of Outdoor Survival’s release 
  is also advantageous, because it allows us to tentatively date some later events in 
  the ongoing Blackmoor campaign. 
                                                             
  406 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  Blackmoor forums, The Comeback 
  Inn.  See also Sham’s Grog ‘n’ Blog blogspot, Q&A with Greg Svenson.  Posted May 30th, 
  2009. 
  407 Gary was obviously less in love with the rules of Outdoor Survival, and more in love with 
  the full-color map (which would, for quite some time, remain beyond TSR’s nascent ability 
  to produce).  It’s a beautiful and inspiring old school map that would serve early gaming 
  groups well in a time long before TSR — which didn’t even exist yet — could give the 
  gaming community everything they wanted to give.  Things were just getting started.  But 
  a read of Outdoor Survival in comparison to the 1974 first printing of OD&D makes it fairly 
  clear that Gary was much more in enamored with the Outdoor Survival game board 
  than he ever was with the rules. 
  
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  As Arneson mentioned in The First Fantasy Campaign, “The game moved south, 
  and we then used the Outdoor Survival map for this phase of the campaign when 
  the exiles from Blackmoor set up shop after the bad scene at Lake Gloomy.” 
  Many more tumultuous things happened in Arneson’s later campaign (c. 1973-
  1975), including:  the rise of King Frederick the First of the Orcs of the Black Hand 
  and the creation of the Orcian Way;408 the triumph of Great Svenny as “Orc’s 
  Bane”; the fall from grace suffered by Baron Fant; the corruption which led Baron 
  Jenkins to become Sir Fang the Vampire Lord;409 the manifestation of the later-
  named cleric class (as exemplified by the “Village Priest” of Blackmoor’s Church of 
  the Facts of Life, later known as “The Bishop” and played by Mike Carr)410 which 
  occurred in response to the rise of Sir Fang; the creation of the monk (martial artist) 
  class, inspired by Kung Fu and the Remo Williams “Destroyer” novels by Warren 
  Murphy and Richard Sapir; and the deepening of the Blackmoor dungeons, 
  revealing the deepest and nastiest levels of all. 
  Some of the original Blackmoor “deep dungeon” encounters are preserved 
  within the text of The First Fantasy Campaign.411  Therein, we learn that dungeon 
  level seven had a dwarf clan, perhaps offering a source for potential allies to lost 
  adventurers.  The deep levels were dominated however by trolls, Balrogs, 
  werewolves, goblins, ogres and ghouls.  Part of level seven was also controlled by 
  a gigantic fire elemental.  Dungeon level eight featured the lairs of two unique beasts 
  inspired by Japanese monster movies:  Sinak the Giant Worm, and Siliar the Giant 
  Insect.  Dungeon level nine had even tougher monsters, including an armored 
  Balrog, an air elemental and man-eating seaweed.  Dungeon level ten had a water 
  elemental lair, and even a room which served as a roost for twelve enormous rocs. 
                                                             
  408 Refer for example to Dragonsfoot.org.  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  409 Refer for example to The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with 
  additional notes by Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 29.  For 
  the attribution of Duane Jenkins to Baron Jenkins and Sir Fang, see Dragonsfoot.org, 
  “Early Blackmoor questions.” 
  410 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot forums, “Early Blackmoor 
  questions.”  And as Mike Carr once explained in an interview (the Save Or Die Podcast):  
  “In the early Blackmoor campaign … I played … the original cleric character, and had 
  a small chapel there [in the town.]  I would go off on a few adventures with others … [it 
  was] fascinating and fun.”  This character, to begin with, was “pretty low level … he had 
  the ability to fight, he carried a mace, and … [other players’] characters would come to 
  me for low-level healing.  I couldn’t raise the dead or anything like that.” 
  411 Refer to The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional 
  notes by Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pp. 28, 33 and 34. 
  
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  Dungeon pits of evil … the one-way descent. 
   
  Dave even integrated lasting elements of cause and effect in his dungeon in later 
  games.  An earthquake (probably the one which had caused Blackmoor’s wandering 
  gypsies to flee during the “Gerti the Dragon” days) affected many levels, making 
  the netherworld even more treacherous and complex.  Player Greg Svenson 
  recalled, “The passages [throughout the dungeon] were all originally 10’ wide.  
  There was some sort of general collapse at some point (I seem to have missed that 
  adventure) in the top level of the dungeon.  The 5’ passages were dug through the 
  rubble by various player groups until they found the regular 10’ passages.”412 
  The records are too spotty for me to relate many of these these matters in great 
  detail, and the vast majority of the further dungeon stories are sadly lost in the mists 
  time.  Hopefully, in the future I will be able to expand upon these few tantalizing 
  glimpses of “ante-Gloomen” Blackmoor; but for many of the details forever lost, 
  we must content ourselves with knowing that the great game was still being loved 
                                                             
  412 Online web forum post:  Odd74.proboards.com.  ODD74 Proboard forums, “Blackmoor 
  Dungeon’s expanded levels.” 
  
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  and played. 
  * * * * * 
  (N.B. As promised, additional Blackmoor tales from late 1972 — which are 
  slowly coming to light — are featured hereafter.) 
   
  The Tale of William’s Leap and the Blue Rider 
  According to player Greg Svenson, this anecdote may date to November of 
  1972.  Greg recalled that the adventure took place on a Saturday, soon after Dave 
  Arneson and David Megarry had returned from Lake Geneva.413 
  The adventure involved Svenny (as played by Greg), William of the Heath (Bill 
  Heaton), Mello the Halfling (Mel Johnson) and perhaps a character played by Steve 
  Rocheford.  Mr. Rocheford would later play Saint Stephen of the Rock, the main 
  villain in Arneson’s dungeon scenario The Temple of the Frog.  Greg had gotten 
  exceedingly skilled at navigating the Blackmoor dungeons, and when Bill and Mel 
  wanted to explore the new deep areas he was happy to oblige them.  Using his 
  uncanny directional sense, Svenny managed to get the adventuring party all the 
  way down to dungeon level nine without significant harm. 
  Exploring further, the adventurers discovered a descending stairway which 
  Svenny had never seen before.  Steeling themselves, the heroes crept down through 
  the darkness and found a blank wall at the bottom.  Of course this proved to be a 
  secret door, and in opening the door the adventurers discovered the throne room 
  of King Frederick the First … the fearsome overlord who ruled the Orcs of the 
  Blackhand.  Greg suspected (rightly) that hundreds of orc warriors and other horrors 
  were lurking nearby, and so he encouraged his companions to get the Hell out of 
  there. 
  The group found yet another descending stair, and took this way as well.  Waves 
  of heat washed over the frightened heroes, and the stench of sulfur stung their 
  nostrils.  A foreboding crimson glow came from below as they ventured further.  
  The walls were rough-hewn stone, and the rooms were more like shaped and 
  sculpted caverns than mere catacombs.  A winding tunnel led them to a fiery ledge, 
  overlooking a vast cavern of infernal fire far below. 
   
                                                             
  413 Online web forum post:  Blackmoor.mystara.net.  The Comeback Inn forums, “The 
  Original Blackmoor Game.”  This thread was cross-posted to preserve content which 
  originally appeared on the now-lost forums for Zeitgeist Games. 
  
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  “Game over, man.  Game over.” 
   
   
  
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  The adventurers stared down in awe-struck silence.  A lake of magma covered 
  the cavern’s floor, and a spiny island jutted high up from the center of the place.  
  There, immeasurable hills of gold glowed in the diabolic light, and atop the trove 
  there lay coiled an immense and slumbering golden dragon.  Golden dragons in 
  Blackmoor are sorcerous and powerful, but not necessarily good!414 
  Faced with such a clearly fatal temptation, the adventurers began to argue.  
  Svenny wanted to leave, while William wanted to steal some treasure.  Mello sided 
  with William, but simply wanted to watch the fun from a vantage point which 
  might provide the halfling with some vicarious entertainment instead of a certain 
  death.  Svenny was being sensible.  If William managed to leap down to the island, 
  how was he going to get back up?  William said there was treasure involved, and it 
  was worth the risk.  Throughout the hushed quarrel, Mello proceeded to engrave 
  “Kilroy was here” on the cavern wall (surely the deepest instance of halfling-
  inscribed dungeon graffiti known to this author). 
  William jumped down, and miraculously he managed to land on the island 
  without (a) frying himself or (b) waking the dragon.  He searched the island for a 
  particularly choice piece of treasure.  Arneson decided that this audacity demanded 
  a special reward, and so he told Bill that William of the Heath could see a mighty 
  clockwork automaton in the shape of a horse, and a cobalt-hued suit of 
  otherworldly powered armor.  Bill, surely aware of Starship Troopers and other sci 
  fi epics featuring powered battledress, had William strap himself into the powered 
  suit.  Greg could not remember what happened next, but considering that William 
  escaped with his treasure it is almost certain that he pressed a button and managed 
  to deploy the suit’s jump jets, or he activated the automaton’s anti-gravity field.  
  William got his treasure, Svenny got his comeuppance, and the adventurers made 
  their way out of the dungeon and lived to fight another day. 
  The reader may be curious to know why William became known as the “Blue 
  Rider,” and not the “Blue Knight.”  Apparently, the powered armor was difficult 
  for a medieval-minded Superhero to comprehend.  William would sometimes press 
  the armor’s arm buttons when he wanted to flee a deadly encounter, only to find 
  that the suit was propelling him straight into the fray.  William was the armor’s 
  rider, not its controller!  Therefore, his legendary battle cries include “No!  No, 
  stop!”  “How do you turn it off?” and the ever-famous “Let me out!”415 
                                                             
  414 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 57. 
  415 The First Fantasy Campaign:  A Playing Aid by Dave Arneson, with additional notes by 
  Richard Snider.  Judges Guild Incorporated, 1980 edition, pg. 16.  Refer also to The 
  
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  The Tale of the Unappreciative Black Dragon 
  One more salute before the last farewell.  Further research has indicated that 
  there are a few additional notes concerning one of the later Blackmoor Castle 
  dungeon adventures, which appears to have occurred in late 1972 or perhaps in 
  early 1973.  Player John Snider once reported416 that he enjoyed many early 
  successes in slaughtering the monsters under Blackmoor Castle, to the point that the 
  orcs, goblins and trolls knew his character’s name as a “household word” (a swear 
  word, likely!).  He garnered enough treasure to enrich himself and grew ever bolder 
  in his forays.  One fateful day, however (isn’t that always the way?) his character 
  and another played by David Megarry had a nasty time of it in the underworld.  
  These two greedy Superheroes opened one dungeon door too many, and came 
  face to face with an enormous black dragon. 
  Luckily, the dragon was asleep.  Did the adventurers wisely back out of the room 
  and proceed on their way back toward the surface and sanity?  Of course not!  A 
  hushed argument ensued, in which John’s Superhero advocated killing the beast in 
  its sleep, while David’s character said that parley was the wiser course.  Imagine, if 
  some kind of mutually beneficial pact could be reached, how powerful a black 
  dragon ally would be in the world above! 
  David’s wisdom won out, and the dragon was awakened to bask in the 
  adventurers’ selfless eloquence.  Quite nicely, David’s character stepped aside and 
  hid under cover, letting John’s Superhero do all the talking.  John insisted that his 
  “oration would have brought tears to the eyes of the most hard-hearted money 
  grabber,” but tragically the dragon seemed to disagree.  Growing more bored and 
  agitated by the moment, it summarily announced an end to the audience by rearing 
  back and belching forth a bilious stream of corrosive acid. 
  John’s chatty Superhero, likely objecting to this exceedingly noisome turn of 
  events, perished most horribly under a wave of boiling dragon snot.  His last words 
  were reported as, “I’ll come back and haunt you, Megarry!” 
  * * * * * 
  It is nearly time for us to consider Arneson’s creations, and Gary’s invitation for 
  him to provide a interactive demonstration of Blackmoor play. 
  Arneson, in late 1972, was justifiably worried about moving his precious game 
                                                             
  Comeback Inn forums, “The Original Blackmoor Game.”  This thread was cross-posted to 
  preserve content which originally appeared on the now-lost forums for Zeitgeist Games. 
  416 Different Worlds:  The Magazine of Game Role-Playing, issue #5.  “My Life and Role-
  Playing Continued,” by John Snider, pp. 20-21. 
  
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  for the upcoming demonstration for Gary Gygax.  While he was deciding precisely 
  which pieces of Blackmoor to transport down to Lake Geneva, he realized two 
  things:  not only was Gary most interested in the dungeons, but also, the dungeons 
  were the most movable piece of the game.  Instead of being played out on the 
  basement Ping-Pong table with houses, miniature trees and figures, the dungeons 
  merely required some notes, maps, dice and a screen to hide all of the referee’s 
  materials behind.  When Gary, Dave Arneson, and David Megarry all played these 
  dungeons together later that November, the first seeds of the future Dungeon! and 
  The Fantasy Game would be sown in Lake Geneva.  Years later, the mighty and 
  ever-branching TSR would sprout from those very same seeds. 
   
   
  
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  CHAPTER 9 
  AN AUDIENCE IN LOCH GLOOMEN 
  (NOVEMBER — DECEMBER 1972) 
   
  AT LAST in Lake Geneva, the time was right for the collaborative play testing of the 
  dungeon games to begin.  In November of 1972, Dave Arneson and David Megarry 
  drove the 330-odd miles down to Gary’s house.417 
  As Arneson once fondly wrote in retrospect (in Dragon #320), “We visited our 
  pals in Lake Geneva and shared the madness.” 
   
   
  Phantasmagorical, highly infectious, haunted castle madness 
  is the BEST madness. 
                                                             
  417 The date for this fateful excursion is maddeningly impossible to ascertain, as there is no 
  “smoking gun” and it is worth nothing that although Rob Kuntz remembered the month 
  as November, David Megarry would later recall that it was December.  Refer to the 
  Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, at approximately 15:00 and on.  Considering 
  however the extreme number of interrelated events which must be logically relegated 
  to the end of 1972, this narrative estimates the November timeframe until overwhelming 
  evidence proves otherwise. 
  
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  The mission was very simple.  As David Megarry later noted, “Arneson and I 
  were going down to show off our respective games.  Arneson was going to show 
  off his version of Blackmoor, which had become fairly sophisticated through all of 
  the game playing that we had been doing with it.  And I was going to show off this 
  [the Pasha Cada map prototype].”418 
  Gary was eagerly awaiting their arrival.  With him were Rob Kuntz, Rob’s 
  brother Theron (Terry), and Gary’s son, Ernie.419 
  The exact date of this journey is impossible to pin down.  There is no single day 
  which causes all of the purported timelines to coincide, no panacea to offer us a 
  clean reflection of that now too-distant reality.  Due to the amount of travel and 
  Arneson’s habit of holiday (and Saturday) gaming, it is tempting to estimate that it 
  was either the weekend of or after Thanksgiving, but (following comments made 
  by Rob Kuntz, who was there) a mid-November timeframe appears more likely.  
  But then again David Megarry recalls December, so who really knows? 
  When Arneson and Megarry arrived, they sat down at the dining table420 and 
  Arneson — as judge and game referee — prepared his materials.  Blackmoor would 
  be the first game played that weekend.  The play testers were surprised from the 
  start, because they were not offered any rules to review before playing the game.  
  Apparently, the following quizzical exchange took place at this time:  Rob 
  reasonably asked “What are the rules?”  And Arneson explained, “There are 
  none.”421 
  As Rob Kuntz further recalled, “Arneson didn’t bring out copies of the rules for 
  when we were play testing, or going through that first play session.  He said, ‘Well, 
  roll the dice,’ and he did all of the calculations out of sight.  So we didn’t know the 
  process.”422  Blackmoor player Greg Svenson once noted that this “secret rolling” 
  technique deliberately added to the anticipation and tension exhibited in this play 
  style:  “Dave did lots of secret rolling and never showed us the results or explained 
                                                             
  418 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 17:55. 
  419 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax.  Rob also specifically states the November 1972 
  timeframe in his interview in the Youtube clip, ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 7:30. 
  420 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 18:25. 
  421 See Secrets of Blackmoor, on Facebook, April 15th, 2017. 
  422 Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin Brown of Grognard 
  Games.  The relevant story begins at approximately 9:25. 
  
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  what he was rolling for,” he remembered.  “I am sure that sometimes he rolled dice 
  just to make us nervous.”423 
  (The game mechanics mystery surrounding this particular point, as fun as it was 
  for the players, would soon begin to drive Gary mad …) 
  Gary and his players were of course veterans of the Chainmail Fantasy system, 
  but they had never played anything like Blackmoor.  Therefore, Megarry played 
  along with the Lake Geneva players, serving to guide them through the setting and 
  the rules.  The game would be quite different from Megarry’s perspective, because 
  the Twin Cities Blackmoor campaign involved vicious rivalries between players 
  representing good and evil.  For the purposes of this demonstration, however, the 
  players were set up as allies in fellowship and their characters would be acting as a 
  team. 
  Arneson, too, had to make some adjustments to his game mastering style.  In 
  some of the earlier Twin Cities Blackmoor sessions, many of the “big bads” such as 
  evil sorcerers, demons, vampires and so forth had been played by players.  With all 
  of these new players now acting as a team, Arneson would need to adopt the role 
  of all of the monsters. 
  These seemingly minor distinctions are interesting because collectively, they 
  mean that Gary’s first exposure to the dungeon crawl would demonstrate an 
  adversarial yet judicial Game Master acting to challenge the collective players.  
  Further, that referee was playing the role of every non-player creature in the game.  
  Gary would forever be influenced by the profound impression Arneson’s game 
  made on him that day, and many of the precepts to be featured later in Dungeons 
  & Dragons would be the result of this first-experienced Blackmoor game. 
  With the roles of the players thus defined (Arneson as monster commander and 
  referee, Megarry as “caller”), the game began with the players’ newly-generated 
  characters appearing in the Village of Blackmoor.  The freshly-minted Heroes went 
  to the Comeback Inn as one of their first demonstrations of free will.  (Arneson was 
  waiting for them to decide what to do … the concept of role-playing was still very 
  foreign to them in the context of a game.)  David Megarry’ character would be 
  their guide.  They also purchased spelunking and adventuring gear, and then set out 
  up the rise of the frosty hill, approaching under the stark black silhouette of the 
  gothic Castle. 
                                                             
  423 Online web forum post:  ODD74 Proboards, “The % Layer of OD&D Archaeology.” 
  
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  Rob Kuntz once detailed424 a few of the events which the characters experienced 
  as they made their way through the towers’ leaning shadows.  We can also 
  determine some of the intermediary details from Arneson’s previously revealed 
  design of the dungeon levels.  First, they encountered the guardian elves who 
  warded the place against undead incursions from below.  The elves — they likely 
  first tried to dissuade the adventurers from risking their lives, but humans are 
  foolhardy creatures — sprayed holy water along the path so that the adventurers 
  could get through without being assaulted by the vampire Sir Fang. 
  The party entered the Great Hall, and from there they descended the 
  bloodstained stairs which led down into the dungeon depths.  With torches flaring, 
  the Heroes explored the labyrinthine halls until they discovered the lair of a 
  loathsome troll.  This fierce thing was clad in magical armor. 
  With swords flashing, the Heroes managed to slay the foul thing.  They stripped 
  off the troll’s magical armor and took it for themselves.  We are left to wonder if 
  Dave ruled that the armor shrank to fit a new wearer, much like the Seven League 
  Boots in fairy tales, or The One Ring in Tolkien’s epic.  A search of the troll’s refuse-
  littered den led to the discovery of a magical sword.425  One of the Heroes was able 
  to wield this blade, and learned that it had the power of granting wishes to those 
  in dire need. 
  Searching the dungeons further, the Heroes were accosted by an evil wizard.  
  The wizard hurled a deadly fireball at the party, but most of the heroes — while 
  badly burned — managed to survive.  Poor Terry’s character, however, was 
  incinerated and killed.  The surviving Heroes counterattacked to no avail, 
  discovering to their dismay that the wizard was not alone. 
  A horde of vile monsters surged forth, and under the onslaught of this legion the 
  Heroes were forced to flee.  They eventually found themselves in dungeons deeper 
  still, where they had the disastrously bad luck to encounter four demons of shadow 
  and flame — Balrogs!  Choosing the wisest course of action, the Heroes fled for 
  their lives. 
   
   
                                                             
  424 Wargaming:  The Magazine of Fantasy & Historical Simulation #1, from Fantasy Games 
  Unlimited, 1977.  Additional details come from comments made by Rob at the Ruins of 
  Murkhill forums. 
  425 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  
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  The demon of terror finds your plight entertaining. 
  Roll for initiative. 
   
   
  
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  We do not know exactly how they survived, but they eventually found a 
  treasure map which promised great riches in a farther realm.  (The locale presented 
  may have been deeper in the dungeon, but because we know that they also 
  undertook a wilderness adventure that evening, it seems more likely to have been 
  in the nearby wilderness a bit further beyond the Village of Blackmoor.)  The group 
  managed to reach the promised site, which proved to be the lair of a tribe of sixteen 
  ogres.  A desperate wish from the magic sword allowed the Heroes to fell the ogres, 
  and the hard-won treasure was seized at last. 
  When the Heroes slogged their way back to the Village weighed down with their 
  hard-won gold, Gary learned another intriguing rule in Dave’s campaign:  each 
  Hero and Wizard was the player’s principal figure, but these successful adventurers 
  could use gold to hire troops and men-at-arms.  Such followers could be taken into 
  the dungeons as bodyguards, to increase the leader’s chance of survival in further 
  adventures.  Or, troops could be led into battle throughout the entire Arch-Barony 
  of Blackmoor, facing the armies of other deadly and powerful individuals, leading 
  to more daring adventures, and potentially even more gold.426 
  It may well have seemed that the entire blueprint to a brand new fantasy game 
  was laid out that very night.  Alas, if only things were so simple! 
  * * * * * 
  The session finally ended around midnight.  The adventure was a complete 
  success, and the Wisconsinite gamers were hooked.  Dave’s game was a revelation.  
  As Rob Kuntz explained, the session had “really dug up quite a response from 
  Gary.”427 
  Somehow, Dave had taken the distant, tactical feel of medieval wargaming, and 
  had turned it into a choice-driven, ad hoc narrative with Arneson as the storyteller 
  and the players’ characters as free-willed explorers whose destiny could only be 
  foretold by player decisions and the roll of the dice.  Gary would later mention that 
  the adventure under Blackmoor Castle had reminded him of his own real-life 
  adventures in the old Sanitarium.428  Relating the tale, Gygax said of Arneson’s 
  innovations, “When I played in his ‘Blackmoor’ campaign I fell in love with the new 
  concept.”429 
                                                             
  426 Online interview:  RPG.net Interview with Gary Gygax, May 2001. 
  427 Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin Brown of Grognard 
  Games.  The story begins at approximately 7:30. 
  428 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  429 Alarums & Excursions #2. 
  
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  That same weekend, David Megarry had the opportunity to show off his 
  Dungeons of Pasha Cada game.  Pasha Cada was a beast of a different stripe.  Where 
  the “rules” of Blackmoor (which Gary would later realize were arbitrary rulings by 
  the clever Arneson) were still nebulous and unfathomable, the rules of Pasha Cada 
  were direct, comprehensive simplifications of concepts found in Chainmail Fantasy.  
  Megarry had managed to distill the essence of Arneson’s dungeon crawl innovations 
  down to a comprehensible framework, suitable for board game play.  This game 
  was not revolutionary, but it was brilliant, direct, and clean! 
  Gary saw distinct advantages in Megarry’s approach, foremost among them 
  being that a simple game of dungeon exploration might serve as an introductory 
  set for new players … players who would later hopefully move onto more complex 
  creations, such as Blackmoor, Chainmail Fantasy, or another new game entirely. 
   
   
  Heroic fantasy:  dream and ideal. 
   
  
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  The players had a good time with Pasha Cada, and considering their familiarity 
  with Chainmail, they probably played quite well.  Unlike Blackmoor of course, 
  Pasha Cada is a competitive score-driven game.  We do not which player won, but 
  everyone enjoyed themselves.  Gary in particular saw the game’s vast potential.  As 
  Megarry later related, “Gary was completely enamored with Dungeon!  …  He 
  loved this game.”430 
  The games at Gary’s table eventually had to end, and so Arneson and Megarry 
  packed up their goods and prepared to head back home.  For the Lake Geneva 
  players, Blackmoor and Pasha Cada had both made significant impressions.  
  Blackmoor seemed to offer limitless complexity, while Pasha Cada offered 
  refreshing simplicity.  As David Megarry would remember, “Gary had no concept 
  of a board game version of this stuff until I showed him my completed game in 
  Nov[ember] 1972.  In fact, as I was leaving his house … he explained to Rob Kuntz, 
  ‘It’s so simple, I should of thought of it.’”431 
  And as Gary later explained, “Between those two games, that’s how D&D was 
  born.”432  He would credit Arneson specifically with the most significant inspiration:  
  “When he and I got together, the ideas necessary to create D&D were 
  engendered.”433 
  Gary saw huge potential in Arneson’s Blackmoor game especially, and although 
  Arneson’s complex rules were difficult to deduce from the experienced mode of 
  play, Megarry’s concise approaches would help to gloss over some of the rough 
  spots.  Between the two games, Gary began to envision the potential of fantasy 
  dungeon role-playing as a new and unique game type all its own.  “I was enthused,” 
  he would later note, “and said I was going to create a full-fledged set of fantasy 
  game rules.”434  Gary’s intent would be “to design a special game system, to manage 
  something new.”435 
  Gary may have also made a gentleman’s agreement with Arneson at this time 
                                                             
  430 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, produced by 
  Fellowship of the Thing.  The relevant conversation begins at approximately 18:25. 
  431 Online web forum post:  The Comeback Inn forums.  “Dungeon and Blackmoor,” 
  February 7th, 2017. 
  432 40 Years of Gen Con, by Robin D. Laws, Trident, Inc. (d/b/a Atlas Games), 2007, pg. 
  18. 
  433 The Dragon, issue #26, pg. 29. 
  434 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted July 
  2nd, 2006. 
  435 Online interview:  RPG.net Interview with Gary Gygax, May 2001. 
  
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  regarding the publication of a Blackmoor-inspired dungeon crawling game, but 
  unfortunately due to the later legal matters and mutual hard feelings, this point 
  remains unclear.  But it seems that Arneson may have approached the co-design of 
  Dungeons & Dragons in early 1973 with some such understanding in his mind.436 
  After Arneson and Megarry had returned to the Twin Cities, the Lake Geneva 
  players were abuzz with the potential for evolutionary Chainmail variants along the 
  lines of Blackmoor and Pasha Cada.  The Chainmail Fantasy rules, interpreted 
  openly by other designers, had proven to be so versatile that Gary himself was 
  surprised by the imaginative potential hidden away in his own rules set. 
  With the two Daves gone and the Gygax household relatively quiet once again, 
  Gary had time to consider Arneson’s and Megarry’s innovations further.  As he 
  noted in a later interview, “Between Dave Arneson’s modifications of the Chainmail 
  Fantasy Supplement figures [rules formulae], giving ‘Heroes’ four hit dice rather 
  than requiring four simultaneous hits to kill them, and ‘Superheroes’ eight hit dice, 
  and Dave Megar[r]y’s board game based on a dungeon adventure with Chainmail’s 
  ‘Wizard,’ ‘Superhero,’ ‘Hero,’ and ‘Elf’ competing, exploring, slaying monsters, and 
  gaining treasure by so doing, the special nature of what could be done with the 
  rules bases became evident to me.”437 
  Character progression in particular was, to Gary’s mind, a monumental 
  innovation.  It was somewhat similar to a hierarchy of military ranks, but within a 
  more epic and heroic context.  Regarding that progression, Gary noted:  “This was 
  a breakthrough.  This was a quantum jump from tabletop games with miniatures.  
  Not only was the action of the game to be centered on such characters [Heroes and 
  Wizards controlled by the players], but they would grow in power as they 
  successfully progressed through ‘adventures.’”438  However, Gary also realized that 
  progression “did not really fit in the framework of Chainmail.”439  To fulfill the 
  potential of experience-based progression, a new game design built around that 
  idea would prove essential. 
                                                             
  436 Please note, however, that Rob Kuntz (for one) has specifically stated that he does not 
  believe that Dave Arneson had any intention at that time of publishing his Blackmoor 
  game.  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin Brown of 
  Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 7:30. 
  437 Online interview:  RPG.net Interview with Gary Gygax, May 2001. 
  438 30 Years of Adventure:  A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons.  Published by Wizards 
  of the Coast, 2004. 
  439 The Dragon #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the 
  Game,” pg. 7. 
  
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  Gary also loved the atmosphere of the dungeon itself.  He once explained, 
  “Credit Dave Arneson and David Megarry with my concentrating on subterranean 
  settings for the D&D game. The contained adventuring environment was perfect for 
  establishing fixed encounters before a game session, and for developing 
  progressively more hazardous ones as the PCs grew in their capacity to manage 
  them.”440  And the “open book storyteller” aspect of Blackmoor greatly appealed 
  to Gary as well.  He was quite taken with the refereed experience in which much 
  of the game is hidden, where Arneson was the mysterious Game Master, the only 
  one who knew all of the rules.  And “more astonishing,” to Gary, “the play was 
  mostly imagined, not depicted on a table.  The impartial and disinterested role of 
  the ‘judge’ or ‘referee’ typical for a military miniatures tabletop game now 
  expanded considerably.”441 
  With all of these ideas swimming in his head, Gary was eager to discuss the games 
  with Rob Kuntz.442  In fact, Rob once said that “the very day afterwards [after the 
  gaming sessions with Arneson and Megarry], nine hours later, he [Gary] was calling 
  me on the phone and had me come over to his office to discuss what we had just 
  experienced.”443  And further, “We sat down and discussed Dave Arneson’s concept 
  [of game mastering Blackmoor] and attempted to shoe-horn it for ‘story-making 
  possibilities’ — as Gary put it — for … two sessions of me ‘Dungeon Mastering.’”444 
  At first, according to Rob’s further recollection, Gary was most interested in this 
  strategy trying to use Arneson’s role-playing concept as a way to generate 
  improvisational stories, with Gary as the protagonist and Rob as the environment 
  generator.  Gary got some pens, colored pencils and hex paper,445 and explained 
  that he wanted Rob to referee an outdoor adventure session for him.  Gary said 
  that he would have his character move over an empty area, and Rob would describe 
  the surrounding terrain and any other features that Gary’s character could see.  So 
  Rob drew a map and hid it from Gary’s sight.  Gary “explored” the map, making 
  his own to emulate the details that Rob was describing.  As Rob explained, “I was 
                                                             
  440 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted June 
  27th, 2006. 
  441 30 Years of Adventure:  A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons.  Published by Wizards 
  of the Coast, 2004. 
  442 Randomwizard blogspot, “Grognard Games / Rob Kuntz Conversations.” 
  443 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 7:30. 
  444 Online web forum post:  Ruins of Murkhill, “Tim Kask Blog Post,” March 3rd, 2016. 
  445 Some of these finer details are from Rob Kuntz’s Ruins of Murkhill posts, “Dave Arneson’s 
  True Genius” etc., from April-May 2017. 
  
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  to ‘judge’ him as a wandering character.  The hex paper would be the growing 
  map. As he moved about it I was to describe the terrain he saw (and the imagined 
  inhabitants that I created and he encountered), and with color pencils I was to 
  render the terrain features.” 
  But after about two hours of game play, Gary was disappointed with the 
  lackluster results and abandoned this free-form concept without ever pursuing it any 
  further.446  Whatever unclassifiable mojo Dave Arneson possessed, the magic was 
  gone as soon as he was no longer the game master. 
  It was time for a change of tactics.  Gary then told Rob that he was “ready to 
  create a new game, and [also to] develop the board game [of Pasha Cada].”  He 
  said further:  “These tasks I set to work on with a will.”447 
  But as Gary began to think through the design process of his new Chainmail-
  derivative game which would be based upon Arneson’s innovations, he realized 
  that he needed to see Arneson’s rules in full in order to see how to further develop 
  them.  Gary of course was intimately familiar with the rules of Chainmail, being that 
  game’s co-author with Jeff Perren.  But this void of understanding in regards to 
  Arneson’s dungeon rules must have left him with deep and unanswered questions 
  concerning just what kind of systems Dave had devised that allowed him to run the 
  Blackmoor dungeons for players who might attempt any imaginable action at any 
  time.  Being a fellow game designer, Gary wanted to see the inner workings of 
  Blackmoor down to the last cogwheel.  In Gary’s words, “I asked Dave to please 
  send me his rules additions, for I thought a whole new system should be 
  developed.”448  As Rob remembered it, “it was about two weeks later [after 
  Arneson’s Lake Geneva visit] that there was what I term a ‘furious communication’ 
  between Dave and Gary by phone.”449 
  Gary also busied himself with the refinement of Megarry’s Dungeons of Pasha 
  Cada.  In contrast to Arneson’s game, which had near-infinite scope and cloudy 
  rules, Megarry’s game was a small one with a narrow focus.  This made it less 
                                                             
  446 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 7:30. 
  447 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  448 The Dragon #7, June 1977.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the 
  Game,” pg. 7.  See also the Ruins of Murkhill forums, “Tim Kask Blog Post,” comments 
  made by Rob Kuntz on March 3rd, 2016. 
  449 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 9:25. 
  
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  ambitious, but it also made it a leaner machine that was much easier to tinker with.  
  Gary revised the monster and treasure cards, and cleaned up the rules.  A torture 
  chamber (perhaps inspired by his “secret” basement room designed in his youth 
  along with Tom Keogh?) was added to dungeon level four to balance out both 
  sides of the board a little further, so that each quadrant would seem equally 
  lucrative to the exploring player.450  It is interesting to note that — since Arneson 
  took his Blackmoor dungeon notes back home with him — this monster card edit 
  probably marked Gygax’s first indirect exposure with the Chainmail stats for 
  Arneson’s new Blackmoor monsters. 
  Gary would later consider both Guidon Games and Avalon Hill in the futile 
  attempts to find a publisher for Megarry’s game.  At Gary’s direction, Megarry 
  would later send his game to Don Lowry for consideration.  Lowry turned Megarry 
  down with some regret.  He could see that the game of Pasha Cada was entertaining 
  and easy to play, and that production costs would not be out of hand.  However, 
  it seems that Lowry too was wary to take on such an unusual concept under his 
  Guidon banner.  Liking the game was one thing; agreeing to stake a financial 
  commitment on an unpublished designer’s completely-out-of-genre first creation 
  was quite another.  The game would later be published by Gary’s own company 
  TSR in 1975 as Dungeon!  The game remains a popular standby to this day, having 
  most recently been republished by Wizards of the Coast. 
  * * * * * 
  When Dave Arneson realized what Gary was asking for — “the rules” — the 
  vastly different mentalities of these two men came clashing to the forefront.  Gary 
  assumed that for Dave to be able to run such a detailed and ambitiously new variant 
  of Chainmail Fantasy (indeed, Gary had just experienced a demonstration of 
  Arneson’s game), there had to be a printed set of rules which Dave had authored 
  and not yet shared.  Megarry had very clear rules for Pasha Cada; the older Arneson 
  would surely have similar rules for Blackmoor, correct? 
  So, so wrong. 
  Dave’s mind did not — could not — work that way.  The things he wrote down 
  prior to each play session were more like notes, suggestions to himself.  He 
  improvised any needed rulings (as opposed to “rules”) as he went along during 
  play.  These rulings were written down when they occurred, to inform future 
  variations of whatever questions had arisen.  But then these numerous iterations of 
  similar events would either get stacked up into the black binder, or things that didn’t 
                                                             
  450 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Refer to 
  posting on July 2nd, 2006. 
  
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  work would get discarded.  New experiments would take the place of failed ones.  
  In a game where players could attempt any action, any restrictive rules set would 
  forever be insufficient to cover the entire spectrum of possibility.  Arneson was 
  already thinking in terms of adjustable interpretation, while Gary (the writer and 
  published designer) required printable systems which he could codify and refine.  
  Systems, in Blackmoor, were only theories designed to be tested out and further 
  modified.  Mad scientists rarely deal in chemical equations. 
  For almost two years, contradictory interpretations of the same game systems 
  nested comfortably in Arneson’s binder, which might as well have been entitled 
  “Abandon Hope, All Ye Outsider Game Designers Who Enter Here.”  So when Gary 
  asked for the rules to Blackmoor, Dave’s thought was this:  “Rules?  What rules?”451 
  There were dark days ahead in the realm of collaborative game design. 
  In response to Gary’s request, Dave may have flipped through his binder with 
  an eye toward “Gygaxian” pieces of Blackmoor, things which had approached a 
  vague statistical cohesion.  Gary would probably like tables, as well as notes that 
  corresponded to things directly associated with dungeon crawls.  While the majority 
  of these typed notes — they were “typed by members in [Arneson’s play] group [in 
  the Twin Cities],” Rob explained452 — are either hidden away (either secretly in 
  Gary’s estate, or lost, or trashed, or held by a private collector) and unshared with 
  the public, we can guess at some of their contents from statements made by Gary 
  and Rob Kuntz. 
  The notes that Dave selected for Gary’s review may well have included the new 
  monsters, the resulting combat matrix extrapolations, personality scores, dungeon 
  and spelunking gear, combat ruling adjustments, and the like.  In all, Arneson 
  gathered up about eighteen453 handwritten pages of such Blackmoor notes, had 
  them typed up by his compatriots, and ran them on his father’s Xerox machine.454  
  He mailed the copies to Gary and waited for a reply. 
                                                             
  451 Different Worlds:  The Magazine of Game Role-Playing, issue #3. 
  452 Online web forum post:  Ruins of Murkhill.  “Tim Kask Blog Post,” March 3rd, 2016. 
  453 A brief summary of anecdotes will give an idea of the difficulties inherent in trying to 
  write a cohesive history of the creation of Dungeons & Dragons.  In Alarums & Excursions 
  #2 (1975), Gary said “20 or so” handwritten pages.  In The Dragon #7 (1977), he said “18 
  or so.”  In the Lord of the Green Dragons blog, Rob Kuntz, likely with the clearest 
  recollection, said “16 pages of [typed] notes” (2009).  And due to various circumstances, 
  anyone who knows where the actual notes are now — if they are not irretrievably lost! —  
  isn’t saying anything just yet. 
  454 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  
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  About two weeks after the Arneson-Megarry gaming weekend,455 poor Gary 
  received the requested “rules to Blackmoor” and discovered that he was attempting 
  to communicate with another gifted man who possessed an entirely different 
  mindset.  Dave had decidedly different gifts and priorities, as well.  As Gary’s and 
  Dave’s mutual friend Mike Mornard once explained, “Dearly as I love Dave … he 
  was not a very good writer.  What he gave Gary was his handwritten notes for an 
  expanded version of Chainmail, and it looked like [crap].”456 
  Gary tried to make sense of the notes, but he was baffled.  These weren’t rules, 
  they were intricate tables, transcriptions of play, and half-recorded experiments.  
  Gary was no slouch at interpreting wargaming tables and guidelines, and he had 
  collaborated with Arneson in the recent past (with Mike Carr likely serving as liaison 
  and “translator”).  But the Blackmoor packet was so cryptic that Gary could barely 
  make sense of what he termed the “generally useless” material.457  Rob Kuntz, 
  however, seems to have appreciated the Strategos context of Arneson’s notes and 
  was of the opinion that the simulation methods Arneson was using in Blackmoor 
  were certainly occluded, but not useless at all.  Rob noted in his insightful and more 
  neutral assessment that Gary told him, “[Arneson’s] notes were in need of 
  streamlining, and that he would be doing this over the coming weeks as well as 
  continuing to craft a dungeon to play test the refined rules.”458 
  In other words, while Arneson’s notes were very likely confusing, Gary did not 
  believe they were unsalvageable in 1972.  Perhaps, then, Gary’s memory of 
  Arneson’s notes being “useless” can only be dated to the time period after the 
  development of Dungeons & Dragons … when Gary and Dave were at odds over 
  legal disputes involving controlling of the game and royalties due.  
  In an interesting interview, Gary would insist, “Dave Arneson never did furnish 
  any solid rules for me to use in devising a new game, although he (and collaterally 
  David Megarry) certainly did provide solid ideas.”459  In Rob’s opinion, Dave did 
  not have “any intention of publishing these [notes] … this is why there were stream 
  of consciousness parts here and there which he could understand, which most 
                                                             
  455 Lord of the Green Dragons blog, posted December 14th, 2009. 
  456 Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It, pg. 
  111, by David M. Ewalt. 
  457 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  458 Lord of the Green Dragons blog:  “Castle El Raja Key, Small Partial of the Introductory, 
  Historical Essay,” by Rob Kuntz.  Posted December 14th, 2009.  See also Ruins of Murkhill, 
  “Tim Kask Blog Post,” comments made by Rob on March 3rd, 2016. 
  459 Online interview:  RPG.net Interview with Gary Gygax, May 2001. 
  
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  people couldn’t [interpret] by transference, unless [they were to] organize [the 
  notes] into a set of rules that were understandable.”460 
  Any reader who would care to experience a mind-bending blast of Arnesonian 
  stream of consciousness is welcome to crack open The First Fantasy Campaign and 
  read it from beginning to end.  Therein, covering the many buried jewels of wisdom 
  you will find:  stories without any context; allusions to stories that are not told; sub-
  systems, presented before the systems that the sub-systems support are ever 
  explained; off-hand confessions of missing material; replacements for missing 
  material, having little or nothing to do with the originals; footnotes and exceptions 
  to rules, before the rules are explained; and so on.  And that was in a commercially 
  published product!  (It must be noted that Judges Guild published The First Fantasy 
  Campaign with only slight editing, when the product could certainly have 
  benefitted from a more thorough methodology of refinement.)461  Arneson was 
  brilliant in many ways, but his methods could never be replicated because he had 
  no idea how to “explain down” precisely what he was doing for the benefit of the 
  uninitiated. 
  Gary read the notes again carefully, and realized that he was in part parsing out-
  of-context excerpts from a referee’s campaign diary.  That realization, however, 
  brought him nowhere nearer to understanding Blackmoor’s “system.”  Hoping that 
  he was either missing the obvious or perhaps going mad, Gary passed the notes on 
  to Rob Kuntz, along with a friendly warning that he was about to read something 
  highly unusual. 
  Rob made a little more headway, because he recognized formulae from a stat-
  based David Wesely wargame called Strategos-N, which in turn had been developed 
  from Charles Totten’s dense-and-grim 19th-century book which explored the topic 
  of military simulation (Strategos: A Series of American Games of War, Based Upon 
  Military Principles and Designed for the Assistance Both of Beginners and Advanced 
  Students in Prosecuting the Whole Study of Tactics, Grand Tactics, Strategy, Military 
  History, and the Various Operations of War).462  Say that three times quickly, and 
                                                             
  460 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 9:25. 
  461 I am very appreciative of Dan Boggs for pointing out some clarifying materials which 
  correct a misunderstanding I had concerning the editing of The First Fantasy Campaign, 
  as featured on Havard’s Blackmoor Blog (“Bill Owen on the First Fantasy Campaign,” 
  posted January 31st, 2011) and G-Design.us/jg (“Updates Since My Time at Judges 
  Guild,” by Bill Owen). 
  462 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 9:25. 
  
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  you’ll begin to get a sense of why I tend to steer clear of serius wargaming in my 
  RPG histories … to the extent that I can. 
  Strategos-N is probably code for “Strategos Napoleonics,” and it was one of 
  several Strategos game variants played by Wesely and friends.  Specific variations of 
  Strategos were differentiated by single-letter codes.  (By the way, Strategos is not 
  related to the Milton Bradley game Stratego, but rather to an old 19th-century 
  military simulation.  “Strategos” is also the Greek word for “military general.”) 
  In the notes, Chainmail’s reliance on six-sided dice had been superseded by 
  Arneson’s penchant for percentiles.  But Rob could find no over-arching rhyme or 
  reason.  Nor could he explain how the notes might correlate to Arneson’s refereeing 
  of the Blackmoor demonstration game which he had experienced.  As Rob later 
  explained, “I came away with virtually no understanding of a cohesiveness or 
  structure to it at all, but it obviously made sense to Dave as he was judging it.”463  
  He also once said that Arneson’s notes “didn’t inform what we experienced when 
  we went through the [Blackmoor dungeon] game.”464 
  When Rob gave his own assessment and Gary then considered the net results 
  (verifying that what Arneson had sent him was well-intentioned, yet largely 
  indecipherable to the uninitiated), the realization came:  the Blackmoor game was 
  not in the rulings and summaries provided, but rather in Dave Arneson’s head.  It 
  could never be extracted. 
  The verdict?  It was time for Gary to create his own rules, informed by his 
  personal observations of Arneson’s game mastering method.  That was the only 
  way that Gary could preserve the essence of Arneson’s innovations in a format that 
  would be comprehensible to others.  An entirely new game would be the end result, 
  and that would require a huge investment of time, creativity, dedication and — 
  above all — patience.  Arneson’s rules and innovations would be retained to a 
  certain degree, but too, they would all be filtered through Gary’s own personal 
  understanding of best practices in contemporary game design. 
  Being Gary, he immediately rolled up his sleeves and went to work. 
  * * * * * 
  By this time, it may have been mid-November.  Gary once wrote that he wrote 
  the rules “around November of 1972,” and that “The initial 50-page draft of what 
                                                             
  463 Online web forum post:  Odd74.proboards.com.  ODD74 Proboard forums, “Lake 
  Geneva Gaming Group?”  Posted July 21st, 2010. 
  464 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 9:25. 
  
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  was to become the D&D game took me only about two weeks to write.”465  The 
  way these explanations are written, it appears that he both began and completed 
  the draft in the month of November.  Therefore, before the year was done, he 
  would have a working first draft of his own unique (yet Arneson-inspired) dungeon 
  crawling game.  He sat down in his study, pulled up his old portable Royal 
  typewriter, and started to rough out the introduction.  As he once noted, however, 
  “I hadn’t a clue back in late 1972 when I sat down … and tapped out the initial 
  draft rules.”466  He began typing with the optimistic belief that he might still be 
  writing an advanced supplement to Chainmail, but that was a short-lived hope.467 
  Even after receiving and becoming totally confused by Arneson’s notes, it seems 
  that Gary was still hoping that a “real” version of Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign 
  rules would still be forthcoming.  Gary once commented, “Arneson was to send me 
  all [emphasis mine] the rules notes he used in his campaign, but nothing usable 
  arrived, so I wrote the entire manuscript [of The Fantasy Game] off the top of my 
  head.”468 
  The working title, a title never intended to make it through to publication, was 
  simply “The Fantasy Game.”  We do not know if this working title was typed out 
  on all of the drafts, or if at some point simply existed in Gary’s head.  He knew full 
  well that something more colorful would be required before the game could be 
  shopped and sold in the future.  But Gary stated the following in a 2001 interview: 
  “As an aside, I must laugh at some comment I saw about the name for the game 
  being ‘The Fantasy Game’ until someone ‘wised me up.’  Having been employed 
  as an Editor-in-Chief, selecting what game rules and games would be published by 
  Guidon Games since the beginning of 1971, I was well aware of the need to use a 
  working title, the need for some caution in regards using the actual name for a a 
  projected game release.  So that’s the reason for that bland one on the draft 
  works.”469 
                                                             
  465 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  See also the 
  Gary Gygax chat preserved in the user comments at Slashdot.org for February 22nd, 2003 
  entry entitled “A 1974 Review of D&D.” 
  466 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  
  Posted May 14th, 2006. 
  467 Polyhedron #1.  Also know as RPGA News, Volume I, Number 1, Summer 1981.  “Special:  
  Interview with E. Gary Gygax,” perhaps conducted by Frank Mentzer. 
  468 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted July 
  2nd, 2006. 
  469 Online interview:  RPGNet interview with Gary Gygax, Part 1 of 3, by Scott Lynch. 
  
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  Early on, perhaps on that same title page, Gary attributed Arneson.  “Although 
  D&D was not Dave’s game system by any form or measure,” he explained, “he was 
  given co-billing as author for his valuable idea kernels.”470  More specifically as to 
  the details of these “idea kernels,” he once elaborated:  “Dave Arneson’s focus on 
  underground play, using maps, and his suggestion of having a Hero be able to work 
  up to Superhero status were most helpful.”471 
  And yes, Gary would end up doing almost all of the work from this point 
  forward, but the truth of the matter is that without Arneson’s innovations, their co-
  authored game would never have come into being at all. 
   
   
  Two castle warlords, one conflict.  One destiny? 
   
  Please note that this is not to say that Gary had nothing further to contribute to 
  this co-authored new game.  Far from it.  Gary knew pulp fantasy front to back, 
  with a depth of comprehension that even Arneson (or just about anyone else) 
  would be hard-pressed to match in a single lifetime. 
                                                             
  470 The Dragon #7.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the Game,” pg. 7. 
  471 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted July 
  3rd, 2005. 
  
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  As Gary once explained, “I have read thousands of swords and sorcery, heroic 
  fantasy, fantasy, mythology, and fairy-tale books since [c. 1950-1956].”472 
  And he did not just read pulp magazines, fanzines, and purchased paperbacks 
  either.  He sometimes went much farther afield for information than that.  As one 
  example, he once noted, “As I recall, I found a fair amount of information on the 
  Seelie and Unseelie [faerie] courts back in the 1970s by using the local library here 
  [in Lake Geneva] to tap into the Wisconsin interlibrary loan system to get old books 
  — mostly from the U[niversity] of Wi[sconsin].”473 
  (This should also put to rest the theory — put forward by some other researchers 
  — that Gary would not have had convenient and affordable access to books that 
  only appeared in hardcover, or in limited editions.  That certainly does not seem to 
  be the case.  Consider also this comment:  “The scale-mailed bull model of a gorgon 
  came directly from a copy of a medieval bestiary, the title of which I do not recall, 
  but it was and probably still is in the local (Lake Geneva) public library.”)474 
  * * * * * 
  Just four months before his death, Gary provided a “top ten” list of the authors 
  who most informed his conception of Dungeons & Dragons, in addition to “a score 
  of [twenty unlisted] others.”475  Regardless of other such summaries such as 
  Appendix N, I feel that this particular list is quite important, because it offers us an 
  irreplaceable insight into Gary’s “final word” on the game’s major inspirations 
  beyond the works of Dave Arneson himself. 
  Here, I provide Gary’s top ten list with some additional comments concerning 
  his most-recommended book(s) from each of the authors, as well as a summary of 
  some of the specific innovations that those authors supplied.  Do note that the 
  game, to Gary’s mind, was not nearly “complete” until the publication of the 
  Dungeon Masters Guide in the summer of 1979.  However, most of these authors’ 
  inspirations appear in original Dungeons & Dragons (1974), and therefore many of 
  their ideas were included in the first and second drafts of 1972 and 1973.  Gary had 
  deep respect for all of these luminaries, and the lights of their creative visions were 
  reflected in the evolving game that he designed. 
                                                             
  472 Dragon magazine, issue #63, pg. 72. 
  473 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Q&A with Gary Gygax, Part II.  Posted June 
  9th, 2005. 
  474 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted May 
  13th, 2006. 
  475 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  October 28th, 2007. 
  
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  Learn from the glory of those who came before. 
   
   
  
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  The authors are: 
  * * * * * 
  At position #10, J. R. R. Tolkien.  Tolkien’s contributions have been discussed at 
  length, including original creatures such as the Balrogs and the Nazgul.  The 
  Professor was ubiquitous, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  “Tolkien had 
  taken the colleges by storm,” Tim Kask remembered, “because of bootleg copies of 
  The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.”476  It is an open secret that Gary greatly 
  appreciated The Hobbit, and hated The Lord of the Rings.477  It is a less open secret 
  that he continually downplayed the importance of Tolkien for many decades, 
  because he felt that the good Professor’s works were overly appreciated at the 
  expense of other worthy authors!  Therefore, it is this author’s opinion that Tolkien 
  should realistically be placed much higher on this list.  And as Gary once wrote:  “I 
  created the D&D game to sell, to get to as many consumers as possible, and the best 
  way to do that was to include races that were favored by the many young Tolkien 
  fans.”478  He also noted, “The ‘influences’ from JRRT’s work that I included in the 
  game were mainly there to interest others in playing it, not what caused me to want 
  to create it.”479 
  It is clear that Gary had a very grudging admiration of Tolkien in regards to the 
  Professor’s influence on D&D (“I must say,” he once opined, “that I was so bored 
  with his tomes that I took nearly three weeks to finish them”), but nevertheless he 
  did admire him.480 
  * * * * * 
  At position #9, Poul Anderson.  The Anderson works that Gary loved best were 
  Three Hearts and Three Lions (1953-1961), The High Crusade (1960, seemingly less 
  influential than Three Hearts until the advent of Metamorphosis Alpha) and his first 
  fantasy novel, The Broken Sword (1954, 1971).  The Broken Sword is highly 
  regarded by Michael Moorcock, who cites it amongst his personal favorites.  Three 
  Hearts in particular would inspire the general outline of a D&D wilderness 
                                                             
  476 Youtube video:  “Tim Kask on TSR #11:  Two-Hour Un-Cut Q&A,” as posted on the Dorks 
  of Yore channel.  This quote appears at approximately 1:23:50. 
  477 Refer for example to ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XI.  Posted July 19th, 2006. 
  478 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted April 
  13th, 2005. 
  479 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 29th, 2002. 
  480 Dragon magazine, issue #95, pg. 12. 
  
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  adventure.  Influences from Anderson’s work include, but are by no means limited 
  to:  the alignment system, evil elves, healing spells, manticores, nixies, “other self” 
  character personas, paladins, planar travel, protective magics, special magic swords 
  and “true” regenerating trolls. 
  When Poul Anderson passed away, Gary lamented, “another of the F[antasy] & 
  S[cience] F[iction] giants whose work I am so fond of is now gone.”481 
  * * * * * 
  At position #8, Fred Saberhagen.  Readers of fantasy are often confused by 
  Gary’s mention of Saberhagen, because none of the works seem to have directly 
  influenced Dungeons & Dragons to a significant degree.  Gary said that “Saberhagen 
  is listed for his Empire of the East that I very much liked.”482 
  There are four books in that post-apocalyptic saga, of which the first two — The 
  Broken Lands (1968) and The Black Mountains (1971) — had seen publication by 
  the time Gary was working on his first draft of D&D.  The most influential volume 
  however — Changeling Earth, also known as Ardneh’s World — was not released 
  until 1973.  Perhaps Gary was reading this particular book while he was struggling 
  to publish Dungeons & Dragons.  Gary also once wrote that his conception of the 
  Great Kingdom itself (within the later World of Greyhawk, c. 1979-1985) would be 
  modeled after the Empire of the East, as ruled by the arch-villain John Ominor.483 
  The major innovation from Saberhagen appears to be the concept that chaotic 
  breakdowns in the clashing laws of physics could result in the creation of weird 
  science and magical beasts.  Gary loved to provide pseudo-scientific explanations 
  for the existence of magic, as evinced by the Vancian “fire and forget” spell system 
  (based upon memory and temporary amnesia), psionics, and his conception of the 
  outer planes.  It seems likely that Saberhagen, as well as the “Harold Shea” stories, 
  strongly influenced the direction of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1979) 
  and also Gamma World (by Jim Ward and Gary Jaquet), without having been read 
  in time to impose a significant impact upon the design of original D&D (1972-1974).  
  Please refer to my interlude essay featured in Book II of HAWK & MOOR, where I 
  explore the boundaries of this theory in greater detail. 
                                                             
  481 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 21st, 2002. 
  482 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  October 29th, 2007. 
  483 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted July 
  13th, 2007. 
  
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  * * * * * 
  At position #7, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  Gary appreciated many of Lovecraft’s 
  works, especially those pertaining to the Cthulhu Mythos.  To be certain, Gary cited 
  Lovecraft as a “major influence” in one of his 1985 articles featured in Dragon 
  magazine.484 
  One of his favorite Lovecraft tales was The Lurking Fear,485 and it is likely that 
  this tale influenced the design of some aspects of the Greyhawk dungeons (such as 
  labyrinthine tunnels filled with swarms of degenerate humanoids).  He also once 
  noted that a collection which included Pickman’s Model and The Rats in the Walls 
  gave him several nightmares, so those stories certainly stuck with him as well.486 
  However, in my opinion his early D&D borrowings were largely confined to a 
  detailed reading of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926-1927, first 
  published 1943).  This story features incarnations of gods and demigods, ghouls, 
  ghasts, gargoyle-like night-gaunts, wyvern-like shantaks, and dholes/bholes 
  (probably one inspiration for the purple worm, which had formerly been the purple 
  dragon). 
  Kadath is also one of the major inspirations for the “Under-Oerth” setting, which 
  in Gygax’s conception features the drow (interpreted from the svartalfar of Norse 
  mythology).  Significantly, the Kuo-Toa appear to be influenced by Lovecraft’s Deep 
  Ones, and the mind flayers (Illithids) were based upon the cover illustration for a 
  Mythos-themed book by Brian Lumley.  Gary also once noted that Lovecraftian 
  ghouls were included in the Chainmail Fantasy games of 1971;487 but it appears that 
  most of these influences would affect the Monster Manual (1977) and the Drow 
  series of Dungeon Modules (1978).  Rob Kuntz’s and Jim Ward’s research, along 
  with that of Dr. John Eric Holmes, would also cause the Cthulhu Mythos to be 
  featured in the excellent first edition of Deities & Demigods (1980).  And to my 
  mind, the most Lovecraftian of Gary’s own works is Dungeon Module WG4, 
  Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  484 Dragon magazine, issue #95, pg. 12. 
  485 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  Posted May 
  12th, 2003.  See also Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A Part VII, posted August 1st, 2006. 
  486 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VII.  Posted 
  January 31st, 2005. 
  487 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted 
  August 13th, 2005. 
  
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  At position #6, Abraham Merritt.  “Merritt was a marvelous fantasy author,” 
  Gary wrote.488  The most important stories, from Gary’s perspective, are Creep, 
  Shadow, Creep; The Moon Pool; and Dwellers in the Mirage.  He also once noted 
  admiration for The Fox Woman and Return to the Moon Pool, although the latter 
  (by that title) is unknown to me.489  I believe he was referring to the second part of 
  the tale’s original serialization. 
  Although sometimes unmentioned, The Face in the Abyss appears to be very 
  important as well.  Merritt’s early contribution seems to be one of atmosphere, and 
  the idea that (beyond mere “dungeons”) an entire lost world of caverns, voids and 
  forsaken temples permeates existence just beyond the fringe of civilization.  Merritt 
  would deeply influence Gary’s “Under-Oerth” setting, particularly the Sunless Sea, 
  the existence of primeval gods, and the idea that entire races had been driven 
  underground by cataclysm and the encroachment of humanity. 
  * * * * * 
  At position #5, Michael Moorcock.  Gary explained, “The first two Elric stories 
  were very influential in the development of the D&D game.”490  This is a more 
  complex comment than it seems, due to the convoluted publishing history of the 
  Elric saga.  Elric first appeared in the novelette The Dreaming City (1961), and then 
  in the further novelettes While the Gods Laugh, The Stealer of Souls, Kings in 
  Darkness and The Flame Bringers.  These works were collected into what is now 
  regarded as a full Elric novel, The Stealer of Souls (1963).  Additionally, there were 
  four novellas published after the novelettes:  Dead God’s Homecoming, Black 
  Sword’s Brothers, Sad Giant’s Shield, and Doomed Lord’s Passing.  These were 
  collected as Stormbringer.  This explains why Gary especially recommended The 
  Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer in Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide. 
  These stories would help Gary to clarify his alignment491 and planar systems, and 
  the intelligent (and cursed) swords of AD&D are drawn directly from the example 
  of Elric’s Stormbringer.  Arneson’s system influenced Gary’s design of intelligent 
  magic weapons.  Elementals and various spells would be borrowed from the Elric 
  saga as well.  Indirectly, Elric was also the inspirational source of D&D’s later multi-
                                                             
  488 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XII.  Posted April 
  1st, 2007. 
  489 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  October 16th, 2007. 
  490 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  October 29th, 2007.  See also in the same thread, posted on April 28th, 2007. 
  491 Refer for example to ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A Part IX, posted June 2nd, 2005. 
  
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  classing rules, because Gary (as he expressed in Chainmail) had difficulty categorizing 
  Elric as either a warrior or a wizard.  Indeed, in the tale The Stealer of Souls, Elric is 
  described by the merchant lord Pilarmo as exhibiting “particular qualities as both 
  swordsman and sorcerer.”492 
  Outside of the Elric saga, Gary’s favorite Moorcock tale was “Dorian 
  Hawkmoon,”493 by which he probably meant the saga beginning with the post-
  apocalyptic Hawkmoon novel The Jewel in the Skull (1967). 
  * * * * * 
  At position #4, Fritz Leiber.  Gary said of Leiber’s tales that they were amongst 
  his very favorites, and were “pure, pure Swords & Sorcery.”494  Virtually all of the 
  Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories would inform Gary’s conception of the City of 
  Greyhawk.  Also, Gary’s later Gord the Rogue novels would be recognizable as 
  being strongly Leiber-derivative (with Gord representing the Gray Mouser, and 
  Fafhrd a near cousin to Gord’s barbarian companion Chert).  It is safe to say that 
  Leiber is the number one influence on urban adventuring, and also that the devil-
  may-care wanderlust expressed by the protagonists greatly influenced Gary’s own 
  conception of adventuring parties.  Such “fellowships” in D&D are not noble and 
  self-sacrificing as they are in Tolkien’s works; they are mercenary, nomadic and 
  carousing, yet not without fierce loyalties shared between sword-brothers. 
  * * * * * 
  At position #3, Jack Vance.  Vance was Gary’s favorite author, and as such his 
  influences were significant.  The Dying Earth tales would prove to be the most 
  influential, especially The Eyes of the Overworld and The Dying Earth.  Gary once 
  fondly recalled that “The Eyes of the Overworld published by Ace Books, Inc. in 
  1966 absolutely enthralled me as no work of fantasy had done for a long time. To 
  my mind Cugel the Clever was just the sort of anti-hero that the genre needed.”495  
  In later life, however, Gary would cite the Planet of Adventure novels as perhaps 
                                                             
  492 The Stealer of Souls, Chapter I, by Michael Moorcock. 
  493 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VII.  
  Posted August 5th, 2006. 
  494 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted July 
  31st, 2007. 
  495 “Jack Vance & the D&D Game,” an article by Gary Gygax which originally appeared 
  in The Excellent Prismatic Spray #2, 2001. 
  
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  his favorite Vancian series, with The Demon Princes series in second place.496 
  Gary dismissed most of Arneson’s reagent-based magic, and decided upon a 
  formulaic “Vancian” system instead.  “I chose to use a system of magic inspired by 
  the worlds of Jack Vance because it fit the whole of the game I devised,” Gary 
  wrote.  “For example, think of an archer with a quiver of arrows.  When one is 
  shot, it is gone.  Magic spells, more potent than arrows, are much the same.  So 
  archers need to select their arrows before going forth to battle, so too the M[agic]-
  U[ser]s in the game.”497 
  And, more explicitly (when challenged by the many proposals and requests for 
  a spell point system to replace the Vancian magic approach), Gary had this to say: 
  “The D&D magic system is drawn directly from Chainmail.  It, in turn, was 
  inspired by the superb writing of Jack Vance.  This ‘Vancian’ magic system works 
  splendidly in the game.  If it has any fault, it is towards making characters who are 
  magic-users too powerful.  This sort of fault is better corrected within the existing 
  framework of the game — by requiring more time to cast spells, by making magic-
  users progress more slowly in experience levels.  Spell points add nothing to D&D 
  except more complication, more record keeping, more wasted time, and a precept 
  which is totally foreign to the rest of the game.”498 
  Cleary, Gary believed that Dungeons & Dragons demanded the Vance-inspired 
  magic system which he originally designed for it.  And so it remains, more than 40 
  years on.  And counting! 
  But there is more to Vancian D&D than just spell casting.  The entire magic-user 
  and thief classes, in regards to their overall design, are strongly inspired by Vance’s 
  many fictional characters.  (Gary however did not design the thief class, at least not 
  at first; but that is a tale for another day.)  Several magic items, as well as the naming 
  conventions for D&D spells (e.g., “Wizard Name’s / Adjective / Noun”) are 
  borrowed from the illustrious realm of Vance as well. 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  496 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted April 
  12th, 2005.  See also Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A Part VII, posted August 5th, 2006. 
  497 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  September 4th, 2002.  In the ENWorld Q&A, Gary added the following:  “The ‘memorize 
  then fire and forget’ principle for casting spells Jack Vance assumed in his fantasy stories 
  seemed perfect to me for use by D&D magic-users.  It required forethought by the player 
  and limited the power of the class all at once.” 
  498 The Dragon, issue #16, pg. 16. 
  
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  At position #2, the collaborative team of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.  
  Gary stated that de Camp was one of his favorite authors, particularly when he was 
  collaborating with Fletcher Pratt.499  Gary did not enjoy de Camp’s Conan tales for 
  the most part, however, explaining that he found these stories “inferior to 
  [Howard’s] original writing.”500 
  The Carnelian Cube is mentioned in Gary’s list of inspirations, but the most 
  influential works were the “Harold Shea” or “(In)Complete Enchanter” tales, 
  comprising The Roaring Trumpet and The Mathematics of Magic, as well as the 
  later Castle of Iron and Wall of Serpents.  The Harold Shea stories are perhaps the 
  strongest advocates for the “magic is weird science” idea which Gary preferred.  The 
  Roaring Trumpet, in particular, inspired the G series of modules (1978).  Many 
  spells, scenes and environments featured in these stories made their way into various 
  incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons. 
  * * * * * 
  At position #1, Robert E. Howard.  “I find the raw power of Robert E. Howard’s 
  swords & sorcery tales compelling,” Gary wrote.501  He also wrote “My real impetus 
  was Howard’s ‘Conan,’ not surprisingly” when asked which fantasy works had most 
  inspired the development of Dungeons & Dragons.502 
  Virtually everything in Howard — particularly its robust swashbuckling spirit — 
  can be found somewhere in Dungeons & Dragons.  The Conan tales were Gary’s 
  favorite, and for various reasons Red Nails inspired him the most,503 although as we 
  have seen The Scarlet Citadel was also of great import.  It is also worth noting that 
  Howard appears to be the one major influence which both Gygax and Arneson 
  agreed upon with great enthusiasm.  (Gary was also known to have been re-reading 
  the excellent Ballantine editions of Howard’s Conan — a series which begins with 
  The Coming of Conan — in 2007, which indicates that his admiration of Howard 
                                                             
  499 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  Posted 
  November 5th, 2003. 
  500 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV.  Posted 
  November 5th, 2003.  See also Part XIII, posted April 14th, 2007. 
  501 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted April 
  12th, 2005. 
  502 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part II.  Posted 
  February 17th, 2003. 
  503 Gary also once wrote:  “‘Red Nails’ is an outstanding tale of chilling adventure action 
  that I would love to be able to emulate in an RPG module.”  (Dragonsfoot, May 22nd, 
  2005.)  Lamentably, this never came to pass. 
  
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  was certainly life-long.)504 
  Citing too many examples of Howard’s influence in D&D is an exercise in futility; 
  it is much easier to say that Dungeons & Dragons is above all else a simulation of 
  Howard’s fiction. 
  It is also worth noting too that — perhaps because Howard had written the 
  Swords and Sorcery tale which had first captured Gary’s imagination — Gary 
  eventually tracked down and read everything he could find by the author, including 
  the tales of Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn and Solomon Kane.  “Everything Robert 
  E. Howard wrote,” Gary once insisted, “has been perused by these weary eyes.”505 
  There were many other authors who inspired Gary as well.  Many people — 
  Rob Kuntz perhaps foremost among them — have expressed surprise that Gary did 
  not seem to acknowledge any significant debt being owed to weird fiction author 
  Clark Ashton Smith, a colleague of both H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.  
  Smith’s stories are (in my opinion) pure Dungeons & Dragons, but perhaps Gary 
  simply did not like Smith’s writing style … or thought that Lovecraft, Howard, and 
  Vance did a similar thing slightly better.  No one really knows. 
  * * * * * 
  These summaries of the most important originators are just scratching the surface.  
  As can be seen, both Dave and Gary brought a great deal of valuable ideas to the 
  game design table. 
  Many other ideas which would appear in early D&D were Arnesonian, but the 
  rules which would be followed in the Greyhawk games to come were strictly 
  Gygaxian.  In itself, Gary’s method of collaboration and the assimilation of others’ 
  ideas is not surprising, especially when we consider that Arneson and Megarry had 
  already worked directly from Gygax’s own Chainmail game to create their 
  derivative interpretations, which they then shared with Gary once again.  The 
  precedent of aggressive borrowing had already been set by Arneson, and Arneson 
  had surely noted that Chainmail itself was the end result of Gygax borrowing from 
  Perren.  In returning the favor, Gary was merely completing an already-established 
  circle. 
  With all of these precedents in mind, Gary began formulating his own rules.  
  Arneson had written down notes solely for his own use, and so Gary needed to 
  tease out the meanings, to create new and cohesive systems which had the spirit of 
                                                             
  504 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  April 14th, 2007. 
  505 Dragon magazine, issue #63, pg. 72. 
  
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  Arneson’s work without the vagaries or confusion.  As one example, Dave’s 
  excellent idea of the “village priest” of Blackmoor as a healer and vampire hunter 
  would be expanded by Gary, informed not only by Van Helsing but also by Bishop 
  Odo of Bayeux, Archbishop Turpin, Friar Tuck from the Robin Hood legends, and 
  the Order of the Knights Hospitaller.506  Evil clerics, meanwhile, were probably 
  inspired by Lovecraft’s cultists and Howard’s Stygian priests and priestesses of Set. 
   
   
  “Blood and dust for Set, my lovelies. 
  We need sacrifices!  Where are all the adventurers?” 
   
  While Gary was struggling with these issues, trying to figure out how to solidify 
  the rules which would make the fantastic practical, he also worked again on 
  Megarry’s board game.  It is tempting to think that the simplicity of Pasha Cada 
  helped to serve as a “Rosetta Stone” between Blackmoor and Chainmail, so that 
  the work on The Fantasy Game draft could move forward more quickly. 
  Dave, for his part, would soon realize that Gary’s mindset was going to cause 
                                                             
  506 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part XIII.  Posted 
  October 17th, 2007. 
  
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  some disagreements and misunderstanding.  “He [Gygax] thinks you can write a 
  rule to cover any situation,” Arneson once explained.  “I don’t.  There are just too 
  many possibilities, especially when you're asking people to use their 
  imaginations.”507 
  At first the remote collaboration involved phone calls508 in which Gary asked 
  questions, Dave gave answers, and Gary interpreted the answers in his own way.  
  Dave noted, “We talked on the phone a lot.  You should see the phone bills we ran 
  up.”509  These phone calls likely served to clear up much of the confusion which 
  Gary had experienced while reading Arneson’s Blackmoor rules (without Arneson 
  being present to provide the context). 
  However, persons such as Mary Gygax and Arneson’s parents were probably 
  quite interested in these expenses!  Soon the two men switched to letters to save 
  money, and Arneson’s contributions became ever more remote.  From Arneson’s 
  vantage of understanding, the design work “was done by phone and 
  correspondence.  There were also a couple weekends in Lake Geneva, but the final 
  draft was done by phone and mail.”510 
  Gary wrote the core system first at a mere ten pages, and then kept adding detail 
  around the core until the results began to approach playability.511  While this 
  expansion of the rudimentary first draft of The Fantasy Game was still underway, 
  Gary told Rob that he had “begun crafting a ‘dungeon’ setting similar to Dave’s 
  [Dungeons of Castle] Blackmoor.”  This experimental dungeon would soon be given 
  an innocuous name, Castle Greyhawk. 
  Castle Greyhawk would not just be a clone of Blackmoor, however.  It would 
  be a funhouse, a haunted mansion, a crystallization of Gary’s youthful memories of 
  the old Sanitarium.  With the new rules draft quickly nearing a workable form, Gary 
  just needed to make some maps and invite his players to try some games.  Very 
  soon, it would be time for Gary’s own game of swords, sorcery and dungeon crawls 
  to finally begin. 
   
   
                                                             
  507 Online web forum post:  Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, 
  Wired.com. 
  508 Refer for example to references documented in United States District Court (Fourth 
  Division, Minnesota) Civil Action 4-79-109, Arneson v. Gygax. 
  509 Dungeon Master:  The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, Wired.com. 
  510 The Space Gamer, issue #21.  “An Interview with Dave Arneson.” 
  511 Lord of the Green Dragons blog. 
  
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  INTERLUDE 
  THE RATS IN THE WALLS … OF GREYHAWK? 
  (OF R. E. HOWARD, H. P. LOVECRAFT, BLACKMOOR, 
  AND GREYHAWK) 
   
  BEFORE WE consider Gary’s Castle Greyhawk as being directly influenced by his 
  own first November 1972 play experience (deep in the dungeons under Castle 
  Blackmoor), there is another intriguing source of potential inspiration which should 
  be considered rather carefully:  The Rats in the Walls, an outstanding weird horror 
  story penned by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. 
  At its very simplest, Rats can be distilled and considered (unfairly) as a mere 
  haunted castle yarn.  Haunted castle stories comprise a medieval-themed sub-genre 
  within the broader landscape of mythic tales and horror-fantasy fiction.  These 
  stronghold-dominated stories were by no means uncommon by Lovecraft’s time, 
  having already grown in many directions through Gothic tales such as Walpole’s 
  The Castle of Otranto (1764) and Stoker’s Dracula (1897).  Also noteworthy in the 
  haunted castle sub-genre is “The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What 
  Fear Was,” as collected from Germanic folklore by the Brothers Grimm (c. 1807-
  1810).  Arguably, even Bluebeard’s castle from Charles Perrault’s Histoires ou Contes 
  du Temps Passé (1659) can be regarded as a significant influence on many later 
  haunted castle interpretations.  There are many much earlier tales dating to the 
  medieval period as well.  But even though all of these stories feature monsters — 
  and the Brothers Grimm story especially focuses on attacks by devils and the undead 
  — Lovecraft’s own castle tale is unique in featuring nearly-indescribable monsters 
  dwelling beneath a ruin, within the “sub-cellar” and “grinning caverns” of a 
  dungeon setting.  In other words, Lovecraft went far beyond mythology and Gothic 
  tropes in creating otherworldly, slimy and fungal new monsters to populate the 
  castle’s underworld. 
  The Rats in the Walls was written in August and September of the year 1923.  It 
  was inspired by the grim famine legend of Bishop Hatto and the “Mouse Tower” 
  of Bingen, as well as The Fall of the House of Usher written by Lovecraft’s idol, 
  Edgar Allan Poe.  It appears further that the story was developed following a brief 
  idea which Lovecraft scribbled down in his commonplace book near to the end of 
  1919, which read as follows:  “Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castle — discovered 
  
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  by dweller.”512 
   
   
  Do be careful when inheriting dungeon-harboring ancestral strongholds. 
                                                             
  512 The intriguing plot leads which Lovecraft scribbled down in his commonplace book 
  throughout the years are freely available as a general text in many locations online; for 
  example:  the Wired.com entry by Bruce Sterling, dated July 4th, 2011. 
  
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  Sounds like the perfect seed for dungeon adventuring, does it not?  By extension, 
  we could arguably date the earliest “new school” dungeon adventure idea 
  (featuring unheard-of monsters with a weird and / or cosmic bent) to 1919, almost 
  two decades before Tolkien’s now-legendary Goblin Town and Erebor featured in 
  The Hobbit (1937, 1938). 
  Some of the details in Rats are strangely similar to elements in Castle Blackmoor 
  and its dungeons, while others share parallels with the Greyhawk dungeons and 
  other Gygaxian underworld environments.  As one example, the sample dungeon 
  featured in Gary’s Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) includes encounters with giant 
  rats, ghouls, evil cultic priests, and the horribly altered remains of the man who 
  headed the monastery above before it fell to ruin.513  All of these interrelated ideas 
  appeared earlier in Lovecraft’s story. 
  The Rats in the Walls first appeared in print in the March 1924 issue of Weird 
  Tales (Volume 3, Number 3).  It was reprinted in the June 1930 issue (Volume 15, 
  Number 6).  Notably, an impressionable and creative young man named Robert E. 
  Howard enjoyed the story very much.  After reading it he corresponded indirectly 
  with Lovecraft beginning in August of 1930.  Howard wrote that he was deeply 
  impressed by several historical elements within the story, and Farnsworth Wright 
  (editor of Weird Tales at the time) passed the admiring letter on to Lovecraft.  The 
  rest, as they say, is history. 
  Despite some philosophical differences in temperament, Howard and Lovecraft 
  got along famously by letter, and so Howard would soon begin weaving many 
  more weird fiction elements into his proto-Swords & Sorcery tales.  The two men 
  also debated the merits of barbarism vs. civilization (no points for guessing which 
  man argued for what), and Howard later conceptualized the mythic barbarian 
  realm of Cimmeria — soon to be the homeland of Conan — in 1932.  The most 
  Lovecraftian “dungeon tale” which I know of, The Tower of the Elephant (1933), 
  would soon feature not only Conan, but also a giant spider, an evil sorcerer, and a 
  trans-dimensional entity imbued with Cthulhu-like cosmic powers. 
  The Rats in the Walls is very interesting from a Dungeons & Dragons history 
  perspective, because it shares many peculiar traits with the early dungeons that were 
  conceived by both Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax.  Rob Kuntz has noted,514 and 
                                                             
  513 Dungeon Masters Guide, 1979, pp. 94-96. 
  514 The Lord of the Green Dragons blog, “Mood in the Original Campaign:  An Essay into 
  the Mind and Imagination of E. Gary Gygax,” posted March 15th, 2009. 
  
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  Gary himself once wrote,515 that Rats was indeed one of Gary’s favorite Lovecraft 
  stories.  The influences of Rats upon D&D environments are perhaps not direct, but 
  nevertheless there are numerous and remarkable similarities which are worthy of 
  consideration. 
  Near to the village of Anchester, the ruined castle at the heart of Lovecraft’s story 
  is also a priory, which is (specifically) a monastery which is headed by a religious 
  prior who ranks below an abbot.  We are reminded again of Gary’s sample 
  dungeon:  “There is a rumor in the village that something strange and terrible lurks 
  in the abandoned monastery not far from the place.”516 
  The horrific tale in Rats is told by a narrator surnamed Delapore, who is 
  descended by blood directly from the mysterious (un)holy residents of Exham Priory 
  proper.  These ancestors were whispered of in fireside tales as belonging to “a race 
  of hereditary daemons beside whom … the Marquis de Sade would seem the veriest 
  tyro [novice]” by way of comparison.  “The worst characters, apparently,” 
  Lovecraft continues in his telling, “were the barons and their direct heirs.” 
  These unsavory noble cultists seem to bear a resemblance to the nameless 
  progenitor-Lords of Blackmoor Castle:  “At various times in the history of 
  Blackmoor,” Arneson wrote (as I first quoted in Chapter 7 of this work), “a sadistic 
  [emphasis mine] Duke or Baron would make cruel use of the Castle’s dungeons and 
  torture chambers for their own amusement and purposes.  As a result, the dungeon 
  area of the Castle is supposedly abound in wandering spirits of the poor wretches 
  that succumbed within those confines.”517 
  There are several other lesser near-allusions which are also curiously echoed in 
  early D&D.  Exham Priory is also rumored to have been built upon the ruins of a 
  Druidic temple “contemporary with Stonehenge,” much as Gary’s Temple of 
  Elemental Evil was built over an ancient subterranean fane.  In its pre-medieval 
  incarnation, Exham housed “a strange and powerful monastic order,” which dimly 
  mirrors Arneson’s Temple of the Frog and the monk character class as well.  The 
  superstitious villagers who dwell in Anchester believe that the Priory is “nothing less 
  than a haunt of fiends and werewolves,” and of course demons and lycanthropes 
  are found in both the Blackmoor and Greyhawk dungeons. 
  When Delapore comes “home” to the ruined castle, it is described as “a jumble 
  of tottering mediaeval ruins covered with lichens and honeycombed with rooks’ 
                                                             
  515 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part III.  Posted May 
  12th, 2003. 
  516 Dungeon Masters Guide, 1979, pg. 96. 
  517 The First Fantasy Campaign, pg. 21. 
  
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  nests, perched perilously upon a precipice,” which later could serve as a fair 
  description of Gary’s own Castle Greyhawk. 
   
   
  A little refurbishment and redressed stone ought to do the trick. 
  Now, to check the cellar … 
   
   
  
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  After several atmospheric interludes in which Delapore sleeps within the castle 
  and believes that he hears strange things tunneling inside the walls, he decides to 
  explore the black reaches and cellars beneath the ground.  The descent into the 
  castle’s dungeons is guarded by giant rats.  Lovecraft describes the “ravenous, 
  gigantic rats” which haunt the ruins in a masterful, disturbingly evocative manner as 
  only he can:  “The scampering army of obscene vermin which had burst forth from 
  the castle three months after the tragedy that doomed it to desertion — the lean, 
  filthy, ravenous army which had swept all before it and devoured fowl, cats, dogs, 
  hogs, sheep, and even two hapless human beings before its fury was spent.” 
   
   
  Family.  It’s complicated. 
  
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  In Dungeon Module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands, Gary describes giant rats 
  that “swarm chitteringly from their burrows — a wave of lice-ridden hunger seeking 
  to overrun the adventurers with sheer numbers.”518  More tellingly, the stairs which 
  lead from the moathouse ruin to the dungeons below in T1, The Village of 
  Hommlet, are protected by “a hungry horde of thirteen giant rats” that are “hungry 
  and will attack without fear.”519  There are several player tales of giant rats being 
  encountered in the ruins and dungeons of Castle Greyhawk as well. 
  The story continues once the rats are discovered in their descent.  In the sub-
  cellar beneath Exham, Delapore unearths ancient inscriptions which seem to warn 
  of a fearsome unholy queen, “whose dark worship was once vainly forbidden to 
  Roman citizens.”  (A tentative parallel can be drawn to Zuggtmoy and her forbidden 
  temple, near to the villages of Nulb and Hommlet.) 
  Below the sub-cellar of Exham lie the familial crypts, and many secret tunnels 
  between the two subterranean areas exist as burrows dug by the giant rats which 
  plague the place.  Ghoul-like degenerates also dwell within the deeper Priory crypts, 
  feasting on corpses just as the rats do. 
  Similarly, in the dungeons beneath Gary’s moathouse ruin (again T1), there is a 
  burial crypt which serves as a lair for predatory ghouls.520  These horrors compete 
  with the giant rats who have created a nasty labyrinth of tunnels, stealing the ghouls’ 
  charnel delicacies whenever they can.  Giant rats apparently do this quite frequently 
  in Gary’s dungeons!  “Their burrows honeycomb many graveyards,” Gary wrote in 
  the Monster Manual (1977), “where they seek to cheat ghouls of their prizes by 
  tunneling to newly interred corpses.”521 
  For the unfortunate Delapore in Lovecraft’s tale, the “dungeon” adventure 
  begins with a fateful discovery:  he and a servant detect a secret trapdoor by 
  carefully observing the effects of a draft of air upon the flickering flame of a candle.  
  Delapore is far too afraid to lift the floor-slab during that initial exploration, 
  deciding rather to slumber again in safety above ground.  But he suffers nightmares 
  which seem to force upon him the secrets which he refused to steal away for himself.  
  The dream-envisioned monsters beneath Exham include a horde of “fungous, flabby 
  beasts whose appearance filled me with unutterable loathing.”  These horrors, 
  “wallowing in filth,” are actually the troll-like ghouls (thouls?) who are the 
                                                             
  518 Dungeon Module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands, pg. 3. 
  519 Dungeon Module T1, The Village of Hommlet, pg. 14. 
  520 Dungeon Module T1, The Village of Hommlet, pg. 15. 
  521 Monster Manual, 1977, pg. 81. 
  
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  subterranean descendants of Delapore’s own ancestors. 
  The “fungous” hint is especially interesting.  Did Gary note and appreciate this 
  detail?  Could the slimes which lair in the dungeon-prisons with Zuggtmoy perhaps 
  represent that last remains of corrupted worshippers of the demon queen?  
  Delapore also dreams of a “white-bearded daemon swineherd” who dwells “with 
  his unmentionable fungous beasts” in “the twilight grotto.”  In Dungeon Module 
  T1-4, the ally of the “Lady of Fungi” — Zuggtmoy — is known as Iuz the Old.  Iuz 
  is rumored to be a half-demon, and of course the dungeons of Zuggtmoy which he 
  frequents are filled with thrall-swarms of monsters such as giant rats, ghouls, trolls, 
  slimes, degenerate humanoids and fungi. 
  Later in Rats, when Lovecraft’s narrator has steeled himself and assembled a 
  party of cellar-delving specialists to accompany him, the secret trapdoor under 
  Exham is finally opened.  Beneath the slab looms a well-worn staircase littered with 
  rat-gnawed bones.  Some of the bones are human, others humanoid.  Down the 
  stairs and within secret caverns hidden far beneath the sub-cellar, an even more 
  horrific discovery is made: 
  “It was a twilit grotto of enormous height, stretching away farther than any eye 
  could see; a subterraneous world of limitless mystery and horrible suggestion.  There 
  were buildings and other architectural remains — in one terrified glance I saw a 
  weird pattern of tumuli, a savage circle of monoliths, a low-domed Roman ruin, a 
  sprawling Saxon pile, and an early English edifice of wood — but all these were 
  dwarfed by the ghoulish spectacle presented by the general surface of the ground.  
  For yards about the steps extended an insane tangle of human bones, or bones at 
  least as human as those on the steps.  Like a foamy sea they stretched, some fallen 
  apart, but others wholly or partly articulated as skeletons; these latter invariably in 
  postures of daemoniac frenzy, either fighting off some menace or clutching other 
  forms with cannibal intent.” 
  Eerie scenes such as these are found throughout Gary’s published dungeons and 
  underworlds, but there are two especially striking examples of similar locales which 
  bear special mention.  The troll warrens beneath the Hall of the Fire Giant King 
  (Dungeon Module G3) are filled with troll nests, each comprising a “heap of sticks, 
  bones, hide and skin scraps, and other nauseous material.”522  Similar troll lairs found 
  in D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, are “filled with a noisome mess of 
  rotting carcasses, bones, sticks, excrement, pelts, etc.”523  Near to the D1 troll 
  warrens, there is a vast fungal garden where troglodytic dwellers tend creeping and 
                                                             
  522 Dungeon Module G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King, pg. 12. 
  523 Dungeon Module D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, pg. 10. 
  
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  edible fungi:  “The fungi are fed with the refuse and offal,” Gary writes.524 
  When Delapore’s party members behold these unspeakable horrors, they do not 
  dare to venture very deep.  “We shall never know what sightless Stygian worlds 
  yawn beyond the little distance we went,” the narrator insists, “for it was decided 
  that such secrets are not good for mankind.”  But we may catch in Rats an early 
  glimpse of one of Gary’s inspirations for the later Elder Elemental God, or perhaps 
  Tharizdun himself:  Delapore says that his guardian familiar — a cat — was 
  “determined to lead me on even unto those grinning caverns of earth’s centre where 
  Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly to the piping of two amorphous 
  idiot flute-players.” 
  Thus led to his doom, Delapore suffers the ultimate revelation:  his ancestors 
  were cannibalistic cultists who dwelled in a vast subterranean complex and 
  worshipped evil demon-gods beneath the earth.  This may have been one of the 
  inspirations for the many deities and demon lords found within the early Greyhawk 
  dungeons, including “The Nine,” Fraz’urb-luu, and perhaps even Gary’s own 
  neutral-yet-insane alter ego, Zagyg the Mad Archmage. 
  When Delapore finally encounters one of the degenerate netherworlders 
  spawned by his own ancient bloodline, he is driven mad.  It could be said (in D&D 
  terms) that he falls prey to demonic possession, and in that compelled state he is 
  forced to eat the corpse of one of his hapless fellows.  To his eternal detriment he 
  survives, and he is dragged to an insane asylum.  There, long after the terrors 
  suffered during his underworld misadventure, he offloads the entire tale on some 
  unfortunate visitor (the reader).  “They must know that I did not do it [devour the 
  flesh of the unfortunate companion],” he pleads.  “They must know it was the rats; 
  the slithering, scurrying rats whose scampering will never let me sleep; the daemon 
  rats that race behind the padding in this room and beckon me down to greater 
  horrors than I have ever known; the rats they can never hear; the rats, the rats in 
  the walls.” 
  That is the end of Lovecraft’s tale.  And, for Gary and his own inspirations in 
  planning the beginnings of Castle Greyhawk, perhaps it was a beginning.  Lovecraft’s 
  imagined dungeon — hollowed beneath the castle ruins, filled with ghouls, hints of 
  demonic entities, mad gods and other nameless horrors — became an inspirational 
  touchstone for Robert E. Howard.  It is well known that Arneson was inspired by 
  Conan novels in creating Blackmoor, and Gary too wrote that “The most immediate 
  influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R[obert] E[rvin] H[oward], 
                                                             
  524 Dungeon Module D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, pg. 10. 
  
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  Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H[oward] P[hillips] L[ovecraft] and A. Merritt.”525 [I-14] 
  It all began with the rats, daring the unwary questers for forgotten lore to detect 
  a secret doorway down into the dungeons deep.  And now, more than likely, you 
  will never gaze upon the mere giant rat in the Monster Manual as a harmless beastie, 
  possessing half a hit die, ever again. 
   
   
                                                             
  525 Dungeon Masters Guide, 1979, pg. 224. 
  
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  CHAPTER 10 
  THE CASTLE OF MADNESS 
  (NOVEMBER — DECEMBER 1972) 
   
  The Lion strode through the Halls of Hell; 
  Across his path grim shadows fell 
  Of many a mowing, nameless shape — 
  Monsters with dripping jaws agape. 
  The darkness shuddered with scream and yell 
  When the Lion stalked through the Halls of Hell. 
   
  — Robert E. Howard, The Scarlet Citadel 
   
  ALCHEMY WAS at hand, for Hawk and for Moor.  Between the two masters, the 
  ominous Black castle of Arneson’s imagination — re-sculpted under Gygax’s hand 
  — soon gave way to the Grey. 
  As The Fantasy Game wove its way into reality, Gary created his own castle ruin 
  and a dungeon to situate beneath it.  This was in the “late autumn” of 1972 
  according to various accounts.526  This would have likely been in late November 
  and into early December, not very long after the Arneson-Megarry games were 
  played in Lake Geneva. 
  Gary’s Castle had meager beginnings.  People tend (quite rightly) to imagine the 
  Greyhawk dungeons as a vast and sprawling labyrinth, but the reality is more 
  complex.  The conceptual design was incremental over a period of five years.  The 
  very first play test version of the dungeon comprised only a single level, drawn in 
  pencil on one sheet of graph paper.527  Similarly, the encounter key was probably 
  contained on a single sheet as well.  Even the final design would be nothing like a 
  TSR Dungeon Module; the Castle was always designed for play by an improvasitore 
  who made up all of his game mastering details as he went along.  The later published 
  modules which we are familiar with today were written not as representations of 
                                                             
  526 Yahoo Group:  Gygax Discussion List, 2004; Castle Zagyg:  The Upper Works; et. al. 
  527 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IV. 
  
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  Gary’s own campaign materials, but rather as play aids for Dungeon Masters who 
  would never have the benefit of playing at Gary’s side.  There is no “super-module” 
  of the Greyhawk dungeons, only the maps and scrawled encounter keys revised 
  through repeated play.  I will address this matter in more depth a little further on. 
  At first, while he was still conceptualizing the whole of his future work, Gary 
  was striving to emulate what little of Castle Blackmoor’s dungeons he had “seen” 
  during his own adventure in Dave’s mysterious netherworld.  Following from that 
  example, Gary wrote out a summary of themes he wanted to include in his own 
  underworld. 
   (Please note:  There are many, many varying accounts which were provided by 
  Gary over the years, which I will try to synergize as best I can.  Of all of the topics 
  in this book, the creation of Castle Greyhawk is by far the most complex.  There is 
  no way to take all of the existing accounts and to assemble them into a master 
  version of events, because these accounts are mutually inconsistent and frequently 
  contradictory.  Reluctantly acknowledging this reality, I have simply done the best 
  I can.  ~KDK) 
  With the above warning being stressed, I can state that it appears Gary originally 
  conceived of his super-dungeon as being ten levels deep.  This was while he was 
  working on dungeon level one and preparing for the very first play test.  Later, the 
  ten levels would become thirteen in actual game play, devised through December 
  1972 and into the summer of 1973.  By late 1973 or early 1974 (when Rob Kuntz 
  was his co-DM), the thirteen-level version was scrapped and replaced by a massive 
  conglomeration of great levels by both Gary and Rob, reaching perhaps twenty-
  five levels deep with numerous special and thematic “side levels” situated on 
  adjacent graph paper sheets.  These “special area” sheets attached via various 
  corridors and slides to the northern, southern, eastern and western edges of the 
  “core” (the vertical assemblage of levels positioned directly beneath the Castle).  In 
  all, there would eventually be more than seventy (!) of these Gygax/Kuntz levels 
  before development of the Castle layout was ended.  The creation of additional 
  encounter keys for existing levels, however, was continued into the 21st century as 
  Gary ran his dungeon for newer play groups who had never experienced the earlier 
  incarnations of Zagyg’s realm. 
  The entire plan reminds one of the dire warning of Florimel to the intrepid 
  Harold Shea, as featured in L. Sprague de Camp’s and Fletcher Pratt’s classic 
  adventure tale The Mathematics of Magic.  She warns him thusly, “There be 
  
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  gruesome great dungeons below.”528 
  In several of Gary’s later recollections, he offered a summary of the planned 
  levels which he had derived from his list of dungeon themes created in late 1972.  
  These thematic levels would be planned and situated in ascending degree of 
  difficulty, and a corresponding descent in depth.  Taking several of Gary’s conflicting 
  examples into consideration at once,529 it is likely that the first “build plan” for 
  Castle Greyhawk looked something like this: 
  * * * * * 
  Above Ground:  The Upper Works, or simply the Ruins.  (Later, more vertical 
  ruins of towers would be added above this ground level.) 
  Dungeon Level 1:  The Barracks, or the Vaults, or Dungeons.  (Literal dungeons, 
  as in oubliettes and places of imprisonment). 
  Dungeon Level 2:  The Storerooms, or the Catacombs, or Cellars, or Dungeons. 
  Dungeon Level 3:  The Cells, or the Crypts, or Lower Dungeons. 
  Dungeon Level 4:  The Torture Chambers.  (Perhaps inspired by the torture 
  chamber he had added to level 4 of Megarry’s Pasha Cada.)  Also noted as The 
  Crypts.  Later conceptions also hint at “the Laboratories,” but it is not yet known if 
  that was part of the earliest castle design. 
  Dungeon Level 5:  The Maze, or Catacombs.  Similarly to “the Laboratories” 
  mentioned above, this level might also include “the Menagerie,” but we don’t yet 
  know if that was part of the earliest castle. 
  Dungeon Level 6:  The Labyrinth. 
  Dungeon Level 7:  The Catacombs, or Lesser Caves. 
  Dungeon Level 8:  The Crypts, or Greater Caves. 
  (Later, several levels would be inserted at approximately this point to expand 
  the main dungeon from 10 levels to 13:  perhaps the Lesser Caves, the Greater Caves, 
  the Lesser Caverns, and the Greater Caverns.  There is some confusion because of 
  the 10-to-13 expansion and the very scant information about the design transition.) 
                                                             
  528 The Mathematics of Magic, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.  In my Baen 
  edition of The Complete Compleat Enchanter, this quote appears on pg. 233. 
  529 We also have information now from the El Raja Key archive of Rob Kuntz’s materials.  
  This material mostly preserves Rob’s campaign and the shared dungeon between him 
  and Gary, but it also reveals a bit more about the earliest layouts of the castle levels.  
  Refer also to Allan Grohe’s blog From Quroth’s Quill, “The Many Levels of Castle 
  Greyhawk,” a two-part post from August 2017. 
  
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  Dungeon Level 9:  The Arena, or Caverns. 
  Dungeon Level 10:  The Invisible Monster Level.  (Later, this nadir would be 
  reconceived as “Zagyg’s Zone,” the domain of Zagyg, the Mad Archmage.) 
   
   
  Castle Greyhawk V1.0, 101. 
   
  Like Dave Arneson, Gary’s conceptualization of the dreaded dungeons beneath 
  his fated castle would be inspired by the tales of Robert E. Howard and other 
  authors.  “Of course I read all the Conan books before the D&D game was created,” 
  Gary once wrote.530 
  Two of the passages featured in Howard’s The Scarlet Citadel prove particularly 
                                                             
  530 Refer to the thread “Gygaxian Monsters” on the ENWorld forums. 
  
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  enlightening here: 
  * * * * * 
  “When the city was founded three thousand years ago there were ruins of an 
  earlier city on and about this hill.  King Khossus V, the founder, built his palace on 
  the hill, and digging cellars beneath it, came upon a walled-up doorway, which he 
  broke into and discovered the pits, which were about as we see them now.  But his 
  grand vizier came to such a grisly end in them that Khossus in a fright walled up the 
  entrance again.  He said the vizier fell into a well — but he had the cellars filled in, 
  and later abandoned the palace itself …” 
  And: 
  “The tunnels were not silent.  From the bowels of the earth in all directions came 
  sounds that did not belong in a sane world.  There were titterings, squeals of 
  demoniac mirth, long shuddering howls, and once the unmistakable squalling 
  laughter of a hyena ended awfully in human words of shrieking blasphemy.  He 
  [Conan] heard the pad of stealthy feet, and in the mouths of the tunnels caught 
  glimpses of shadowy forms, monstrous and abnormal in outline.  It was as if he had 
  wandered into hell — a hell of [the mad wizard] Tsotha-lanti’s making.” 
  * * * * * 
  There were other influence we might consider as well.  In his future designs of 
  the dungeons, Gary would also be thinking about the Sanitarium, as well as tales 
  such as Theseus in the labyrinth of the minotaur, the Brothers Grimm tale of “The 
  Twelve Dancing Princesses,” and Jules Verne’s underworld exploration novel, 
  Journey to the Center of the Earth.531 
  Another direct line of inspiration (later acknowledged in Gary’s famous 
  Appendix N) was drawn down from Sign of the Labrys (1963), a peculiar post-
  apocalyptic novel by Margaret St. Clair.  The word “labrys” — meaning, a symbolic 
  ceremonial axe weapon of a goddess — likely has the same lingual root as the word 
  “labyrinth,” which specifically means an underworld laid out in a deliberate sacred 
  coiling pattern. 
  St. Clair’s Labrys setting is notable because its netherworld includes wandering 
  “monsters” and patrols, depraved fungus-eating denizens, brown mold (mutated 
  cryogenic yeast), witches and witchcraft, lab rats, water traps, illusionary horizons, 
  secret tunnels, and more.  Most particularly, St. Clair also explains the concept of 
  sub-levels or “tiers” which Gary directly borrowed from when he was writing the 
                                                             
  531 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part V.  Posted 
  January 28th, 2004. 
  
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  manuscript for Dungeons & Dragons.  If (for example) you refer to the side-view 
  dungeon schematic on page 3 of D&D’s Volume 3:  The Underworld & Wilderness 
  Adventures, you will see this concept in action.  This “tier” idea — differentiating 
  the concepts of dungeon depth and dungeon levels — would also appear in 1977’s 
  Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set rulebook, on page 38, where we can see the Great 
  Stone Skull and the Domed City, hidden far beneath the world.  As we see in Book 
  II of HAWK & MOOR, Gary utilized the “tiers” idea to great effect in 1973 and 
  1974, developing “side levels” that would allow the Castle Greyhawk dungeons to 
  feature over 70 tiers in all. 
  * * * * * 
  That innovation, however, was still far in the future.  First, Gary needed to create 
  the first dungeon level of them all! 
  When Gary was ready to prepare his first two maps (one for the castle ruin and 
  one for the singular dungeon level) for play testing, he needed to know the relative 
  dimensions of his own model castle.  The shallowest levels — those closest to the 
  surface — were going to share their width and breadth with the dimensions of the 
  ruins above them.  The castle was going to stand high upon a prominent mount, 
  much like Castle Blackmoor.  Because the shallowest dungeon levels could not 
  exceed the size of this mount’s flattened plateau, the drawing and scaling of the 
  castle would give Gary an idea of the scale to use in his own dungeons.  He may 
  have also wanted to use the miniature kit because that would allow him to situate 
  the castle ruin on a sand table; or, perhaps he intended to use the model as a visual 
  aid for the players. 
  Gary had by this time already acquired the Hausser kit for “Castle Bodenstedt,” 
  [sic] perhaps from Jeff Perren’s collection.  Armed with this as well as the older rules 
  for The Siege of Bodenburg, he could start establishing the features of his own ruined 
  castle.  With these ideas in mind, he went down to his chilly basement late at night, 
  eager to measure the castle kit on its table.532 
  He wrote down the measurements, then went up to his cramped (but much 
  warmer) study, and there started scaling out the walls and towers on graph paper. 
  To his chagrin, he realized that the castle was square, and his paper was of course 
  rectangular.  Worse, the castle miniature featured cliff faces and escarpments 
                                                             
  532 Many of these details come from Gary’s account in Dragon Annuals #2 and #4, as 
  well as To Forge a Fantasy World:  Greyhawk’s Creation, Castle Zagyg, Europa 6-8 (the 
  earliest account), various issues of Dragon magazine, and several less-detailed asides in 
  Internet blogs and forum threads.  The minor trick in determining the contents of Castle 
  Greyhawk is in locating mentioned room descriptions; but the major trick involves a 
  chronological understanding of all the various iterations. 
  
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  surrounding the castle (which would represent the plateau for Gary’s own fortress), 
  which meant there was no way to both use the miniature castle and to develop the 
  shallow dungeon levels on rectangular paper without wasting a third of each sheet’s 
  space.  If the model “Castle Bodenstedt” was to be used, each dungeon level below 
  it would be depressingly small. 
  To solve this problem, he did the wise thing:  He ignored the castle miniature’s 
  limitations, and focused on his blank sheet of paper.  He elongated the walls of the 
  castle on two sides, so that the overall ruin became rectangular and filled the paper.  
  Careful readers may have come to the realization by now that Gary’s design for the 
  Keep on the Borderlands (as featured in Dungeon Module B2) was quite similar to 
  Castle Greyhawk in its outlines. 
  Once the castle’s features (gate, barbican, walls, towers, outbuildings and the 
  Great Keep itself) were sketched in, Gary placed three hidden staircases leading 
  down to the dungeon level.  These areas were hidden by rubble fallen down from 
  the castle walls.  Four areas on the map were then keyed on a sheet of note paper 
  with minor nuisance monsters for the play testers’ characters to encounter:  bandits, 
  giant rats, and giant centipedes. 
  Veteran D&D players, many of whom are still waiting to see the real maps and 
  keys to Gary’s dungeon to this day, prefer to imagine that our sagely Dungeon 
  Master had an elaborate key written up for his masterwork from the very beginning.  
  After all, Gary’s Dungeon Modules which would be written a few years later (such 
  as Tomb of Horrors, The Keep on the Borderlands, and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa) are 
  all meticulously detailed virtual environments, with notes on history, atmosphere, 
  room contents and monster tactics, all meticulously written out.  But Gary’s notes 
  for the original castle and dungeons were extremely sparse.  As he once explained 
  in regards to his level keys for the dungeon, “What we used was not ‘pro’ but simply 
  veteran DM notes to more easily wing the actual action.  Traps and ‘trick’ areas 
  were detailed in regards to trigger and damage or result from activating a trick.”  
  He further wrote, “Monster encounters looked like this:  ‘12 orcs, 4 with crossbows, 
  7-12 gold pieces each, potion of heroism in hole under water barrel.  Will fight until 
  death.’”533 
  Yes, that’s it. 
  This succinct glimpse of Gary’s encounter format is interesting not because of its 
  content, but rather because it implies that much of the original dungeon’s magic 
  was resident in Gary’s improvisations and the players’ unexpected actions, not the 
  detail of the setting itself.  If Gary’s dungeon notes should ever emerge to suffer 
                                                             
  533 Greyhawk Online forums post, February 13th, 2004. 
  
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  under public scrutiny, many diehard fans will no doubt feel an overwhelming sense 
  of disappointment.  The true majesty of Castle Greyhawk reigned in Gary’s heart 
  and mind, not on pieces of paper. 
  We also know that Gary made his dungeon encounters highly variable in nature, 
  with ranges of figures given instead of set numbers in many cases.  In other words, 
  the encounter notes were ideas for improvising the adventure, and the 
  circumstances of each encounter varied according to the power of the explorers.  
  “Depending on the party entering their area,” he wrote, “the hit points would be 
  set high, or rolled, or set low.  Likewise, the orcs might have a spy hole, detect the 
  approaching party, fire through loopholes in the door and wall, or else be sitting 
  around and possibly surprised.”534 
  Further data was rarely required, although “special encounters might be more 
  detailed, two or three lines of notes.  …  Whatever was there was just to stimulate 
  the DM's imagination and inspire something that suited the party for good or ill.”535 
  Once the few encounters were scrawled in, Gary decided that the map of the 
  ruins was still a little too tame for play.  Therefore, an “unwilling descent” was also 
  placed, in the form of a pit trap that would cause an unwary explorer to plummet 
  down to the dungeon level alone (and perhaps resulting in a broken neck, or at 
  least some serious injury).  With these basic atmospheric bits placed within the ruins 
  (now termed the “Upper Works,” a name which would later be shared with the 
  remaining upper floors of some of the ruined towers), Gary began sketching on a 
  second sheet of graph paper.  It was time to design the dungeon down below. 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  534 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VI.  Posted 
  February 12th, 2004.  Similarly, Gary once expressed the following example of variable 
  monster encounter difficulty levels based on the size of the adventuring party:  
  “Encounters named only something like ‘9-16 gnolls’ in an area.  If it was a big party of 
  PCs entering I’d make that 16 gnolls and have some sort of leader or leaders with them.  
  If only a few characters of low level were exploring and entered the place, they might 
  encounter only 9 of those critters.”  And interestingly, Gary once wrote that “At the time 
  when those rules [D&D in 1973] were written, it was assumed a typical adventuring party 
  would have about 8 PCs plus as many hired men-at-arms.  In my 30-plus years of gaming, 
  I have very rarely played with a group of 16 dungeoneering characters!  But this estimate 
  is useful as we in the Old School Renaissance attempt to create somewhat balanced 
  encounters for classic dungeon adventures, and so I preserve this detail as an historical 
  curiosity here. 
  535 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part VI.  Posted 
  February 12th, 2004. 
  
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  The first step in designing the solitary dungeon level was to carry over the 
  positions of the staircases from the ruin, so that the maps would correctly line up 
  with one another.  Then Gary made some chambers and passages, and covered the 
  entire map with mazy lines.  As he once explained, “The first level was a simple 
  maze of rooms and corridors, for none of the participants [in the play test] had 
  every played such a game before.”536  He almost certainly thought about David 
  Megarry’s balanced Pasha Cada game board and his first experiences under Castle 
  Blackmoor while he drew. 
  Gary’s early style featured clusters of small and interconnected rooms as 
  “islands,” surrounded by “seas” of labyrinth.  Anyone who is interested in seeing a 
  very similar dungeon design by Gary, circa 1976, should study a copy of Dungeon 
  Geomorphs, Set One:  Basic Dungeon (TSR stock codes F1002, 9004; also reprinted 
  as part of product 9048.)  That product features room and maze assortments which 
  are very similar to the few existing photographic glimpses of Gary’s actual dungeon.  
  (Which, by the way, the curious soul can now behold by searching images on the 
  Internet; try the keywords “Greyhawk dungeon map.”  Enjoy.)  The available 
  pictures are frustratingly blurry, but several excellent analyses have teased out 
  significant design features which reveal much of Gary’s dungeon design 
  methodology. 
  When this first-ever dungeon map was done, Gary placed some encounters in 
  the rooms.  Cleverly, he saved time and simultaneously gave the level a “theme” 
  by repeating encounters throughout the level.  For example, if encounter #2 was 
  “5 to 8 goblins,” then multiple rooms on the map could be keyed as encounter #2.  
  Gary once explained the process he used in creating these early dungeon levels like 
  this:  “I usually made one-line notes for my dungeon encounters, from around 20 
  to 25 of same for a typical level done on four-lines-to-the inch graph paper … [and 
  then] a few more on five-, six-, or seldom-used eight-line graph paper.  The other 
  spaces [tunnel networks between the rooms] were empty, save for perhaps a few 
  traps or transporter areas and the like.”537  By using a labyrinthine design with very 
  little unused space and where most every square was separated from every other, 
  Gary was able to make the dungeon seem much larger than it actually was. 
  Every reader, of course, would like to know exactly what all of these rooms 
  were actually like, and what the monsters and treasures were as well.  Sadly, anyone 
  who possesses the original maps — or copies of them — isn’t sharing those secrets 
                                                             
  536 Europa 6-8, 1975.  This online file preserves the text of Europa Newsletter issues #6, #7 
  and #8. 
  537 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  Posted 
  September 15th, 2005. 
  
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  just yet.  (I know it’s an agonizing wait; I have waited through 35 years of playing 
  Dave’s and Gary’s game, and counting.)  Any sleuthing in that direction is 
  complicated by the fact that Gary re-created his dungeon entirely in the mid-1970s, 
  and he often re-keyed rooms after they were cleared of monsters.  This was done 
  so that the next group of players might enjoy their own adventures, without finding 
  only looted chests and bloody corpses everywhere.  Even more confounding, Gary 
  also ran a differently-keyed version of this classic dungeon in the early 2000s, which 
  is often the version for which the most information is available.  The sum effect of 
  all of these varying manifestations is that the castle’s original encounters can never 
  be definitively classified. 
  Despite these challenges, we know from stories and various accounts what some 
  of the early monsters were, and some of the treasures as well.  There were giant 
  centipedes, just like in the upper ruins.  There were stealthy kobold skirmishers and 
  goblin slavers, and these two groups of diminutive humanoids had a mutual pact 
  of alliance to support one another whenever the big nasty humans came down into 
  their lairs with their nasty burning spells and swinging swords.538  In later designs of 
  dungeon level one, the kobold presence would grow until the little raiders filled 
  two sub-complexes of interconnected rooms. 
  In later revisions of Greyhawk Castle (after 1972 and all the way into 2007), 
  Gary would re-populate this level not only with the infamous OGK (Old Guard 
  Kobolds), but also with groups of bandits, cave bats, dwarves, an evil priest, flesh 
  beetle swarms (perhaps inspired by The Mummy, as Gary expressed interest in that 
  movie’s nasty scarabs?), ghouls, giant centipedes, giant fire beetles, giant rats, a giant 
  snake, giant stink (bombardier) beetles, gnolls, gnomes, goblins, great (large and 
  huge) spiders, a half-orc fighter, a huge wolverine, orcs, skeletons, snakes, and at 
  least one very hungry gelatinous cube. 
  * * * * * 
  The convoluted process of dungeon level creation — involving waves of design, 
  stocking, modifications resulting from play, preparations for restocking, and then 
  the effects of yet another adventuring party’s explorations — was exhausting, 
  especially considering that Gary had never designed a dungeon before.  As he 
  recalled, “That drawing [of dungeon level one] took up all my spare time during 
  the following day.  It was a level that had lots of corridors and rooms, few squares 
  penciled in to indicate solid stone.  There were, however, only about 20 encounters 
  on it, for I was truly a novice Dungeon Master and quite unprepared for the avid 
                                                             
  538 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX. 
  
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  plundering that was about to begin.”539 
  When these first twenty monster lairs were all finally placed, it was time for Gary 
  to place the room and corridor traps.  “A couple pits were placed on the first 
  dungeon level below the ruins of Castle Greyhawk,” Gary recalled.  “These initial 
  pits were no more than holes in the floor, open spaces that made it difficult for the 
  characters to follow their routes in the dark labyrinth.”540 
  After these traps, the treasures still needed to be placed as well.  Gary conceived 
  of the game’s coinage based on his reading of many Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories, 
  and in a very Leiber-esque manner the most worthless coins in Dungeons & Dragons 
  would soon be known as “copper pieces,” or farthings.  To the play testers, these 
  were basically pennies.  These coins, due to their relative worthlessness, would be 
  found in bulk throughout that first imagined dungeon level.  This design choice on 
  Gary’s part would lead to an amusing scene involving a huge “treasure” chest filled 
  with pennies later on, as related in Book II of HAWK & MOOR. 
  With the rooms, tunnels, lairs, treasures and traps fully delineated throughout 
  the map and key, the design of the dungeon level was complete.  This monster- and 
  trap-filled environment would create an ideal introductory area for Gary’s players, 
  allowing them to learn (through a trial and error process quite dangerous for their 
  imaginary characters) how to navigate the mazes, to map the rooms on paper, to 
  sneak about undetected, to avoid traps, to open doors, to battle monsters and to 
  search for treasure.  Good play was rewarded with treasure and experience; bad 
  play awarded nothing, except perhaps an opportunity to roll a new adventurer.  
  And somewhere hidden away beyond the deepest rooms, there would be a 
  stairway down into the deeper underworld, the upper cusp of an uncreated 
  dungeon level two. 
  When all was done, it was time to name the dungeon.  To both compete with 
  and to honor the precedent set by Arneson’s Blackmoor, the Lake Geneva dungeon 
  setting would need an equally evocative name.  Gary decided, at first, on something 
  like Castle Black Hawk.  This name came from Gary’s admiration of Chief Black 
  Hawk, a heroic Sauk leader in 1800s Wisconsin, known in his native tongue as Ma-
  ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak.  “As an amateur historian,” Gary once explained, “I was 
  much interested in the Native Americans, and I always felt that [Chief] Black Hawk 
  was a brave and tragic example of the fate of the original inhabitants of the 
                                                             
  539 Dragon Annual #2.  “Founding Greyhawk:  The Creation and Development of the 
  Greyhawk Campaign, 1972-75,” by Gary Gygax. 
  540 Dragon #294.  “Up on a Soapbox,” by Gary Gygax. 
  
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  continent.”541 
  He realized however that a name like “Castle Black Hawk” would be far too 
  identifiable to his players (and to those in the Twin Cities) as a Blackmoor reference, 
  and so he settled on the slightly more original name “Castle Grey Hawk” instead. 
  * * * * * 
  As this preliminary castle-and-dungeon play test area took shape, Gary was also 
  busy finishing his first rough draft of the rules for The Fantasy Game.  After two 
  weeks of pecking away at his trusty Royal typewriter, Gary completed his typed 
  draft.  Gary once said that he had played “for perhaps a month”542 before he typed 
  up the first draft,543 which would date the draft’s completion to late December of 
  1972.  (He once noted, “I wrote the first draft at the close of 1972,”544 which likely 
  means around the time of the Christmas holiday.) 
  However, there were only a few pages of rules-notes in existence when the play 
  tests actually began.  “We probably started with less than ten pages of rules,” Rob 
  Kuntz once explained.  “So he [Gary] was constantly typing it up and updating 
  them.”545 
  At various times, Gary would remember this text as being 50, 100 or 150 pages 
  long.  His occasional uncertainty on this point over the passing years would 
  eventually become inevitable and chronic, because Gary’s original rules manuscript 
  has … yes … regrettably been lost.  (Gary wrote in 2002 that he had lost it, and it 
  probably went missing a very long time before that.)546 
  Further, as of this writing (2017) there is no publically available confirmation 
                                                             
  541 Dragon Annual #2.  “Founding Greyhawk:  The Creation and Development of the 
  Greyhawk Campaign, 1972-75,” by Gary Gygax. 
  542 Masters of Fantasy:  TSR, the Fantasy Factory.  A documentary which aired on the Sci-
  Fi Channel in 1997.  The comment appears at approximately 9:35. 
  543 Rob Kuntz has also noted (on the Ruins of Murkhill forums, July 2017) that even before 
  this Gary had created a series of play notes:  “A very base, preliminary, set of guides / 
  rules for play, the latter amounting to 10 pages.”  We don’t have any textual evidence 
  of this document yet, but we could safely term such a thing the “pre-first draft guidelines” 
  or something similar. 
  544 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  
  Posted March 18th, 2005. 
  545 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The story begins at approximately 11:55. 
  546 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  Posted 
  October 14th, 2002. 
  
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  that any play test copies derived from that first draft are available for our perusal 
  either.  “Dalluhn” seems to be as close as we can get.  Therefore, the first draft to 
  this day remains a mystery document, whose contents must be inferred from both 
  earlier and later iterations of the rules.  However, the 50-page figure is the one 
  which most likely corresponds to the first draft with a fair degree of accuracy. 
  Our first question pertaining to all of this mess is rather simple:  “Hey, what 
  precisely does ‘lost’ mean?”  Well, it may hint that the manuscript is somewhere in 
  Gary’s basement (unlikely), or that it was still in his TSR office in 1985 when Lorraine 
  Williams literally locked him out of it (sadly, much more likely).  It may be in a 
  stealthy collector’s hands; or in a warehouse belonging to the game’s current 
  curators, Wizards of the Coast; or it may be stuck in Gygax’s piles of manuscripts at 
  his family’s house, and held — either knowingly or unknowingly — by his estate.  
  So we do not yet know what has truly become of it ... but like all great artifacts, it 
  may indeed be lost forever to time, to be replaced by something greater, a legend 
  of itself which grows with every retelling. 
  The contents of the draft, however, are somewhat known to us.  Unlike Dave’s 
  Blackmoor notes, Gary’s rules for The Fantasy Game explained everything from the 
  beginning, including the process of “how to create a ‘character,’ a wholly imaginary 
  game persona.”547  There were rules for three types of characters included:  the 
  Fighting Man (based on the Hero and Superhero derived from Chainmail), the 
  Magic-User (based on the Wizard), and that Arnesonian/Gygaxian hybrid 
  newcomer, the Cleric.  In Gary’s version of the rules, the characters would never 
  start out as Heroes.  That title needed to be earned.  Newly-rolled characters in this 
  game would not be quite as weak as the Flunkies in Blackmoor, but they would still 
  be mortal and highly vulnerable.  Death, in the dungeon, would lurk for them at 
  every turn. 
  Following the precepts laid out in various Swords & Sorcery pulps and 
  exemplified by weird fiction authors such as Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard and H. 
  P. Lovecraft, these characters would show glimmers of potential from the very 
  beginning.  However, these young adventurers would be naïve, having barely come 
  of age.  Teamwork between player characters was strongly implied in Gary’s rule 
  set, because groups of such non-Heroes would desperately need each other just to 
  survive.  Death would be their teacher, if no one else. 
  The random tables and rolling processes featured in Gary manuscript would also 
  include “some new systems, some based on Arneson’s Blackmoor notes, and others 
                                                             
  547 30 Years of Adventure.  Published by Wizards of the Coast, 2004. 
  
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  entirely new.”548  But in a way, everything was new.  There cannot be clichés where 
  creative ground is still being broken.  As Gary explained, “Much of what is now 
  taken as standard and hackneyed in the D&D game was all new back in 1972 and 
  1973.”549 
  The first draft also indicated that the game was controlled by a “judge,” or 
  “game referee.”  The appellation “Dungeon Master” (which I use for its familiarity) 
  remained in the hazy future.  One of the key crucial concepts carried over from 
  Arneson’s innovations was clearly highlighted in Gary’s rule set as well:  “What was 
  most strongly pulled from Blackmoor,” Gary later wrote, “was the general concept:  
  players selected an archetypal fantasy character to play, and then set forth to 
  explore a subterranean dungeon.  In the dungeon lurked horrible monsters, 
  guarding fantastic treasures.  Skillful and careful play were [both] rewarded, and 
  there were many tricks to daunt thoughtless players, and deadly traps set for the 
  careless.”550 
  Beyond these generalities, we have hints from those Chainmail systems which 
  were borrowed from, and similar hints from other materials as well.  Chainmail 
  however was apparently not the basis of Gary’s new game, although he would later 
  tie the two rule sets together for public consumption and to increase marketability.  
  Rob Kuntz has said that “Chainmail didn’t factor into the play test whatsoever, 
  except maybe in the sense where you got to look at a mass combat situation.”551  
  Rob explained further that “there were no rules in the play test … we sculpted those 
  as we went along.  It [Dungeons & Dragons] doesn’t derive explicitly from 
  wargames.”552 
  Unfortunately, we know very little about the actual first draft rules, their text, 
  or their conception.  Documents are still being unearthed and researched by others 
  at this time, but unfortunately there are significant pieces which cannot (yet?) be 
  released into the public domain.  The first draft is a cipher; here I can only offer you 
  a dim reflection of its treasures. 
  Gary was deservedly proud of this first manuscript.  He knew that the rules were 
                                                             
  548 Alarums & Excursions #2. 
  549 Dragon #287.  “Up on a Soapbox,” by Gary Gygax. 
  550 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #9, May 2008.  “How It All 
  Happened,” by Gary Gygax, pg. 2. 
  551 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The comment appears at approximately 13:50. 
  552 Online interview:  Refer to the Youtube clip ‘Rob Kuntz Conversations,’ with Martin 
  Brown of Grognard Games.  The comment appears at approximately 16:10. 
  
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  very good, and was excited about the play test yet to come.  “I was absolutely 
  certain that the D&D game would be popular and have legs back in 1972,” he once 
  wrote, “when I completed the initial draft of the rules. That assurance never 
  wavered from then on.”553  To be specific, he believed that the potential fan base 
  for his game would include “military game fans and imaginative literature (S[cience] 
  F[iction], fantasy, horror, occult) readers — maybe 100,000 persons or so. That’s 
  why I was careful to add as much as possible to appeal to the fans of J. R. R. 
  [Tolkien], so as to broaden the audience base.”554 
  Despite their rough nature, these rules were just about ready for dissemination 
  before they had even seen play.  This in itself seems to imply that Gary’s first draft 
  system was very close to that already embodied by Chainmail. 
  A few days after the manuscript was completed, he went out and made 
  approximately twenty or thirty copies for the upcoming remote play test.  These 
  copies would be sent out to Castle & Crusade Society members — along with other 
  trustworthy friends — for the purposes of experimentation and constructive 
  feedback.  Arneson’s group would of course receive one or more copies as well.  
  Once the copies were stapled and ready, they “were sent to the Twin Cities and to 
  several other groups for comment.”555 
  To this day there is confusion over whether Gary mailed these copies out just 
  before (less likely) or just after (more likely) he had begun his own play test at 
  home.  A particular point which clouds this question further pertains to the game’s 
  transition of title.  Was The Fantasy Game crossed out on the first page, and changed 
  to Dungeons & Dragons before the copies were ever mailed?  Was the title The 
  Fantasy Game ever even typed out for anyone to see?  No one seems to know.  
  This is one of the hundreds of tiny mysteries surrounding the game’s creation.  I 
  provide a few details hereafter so that the reader may understand the difficulties 
  inherent in compiling a full and detailed history from distant memories, where tales 
  are retold too many times, and where partial or missing primary sources can never 
  tell the entire story. 
  In one early account, Gary stated, “When the scant manuscript was copied and 
  mailed off to some two dozen or so gaming comrades, mostly IFW [International 
  Federation of Wargaming] members, of course, a few days later, it bore the title, 
                                                             
  553 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  
  Posted March 15th, 2005. 
  554 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  
  Posted March 15th, 2005. 
  555 The Dragon #7.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the Game,” pg. 7. 
  
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  ‘Dungeons & Dragons.’”556  And a later account:  “I had sent out for play-testing 
  about a score of drafts of the 50-page manuscript I had written under the working 
  title ‘The Fantasy Game.’”557  Taken together, these accounts may imply that the 
  game was renamed immediately prior to the copies being made, but this is 
  uncertain.  Both offer an implied timeframe of late 1972.  However, a third account 
  by Gary reads, “As an aside, I had [re]named The Fantasy Game [as] Dungeons & 
  Dragons in the summer of 1973 after compiling two lists of potential titles, with 
  ‘Dungeons’ on one [list] and ‘Dragons’ on the other.”558  How can these 
  contradictory statements ever coincide?  Did Gary perhaps decide upon the title of 
  Dungeons & Dragons in 1972, but not apply it until 1973? 
  Considering that Gary was probably asked literally hundreds of times exactly 
  how Dungeons & Dragons came to be named, and that some of his recollections 
  were going back over thirty years, it should come as no surprise that the accounts 
  of these details are highly variable.  But the sad fact remains that we now always 
  have a general idea of what transpired, while pinning down the details is inevitably 
  a matter of calculated interpretation. 
  * * * * * 
  To come up with the title for his game (whenever that may have been), Gary 
  began putting two lists of names together, names which he felt were appropriate to 
  the themes of his new creation.  He then took up a piece of paper and wrote down 
  the beginnings of two columns for potential title elements.  (Par for the course, the 
  number of chosen words is unknown to us; perhaps there were twenty, perhaps 
  thirty in all.  No one knows, the list is gone.)  A few of these words were meant to 
  stand alone, while many others were meant to be used in alliterative pairings, 
  similar to the genre precedents of “Swords & Sorcery” and “Castle & Crusade.” 
  Gary did once provide a hint to precisely what many of those words were, 
  although he could not remember all of them:  “You can see for yourself some of 
  the ‘rejected’ choices on the covers of the three booklets that eventually come to 
  comprise the finished product, the first edition of the Dungeons & Dragons 
  game.”559  Several other hints about these “potential title words” are given 
  elsewhere.  Most likely then, one of Gary’s columns included the words Dungeons, 
                                                             
  556 The Dragon #7.  “Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons:  Origins of the Game,” pg. 7. 
  557 The Crusader:  The Journal of the Intrepid Adventurer, issue #13, October 2008.  “How 
  It All Happened,” by Gary Gygax. 
  558 Online web forum post:  ENWorld.org.  ENWorld Gary Gygax Q&A, Part X.  Posted July 
  2nd, 2006. 
  559 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX. 
  
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  Enchantments, Fantasy, Magic(al), Magicians, Mazes, Men, Sword(s), Underworld, 
  and Wizard(s).  The other column probably included the words Adventure(s), 
  Castles, Dragons, Giants, Labyrinths, Magic, Monsters, Sorcery, Treasure(s), Trolls, 
  Warfare, and Wilderness.560  There would surely have been more such offerings in 
  the word lists, now lost to time. 
  It had taken awhile for Gary to come up with this dual list of marketable 
  phrasings.  “I spent a couple of days finding names I thought would be compelling,” 
  he once wrote, “hoping that one would do, as such [a single-word title] is usually 
  best for a product.”561  But no one word could define such an unusual game.  Soon, 
  and “loving alliteration,”562 Gary decided that he liked the combination “Dungeons 
  & Dragons” the best.563 
  Despite his own decision, the title would be a matter of marketing.  He still 
  wanted to find out if there might be an unaware consensus on the matter, a name 
  which was more compelling that he himself had not considered. 
  Therefore, he passed the completed list to several family members, as well as to 
  his most trusted gamer friends.  His future play testers Ernie, Elise, Don, Rob and 
  Terry were almost certainly involved.  Several people selected the same title as Gary 
  had.  In the end, however, it was his youngest daughter’s enthusiastic selection of 
  the same words which convinced Gary that he had indeed made the right choice. 
  Gary made it clear that multiple people had indeed chosen the same title when 
  he wrote, “My youngest daughter Cindy was adamant that I must use ‘Dungeons & 
  Dragons.’  As a number of others were in agreement with that choice [emphasis 
  mine], and I liked the alliteration, that’s what I went with.”564  As soon as the game 
  was named, the Lake Geneva gaming group at once abbreviated the evocative title 
  to “D&D.” 
  * * * * * 
                                                             
  560 Perhaps the most detailed treatment of this topic (to date) can be found in the 
  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A Part IX discussion which took place on March 4th, 2007. 
  561 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX.  
  Posted March 4th, 2007. 
  562 Dragon Annual #2.  “Founding Greyhawk:  The Creation and Development of the 
  Greyhawk Campaign, 1972-75,” by Gary Gygax. 
  563 See for example the Gary Gygax chat preserved in the user comments at Slashdot.org 
  for February 22nd, 2003 entry entitled “A 1974 Review of D&D.” 
  564 Online web forum post:  Dragonsfoot.org.  Dragonsfoot Gary Gygax Q&A, Part I.  
  Posted February 23rd, 2005. 
  
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  The packets were sent, and Gary awaited feedback.  Regardless of precisely when 
  the copies were issued, we do know that there were only a few:  estimates given 
  have included twelve, twenty, twenty-four, or thirty.  Copies were given to 
  members of the local Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association, and also mailed out 
  to members of the Twin Cities play group and the Castle & Crusade Society. 
  Some of the recipients were high school students, while most were in college.  
  The fact that many of these people were collectively hard-pressed for cash (due to 
  their youth and/or ongoing education) would actually have a profound effect on 
  the newborn game’s popularity in the months to come, because Dungeons & 
  Dragons first proliferated via sharing, lending, copying, reinterpretation, and 
  enthusiastic word of mouth. 
  The rules are so open-ended that such reader-driven control of the game would 
  have happened inevitably, given enough time for proliferation.  The rules to 
  Dungeons & Dragons — as a simulation of everything — can never be complete, 
  and so every Dungeon Master fills the rule gaps in his or her own way, to one’s 
  own satisfaction.  This spirit of reader-designer participation was (perhaps 
  accidentally) part of the game’s DNA from the very beginning.  Once this eternally-
  configurable paradigm was out there in the wild, its interpretation would forever 
  be beyond Gary’s control. 
  With the copies sent, Gary was free to focus upon the deeper levels of his 
  labyrinth, and the actual play of the game.  At around this time (December of 1972) 
  he approached his daughter Elise and his son Ernie, and he posed them a simple 
  question:  “Would you like to play a game?” 
  Those very first play tests shall be the foremost subject of our next story, and so 
  the Greyhawk campaign — castle, dungeon, wilderness, and city — will dominate 
  our continuing chronicle, as featured in Book II of HAWK & MOOR, The Dungeons 
  Deep. 
   
   
  
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  We have explored the first horizon.  Beneath and beyond us, the adventure 
  continues … 
   
  
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  AN END 
  TO THE SAGA OF BOOK I 
   
  AND NOW here upon the misty verge of the castle ruin we have come, as they say, 
  to the end of the beginning. 
  Throughout the vast chronicle entire of the creation of Dungeons & Dragons, 
  hundreds of coincidences, accidents, off-hand decisions, and random bits of trivia 
  all somehow managed to concoct themselves into one of the most influential games 
  of all time. 
  Book Two of HAWK & MOOR, The Dungeons Deep, explores the play tests 
  which brought Castle Greyhawk’s dungeons to life.  The game grew as Gary’s 
  adventurers delved ever deeper, adding, treasures, levels and spells to the ever-
  more-fantastical whole of Zagyg’s wondrous underworld. 
  The second book therefore chronicles not only dungeon levels one through 
  thirteen, but also the conflicts with Dave Arneson, the city and gods of Greyhawk, 
  the Mad Archmage, the black dragon labyrinth, the founding of TSR, and the 
  eventual publication of the game.  We will learn the tales of the heroes Ahlissa, 
  Murlynd, Otto, Quij, Robilar, Tenser, Terrik and others, as well as the storied 
  villains:  Obmi, the Balrog, the Thouls, the Jeweled Man, the Old Guard Kobolds, 
  and all the rest. 
  The unpredictable wilderness of D&D’s inspirations is now falling away behind 
  us, and so we shall enter upon the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk very soon.  Our 
  journey will be a long one.  Ready your blades, pack your iron spikes and ten-foot 
  poles.  I will lead the way, but do be ready to step over my lifeless corpse and take 
  the lead … 
  (Don’t worry, avid reader; if you wish to linger on the tale, I assure that you will 
  find a significant plethora of worthy appendices material hereafter.) 
  I hope that you will join me for that next journey into the deep, and until then 
  I thank you for reading! 
   
   
  
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  APPENDIX I: 
  THE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHRONICLE: 
  A TIMELINE FOR THE YEARS 1937 TO 1971 
   
  (Please Note:  In addition to TSR- and D&D-specific events, and a hefty helping of 
  relevant pop culture, this chronicle also includes various life events and various 
  activities pertaining to the Gygax family, Arneson, and other important personages.  
  The chronicle also includes detailed origination dates for many of the films, books, 
  and other inspirational sources which informed the creation of Dungeons & 
  Dragons.  Some of this more technical information is solely for my own use in 
  further research and dating corroboration, but most of it should be of interest to 
  just about anyone.  Enjoy.) 
   
  THE YEAR 1937 
  January 1937 
  The Thing on the Doorstep, by H. P. Lovecraft, is published 
  in Weird Tales magazine. 
  January 9th-
  February 13th, 
  1937 
  Seven Worlds to Conquer, a Pellucidar saga by Edgar Rice 
  Burroughs, is serialized in Argosy Weekly magazine. 
  March 15th, 1937 
  (a Monday) 
  Howard Phillips Lovecraft passes away in Providence, Rhode 
  Island. 
  August 15th, 1937 
  (a Sunday) 
  Ernst (Ernest) Gygax marries Almina Emelie Burdick. 
  September 1937 
  Back to the Stone Age, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published. 
  September 21st, 
  1937 (a Tuesday) 
  The novel The Hobbit, by John Ronald Reuel (J. R. R.) 
  Tolkien, is published in the United Kingdom. 
  October 1937 
  C. S. Lewis reviews The Hobbit. 
  Late December 
  1937 
  J. R. R. Tolkien begins writing a sequel to The Hobbit. 
  
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  THE YEAR 1938 
  January 8th, 1938 
  (a Saturday) 
  Part one of Carson of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is 
  published in Argosy magazine. 
  January 1938 
  Ibid, by H. P. Lovecraft, is published in The O-Wash-Ta-Nong. 
  Spring 1938 
  The Hobbit is first published in the United States. 
  July 27th, 1938 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  Ernest Gary Gygax is born to Almina “Posey” and Ernest 
  Gygax, Sr. in Chicago, Illinois. 
  Summer 1938 
  The infant Gary visits family in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with 
  his parents. 
  November 1938 
  Jack and Jill magazine, issued by Curtis Publishing Company, 
  begins publication. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1938 
  History of the Necronomicon, by H. P. Lovecraft, is 
  published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1938 
  The Descendant, a story fragment by H. P. Lovecraft, is 
  published in Leaves journal. 
  THE YEAR 1939 
  January 1939 
  The Synthetic Men of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, begins 
  its serialization in Argosy magazine. 
  March 1939 
  Unknown magazine begins publication. 
  April 1939 
  The Wicked Clergyman, by H. P. Lovecraft, is published in 
  Weird Tales magazine. 
  July 1939 
  Black Destroyer, by A. E. van Vogt, is published in Astounding 
  magazine. 
  August 1939 
  Two Sought Adventure, the first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser 
  story by Fritz Leiber, is published in Street & Smith’s Unknown 
  magazine. 
  
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  THE YEAR 1940 
  March 1940 
  The Reign of Wizardry, by Jack Williamson, is published in 
  Unknown Fantasy Fiction. 
  May 1940 
  The Roaring Trumpet, an Incompleat Enchanter tale by L. 
  Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, is published in Unknown 
  Fantasy Fiction magazine. 
  Summer 1940 
  The Very Old Folk, a story fragment by H. P. Lovecraft, is 
  published in Scienti-Snaps fanzine. 
  August 1940 
  The Mathematics of Magic, by L. Sprague de Camp and 
  Fletcher Pratt, is published. 
  November 1940 
  The Bleak Shore, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Unknown 
  Fantasy Fiction magazine. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1940 
  John Carter of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published by 
  Whitman Publishing Company. 
  THE YEAR 1941 
  January 1941 
  John Carter and the Giants of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 
  is published in Amazing Stories magazine. 
  March 1941 
  The City of Mummies, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published 
  in Amazing Stories magazine. 
  March 1941 
  Slaves of the Fish Men, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published 
  in Fantastic Adventures magazine. 
  April 1941 
  The Castle of Iron, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, 
  is published in Unknown Fantasy Fiction magazine. 
  May 1941 
  The Teenie Weenies cartoon strip, soon to be Gary’s favorite, 
  resumes its Sunday comics run in the Chicago Tribune. 
  May 1941 
  Part one of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H. P. 
  Lovecraft, is published in Weird Tales magazine. 
  
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  June 1941 
  Black Pirates of Barsoom, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is 
  published in Amazing Stories magazine. 
  June 1941 
  The Howling Tower, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Unknown 
  magazine. 
  July 1941 
  Goddess of Fire, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published in 
  Fantastic Adventures magazine. 
  THE YEAR 1942 
  February 1942 
  The Sunken Land, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Unknown 
  Worlds magazine. 
  March 1942 
  War on Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published in 
  Fantastic Adventures magazine. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1942 
  Gary’s brother tells him all about the adventure movie King 
  Kong, but he will not yet be able to see the movie. 
  THE YEAR 1943 
  February 1943 
  Skeleton Men of Jupiter, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is 
  published in Amazing Stories magazine. 
  February 1943 
  Thieves’ House, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Unknown 
  Worlds magazine. 
  March 5th, 1943 
  (a Friday) 
  The movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is released in 
  theaters. 
  August 27th, 
  1943 (a Friday) 
  The Phantom of the Opera is released in theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1943 
  The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft, is 
  published for the first time in the collection Beyond the Wall 
  of Sleep by Arkham House. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1943 
  Gary begins reading fairy tales on his own. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1943 
  Gary learns the card game pinochle. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1943 
  Gary and his father explore the Chicago Field Museum, 
  heightening Gary’s interest in dinosaurs, mummies and so 
  forth. 
  THE YEAR 1944 
  April 17th, 1944 
  (a Monday) 
  The Lady and the Monster is released in theaters. 
  May 1944 
  Land of Terror, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published. 
  June 1944 
  Arena, by Fredric Brown, is published in Astounding 
  magazine. 
  c. Summer 1944 
  Gary, enjoying a summer vacation with family in Lake 
  Geneva, Wisconsin, meets and befriends Don Kaye. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1944 
  Marginalia, a collection of H. P. Lovecraft writings, is 
  published by Arkham House. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1944 
  Gary learns the game of chess from his grandfather Hugh 
  Burdick, which will encourage his later interest in wargames.  
  The influence of chess on his later game designs can be seen 
  not only in the hierarchical warrior-knight-hero-superhero 
  Chainmail combat system, but also arguably in the flank 
  attack grids which were published in the Dungeon Masters 
  Guide.  Also, Gary would publish several chess game variants 
  of his own invention, including the Greyhawk favorite known 
  as Dragonchess. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1944-1945 
  Gary meets Mary Jo Powell, his future wife. 
  THE YEAR 1945 
  March 1945 
  I Remember Lemuria, the first tale in Richard Sharpe Shaver’s 
  “The Shaver Mystery” series, is published in Amazing Stories. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1945 
  Gary plays sword-and-shield games with his Chicago neighbor 
  friends. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1945 
  Gary first visits the eerie Yerkes Observatory. 
   
   
  Early views of the acclaimed Yerkes Observatory, with the grounds adjacent to the 
  golf course in 1909 … 
   
  
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  … And the interior in 1915. 
   
  THE YEAR 1946 
  c. Early Summer 
  1946 
  Gary gets into a huge fight with rival neighborhood children, 
  prompting his father to decide to move the family to Lake 
  Geneva. 
  July 1946 
  Gary moves with his parents to Lake Geneva. 
  October 1946 
  Escape on Venus, a collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is 
  published. 
  THE YEAR 1947 
  Early Summer 
  1947 (or 1946?) 
  Gary stays with the Dimerys while his parents are in 
  California. 
  
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  Early Summer 
  1947 
  Gary, staying overnight at the Dimerys’ house, experiencing 
  an event which he will later term supernatural. 
  October 1st, 1947 
  (a Wednesday) 
  David Lance Arneson is born in Minneapolis. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1947 
  Night’s Black Agents, a collection of tales by Fritz Leiber 
  (containing some Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales), is 
  published by Arkham House. 
  THE YEAR 1948 
  Early 1948 
  The Well of the Unicorn, a fantasy novel by “George U. 
  Fletcher” (Fletcher Pratt), is published. 
  March 26th, 1948 
  (a Friday) 
  Llana of Gathol, a collection of Barsoom tales by Edgar Rice 
  Burroughs, is published. 
  November 1948 
  Gary, alone at home, has what he believes is another 
  experience with a supernatural phenomenon. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1948 
  Gary gets to explore Porcupine Mountain in Upper Michigan. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1948 
  The Carnelian Cube:  A Humorous Fantasy, by L. Sprague de 
  Camp and Fletcher Pratt, is published. 
  THE YEAR 1949 
  c. Fall 1949 
  Gary and two friends first explore the abandoned Sanitarium 
  on the hill. 
  Fall 1949 
  By or before this time, Gary had completed his reading of the 
  tales of Edgar Allan Poe.  (Refer to Dragon magazine #95, pg. 
  12.) 
  (Date Unknown) 
  1949 
  The board game Clue is released, and will soon become a 
  favorite of Gary’s.  He will prefer to play as Colonel Mustard, 
  which would partly inspire his later jesting nickname for 
  himself, Colonel Pladoh. 
  
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  THE YEAR 1950 
  April 1950 
  The EC Comics series The Vault of Horror begins publication. 
  May 1950 
  The EC Comics series The Haunt of Fear, Weird Fantasy, and 
  Weird Science begin publication. 
  Summer 1950 
  Conan the Conqueror, republishing The Hour of the Dragon 
  by Robert E. Howard, is published by Gnome Press.  This tale 
  will become Gary’s first experience with the Swords & Sorcery 
  genre. 
  September 23rd, 
  1950 (a Saturday) 
  The World the Children Made, a story by Ray Bradbury, 
  appears in the Saturday Evening Post.  This sci fi tale would 
  deeply influence Gary Gygax. 
  October 1950 
  The EC Comics series Tales from the Crypt begins publication. 
  c. Fall-Winter 
  1950 
  Gary, now a devout fan of sci fi and fantasy, begins reading 
  a pulp fiction book or zine virtually every day. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1950 
  The Castle of Iron:  A Science Fantasy Adventure, a collection 
  by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, is published by 
  Gnome Press. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1950 
  The Voyage of the Space Beagle, by A. E. van Vogt, is 
  published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1950 
  The Dying Earth, a collection of tales by Gary’s future favorite 
  author Jack Vance, is published by Hillman Periodicals. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1950 
  Gary and a friend construct a raft to emulate Tom Sawyer. 
  THE YEAR 1951 
  February 1951 
  The World the Children Made, retitled as The Veldt, appears 
  in The Illustrated Man. 
  April 27th, 1951 
  (a Friday) 
  The Thing from Another World, more commonly known as 
  The Thing, is released in theaters.  This movie would terrify 
  
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  Gary and stir his imagination. 
  September 4th, 
  1951 (a Tuesday) 
  Future Blackmoor player and TSR staffer Mike Carr is born. 
  Fall 1951 
  Dark Vengeance, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Suspense 
  magazine. 
  October 1951 
  The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles, by Margaret St. Clair, 
  is published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1951 
  Dragon’s Island, by Jack Williamson, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1951 
  Gary begins reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. 
  THE YEAR 1952 
  July 31st, 1952 (a 
  Thursday) 
  Ivanhoe is released in theaters. 
  August 1952 
  The Blue Star, by Fletcher Pratt, is published in Witches Three. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1952 
  Gary works as a farmhand. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  Early 1950s 
  Gary begins making maps of fantasy castles and secret rooms. 
  THE YEAR 1953 
  May 1953 
  The Seven Black Priests, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Other 
  Worlds magazine. 
  June 1953 
  The Wall of Serpents, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher 
  Pratt, is published in Fantasy Fiction magazine. 
  July 18th, 1953 (a 
  Saturday) 
  The Quatermass Experiment airs in the UK. 
  
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  August 26th, 
  1953 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The War of the Worlds is released in theaters. 
   
   
  Aftermath:  the War of the Worlds. 
   
  September 1953 
  Part one of Three Hearts and Three Lions, a tale by Poul 
  Anderson, is published in The Magazine of Fantasy and 
  Science Fiction. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1953 
  The Sword of Rhiannon, by Leigh Brackett, is published by 
  Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1953 
  The Silver Chair, by C. S. Lewis is published. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  1953 
  Charles Swann Roberts designs the wargame Tactics. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1953 
  King Conan:  The Hyborean Age, a collection of tales by 
  Robert E. Howard, is published by Gnome Press. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1953 
  A reprint of Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman’s 1885 The 
  Art of War in the Middle Ages is published in a revised and 
  edited format by John H. Beeler.  This will become a core 
  research work for Gary Gygax. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1953 
  Gary reads The Day of the Triffids. 
  THE YEAR 1954 
  February 12th-
  March 5th, 1954 
  The Creature from the Black Lagoon is released in theaters. 
  March 3rd, 1954 
  (a Wednesday) 
  The film The Naked Jungle is released in theaters. 
  March 1954 
  The EC Comics series Weird Science-Fantasy begins 
  publication. 
  June 19th, 1954 
  (a Saturday) 
  Them! is released in theaters. 
  July 29th, 1954 (a 
  Thursday) 
  The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien, is published 
  in the UK. 
  November 3rd, 
  1954 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  Godzilla is released in theaters. 
  Early November 
  1954 
  The Green Magician, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher 
  Pratt, is published in Beyond Fantasy Fiction magazine. 
  November 11th, 
  1954 
  The Two Towers, by J. R. R. Tolkien, is published in the UK. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  1954 
  Gary spends his free time in Chicago. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1954 
  The Book of Beasts, translated and re-released as The Book of 
  Beasts:  Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the 
  Twelfth Century, by T. H. White, is published.  This is one of 
  the first major printings of a medieval bestiary in English. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1954 
  Allan B. Calhamer designs a prototype of the innovative 
  quasi-role-playing strategy game Diplomacy. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1954 
  The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson, is published. 
  THE YEAR 1955 
  April 16th, 1955 
  (a Saturday) 
  The Looney Tunes cartoon The Hole Idea, the inspiration for 
  the portable hole magic item, is released. 
  May 11th, 1955 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The film Bride of the Monster is released in theaters. 
  June 1st, 1955 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  This Island Earth is released in theaters.  This movie may have 
  inspired the appearance of the doppelganger monster. 
  July 1955 
  The movie It Came from Beneath the Sea is released in 
  theaters. 
  c. August 1955 
  The O & M Hausser toy company begins manufacturing 
  medieval miniatures made with Elastolin. 
  October 20th, 
  1955 (a Thursday) 
  The Return of the King, by J. R. R. Tolkien, is published in the 
  UK. 
  November 1955 
  The Fellowship of the Ring is broadcast as a dramatization 
  series on BBC radio.  The serialization will continue through 
  December. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  Mid-1950s 
  Gary attempts to create a wargame for his toy soldiers. 
  
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  THE YEAR 1956 
  January 1st, 1956 
  (a Sunday) 
  Ernest Gygax, Sr. passes away at the age of 72. 
  February 5th, 
  1956 (a Sunday) 
  Invasion of the Body Snatchers is released in theaters. 
  March 15th, 1956 
  (a Thursday) 
  Forbidden Planet is released in theaters.  This movie may have 
  inspired the invisible stalker monster. 
  Spring 1956 
  A disaffected Gary drops out of high school, and joins the 
  United States Marines. 
  April 1956 
  Amra magazine begins publication. 
  April 27th, 1956 
  (a Friday) 
  The film Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is released in 
  theaters. 
  July 1956 
  Tony Bath publishes his first medieval rules system. 
  July 15th, 1956 (a 
  Sunday) 
  It Conquered the World is released in theaters.  This movie 
  may have been one of the inspirations for the xorn monster. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1956 
  By this time, Gary believes that he has “caught up” with all of 
  the worthwhile American-published releases of speculative 
  fiction. 
  THE YEAR 1957 
  February 10th, 
  1957 (a Sunday) 
  Attack of the Crab Monsters is released in theaters. 
  May 1957 
  The film Monster from Green Hell is released in theaters. 
  May 26th, 1957 
  (a Sunday) 
  The movie The Deadly Mantis is released in theaters. 
  June 1957 
  The Monster That Challenged the World in released in 
  theaters.  This movie may have been one of the inspirations 
  for the carrion crawler monster. 
  
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  October 11th, 
  1957 (a Friday) 
  The Black Scorpion is released in theaters. 
  December 18th, 
  1957 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The film The Monolith Monsters is released in theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1957 
  Gary leaves the service of the marines on a medical discharge. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1957 
  Gary gets a job as a shipping clerk at a Chicago insurance 
  company (Kemper Insurance). 
  THE YEAR 1958 
  c. January 1958 
  Gary and Mary Jo begin dating. 
  February 14th, 
  1958 (a Friday) 
  Gary and Mary Jo become engaged. 
  Early? 1958 
  The wargame Tactics II is released. 
  May 8th, 1958 (a 
  Thursday) 
  The film Dracula, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, 
  is released in theaters. 
  July 3rd, 1958 (a 
  Thursday) 
  Fiend Without a Face is released in theaters.  This movie may 
  have been one of the inspirations for the intellect devourer 
  monster. 
  c. Summer 1958 
  Avalon Hill releases Gettysburg, which will soon become 
  Gary’s favorite wargame. 
  c. Summer 1958 
  Gary begins wargaming. 
  September 14th, 
  1958 (a Sunday) 
  Gary marries Mary Jo Powell. 
  October 7th, 
  1958 (a Tuesday) 
  The Trollenberg Terror is released in UK theaters.  This movie 
  may have been a later inspiration for the beholder monster 
  created by Terry Kuntz. 
  
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  October 12th, 
  1958 (a Sunday) 
  The Blob is released in theaters. 
  November 1958 
  The Gettysburg game is popularized nationally by a mention 
  in Newsweek and other sources. 
  December 23rd, 
  1958 (a Tuesday) 
  The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad is released in theaters. 
  Christmas Season, 
  December 1958 
  Gary and Don Kaye purchase their own copy of the 
  Gettysburg game. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1958 
  Gary attends the Chicago Chess & Checker Club, and then the 
  Rogers Park Chess Club. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1958 
  The Mask of Cthulhu, by August Derleth, is published by 
  Arkham House. 
  THE YEAR 1959 
  January 29th, 
  1959 (a Thursday) 
  The animated film Sleeping Beauty debuts in theaters.  This 
  movie will affect the conception of several spells and 
  monsters in D&D (such as faerie fire, passwall, sleep, and orcs 
  / Goons). 
  Early 1959 
  Gary and Don become obsessed with Gettysburg, playing it 
  to the exclusion of virtually all else. 
  Spring 1959 
  Gary devises his own rules additions for Gettysburg. 
  May 4th, 1959 (a 
  Monday) 
  The Hound of the Baskervilles is released in UK theaters. 
  June 25th, 1959 
  (a Thursday) 
  The Killer Shrews is released in theaters. 
  August 8th, 1959 
  (a Saturday) 
  The movie Caltiki — The Immortal Monster is released in 
  theaters. 
  
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  September 2nd, 
  1959 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. (Ernie) is born. 
  September 25th, 
  1959 (a Friday) 
  The Mummy is released in UK theaters. 
  October 1959 
  Attack of the Giant Leeches is released in theaters. 
  October 16th, 
  1959 (a Friday) 
  Sampo, aka The Day the Earth Froze, is released in the USSR. 
  November 1959 
  Lean Times in Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber, is published in 
  Fantastic Science Fiction Stories magazine. 
  December 16th, 
  1959 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  Journey to the Center of the Earth is released in theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1959 
  The Diplomacy game is commercially released by Allan 
  Calhamer in New York. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1959 
  The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces, a collection by H. P. 
  Lovecraft, is published by Arkham House. 
  THE YEAR 1960 
  May 1960 
  When the Sea-King’s Away, by Fritz Leiber, is published in 
  Fantastic Science Fiction Stories magazine. 
  July 1960 
  Part one of The High Crusade, by Poul Anderson, is published 
  in Astounding magazine. 
  August 17th, 1960 
  (a Wednesday) 
  The film adaption of The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells, is 
  released in theaters. 
  November 1960 
  The fanzine Eldritch Dream Quest, further popularizing 
  Tolkien’s Middle Earth tales as swords and sorcery, begins 
  publication. 
  Late 1960 
  The High Crusade, a collected novel of the serialization by 
  Poul Anderson, is published. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  1960 
  Gary moves with his wife and son to Chicago. 
  THE YEAR 1961 
  April 1961 
  The genre label “sword-and-sorcery” is suggested by Fritz 
  Leiber. 
  May 1961 
  Scylla’s Daughter, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic 
  Stories of Imagination magazine. 
  June 1961 
  The Dreaming City, the first Elric tale by Michael Moorcock, 
  is published in Science Fantasy magazine. 
  July 1961 
  Nightmares and Geezenstacks, by Frederic Brown, is 
  published by Bantam Books. 
  August 1st, 1961 
  (a Tuesday) 
  Mary Elise Gygax is born. 
  August 1961 
  An expanded novel version of Three Hearts and Three Lions, 
  by Poul Anderson, is published. 
  October 1961 
  While the Gods Laugh, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  December 20th, 
  1961 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The film version of Mysterious Island is released in theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1961 
  The hexagon-grid revision of the Gettysburg game is released 
  by Avalon Hill. 
  THE YEAR 1962 
  February 1962 
  The Stealer of Souls, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  August 1962 
  Kings in Darkness, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  
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  August 11th, 1962 
  (a Saturday) 
  King Kong vs. Godzilla is released in theaters. 
  October 1962 
  The Flame Bringers, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  October 1962 
  The Unholy Grail, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic 
  Stories of Imagination magazine. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1962 
  Gary secures employment at the Fireman’s Fund Insurance 
  company as an underwriter. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1962 
  Battle Beyond the Sun (a butchered re-edit of a Russian 
  original movie) is released in American theaters.  This movie 
  would inspire the otyugh and roper monsters. 
   
   
  Pallas and raven in remembrance. 
   
   
  
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  THE YEAR 1963 
  January 25th, 
  1963 (a Friday) 
  The Raven is released in theaters. 
  April 12th, 1963 
  (a Friday) 
  Witch World, by Andre Norton, is published by Ace Books. 
  April 17th, 1963 
  (a Wednesday) 
  Tom Keogh, a childhood friend of Gary’s, dies.  He will be 
  memorialized in D&D as “Keoghtom.” 
  May 1963 
  The Cloud of Hate, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic 
  Stories of Imagination magazine. 
  June 1963 
  Dead God’s Homecoming, by Michael Moorcock, is 
  published in Science Fantasy magazine. 
  June 19th, 1963 
  (a Wednesday) 
  Jason and the Argonauts is released in theaters. 
  June 21st, 1963 (a 
  Friday) 
  The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle is released in West German 
  theaters. 
  July 1963 
  Strange Tales #110 is published, introducing the mage 
  character Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange. 
  August 11th, 1963 
  (a Sunday) 
  Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People) is released in 
  Japanese theaters.  This movie may have been one of the 
  inspirations for shriekers and giant fungi. 
  August 1963 
  Bazaar of the Bizarre, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic 
  Stories of Imagination magazine. 
  August 1963 
  Sign of the Labrys, by Margaret St. Clair, is published. 
  Fall 1963 to 
  Spring 1964 
  David Wesely and Ray Allard found and develop the Twin 
  Cities Military Miniatures Group (TCMMG), which will later 
  (with contributor Dave Arneson) become the Midwest 
  Military Simulation Association (MMSA). 
  October 1963 
  Black Sword’s Brothers, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  
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  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  Late 1963 
  Gary moves his family back to Lake Geneva, and into the 
  house at 330 Center Street. 
  November 1963 
  Savage Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is published in 
  Amazing Stories magazine. 
  December 1963 
  Swords and Sorcery:  Stories of Heroic Fantasy, a collection 
  edited by L. Sprague de Camp, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1963 
  Gary writes to Tom Shaw of Avalon Hill, inquiring about the 
  availability of blank hex sheets. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1963 
  The Stealer of Souls, a collection of Elric tales by Michael 
  Moorcock, is published by Neville Spearman Ltd. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1963 
  Jeff Perren begins collecting medieval miniatures. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1963 
  Gary begins working in insurance.  He will end up commuting 
  daily from Lake Geneva to Chicago via the Chicago and 
  Northwestern Transportation Company train. 
   
   
  
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  A 1904 topographical map of the Lake Geneva region, showing the lake and town 
  (grid at upper left) and the course of the Chicago-bound rail line (diagonal line 
  connecting the grid to the lower right-hand corner of the map). 
   
  THE YEAR 1964 
  January 1964 
  Part one of The Lords of Quarmall, by Fritz Leiber and Harry 
  Otto Fischer, is published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination 
  magazine. 
  February 1964 
  Sad Giant’s Shield, by Michael Moorcock, is published in 
  Science Fantasy magazine. 
  
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  February 10th, 
  1964 (a Monday) 
  The Outer Limits episode The Bellero Shield — the inspiration 
  for the cube of force magic item — is aired. 
  April 1964 
  Tales of Three Planets, a collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 
  is published. 
  April 1964 
  Doomed Lord’s Passing, by Michael Moorcock, is published 
  in Science Fantasy magazine. 
  May 1st, 1964 (a 
  Friday) 
  The General, a soon-to-be-influential magazine, is published 
  by Avalon Hill. 
  June 1964 
  The Secret Life of Elric of Melniboné, an essay by Michael 
  Moorcock, is published in Camber magazine. 
  August 6th, 1964 
  (a Thursday) 
  The First Men in the Moon, one of the inspirations for the 
  carrion crawler monster, is released in UK theaters. 
  October 20th, 
  1964 (a Tuesday) 
  Heidi Jo Gygax is born.  She will be known in D&D lore as 
  “Johydee.” 
  December 20th, 
  1964 (a Sunday) 
  The movie Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is released 
  in (American?) theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1964 
  An excellent set of Robin Hood toy soldiers, soon to be used 
  by medieval wargamers, is released by Airfix. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1964 
  Web of the Witch World, by Andre Norton, is published by 
  Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1964 
  Gary discovers Little Wars and Fletcher Pratt’s Naval War 
  Game. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1964 
  The Reign of Wizardry, by Jack Williamson, is published in 
  novel form by Lancer Books. 
  THE YEAR 1965 
  January? 1965 
  The Maker of Universes, by Phillip José Farmer, is published 
  by Ace Books. 
  January? 1965 
  Three Against the Witch World, by Andre Norton, is 
  
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  published by Ace Books. 
  May 1965 
  Ace Books releases an unauthorized paperback edition of The 
  Fellowship of the Ring in the US.  This edition will cause the 
  popularization of Tolkien’s works in America. 
  June 1965 
  The Spell of Seven, a swords and sorcery anthology edited by 
  L. Sprague de Camp, is published. 
  July 1965 
  Ace Books publishes unauthorized editions of The Two 
  Towers and The Return of the King. 
  Summer 1965 
  Tolkien works to revise The Lord of the Rings, (in part) so 
  that he can establish his copyright in the United States. 
  c. Summer-Fall 
  1965 
  Tolkien admirer James Wright creates a Middle Earth 
  Diplomacy game variant. 
  September 1965 
  Stardock, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic magazine. 
  October 1965 
  Year of the Unicorn, by Andre Norton, is published. 
   
   
  Year of the Unicorn. 
   
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1965 
  Gary begins to favor miniatures games over Avalon Hill board 
  wargames. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1965 
  Dave Arneson becomes involved with the Twin Cities Military 
  Miniatures Club (TCMMC). 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1965 
  Stormbringer, an Elric collection by Michael Moorcock, is 
  published by Herbert Jenkins. 
  THE YEAR 1966 
  January 1966 
  The United States Continental Army Command (USCAC) 
  gaming club is founded by Bill Speer. 
  February 1966 
  Following from James Wright’s design of 1965, the Middle 
  Earth II Diplomacy scenario variant (by Don Miller) is 
  published. 
  April 17th, 1966 
  (a Sunday) 
  A newspaper runs an article on wargaming, featuring a 
  photograph of Dave Wesely and others. 
  May 1st, 1966 (a 
  Sunday) 
  The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is founded. 
  June 27th, 1966 
  (a Monday) 
  The television series Dark Shadows premieres on ABC. 
  July 17th, 1966 (a 
  Sunday) 
  The Ultraman show premieres in Japan.  Indirectly, this series 
  would inspire various monsters including the bulette (by wa 
  of unauthorized toy figures which Gary would purchase in the 
  early 1970s). 
  July 31st, 1966 (a 
  Sunday) 
  The film The War of the Gargantuas is released in Japan. 
  September 1966 
  The Tolkien Society at the University of Wisconsin-Madison 
  is founded. 
  September 1966 
  Gary Gygax joins the United States Continental Army 
  Command (USCAC) gaming club.  A memory from USCAC 
  member Scott Duncan:  “We ran into another guy advertising 
  [seeking fellow wargamers] who sounded promising and his 
  
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  name was Gary Gygax.  And so Gary joined, and was real 
  enthusiastic about a lot of stuff, and so Bill and Gary and I 
  were kind of the head officers.” 
  December 16th, 
  1966 (a Friday) 
  Cindy Lee Gygax is born. 
  December 30th, 
  1966 (a Friday) 
  One Million Years B. C. is released in theaters. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1966 
  Bill Hoyt joins the Twin Cities gaming group. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1966 
  The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance, is published by 
  Ace Books.  Gary, upon reading it, will be inspired by the 
  antihero Cugel the Clever. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1966 
  The Gates of Creation, by Phillip José Farmer, is published by 
  Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1966 
  Conan the Adventurer, book 5 of the Lancer Books Conan 
  series, is published.  (And yes, the Lancer Conan books were 
  published out of sequence, to the confusion of collectors and 
  pulp historians everywhere.) 
  THE YEAR 1967 
  January 1967 
  Strategy & Tactics magazine begins publication. 
  January 19th, 
  1967 (a Thursday) 
  The Star Trek episode Arena is aired. 
  January? 1967 
  The Jewel in the Skull, a Hawkmoon novel by Michael 
  Moorcock, is published. 
  February 1967 
  Tullio Proni begins publishing The War Report in support of 
  his innovative game War of the Empires. 
  February 1967? 
  (Double bill with another film.)  The movie Island of Terror 
  is released in theaters. 
  
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  February 1967 
  The Hall of the Dead, by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague 
  de Camp, is published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science 
  Fiction. 
  February 18th, 
  1967 (a Saturday) 
  The vampire character Barnabas Collins appears on Dark 
  Shadows for the first time. 
  Spring 1967 
  The Vale of Lost Women, by Robert E. Howard, is published 
  in the Magazine of Horror. 
  Spring 1967 
  Tullio Proni abandons War of the Empires. 
  May 1st, 1967 (a 
  Monday) 
  The USCAC becomes the International Federation of 
  Wargaming (IFW). 
  May 1st, 1967 (a 
  Monday) 
  Warlock of the Witch World, by Andre Norton, is published 
  by Ace Books. 
  May 1967 
  The Fantastic Swordsmen, edited by L. Sprague de Camp, is 
  published. 
  c. Late Spring 
  1967 
  Bill Speer (of the IFW) leads the preparations for an upcoming 
  wargaming convention to be held in Malvern, Pennsylvania.  
  There is an interesting memory from Scott Duncan:  “Now 
  Gary couldn’t come [to Malvern], and so he held what some 
  people call Gen Con Zero at his house.” 
  June 1967 
  Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny, begins its 
  serialization in Kallikantzaros. 
  July 1967 
  The Siege of Bodenburg, a medieval wargame by Henry 
  Bodenstedt, begins its serial publication in Strategy & Tactics 
  magazine. 
  July 15th, 1967 (a 
  Saturday) 
  An IFW wargaming convention is held in Malvern, 
  Pennsylvania.  Henry Bodenstedt demonstrates The Siege of 
  Bodenburg. 
  August 1967 (a 
  Saturday) 
  Gary invites his wargaming friends to play games at his house 
  over the weekend.  This event will later be known as “Gen 
  Con Zero.” 
  
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  September 9th, 
  1967 (a Saturday) 
  The Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure first appears 
  on television.  This show would inspire various Steve Marsh-
  created aquatic monsters, such as the ixitxachitl. 
  Late 1967 
  David Wesely reads the book Strategos, which will influence 
  his later design of the Braunstein role-playing wargame 
  scenarios. 
  November 15th, 
  1967 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The film It! is released in theaters. 
  Early December 
  1967 
  The Siege of Bodenburg’s serial publication in Strategy & 
  Tactics is completed. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  Conan the Usurper, book 8 of the Lancer Books Conan series, 
  is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  Conan the Warrior, book 7 of the Lancer Books Conan series, 
  is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  Conan, book 1 of the Lancer Books Conan series, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  The Glass Harmonica:  A Lexicon of the Fantastical, by 
  Barbara Ninde Byfield, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  The Lancer Books edition of Conan the Conqueror is 
  published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1967 
  The Mind Parasites, by Colin Wilson, is published by Arkham 
  House.  This story is the likely inspiration for the cerebral 
  parasite and brain mole monsters. 
  THE YEAR 1968 
  January 20th, 
  1968 (a Saturday) 
  Dave Arneson’s gaming group plays out a World War II 
  scenario, which will soon be summarized in the first issue 
  (Volume 1, Number 1) of his Corner of the Table Top fanzine.  
  (This event is primarily listed here as a date marker, showing 
  when Arneson began reporting his group’s gaming activities 
  
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  in the pages of COTT.) 
  Late January, 
  1968 
  Dave Arneson publishes the first issue (Volume 1, Number 1) 
  of Corner of the Table Top. 
  Early 1968 
  David Wesely begins designing his first Strategos-derivative 
  system. 
  Early? 1968 
  Little Big Horn, a wargame designed by Gary Gygax, is 
  published. 
  April 1968 
  Young gamer Mike Carr receives a letter from Gary Gygax, 
  telling him that he and his friend Don Kaye enjoyed Carr’s 
  World War I aerial wargame, Fight in the Skies.  Gary had 
  questions, so Mike would begin communication with him.  
  (This is a date marker showing when Mike would first be in 
  touch with Gary.) 
  Spring 1968 
  Gary and the IFW begin planning for a summer gaming 
  convention, which will become Gen Con. 
  Summer 1968 
  The Lake Geneva Playboy Club (a future Gen Con site) opens. 
  August 1968 
  Gary rents the Horticultural Hall for the upcoming gaming 
  convention. 
  August 1968 
  The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber, is 
  published in Fantastic magazine. 
  August 24th, 
  1968 (a Saturday) 
  The Lake Geneva Wargames Convention (aka Gen Con I) is 
  held in the Horticultural Hall. 
  August 25th, 
  1968 (a Sunday) 
  The convention is held over for another day, and Gary is able 
  to play The Siege of Bodenburg. 
  September 1968 
  Swords in the Mist, a collection by Fritz Leiber, is published. 
  Fall 1968 
  Gary runs ads seeking the purchase of Elastolin figures. 
  October 1st, 1968 
  (a Tuesday) 
  The film Night of the Living Dead is released in theaters. 
  
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  October 1968 
  Conan the Freebooter, book 3 of the Lancer Book Conan 
  series, is published. 
  November 1968 
  Gary, showing an interest in fantasy games, inquires about a 
  Diplomacy variant based on The Hobbit. 
  c. December 1968 Gary meets Robert J. Kuntz. 
  December 1968 
  Dave Arneson’s gaming group begins developing a 
  Napoleonic warfare and campaign system. 
  December 1968 
  The Goblin Tower, by L. Sprague de Camp, is published. 
  December 19th, 
  1968 (a Thursday) 
  The Green Slime is released in Japanese theaters. 
  End of 1968 
  Scott Duncan publishes his 1066 medieval miniatures system, 
  which would later inspire Gary’s design efforts. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  A Private Cosmos, by Phillip José Farmer, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  City of the Chasch, by Jack Vance, is published by Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Conan of the Isles, book 12 of the Lancer Books Conan series, 
  is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Conan the Avenger, book 10 of the Lancer Books Conan 
  series, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Conan the Wanderer, book 4 of the Lancer Books Conan 
  series, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  c. 1968 
  Gary plays in the play-by-mail science fiction game War of 
  the Empires. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Sorcerer’s Amulet, aka The Mad God’s Amulet, a Hawkmoon 
  novel by Michael Moorcock, is published by Lancer Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Sorceress of the Witch World, by Andre Norton, is published 
  by Ace Books. 
  
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  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  Swords Against Wizardry, a collection by Fritz Leiber, is 
  published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  The Broken Lands, by Fred Saberhagen, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  The Sword of the Dawn, a Hawkmoon novel by Michael 
  Moorcock, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1968 
  The Swords of Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
  THE YEAR 1969 
  January? 1969 
  Kothar and the Demon Queen, by Gardner Fox, is published 
  by Tower Books. 
  Early 1969 
  Gary runs an ad seeking to buy medieval miniatures for 
  gaming. 
  Early 1969 
  Gary writes to Tullio Proni, hoping to resurrect the War of 
  the Empires game. 
  February 1969 
  Giant of World’s End, by Lin Carter, is published. 
  Spring 1969 
  Gary revives the War of the Empires game on his own. 
  April 1969 
  Kothar — Barbarian Swordsman, by Gardner Fox, is 
  published. 
  April 1969 
  Dave Arneson discusses beginning a University of Minnesota 
  wargaming club. 
  April 1969 
  Gary publishes issue #1 of The New War Reports in support 
  of the resurgent War of the Empires game. 
  April 1969 
  Gary publishes his Arsouf medieval miniatures rules. 
  Spring 1969 
  Dave Arneson begins running his Napoleonic Simulation 
  Campaign.  (This timeframe is stated by Mike Carr in his 1974 
  article in El Conquistador.) 
  
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  May 1969 
  Gary’s article Warfare and the Hyborian Age appears in 
  International Wargamer magazine. 
  May 1969 
  Gary publishes issue #2 of The New War Reports. 
  May 1969 
  A set of ancient wargaming rules by Gary Gygax is published 
  in IFW Monthly magazine. 
  May 1969 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The Blue Star, by 
  Fletcher Pratt, is published. 
  June 1969 
  The Book of Imaginary Beings, a 1957 book by Jorge Luis 
  Borges, is published in an English edition.  This book will 
  influence the creation of various monsters for Dungeons & 
  Dragons. 
  June 1969 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The King of Elfland’s 
  Daughter, by Lord Dunsany, is published. 
  First Half 
  (Unknown Date) 
  of 1969? 
  David Wesely runs the first Braunstein role-playing wargame, 
  involving a Napoleonics scenario. 
  August 1969 
  Jeff Perren expresses interest in medieval wargames. 
  August 1969 
  The Dirdir, by Jack Vance, is published. 
  August 1969 
  The Shadow People, by Margaret St. Clair, is published. 
  August 23rd-24th, 
  1969 (a Saturday 
  and Sunday) 
  The Gen Con II conference is held in Lake Geneva.  Dave 
  Arneson meets Gary Gygax, and they agree to collaborate on 
  future rules design. 
  August 31st, 1969 
  (a Sunday) 
  The second printing of War of the Empires, revised by Gary 
  Gygax, is published. 
  September 1969 
  Issue #3 of The New War Reports is published. 
  September 1969 
  Gary, along with Tom Webster helps to found the IFW 
  Ancients Society.  (Campaign notes from the Ancients Society, 
  sometimes featuring a bit of mythology, would later be 
  featured in the Domesday Book.) 
  
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  September 1969 
  Kothar of the Magic Sword, by Gardner Fox, is published by 
  Belmont Books. 
  c. September 
  1969 
  Gary’s white dragon article appears in Thangorodrim Volume 
  1, Number 3. 
  c. Fall 1969? 
  Dave Arneson, Bill Hoyt, and others run a Viking-themed 
  wargame scenario involving raids on an early medieval 
  church and castle.  This is one of the events that might be later 
  termed a “medieval Braunstein.” 
  Whether it was a wargame or a true “Braunstein” is an open 
  question.  There may be a few glimmers of role-playing here; 
  for example, there is a mention that the defender can gain 
  points by “eliminating enemy commanders” via “melee or 
  assassination,” and admittedly it is difficult to imagine that 
  there were hard-and-fast rules for stealth, infiltration, or 
  assassination in a purely rules-driven wargame.  Similarly, 
  there is a mention concerning allies that the defender player(s) 
  would have an option to gauge others’ trustworthiness:  “You 
  may suffer if you accept them, and if you don’t accept them 
  as full-fledged friends.” 
  (See the Secrets of Blackmoor Facebook post of October 28th, 
  2016 for scans, tentative dating, and more information.) 
  Fall 1969 
  Dave Arneson joins the IFW. 
  Fall 1969?  
  (Perhaps Fall 
  1968) 
  Gary and Don Kaye build a sand table for gaming. 
  October 1969 
  Gary publishes an article on medieval knights in wargaming 
  in International Wargamer magazine. 
  October 1969 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy anthology Dragons, Elves, and 
  Heroes, edited by Lin Carter, is published. 
  October 1969 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy anthology The Young 
  Magicians, edited by Lin Carter, is published. 
  
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  October 31st, 
  1969 (a Friday) 
  Gary’s joking Smaug letter appears in Thangorodrim Volume 
  1, Number 4. 
  Late 1969 
  Gary and Dave collaborate on a game design that will 
  eventually become Don’t Give Up the Ship!. 
  November 8th, 
  1969 (a Saturday) 
  The Horror Incorporated “Creature Feature” movies begin 
  playing on television (KSTP-TV Channel 5) in the Twin Cities.  
  This will become a favorite inspiration for Dave Arneson, and 
  will later influence the development of Blackmoor. 
  November 8th, 
  1969 (a Saturday) 
  The debut pilot for Rod Serling’s television series Night 
  Gallery is aired. 
  November 27th, 
  1969 (a Thursday) 
  Gary’s black dragon article appears in Thangorodrim Volume 
  1, Number 5. 
  c. End of 1969 / 
  Beginning of 1970 
  Gary buys his collection of Elastolin figures for wargaming, 
  purchasing Jeff Perren’s collection. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1969 
  A Fantastic Bestiary, by Ernst and Johanna Lehner, is 
  published by Tudor Publishing Company.  This book will 
  influence the appearance of various monsters in Dungeons & 
  Dragons. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1969 
  Conan of Cimmeria, book 2 of the Lancer Book Conan series, 
  is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1969 
  Servants of the Wankh, by Jack Vance, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1969 
  The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1969 
  The Secrets of the Runestaff, a Hawkmoon novel by Michael 
  Moorcock, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  Late 1960s 
  Gary designs the Conanomancy / Hyperborean scenario 
  variant for the Diplomacy game.  (Details on this innovation 
  are hard to come by; there is a note in Thangorodrim, V1N3, 
  October 1969 where we read Bill McDuffie stating, “Next 
  issue I hope to have a new variant for you — either Gary 
  
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  Gygax’s Conan variant or something I did up myself.” 
  THE YEAR 1970 
  January 1970 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of Land of Unreason, by 
  Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp, is published. 
  February 1970 
  Gary describes how to construct a sand table for gaming in 
  International Wargamer magazine. 
  c. February 1970 
  The Lake Geneva Tactical Games Association (LGTGA), the 
  wargaming group that will become the Lake Geneva Tactical 
  Studies Association (LGTSA), is founded by Gary Gygax, Don 
  Kaye, and several others. 
  c. February 1970 
  Jeff Perren designs his own four-page system for medieval 
  wargaming.  This rules set will become the foundation for 
  Gygax’s and Perren’s Chainmail. 
  c. February 1970 
  Gary, with Jeff’s permission, begins revising the Perren rules.  
  This will become the LGTSA Miniatures Rules. 
  February 27th, 
  1970 (a Friday) 
  Gary writes a letter outlining his intent to establish a medieval 
  wargaming interest group within the larger IFW.  This will 
  lead to the foundation of the Castle & Crusade Society. 
  March 1970 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy volume At the Edge of the 
  World, by Lord Dunsany, is published. 
  March 1970 
  Technically, the LGTGA becomes the LGTSA at this time. 
  March 1970 
  In the International Wargamer Supplement, Rob Kuntz 
  inquires about the general interest in a medieval wargaming 
  society. 
  March 1970 
  High Sorcery, by Andre Norton, is published. 
  March 7th, 1970 
  (a Saturday) 
  Gary’s green dragon article appears in Thangorodrim Volume 
  1, Number 6. 
  March 15th, 1970 
  (a Sunday) 
  The Domesday Book #1, the founding newsletter for the 
  Castle & Crusade Society, is published. 
  
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  March 29th, 1970 
  (a Sunday) 
  Len Lakofka becomes President of the IFW. 
  Spring 1970 
  Dave Arneson meets Greg Svenson, and invites him to 
  participate in the following Saturday’s Napoleonic campaign 
  session. 
  Late? 1970 
  (Unknown dates, 
  after spring, 
  leading into 
  Blackmoor) 
  Future Twin Cities gamer Charles (Chuck) Monson enters the 
  picture, having traveled from his home in Duluth to the Little 
  Tin Soldier Shoppe, located on West Lake Street in 
  Minneapolis.  (The Shoppe would later host lots of D&D 
  materials and gaming tables.) 
  From there, Chuck is introduced to a Diplomacy game at Greg 
  Svenson’s home (future player of Svenny in Blackmoor).  That 
  in turn leads to fellow gamer Bill Heaton (future player of 
  William of the Heath in Blackmoor), and so to a future 
  gaming group meeting in St. Paul.  There, Chuck will meet 
  Dave Arneson. 
  Chuck played in Blackmoor from time to time, and his 
  character was especially adept at getting fried in his armor.  
  Monson’s forces got established and then “wiped out” near 
  the desert and the City of the Gods. 
  Chuck Monson would later run a Blackmoor-inspired 
  campaign in Duluth, with a play group perhaps named the 
  Duluth Fanatics. 
  (This is a major placeholder and a future research item, and 
  will likely be better-elaborated in future editions of this book 
  if at all possible.) 
  April 1970 
  Domesday Book #2 is published. 
  April 1970 
  Ill Met in Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber, is published in The 
  Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 
  April 1970 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of Phantastes, by George 
  MacDonald, is published. 
  April 1970 
  The Snow Women, by Fritz Leiber, is published in Fantastic 
  magazine. 
  
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  April 1970 
  Gygax and Perren’s Geneva Medieval Miniatures rules, the 
  predecessor of Chainmail, appear in Panzerfaust magazine. 
  April 1970 
  Publication of Domesday Book #3. 
  c. April 1970 
  By this time, Dave Arneson is probably playing (along with 
  Gary Gygax and Tom Webster) in the Atlantis campaign. 
  April 15th, 1970 
  (a Wednesday) 
  Printed publication date for Domesday Book #3 (perhaps 
  released earlier). 
  Mid-April, 1970 
  Dave Arneson joins the Castle & Crusade Society. 
  May 1970 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The Dream-Quest of 
  Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft, is published. 
  May 1970 
  Swords and Deviltry, a collection by Fritz Leiber, is published. 
  Spring? 1970 
  Leonard Patt designs “Rules for Middle Earth,” allowing the 
  New England Wargamers Association to play fantasy 
  wargames. 
  June 1st, 1970 (a 
  Monday) 
  Printed cover date for the Domesday Book, issue #4. 
  June 1970 
  Domesday Book #4 is actually published. 
  June 1970 
  The Castle & Crusade Society, benefiting from its innovative 
  noble ranking system for contributors, significantly increases 
  its membership. 
  June 1970 
  Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny, is published. 
  July 1st, 1970 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  Printed cover date for the Domesday Book, issue #5.  (Refer 
  to The Dragon #15, pg. 13.) 
  July 3rd, 1970 (a 
  Friday) 
  Gary’s blue dragon article appears in Thangorodrim Volume 
  1, Number 8. 
  July 1970 
  Gary plays the Mordor vs. the World II game. 
  July 1970 
  Domesday Book #5 is actually published. 
  
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  July 1970 
  Swords Against Death, a collection by Fritz Leiber, is 
  published. 
  July 1970 
  Don Lowry illustrates Gary’s chaturanga article in The 
  General. 
  Summer 1970 
  The film The War of the Gargantuas is released in U. S. 
  theaters. 
  Summer? 1970 
  Patt and his group play the fantasy wargame rules, using Airfix 
  sets and miniatures. 
  August 1970 
  Domesday Book #6 is published. 
  August 14th, 1970 
  (a Friday) 
  Gary’s purple worm / wyrm article appears in Thangorodrim 
  Volume 1, Number 9.  This appears to be the last issue of this 
  fanzine. 
  August 22nd-
  23rd, 1970 (a 
  Saturday and 
  Sunday) 
  The Gen Con III convention is held in Lake Geneva.  Gary 
  meets Don Lowry, future publisher of Chainmail.  Gary also 
  meets David Megarry, the future designer of the Blackmoor-
  derivative board game Dungeons of Pasha Cada, which will 
  become one of the inspirations for Dungeons & Dragons.  
  (Refer to the Youtube video 40 Years of Dungeon!, beginning 
  at approximately 15:20, 16:10 and 17:00.) 
  Late August 1970 
  The Castle & Crusade Society again increases its membership 
  due to popularity and the success of Gen Con. 
  September 9th, 
  1970 (a 
  Wednesday) 
  The film House of Dark Shadows, based on the Dark Shadows 
  television series, is released in theaters. 
  September 1970 
  Domesday Book #7 is published. 
  September 1970 
  Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse, by Gardner Fox, is 
  published. 
  Fall 1970 
  The “Creature Feature” movies begin playing in the Chicago 
  area. 
  October 1970 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy anthology Golden Cities, Far, 
  
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  edited by Lin Carter, is published. 
  October 1970 
  The comic book Conan the Barbarian, issue #1, is released. 
  October 10th, 
  1970 (a Saturday) 
  Miniature Figures of America Convention (7th annual 
  Wargames Convention).  Leonard Patt’s Battle of the 
  Pelennor Fields layout wins Best of Show. 
  Late October 
  1970 
  Gary loses his insurance job at the Fireman Fund’s America 
  Insurance Company of Chicago.  Indirectly, this will lead to 
  his future career as a game designer. 
  Late 1970 
  Domesday Book #8 is published. 
  Late 1970 
  Gary becomes associated with Don Lowry’s company, 
  Guidon Games. 
  c. Early 
  November, 1970 
  Patt’s fantasy wargame rules are published in The Courier.  
  Gary Gygax reads this system and will soon incorporate 
  elements of it into Chainmail. 
  November 7th, 
  1970 (a Saturday) 
  Lucion “Luke” Paul Gygax is born. 
  November 1970 
  Gary begins devoting his time to game design.  Around this 
  time, he loses interest in waiting for Tom Webster’s Atlantis 
  campaign rules, and develops his own systems further. 
  c. November 
  1970 
  Using Patt’s rules as a model, Gary begins writing the material 
  that will become the Fantasy Supplement of Chainmail.  This 
  is a last-minute addition to Gary’s write-up.  It seems likely 
  that if he did not have Patt’s prototype to refine, the fantasy 
  rules would have never made it into Chainmail at all. 
  November-
  December 1970 
  Gary and his play group test the Chainmail medieval 
  wargaming systems. 
  December 1970 
  Gary lingers on unemployment while working on the 
  Chainmail rules draft. 
  December 1970 
  Assassin of Gor, by John Norman, is published. 
  
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  December 1970 
  Kothar and the Wizard Slayer, by Gardner Fox, is published. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1970 
  Behind the Walls of Terra, by Phillip José Farmer, is published 
  by Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1970 
  The Pnume, by Jack Vance, is published by Ace Books. 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1970 
  Warlocks and Warriors, edited by L. Sprague de Camp, is 
  published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
  THE YEAR 1971 
  c. January 1971 
  Domesday Book #9 is published, featuring the map of the 
  Great Kingdom. 
  January 1971 
  The paperback versoin of Warlocks and Warriors is published 
  by Berkeley Medallion Books. 
  January 1971 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The Broken Sword, 
  by Poul Anderson, is published. 
  Early 1971 
  Gary writes a letter to Wargamer’s Newsletter, indicating his 
  intention to “write up rules for Tolkien fantasy games, using 
  LGTSA Medieval Miniatures rules as the basic starting point.”  
  This is a reference to the system which will become the 
  Fantasy Supplement in Chainmail. 
  Early 1971 
  Gary writes the Fantasy Supplement.  His play group tests the 
  system using the sand table and various miniatures.  The Battle 
  of the Brown Hills scenario may date to this time period. 
  Early 1971 
  Gary finalizes the Chainmail manuscript. 
  Early 1971 
  Gary convinces a doubtful Don Lowry to publish Chainmail 
  as a whole, without cutting the Fantasy Supplement out of 
  the back. 
  February 1971 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The Boats of the ‘Glen 
  Carrig,’ by William Hope Hodgson, is published. 
  
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  February 1971 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of The Doom That Came 
  to Sarnath, by H. P. Lovecraft, is published. 
   
   
  Sarnath in contemplation. 
   
  March 1971 
  The first edition of Chainmail is published by Guidon Games. 
  Leonard Patt’s inspirational contribution to the Fantasy 
  Supplement goes unmentioned, and will not be rediscovered 
  for 45 years. 
  Spring 1971 
  Arneson’s play group does the Wild West-themed Braunstein 
  that is set in Brown Stone, Texas.  This is a mini-campaign 
  over multiple sessions.  Duane Jenkins controlled most of the 
  
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  game mastery details.  Dave Fant played the sheriff.  Arneson 
  plays a Pancho Villa-inspired character, nicknamed El 
  Pauncho. 
  In David Megarry’s opinion:  “[Duane Jenkins] created the 
  third role-playing game.  Set in the 1880’s, in a town called 
  Brown Stone, his game took the role-playing genre to another 
  level.  It was Duane Jenkins who introduced the campaign 
  concept to role-playing games. Instead of a game that was 
  played in one session, his game allowed people to play the 
  same persona over multiple game sessions.” 
  (See also the Secrets of Blackmoor post of October 21st, 2016 
  for more information.) 
  March or Early 
  April, 1971 
  Dave Arneson buys a copy of Chainmail. 
  c. March-April, 
  1971 
  Upheaval in Arneson’s Napoleonics campaign inspires him to 
  try something completely different in the name of fun over 
  historical realism. 
  April 2nd, 1971 (a 
  Friday) 
  The final episode of Dark Shadows airs on ABC. 
  April 1971 
  The Robert E. Howard tale The Tower of the Elephant is 
  adapted in Conan the Barbarian, issue #4. 
  April 1971 
  Domesday Book #10 is completed (but not yet widely 
  reaching the group membership), featuring the “Pygmalion” 
  play report from Dave Arneson and Tom Webster. 
  April 1971 
  Gary discusses the history of medieval armor in Panzerfaust 
  magazine. 
  April 10th, 1971 
  (a Saturday) 
  The movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man plays on Horror 
  Incorporated.  This movie may have inspired some elements 
  of the upcoming Blackmoor campaign. 
  c. April 1971 
  Arneson designs his own medieval fantasy scenario, using the 
  Chainmail Fantasy Supplement as a guide.  He will also be 
  inspired by his experiences in the Braunstein games. 
  
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  April 1971 
  Arneson, via his Corner of the Table fanzine, announces a 
  forthcoming “medieval Braunstein” game. 
  April 17th, 1971 (a 
  Saturday) 
  The “mythical Braunstein” game, later to be regarded as the 
  very first Blackmoor / Black Moors session, is played. 
  c. Mid- to Late 
  April 1971 
  The Braunstein / Blackmoor play group begins developing 
  new monsters for the ongoing adventure games. 
  April 24th, 1971 
  (a Saturday) 
  Speculated date for the second Braunstein/Blackmoor game 
  session. 
  April 30th, 1970 
  (a Thursday) 
  Dave Arneson (with oversight/approval of Tom Webster) 
  writes up a “final report” from the Ancients Society, alluding 
  to activities in the Atlantis campaign etc.  The report is from 
  “the servant of the Pygmal[l]ion.”  In Greek mythology, 
  Pygmalion is a sculptor (artificer?) who created a magical 
  statue of a woman, which became real. 
  (To avoid confusion:  in mythology, Pygmalion was the male 
  sculptor, while Galatea was the female sea nymph he 
  sculpted; but in Arneson’s mythos, “the Pygmalion” is code 
  for Galatea and perhaps even her name or title.) 
  Late April and 
  Early May, 1971 
  The weekend Braunstein/Blackmoor games continue, with 
  ongoing character activity. 
  Spring 1971 
  Gary and Dave continue collaborating on their set of naval 
  rules for Napoleonics gaming.  These rules will become Don’t 
  Give Up the Ship!. 
  Spring 1971 
  Gary finds that he is receiving more letters expressing 
  interest in the Fantasy Supplement than in the Chainmail 
  medieval wargame proper. 
  May 1971 
  Conan the Buccaneer, book 6 of the Lancer Books Conan 
  series, is published. 
  c. May? 1971 
  Dave graduates from college (the University of Minnesota) 
  with a degree in history. 
  
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  May 22nd, 1971 
  (a Saturday) 
  The Twin Cities gamers hold a Napoleonic campaign meeting 
  on this day, followed by a Braunstein gaming session. 
  The most significant artifact we have from that session now is 
  being termed the “Spanish Royals” sheet, which is a character 
  matrix showing ability scores for the royal family of Spain.  It 
  is proof that the Twin Cities play group was using ability 
  scores in their games as early as 1971, perhaps influenced by 
  the works of Tony Bath.  The game intent of the sheet and its 
  meaning is still being debated at this time. 
  (This is a placeholder for a future potential research item.) 
  June 1st, 1971 (a 
  Tuesday) 
  Gary, hoping to renew interest in the lingering Castle & 
  Crusade Society, assumes “kingship” of the gaming club. 
  June 1971 
  Don’t Give Up the Ship!, designed by Gygax and Arneson, 
  begins its serialization in International Wargamer magazine. 
  June 1971 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition of Vathek, by William 
  Beckford, is published. 
  June 1971 
  Dave travels with his family to Sweden, temporarily 
  disrupting the Braunstein/Blackmoor gaming sessions. 
  July 1971 
  Jack of Shadows, by Roger Zelazny, begins its serialization in 
  The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 
  July 1971 
  Dave returns to the Twin Cities and begins planning for a 
  more 
  ambitious 
  fantasy 
  campaign. 
   
  The 
  Braunstein/Blackmoor games resume at about this time. 
  July 1971 
  David Megarry (see ODD74 Proboards, “Did Dave Arneson’s 
  Blackmoor Campaign Actually Start in 1970?” and the Hidden 
  in Shadows blog entry for October 9th, 2016) estimates that 
  he began playing in the Blackmoor games at this time. 
  (This is a placeholder for future research, which may need to 
  move when more accurate information is secured.) 
  July 1971 
  Gary discusses his gaming group’s “Tolkien fantasy games” in 
  Wargamer’s Newsletter. 
  
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  July 24th, 1971 (a 
  Saturday) 
  Godzilla vs. Hedorah is released in Japan.  This movie may 
  have been one of the inspirations for the demon lord Juiblex 
  (along with Dr. Seuss, the “Oobleck”). 
  Summer 1971 
  The delayed Domesday Book, issue #10, is finally reaching the 
  group members by this time. 
  Summer 1971 
  The concepts of the Blackmoor campaign expand with 
  repeated play sessions. 
  Summer 1971 
  From this point in time through December 1971, Gary focuses 
  on playing in the Napoleonic Simulation Campaign to the 
  exclusion of other wargames. 
  August 4th, 1971 
  (a Wednesday) 
  The film Night of Dark Shadows is released in theaters. 
  August 1971 
  Gary provides some minor updates to Chainmail in 
  International Wargamer magazine.  Len Lakofka also provides 
  a review of the game. 
  August 1971 
  Gary is forced to let the Castle & Crusade Society languish 
  once again as he focuses more on work and family. 
  August 1971 
  Gary, needing to work more to establish a reliable income for 
  his family, purchases shoe repair equipment which will be 
  installed in the basement.  The gaming sand table is moved 
  from to Don Kaye’s garage. 
  August 21st-22nd, 
  1971 (a Saturday 
  and Sunday) 
  Gen Con IV is held in Lake Geneva.  Events included 
  Panzerblitz (apparently very popular at this time), 
  Napoleonics, FitS, and a GHQ armor miniatures game 
  engaging “fast-play rules.” 
  c. Fall 1971 
  Very tentative timeframe for the earthquake in the Blackmoor 
  setting. 
  (This is a placeholder and a research item.) 
  October 1971 
  The Ballantine Adult Fantasy anthology The Spawn of 
  Cthulhu, edited by Lin Carter, is published. 
  
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  October 30th, 
  1971 (a Saturday) 
  Chamber of Horrors is presented on Horror Incorporated. 
  Late 1971 
  Domesday Book #11 is published. 
  Late 1971 
  Alan Lucien attempts to resurrect the War of the Empires 
  game, but is not successful. 
  November 1971 
  Gary’s article on the Battle of the Brown Hills appears in 
  Wargamer’s Newsletter magazine. 
  November 1971 
  The Robert E. Howard tale Rogues in the House is adapted 
  in Conan the Barbarian #11. 
  November 1971 
  The Clocks of Iraz, by L. Sprague de Camp, is published. 
  November 14th, 
  1971 (a Sunday) 
  A Napoleonic campaign letter, written in character by Gary 
  Gygax and sent to fellow player Dan Nicholson on behalf of 
  Don Kaye, dates to this day. 
  December 11th, 
  1971 (a Saturday) 
  The Walking Dead is featured on Horror Incorporated. 
  December 25th, 
  1971 (a Saturday) 
  The movies Night of Terror and The Lady and the Monster 
  are played on Horror Incorporated.  These movies may have 
  inspired some aspects of Dave’s conception of the Blackmoor 
  dungeons. 
  c. December 
  25th-31st, 1971 (a 
  Saturday through 
  Friday) 
  This is the likely timeframe for Dave’s design of the original 
  Blackmoor dungeons (six levels). 
  Late (End of?) 
  1971 
  Arneson and others name their changing gaming club the 
  Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA). 
  (Unknown Date) 
  1971 
  The Black Mountains, by Fred Saberhagen, is published by Ace 
  Books. 
   
   
  
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  THE YEAR 1972 
  (Please refer to HAWK & MOOR Book II for further details on the chronology of 
  Dungeons & Dragons and its inspirations.) 
   
   
   
   
  
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  APPENDIX II: 
  GYGAXIAN ARCANA: 
  RECOMMENDED READING AND VIEWING 
  IN REGARDS TO THE INSPIRATIONS 
  FOR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 
   
  FOR THOSE worthy souls who wish to retrace many of Gary’s footsteps which led 
  to the development of Dungeons & Dragons (particularly from 1972 to 1979), the 
  following sources are especially recommended.  Astute readers may well recognize 
  that the foundation of this list of recommendations hails directly from Gary’s own 
  Appendix N:  Inspirational and Educational Reading, which appeared originally 
  toward the end of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide 
  (1979). 
  To that very succinct and oft-time cryptic Appendix N list, however, I have here 
  added significant and ongoing research which, to date, has resulted in the following 
  improvements: 
   
  [1] Relevant book titles for authors where no titles appeared at all; 
  [2] Detailed listings of all relevant titles in a recommended series; 
  [3] Books from other sources of recommendations (such as Gary’s summary of 
  resources used to develop AD&D’s weapon and armor systems); 
  [4] Compendiums of fairy tales and mythology which Gary directly cited; 
  [5] Specific tales which most resoundingly influenced various aspects of the game 
  (such as The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was from 
  Grimm); 
  [6] Works which clearly influenced Gary without being cited in Appendix N (as 
  one example, Lewis Carroll for Dungeon Modules EX1 and EX2); 
  [7] Comic book series which Gary cited (or alluded to) as inspirational for spells 
  and treasures; 
  [8] Recommended reading orders by series; 
  [9] Unspoken inspirations (such as William Hope Hodgson’s The House on the 
  Borderland, which influenced the title and a bit more for Dungeon Module B2); 
  
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  [10] Gary’s own Gord of Greyhawk tales; 
  [11] General notes on editions and appearances; and 
  [12] Movies and television episodes which inspired the creation of monsters, 
  spells, treasures, and game mechanics; (along with several other series of 
  improvements). 
   
  And last but not least, I have to the best of my ability worked to include some 
  of David Arneson’s influences, particularly involving his viewing habits (as midnight 
  movies greatly inspired the approach he took with the Blackmoor campaign).  I 
  hope to include more of Arneson’s favorites in the future as more such material 
  comes to light. 
  As an example of the level of detail provided here:  the original Appendix N lists 
  29 author entries (sole authors and also collaborative endeavors), with 22 
  individual works also specified by title.  This appendix in turn lists over 140 entries 
  and over 430 titled works — a more than elevenfold increase in information. 
  But please note that this list is certainly still very partial and incomplete, and will 
  forever remain so.  Further recommendations by you, the reader, are always 
  welcome! 
   
   
   
  
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  Dante Alighieri. 
  
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  [1] 
  ALIGHIERI, DANTE 
  Gygax once noted that he “did use a bit of Dante’s Inferno (c. 1300-1315 
  AD) in developing the denizens of the Nine Hells.”  This is most clearly 
  evident in the Monster Manual entry for horned devils. 
  [A-1] The Inferno 
  [2] 
  ANDERSON, POUL 
  The three most influential novels by Anderson (from a D&D perspective) 
  were Three Hearts and Three Lions (1953 / 1961), The Broken Sword 
  (1954, perhaps enjoyed by Gygax in its Ballantine Adult Fantasy printing 
  of 1971), and The High Crusade (1960). 
  [A-2] Three Hearts and Three Lions, [A-3] The Broken Sword, [A-4] The 
  High Crusade 
   
   
   
  
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  Ludovico Ariosto. 
   
  
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  [3] 
  ARIOSTO, LUDOVICO 
  Orlando Furioso (1516-1532 AD), particularly as illustrated by Gustave 
  Dore, is a major source of lore for the hippogriff monster. 
  [A-5] Orlando Furioso 
  [4] 
  ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (FILM) 
  This 1957 movie may have partly inspired the inclusion of giant crabs in 
  the D&D monster lists. 
  [A-6] Attack of the Crab Monsters 
  [5] 
  ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (FILM) 
  This 1959 horror movie probably inspired the inclusion of giant leeches 
  in the D&D monster roster. 
  [A-7] Attack of the Giant Leeches 
   
   
   
  [6] 
  BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY 
  Gary was a devout reader of the highly influential Ballantine Adult 
  Fantasy series, which (re-)popularized many oft-forgotten classic tales of 
  speculative fiction.  The series ran from 1969 to 1974, the exact period 
  
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  when Gary was tapping imaginative fiction for influences in his game 
  designs.  The series was spearheaded and edited by Lin Carter. 
  It may be useful to cite the dates of some of the most prominent books 
  in this series, and these stories are generally recommended overall.  I felt 
  that it was important to classify these works under the Ballantine banner 
  for the purposes of future research of Gary’s influences. 
  The most important volumes (for D&D influences), to my mind, are: 
  Selections from the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series 
  [B-1] Book 1:  The Blue Star, by Fletcher Pratt (May 1969).  [B-2] Book 
  2:  The King of Elfland’s Daughter, by Lord Dunsany (June 1969).  [B-3] 
  Book 6:  Dragons, Elves, and Heroes, compiled by Lin Carter (October 
  1969).  This anthology reads like a how-to manual of Gygaxian RPG 
  influences:  it includes The Ogre (from Beowulf), Barrow-Wight (from 
  The Grettir Saga), The Sword of Avalon (from Mallory’s Le Morte 
  d’Arthur), The Lost Words of Power (from The Kalevala), Wonderful 
  Things Beyond Cathay (from Mandeville’s Travels), Childe Roland to the 
  Dark Tower Came (by Robert Browning), and much more.  [B-4] Book 
  7:  The Young Magicians, compiled by Lin Carter (October 1969).  This 
  anthology includes The Sword of Welleran (by Lord Dunsany), The Cats 
  of Ulthar (by H. P. Lovecraft), Through the Dragon Glass (by A. Merritt), 
  Turjan of Miir (by Jack Vance), The Dragon’s Visit (by J. R. R. Tolkien), 
  and more.  [B-5] Book 10:  Land of Unreason, by Fletcher Pratt and L. 
  Sprague de Camp (January 1970).  [B-6] Book 13:  At the Edge of the 
  World, by Lord Dunsany (March 1970).  [B-7] Book 14:  Phantastes, by 
  George MacDonald (April 1970).  [B-8] Book 15:  The Dream-Quest of 
  Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft (May 1970).  [B-9] Book 22:  
  Golden Cities, Far, compiled by Lin Carter (October 1970).  This reads 
  like another ensemble of Gygaxian inspirations, including:  The Descent 
  of Ishtar to the Netherworld (from the Sumerian epic Angalta Kigalshe), 
  Wars of the Giants of Albion (from Geoffrey of Monmouth), The Yellow 
  Dwarf (by Madame d’Aulnoy) and The Palace of Illusions (from Orlando 
  Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto).  [B-10] Book 24:  The Broken Sword, by 
  Poul Anderson (January 1971).  [B-11] Book 25:  The Boats of the ‘Glen 
  Carrig,’ by William Hope Hodgson (February 1971).  This tale would 
  inspire the Jungle of Lost Ships setting entry in the 1983 World of 
  Greyhawk boxed set.  [B-12] Book 26:  The Doom That Came to Sarnath 
  and Other Stories, by H. P. Lovecraft (February 1971).  [B-13] Book 31:  
  Vathek, by William Beckford (June 1971).  I believe that this book was 
  
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  one of the inspirations for the early version of Lost Caverns of Tsojconth, 
  and the unseen lore character Daoud.  [B-14] Book 36:  The Spawn of 
  Cthulhu (October 1971).  An anthology which includes The Yellow Sign 
  (by Robert W. Chambers), The Return of Hastur (by August Derleth), 
  The Children of the Night (by Robert E. Howard), and Litany to Hastur 
  (by Lin Carter).  [B-15] Book 47:  Beyond the Fields We Know, by Lord 
  Dunsany (May 1972).  [B-16] Book 52:  Great Short Novels of Adult 
  Fantasy I, compiled by Lin Carter (September 1972).  Includes The Wall 
  of Serpents (by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp) and The Maker 
  of Moons (by Robert W. Chambers).  [B-17] Book 54:  Orlando Furioso:  
  The Rings of Angelica, Volume 1, by Ludovico Ariosto (September 1972).  
  [B-18] Book 55:  The Charwoman’s Shadow, by Lord Dunsany (February 
  1973).  [B-19] Book 58:  Imaginary Worlds:  The Art of Fantasy, by Lin 
  Carter (June 1973).  In some ways, reading this book gives the idea that 
  Gygax’s Appendix N was a collective critical opinion upon the Swords & 
  Sorcery genre which was formed after taking Carter’s volume into 
  consideration.  It is probably one of Carter’s finest books.  [B-20] Book 
  62:  Hrolf Kraki’s Saga, by Poul Anderson (October 1973).  [B-21] Book 
  65:  Over the Hills and Far Away, by Lord Dunsany (April 1974). 
  [7] 
  BARING-GOULD, SABINE 
  As I explain in HAWK & MOOR Book IV, I believe that Gary may have 
  been influenced by Baring-Gould’s book Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings 
  of Europe when he was designing troglodytes, and the netherworld 
  warrens depicted in Dungeon Module D1, Descent into the Depths of the 
  Earth. 
  [B-22] Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe (1911) 
   
  
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  Sabine Baring-Gould. 
   
  [8] 
  BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN (FILM) 
  This 1959 movie (especially in its reworked format) is the likely 
  inspirational source for the otyugh and roper monsters. 
  [B-23] Battle Beyond the Sun 
  [9] 
  BAUM, FRANK L. 
  The Oz book Ozma of Oz (1907) was one of the inspirations for the 
  svirfneblin (netherworld gnome) race featured in the D series of Dungeon 
  Modules. 
  
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  [B-24] Ozma of Oz 
  [10] 
  BELLAIRS, JOHN 
  Bellairs is known for The Face in the Frost, a comedic 1969 fantasy novel 
  that informed Gary’s conception of magic-users, the study and 
  memorization of spells, and unpredictable magic.  The story would 
  partially continue in a little-known sequel fragment entitled The Dolphin 
  Cross (2009). 
  [B-25] The Face in the Frost, [B-26] The Dolphin Cross 
  [11] 
  BEWARE!  THE BLOB (FILM) 
  This 1971-1972 movie probably inspired the creation of other slime 
  monsters beyond the black pudding, perhaps including the ochre jelly. 
  [B-27] Beware!  The Blob 
   
   
  Ambrose Bierce. 
   
  
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  [12] 
  BIERCE, AMBROSE 
  The Death of Halpin Frayser (1891) (in addition to the Kothar writings of 
  Gardner Fox, more directly) was probably an indirect inspiration for the 
  lich monster. 
  [B-28] The Death of Halpin Frayser 
  [13] 
  BIRO, CHARLES 
  Gygax once stated that the shambling mound monster was inspired by 
  the character known as the Heap, as featured in Biro’s Airboy comics 
  (1942-1950s). 
  [B-29] Airboy 
  [14] 
  THE BLACK SCORPION (FILM) 
  This 1957 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the inclusion 
  of the giant scorpion in the D&D monster roster. 
  [B-30] The Black Scorpion 
  [15] 
  THE BLOB (FILM) 
  This 1958 movie inspired David Arneson’s creation of the black pudding 
  monster. 
  [B-31] The Blob 
  [16] 
  BORGES, JORGE LUIS 
  The 1969 English edition of Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings was a 
  significant source of monster inspirations. 
  [B-32] The Book of Imaginary Beings 
  [17] 
  BRACKETT, LEIGH 
  Today, Brackett is remembered for working on the early script for The 
  Empire Strikes Back (delivered to Lucas in 1978).  In the 1940s and 1950s, 
  she was a frequent contributor to the pulps which Gary loved, and wrote 
  Sword & Planet stories in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs such as Queen 
  of the Martian Catacombs (1949) and Enchantress of Venus (also 1949).  
  “All my Mars stories came out of Burroughs,” she once affirmed in an 
  interview.  She was also inspired by A. Merritt.  The tonal association 
  
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  with these two authors makes Gygax’s appreciation for her a bit clearer 
  in retrospect.  In recommending Brackett, Gary may also have been 
  thinking of the well-regarded anthology The Halfling and Other Stories 
  (1973). 
  [B-33] Queen of the Martian Catacombs, [B-34] Enchantress of Venus, 
  [B-35] The Halfling and Other Stories 
  [18] 
  BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (FILM) 
  This 1955 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the inclusion 
  of the giant octopus in the roster of D&D monsters. 
  [B-36] Bride of the Monster 
  [19] 
  BROWN, FREDERIC 
  In recommending Brown, Gary was probably thinking specifically of the 
  acclaimed gatherum of very short fantasy-horror “flash” fiction, entitled 
  Nightmares and Geezenstacks (1961).  The book has also been favorably 
  recommended by Stephen King. 
  [B-37] Nightmares and Geezenstacks 
  [20] 
  BUDGE, SIR ERNEST ALFRED THOMPSON (E. A.) WALLIS 
  Budge translated the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Rw Nw Prt M Hrw (c. 
  1550-50 BC), which is arguably an inspirational source for giant (Apshai) 
  beetles, demons, and many Egyptian spells. 
  [B-38] The Egyptian Book of the Dead 
  [21] 
  BULFINCH, THOMAS 
  In the 1970s (and for many decades earlier), Bulfinch’s Mythology (1855-
  1863) was regarded as the finest popular collection of tales from the 
  Greek and heroic mythos.  It was almost certainly one of Gary’s major 
  sources. 
  [B-39] Bulfinch’s Mythology 
  [22] 
  BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE 
  The prolific Burroughs was one of Gary’s favorite authors from an early 
  age.  Gary enjoyed the lost world tale The Cave Girl (1913), but for D&D 
  
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  inspirations he specifically noted three series:  Barsoom (aka John Carter 
  of Mars), the Pellucidar “hollow world” tales, and the Carson Napier of 
  Venus saga. 
  The Barsoom (John Carter of Mars) Series 
  [B-40] Book 1:  A Princess of Mars (1912-1917), [B-41] Book 2:  The Gods 
  of Mars (1913-1918), [B-42] Book 3:  The Warlord of Mars (1913-1919), 
  [B-43] Book 4:  Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1916-1920), [B-44] Book 5:  The 
  Chessmen of Mars (1922), [B-45] Book 6:  The Master Mind of Mars 
  (1927-1928), [B-46] Book 7:  A Fighting Man of Mars (1929-1931), [B-
  47] Book 8:  Swords of Mars (1934-1936), [B-48] Book 9:  Synthetic Men 
  of Mars (1939-1940), [B-49] Book 10:  Llana of Gathol (1941, 1948), [B-
  50] Book 11:  John Carter of Mars (1940, 1943, 1964) 
  The Pellucidar Series 
  [B-51] Book 1:  At the Earth’s Core (1914), [B-52] Book 2:  Pellucidar 
  (1915), [B-53] Book 3:  Tanar of Pellucidar (1929-1930), [B-54] Book 4:  
  Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1930), [B-55] Book 5:  Seven Worlds to 
  Conquer, aka Back to the Stone Age (1937), [B-56] Book 6:  Land of 
  Terror (1944), [B-57] Book 7:  Savage Pellucidar (1942, 1963) 
  (See also HOLMES, JOHN ERIC.) 
  The Carson Napier of Venus Series 
  [B-58] Book 1:  Pirates of Venus (1932-1934), [B-59] Book 2:  Lost on 
  Venus (1933-1935), [B-60] Book 3:  Carson of Venus (1937-1938), [B-61] 
  Book 4:  Escape on Venus (1941-1942, 1946), [B-62] Book 5:  The Wizard 
  of Venus (1941, 1964) 
  [23] 
  BYFIELD, BARBARA NINDE 
  Ms. Byfield was the author of a very clever and curious work entitled 
  The Glass Harmonica, later retitled as The Book of Weird.  This charming 
  and finely illustrated work, I believe, served as an inspiration to Gygax 
  in his early writings for Dungeons & Dragons (as I will show in later 
  volumes of the HAWK & MOOR series.) 
  [B-63] The Glass Harmonica 
   
  
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  [24] 
  CALTIKI — THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (FILM) 
  This 1959 film may have partly inspired the conception of slime monsters. 
  [C-1] Caltiki — The Immortal Monster 
  [25] 
  CARROLL, LEWIS (pen name of CHARLES LUTWIDGE 
  DODGSON) 
  Gary was inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), which 
  would receive direct tribute in Dungeon Module EX1, Dungeonland; and 
  Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), which 
  was mirrored (ahem) by EX2, The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror.  I also 
  recommend the first draft of Wonderland, entitled Alice’s Adventures 
  Under Ground (1864), because it is fascinating in its own right (with 
  Dodgson’s handwriting and amateur illustrations) and it much more 
  clearly depicts Alice’s land of adventure as a netherworld. 
  In its ties with reality, by the way, Wonderland is conceived by Carroll 
  as lying beneath the ruins of Godstow Nunnery on the River Thames in 
  Oxford. 
  [C-2] Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, [C-3] Alice’s Adventures in 
  Wonderland, [C-4] Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found 
  There 
   
  
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  Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. 
   
  [26] 
  CARTER, LIN 
  Beyond his critiques, anthologies and collaborations, Gary also 
  somewhat admired Carter’s World’s End series (sometimes called the 
  Gondwane series).  I recommend the following reading order, which 
  some may disagree with: 
  
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  [C-5] Recommended Book 1:  Giant of World’s End (1969), [C-6] 
  Recommended Book 2:  Warrior of World’s End (1974), [C-7] 
  Recommended Book 3:  The Enchantress of World’s End (1975), [C-8] 
  Recommended Book 4:  The Immortal of World’s End (1976), [C-9] 
  Recommended Book 5:  The Barbarian of World’s End (1977), [C-10] 
  Recommended Book 6:  The Pirate of World’s End (1978) 
  (See also BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY and DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE.) 
  [27] 
  CHAMBERS, ROBERT W. 
  The comedic romance In Search of the Unknown (1904) gave its title to 
  the later Dungeon Module B1, by Mike Carr.  Also, some of the scenes 
  may have inspired Gygax’s conception of the Kuo-Toa. 
  Chambers is today most admired for The King in Yellow (1895), which 
  Gary was also familiar with. 
  [C-11] The King in Yellow, [C-12] In Search of the Unknown 
  (See also BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY.) 
  [28] 
  COX, PALMER 
  In addition to the Teeny Weenies comics, Gary’s ideas for the folkloric 
  brownie monster were likely inspired in part by Cox’s The Brownies:  
  Their Own Book (1887, with numerous sequels). 
  [C-13] The Brownies:  Their Own Book 
  [29] 
  THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (FILM) 
  This 1954 movie is probably one of the partial inspirations for Gygax’s 
  Kuo-Toa race, and may have partly inspired Marsh’s sahuagin as well. 
  [C-14] The Creature from the Black Lagoon 
   
  
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  [30] 
  DARK SHADOWS (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  This long-running television series influenced the development of 
  vampires (both as monsters and characters) in the Blackmoor campaign. 
  [D-1] Dark Shadows 
  [31] 
  DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE 
  Gary mostly appreciated de Camp’s collaborations with other authors 
  (Lin Carter and Fletcher Pratt in particular).  However, he also enjoyed 
  de Camp’s 1939 alternate history novel, Lest Darkness Fall. 
  More specifically in regards to D&D, Gary greatly enjoyed The Fallible 
  Fiend (1972-1973).  That tale is part of the Novarian series, which is cited 
  here in full for future reference.  Recommended reading order: 
  The Novarian Series 
  [D-2] Recommended Book 1:  The Emperor’s Fan (1973), [D-3] 
  Recommended Book 2:  The Fallible Fiend (1972-1973), [D-4] 
  Recommended Book 3:  The Goblin Tower (1968), [D-5] Recommended 
  Book 4:  The Clocks of Iraz (1971), [D-6] Recommended Book 5:  The 
  Unbeheaded King (not published until 1983), [D-7] Recommended Book 
  6:  The Honorable Barbarian (not published until 1989) 
  The Swords & Sorcery Tomes 
  
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  De Camp also compiled and edited an important series of Swords & 
  Sorcery anthologies, which are as follows:  [D-8] Recommended Book 1:  
  Swords and Sorcery:  Stories of Heroic Fantasy (December 1963).  
  Includes tales by Anderson, Dunsany, Howard, Leiber, Lovecraft, and 
  others.  [D-9] Recommended Book 2:  The Spell of Seven (June 1965).  
  Includes tales by Leiber, Dunsany, Moorcock, Vance, and Howard.  [D-
  10] Recommended Book 3:  The Fantastic Swordsmen (May 1967).  
  Includes tales by Dunsany, Howard, Lovecraft, Moorcock, and others.  
  [D-11] Recommended Book 4:  Warlocks and Warriors (1970).  Includes 
  tales by Howard, Leiber, Dunsany, Zelazny, and others. 
  [32] 
  DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE & CARTER, LIN 
  The Lancer / Ace Conan anthologies are noteworthy for their collections 
  of non-Howard tales.  They are also noteworthy because they are 
  frequently the versions which Gary and Dave had at hand during the 
  development of Dungeons & Dragons.  The books in the series (with the 
  recommended reading order series numbers, as opposed to the actual 
  chronological printing history), and the non-Howard tales specifically 
  cited, are as follows: 
  [D-12] Book 1:  Conan.  First published in 1967.  Features The Thing in 
  the Crypt, The Hall of the Dead, The Hand of Nergal, and The City of 
  Skulls.  [D-13] Book 2:  Conan of Cimmeria.  First published in 1969.  
  Features The Bloodstained God, The Castle of Terror, The Curse of the 
  Monolith, The Frost Giant’s Daughter, The Lair of the Ice Worm, and 
  The Snout in the Dark.  [D-14] Book 3:  Conan the Freebooter.  First 
  published in 1968.  Features Hawks Over Shem and The Road of the 
  Eagles.  [D-15] Book 4:  Conan the Wanderer.  First published in 1968.  
  Features Black Tears and The Flame Knife.  [D-16] Book 5:  Conan the 
  Adventurer.  First published in 1966-1967.  Features Drums of Tombalku.  
  [D-17] Book 6:  Conan the Buccaneer.  First published in 1971.  Features 
  the full novel.  [D-18] Book 7:  Conan the Warrior.  First published in 
  1967.  Features an introduction by de Camp, but otherwise focuses on 
  Howard tales.  [D-19] Book 8:  Conan the Usurper.  First published in 
  1967.  Features The Treasure of Tranicos and Wolves Beyond the Border.  
  [D-20] Book 9:  Conan the Conqueror.  First published in 1967.  Features 
  the Howard novel, preceded by a de Camp introduction.  [D-21] Book 
  10:  Conan the Avenger.  First published in 1968.  Features The Return 
  of Conan (with Björn Nyberg).  [D-22] Book 11:  Conan of Aquilonia.  
  First published in 1977.  Features The Witch of the Mists, Black Sphinx of 
  
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  Nebthu, Red Moon of Zembabwei, and Shadows in the Skull.  [D-23] 
  Book 12:  Conan of the Isles.  First published in 1968.  Features the full 
  novel. 
  [33] 
  DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE & PRATT, FLETCHER 
  Gary cited the work The Carnelian Cube (1948) as a worthy predecessor 
  work to Dungeons & Dragons.  He also cited the Harold Shea stories 
  (about a dimension-hopping magician from our own reality) as one of 
  the most significant influences on the game of Dungeons & Dragons.  The 
  stories are as follows: 
  [D-24] Book 1:  The Roaring Trumpet (1940-1941), [D-25] Book 2:  The 
  Mathematics of Magic (1940-1941), [D-26] Book 3:  The Castle of Iron 
  (1941), [D-27] Book 4:  Wall of Serpents (1953-1954), [D-28] Book 5:  
  The Green Magician (1954) 
  [34] 
  THE DEADLY MANTIS (FILM) 
  This 1957 film may have influenced Gary’s re-conception of Erol Otus’s 
  early anhkheg monster. 
  [D-29] The Deadly Mantis 
  [35] 
  DERLETH, AUGUST 
  I recommend In Lovecraft’s Shadow (1998).  Mr. Derleth is primarily 
  well-regarded for his (re-)popularization of the weird fiction of H. P. 
  Lovecraft, despite some of his own additions to the Mythos being of 
  questionable quality.  This volume collects the Derleth Mythos works and 
  is recommended to the casual reader. 
  Refer also to the noteworthy The Mask of Cthulhu (1958). 
  [D-30] The Mask of Cthulhu, [D-31] In Lovecraft’s Shadow 
  [36] 
  DOCTOR STRANGE (COMIC) 
  Tim Kask has noted (particularly in his Gen Con Q&A) that the Doctor 
  Strange comic was loved by both him and Gary Gygax.  Further, he 
  stated that it had a significant inspirational effect on the development of 
  the psionics system as featured in Eldritch Wizardry.  Further, he alluded 
  that the Astral Plane concept as detailed in AD&D was influenced by 
  Doctor Strange as well. 
  
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  [D-32] Doctor Strange 
  [37] 
  DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN 
  The “giant rat of Sumatra,” as mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes tale 
  The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (1924), was one of the inspirations 
  for the 1977 Monster Manual entry on “Sumatran” giant rats. 
  [D-33] The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire 
   
   
  Bram Stoker. 
   
  
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  [38] 
  DRACULA (FILM) 
  The portrayal of vampires in the Monster Manual is based on the Dracula 
  movies (particularly the 1931 version starring Bela Lugosi) and the 
  original novel by Bram Stoker.  The 1958 film is also noteworthy for its 
  cast, which included Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. 
  [D-34] Dracula 
  [39] 
  DUNSANY, BARON EDWARD JOHN MORETON DRAX 
  PLUNKETT 
  Gygax’s primary work may have been the collection Beyond the Fields 
  We Know (1972), as collected by Lin Carter for the Ballantine Adult 
  Fantasy series. 
  For a wider reading of what seem to be D&D influences, I recommend 
  the Pegana books and a loose series of collections which I term the Books 
  of Wonder. 
  The Books of Pegana 
  [D-35] Book 1:  The Gods of Pegana (1905), [D-36] Book 2:  Time and 
  the Gods (1906) 
  The Books of Wonder (aka The Dreamer’s Tales) 
  [D-37] Recommended Book 1:  The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories 
  (1908), [D-38] Recommended Book 2:  A Dreamer’s Tales (1910), [D-39] 
  Recommended Book 3:  The Book of Wonder (1912), [D-40] 
  Recommended Book 4:  Fifty-One Tales, aka The Food of Death (1915), 
  [D-41] Recommended Book 5:  Tales of Wonder, aka The Last Book of 
  Wonder (1916), [D-42] Recommended Book 6:  Tales of Three 
  Hemispheres (1919), [D-43] Recommended Book 7:  The King of 
  Elfland’s Daughter (1924) 
  (See also BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY.) 
   
  
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  [40] 
  FARMER, PHILIP JOSÉ 
  Dungeons & Dragons was inspired in part by the acclaimed World of 
  Tiers series.  The volumes are as follows: 
  The World of Tiers Series 
  [F-1] Book 1:  The Maker of Universes (1965), [F-2] Book 2:  The Gates 
  of Creation (1966), [F-3] Book 3:  A Private Cosmos (1968), [F-4] Book 
  4:  Behind the Walls of Terra (1970), [F-5] Book 5:  The Lavalite World 
  (1977), [F-6] Book 6:  Red Orc’s Rage (published in 1991), [F-7] Book 7:  
  More Than Fire (published in 1993) 
  [41] 
  FELIX THE CAT (CARTOON) 
  According to Rob Kuntz, the cartoon entitled The Magic Bag was the 
  inspiration for the magical bag of tricks. 
  [F-8] The Magic Bag 
  [42] 
  FFOULKES, CHARLES JOHN 
  Gary cited the 1909 book Armour & Weapons as one of the major 
  influences on the topic for Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons.  The 
  research in the work is outdated and has been at times refuted, but it 
  does feature specific mentions of banded mail, bracers, cuir bouilli, 
  falchions, holy water sprinklers, Lochaber axes, ranseurs, ring mail, scale 
  armour, voulges, and much more. 
  
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  [F-9] Armour & Weapons 
  [43] 
  FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (FILM) 
  This 1958 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the 
  reimagining of the intellect devourer monster for its appearance in the 
  1977 Monster Manual. 
  [F-10] Fiend Without a Face 
  [44] 
  THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (FILM) 
  The Harryhausen-animated moon cow in this 1964 movie was almost 
  certainly an inspiration for the appearance of the carrion crawler 
  monster. 
  [F-11] The First Men in the Moon 
  [45] 
  FISCHER, HARRY OTTO 
  The life-long boon companion of Fritz Leiber, and the inspiration for the 
  Gray Mouser.  Of note is “The Childhood and Youth of the Gray 
  Mouser,” an approved article featured in The Dragon #18 (1978). 
  [F-12] The Childhood and Youth of the Gray Mouser 
  [46] 
  FORBIDDEN PLANET (FILM) 
  This 1956 movie may have inspired the depiction of the invisible stalker 
  monster. 
  [F-13] Forbidden Planet 
  [47] 
  FOX, GARDNER F. 
  In the Golden Age of comics, Mr. Fox was famed for his stories featuring 
  Batman, the Flash, the Justice Society, and more.  Later in life, he wrote 
  the “Kothar” tales (which were basically inspired by Howard’s Conan) 
  and the “Kyrik” tales (which were probably inspired by Moorcock’s 
  Elric).  In my opinion these later works are inferior, but Gary explicitly 
  noted that they were to be strongly associated with Dungeons & Dragons 
  as being influential. 
  The Kothar Series 
  
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  [F-14] Book 1:  Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman (1969), [F-15] Book 2:  
  Kothar of the Magic Sword (1969), [F-16] Book 3:  Kothar and the 
  Demon Queen (1969), [F-17] Book 4:  Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse 
  (1970), [F-18] Book 5:  Kothar and the Wizard Slayer (1970) 
  The Kyrik Series 
  [F-19] Book 1:  Kyrik, Warlock Warrior (1975), [F-20] Book 2:  Kyrik 
  Fights the Demon World (1975), [F-21] Book 3:  Kyrik and the Wizard’s 
  Sword (1976), [F-22] Book 4:  Kyrik and the Lost Queen (1976) 
  [48] 
  FRANKENSTEIN (FILM) 
  This 1931 movie, along with Mary Shelley’s original novel, is the 
  inspiration for the flesh golem monster. 
  [F-23] Frankenstein 
  [49] 
  FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (FILM) 
  Due to its Gothic horror and supernatural elements, and its Twin Cities 
  air date of April 10th, 1971, I believe this is one of the movies which 
  influenced David Arneson to create certain elements of the Blackmoor 
  campaign. 
  [F-24] Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 
  [50] 
  FROGS (FILM) 
  I believe this 1972 horror movie may have been one of Dave Arneson’s 
  inspirations for the Temple of the Frog. 
  [F-25] Frogs 
   
   
  
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  [51] 
  GAINES, WILLIAM & FELDSTEIN, AL 
  Gary once told readers that he dearly loved “Weird Science, Crypt of 
  Horror, and all the rest of the EC Comics line.”  The following summary 
  can help the reader to locate reprint compendiums and the like. 
  The “Horror” Trifecta 
  [G-1] The Haunt of Fear (comic book series).  28 issues, originally 
  published from May 1950 to November 1954.  [G-2] Tales from the 
  Crypt (comic book series).  Early issues were also titled as The Crypt of 
  Terror.  43 issues, originally published from October 1950 to March 
  1955.  [G-3] The Vault of Horror (comic book series).  29 issues, 
  originally published from April 1950 to January 1955. 
  The “Weird” Trifecta 
  [G-4] Weird Fantasy (comic book series).  22 issues, originally published 
  from May 1950 to December 1953.  [G-5] Weird Science (comic book 
  series).  22 issues, originally published from May 1950 to December 1953.  
  [G-6] Weird Science-Fantasy (comic book series).  7 issues, originally 
  published from March 1954 to June 1955. 
  [52] 
  GARGOYLES (TELEVISION FEATURE) 
  I believe this 1972 made-for-TV movie (along with the sculptures of 
  Notre Dame) may have influenced the early versions of the gargoyle 
  monster which Gary included in the Castle of Greyhawk setting. 
  
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  [G-7] Gargoyles 
  [53] 
  GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (FILM) 
  This 1964 movie may have partly inspired the pyrohydra monster. 
  [G-8] Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster 
  [54] 
  GODZILLA & GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! 
  (FILMS) 
  These were favorite movies of Dave Arneson, and likely influenced his 
  development of monsters and situations for the Blackmoor campaign. 
  [G-9] Godzilla, [G-10] Godzilla, King of the Monsters! 
  [55] 
  GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH (FILM) 
  This 1971 movie may have been one (along with Lovecraft’s shoggoths) 
  one of the inspirations (along with Dr. Seuss) for Gygax’s enigmatic 
  demon lord, Juiblex. 
  [G-11] Godzilla vs. Hedorah 
  [56] 
  THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (FILM) 
  This 1974 movie may have partly inspired the D&D version of the 
  folkloric centaur monster.  The movie also depicts a griffon, a 
  homunculus, and a creature similar to type V demon. 
  [G-12] The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 
  [57] 
  THE GREEN SLIME (FILM) 
  This 1968 movie inspired the green slime monster, of course, and perhaps 
  also the idea of gas spores. 
  [G-13] The Green Slime 
  [58] 
  GRIMM, JACOB & WILHELM 
  The Brothers Grimm are forever famed for their Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 
  earlier known as Children’s and Household Tales, Volumes 1 and 2.  The 
  original 1812 edition is fascinating because it is a serious adult work of 
  research; later volumes expurgated most of the offensive elements until 
  today their work is regarded as a collection of children’s stories.  I 
  
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  recommend the earliest edition you can find; or, you may enjoy Grimm’s 
  Grimmest (compiled by Maria Tatar), which makes a deliberate point of 
  highlighting the most lurid rarities. 
  The tales which I regard as being highly influential upon Dungeons & 
  Dragons include: 
  Select Tales from the Brothers Grimm 
  [G-14] The haunted castle and dungeon tale, The Story of the Youth Who 
  Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was.  [G-15] The netherworld faerie tale 
  The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces (cited as a favorite by Gygax).  
  [G-16] The Water Nixie.  [G-17] The King of the Gold Mountain.  [G-18] 
  The Griffin; and [G-19] Blaubart (Bluebeard), which is typically missing 
  from all but the earliest editions. 
  [59] 
  GYGAX, E. GARY 
  Gary wrote his own volumes of Swords & Sorcery tales set in Greyhawk, 
  the Gord the Rogue series.  The stories are derivative tributes to Leiber, 
  Howard, Burroughs, and Lovecraft.  The quality is uneven, but Saga of 
  Old City is especially fine, and I sincerely believe that At Moonset 
  Blackcat Comes is one of the greatest Swords & Sorcery tales ever written 
  that I have experienced to date. 
  The Gord the Rogue Series 
  [G-20] Book 1:  Saga of Old City (1985), [G-21] Book 2:  Artifact of Evil 
  (1986), [G-22] Book 3:  City of Hawks (1987), [G-23] Book 4:  Night 
  Arrant (1987), [G-24] Book 5:  Sea of Death (1987), [G-25] Book 6:  
  Come Endless Darkness (1988), [G-26] Book 7:  Dance of Demons (1988) 
  And: 
  Adjuncts to the Gord the Rogue Series 
  [G-27] At Moonset Blackcat Comes (in Dragon magazine, issue #100), 
  [G-28] Evening Odds (1996) (in Tales of the Eternal Champion), [G-29] 
  The Return of Gord (2006) (with K. R. Bourgoine) 
   
   
   
  
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  [60] 
  HODGSON, WILLIAM HOPE 
  The excellent weird fiction novel The House on the Borderland (1908) 
  inspired aspects of Dungeon Module B2, including the title. 
  [H-1] The House on the Borderland 
  (See also BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY.) 
   
   
  William Hope Hodgson. 
  
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  [61] 
  THE HOLE IDEA (CARTOON) 
  According to Rob Kuntz, this obscure 1955 Looney Tunes short was the 
  inspiration for the arcane magical known known as the portable hole. 
  [H-2] The Hole Idea 
  [62] 
  HOLMES, JOHN ERIC 
  Dr. John Eric Holmes is well-regarded for his work on the 1977 Dungeons 
  & Dragons Basic Set, which greatly popularized the game with younger 
  audiences.  He also wrote memorable pulp fantasy tales, such as The 
  Maze of Peril.  And, Gary also admired his two Burroughs-inspired 
  Pellucidar books, which are cited here as potential influences on D&D. 
  The Continuation of the Pellucidar Series 
  [H-3] Book 8:  Mahars of Pellucidar (1976), [H-4] Recommended Book 
  9:  Red Axe of Pellucidar (1980, 1993) 
  (See also BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE.) 
  [63] 
  HOWARD, ROBERT E. 
  The excellent (yet repetitive!) Robert E. Howard tales have undergone a 
  significant resurgence, and there are many collections available.  (I 
  recommend beginning with The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Del 
  Rey, 2005.)  Rather than list the many confusing collections, I will here 
  list the Conan tales by Howard.  Please note that this list is provided not 
  in publication order, but rather in the tentative order of a timeline of 
  Conan’s life, thereby representing a chronological saga.  This suggested 
  order is based on the excellent and thoroughly detailed research by Amra 
  the Lion represented online at conan.com. 
  The Conan Saga 
  [H-5] The Frost-Giant’s Daughter, [H-6] The God in the Bowl, [H-7] The 
  Tower of the Elephant, [H-8] (The Nestor Synopsis), [H-9] Rogues in the 
  House, [H-10] (The Yaralet Fragment), [H-11] Black Colossus, [H-12] A 
  Witch Shall be Born, [H-13] The Man-Eaters of Zamboula, aka Shadows 
  in Zamboula, [H-14] Queen of the Black Coast, [H-15] (The Shumballa 
  Typescripts), [H-16] Xuthal of the Dusk, aka The Slithering Shadow, [H-
  17] Iron Shadows in the Moon, aka Shadows in the Moonlight, [H-18] 
  The Devil in Iron, [H-19] The People of the Black Circle, [H-20] (The 
  Tombalku Typescripts), [H-21] The Vale of Lost Women, [H-22] The 
  
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  Servants of Bit-Yakin, aka The Jewels of Gwahlur, [H-23] The Pool of the 
  Black One, [H-24] Red Nails, [H-25] Beyond the Black River, [H-26] The 
  Black Stranger, [H-27] (The Wolves Beyond the Border Typescripts), [H-
  28] The Phoenix on the Sword, [H-29] The Scarlet Citadel, [H-30] The 
  Hour of the Dragon 
  (See also DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE & CARTER, LIN.) 
   
   
   
  [64] 
  ISLAND OF TERROR (FILM) 
  This 1966 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the otyugh 
  monster. 
  [I-1] Island of Terror 
  [65] 
  IT! (FILM) 
  This 1966 movie inspired the portrayal of the folkloric clay golem 
  monster. 
  [I-2] It! 
  [66] 
  IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (FILM) 
  This 1955 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the inclusion 
  of the giant octopus in the roster of D&D monsters. 
  
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  [I-3] It Came from Beneath the Sea 
  [67] 
  IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (FILM) 
  Although it is tenuous, this 1956 movie may have been one of the 
  inspirations for the appearance of the xorn monster. 
  [I-4] It Conquered the World 
  [68] 
  IVANHOE (FILM) 
  This is the 1952 movie that inspired Gary Gygax to engage in “melee” 
  with a childhood friend. 
  [I-5] Ivanhoe 
   
   
   
  [69] 
  JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (FILM) 
  Talos the colossus, as depicted in this 1963 movie, was the inspiration for 
  the iron golem monster.  The movie is also the primary inspirational 
  source for animated skeletons. 
  [J-1] Jason and the Argonauts 
  [70] 
  JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (FILM) 
  
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  This 1959 movie may have partly inspired the inclusion of giant 
  subterranean lizards in the D&D monster roster. 
  [J-2] Journey to the Center of the Earth 
   
   
   
  [71] 
  KING KONG (FILM) 
  This 1933 movie inspired Gygax’s Isle of the Ape setting, and also the 
  Monkeying Around special level found in the dungeons of Castle 
  Greyhawk. 
  [K-1] King Kong 
  [72] 
  KOLCHAK, THE NIGHT STALKER (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  Gary was a fan of this series, due to its Chicago noir setting and 
  supernatural subject matter.  Episode 11 certainly inspired the rule that 
  rakshasas can be slain by blessed crossbow bolts.  Other episodes may 
  have influenced the depiction of various monsters in the 1977 Monster 
  Manual: 
  Selected Episodes from Kolchak, the Night Stalker 
  [K-2] Episode 2, The Zombie (air date September 20th, 1974):  Zombies, 
  [K-3] Episode 3, They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be … (air date 
  September 27th, 1974):  Invisible stalkers, [K-4] Episode 4, The Vampire 
  (air date October 4th, 1974):  Vampires, [K-5] Episode 5, The Werewolf 
  
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  (air date November 1st, 1974):  Lycanthropes, [K-6] Episode 6, Firefall 
  (air date November 8th, 1974):  Doppelgangers and ghosts, [K-7] 
  Episode 9, The Spanish Moss Murders (air date December 6th, 1974):  
  Shambling mounds? (tenuous), [K-8] Episode 11, Horror in the Heights 
  (air date December 20th, 1974):  Rakshasas, [K-9] Episode 13, Primal 
  Scream (air date January 17th, 1975):  Yeti, [K-10] Episode 16, Demon in 
  Lace (air date February 7th, 1975):  Succubi, [K-11] Episode 17, Legacy of 
  Terror (air date February 14th, 1975):  Mummies, [K-12] Episode 20, The 
  Sentry (air date March 28th, 1975):  Lizard men 
   
   
   
  [73] 
  THE LADY AND THE MONSTER 
  Due to its subject matter and Twin Cities air date of December 25th, 
  1971, I believe this film (1944) is one of the movies that influenced the 
  design of Arneson’s dungeons beneath Castle Blackmoor. 
  [L-1] The Lady and the Monster 
  [74] 
  LAND OF THE LOST (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  Gary did not to my knowledge ever specify a direct link between Land 
  of the Lost and D&D, but there are compelling similarities between the 
  Sleestak race of netherworld villains, and Gary’s own conception of 
  troglodytes.  (Troglodytes are primarily from Greek myth and Abraham 
  
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  Merritt, but the trog illustration in the original 1976 Tsojconth module 
  bears a striking similarity to the Sleestaks.) 
  [L-2] Land of the Lost 
   
   
  Andrew Lang. 
   
  [75] 
  LANG, ANDREW 
  Gary was fond of the Andrew Lang fairytale books, and for that reason 
  I have provided a full list of the major works which comprise that series.  
  Also, Lang may have been one of Gary’s gatekeepers for the tales which 
  are known as the Arabian Nights Entertainments.  There are many 
  different versions of the Arabian Nights (aka The Thousand and One 
  Nights etc.), but I have here selected Andrew Lang’s easily readable 
  
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  version which includes The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor.  (See 
  also however WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS et al.) 
  The Fairy Books of Many Colors 
  [L-3] Book 1:  The Blue Fairy Book (1889).  This book includes the 
  haunted castle and dungeon story, which is entitled The Tale of a Youth 
  Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was (also in Grimm).  Also includes 
  The Terrible Head, Blue Beard, The History of Jack the Giant-Killer, and 
  The Red Etin.  [L-4] Book 2:  The Red Fairy Book (1890).  Includes The 
  Twelve Dancing Princesses, Soria Moria Castle, The Death of Koschei the 
  Deathless, and Jack and the Beanstalk.  [L-5] Book 3:  The Green Fairy 
  Book (1892).  Includes The Golden Mermaid and The Three Dogs.  [L-6] 
  Book 4:  The Yellow Fairy Book (1894).  Includes The Dragon of the 
  North, The Seven-Headed Serpent, and The Nixy.  [L-7] Book 5:  The 
  Pink Fairy Book (1897).  Includes How the Dragon Was Tricked, The 
  Snow-Queen, The Troll’s Daughter, and King Lindworm.  [L-8] Book 6:  
  The Grey Fairy Book (1900).  Includes The Magician’s Horse and The 
  Ogre.  [L-9] Book 7:  The Violet Fairy Book (1901).  Includes Schippeitaro, 
  The Three Princes and Their Beasts, The Nunda, Eater of People, and The 
  Princess Who Was Hidden Underground.  [L-10] Book 8:  The Crimson 
  Fairy Book (1903).  Includes The Prince and the Dragon, Niels and the 
  Giants, and The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder.  [L-11] Book 
  9:  The Brown Fairy Book (1904).  Includes Kisa the Cat and The Knights 
  of the Fish.  [L-12] Book 10:  The Orange Fairy Book (1906).  Includes 
  The Two Caskets, The Three Treasures of the Giants, How the Stalos 
  Were Tricked, and The Magic Book.  [L-13] Book 11:  The Olive Fairy 
  Book (1907).  Includes The Green Knight, The Prince and the Princess in 
  the Forest, and The Boy Who Found Fear at Last.  [L-14] Book 12:  The 
  Lilac Fairy Book (1910).  Includes The King of the Waterfalls, The Three 
  Crowns, The Groac’h of the Isle of Lok, and The Winning of Olwen. 
  [76] 
  LANIER, STERLING E. 
  Gary greatly enjoyed the book Hiero’s Journey (1973), which inspired 
  aspects of not only Dungeons & Dragons, but also Metamorphosis Alpha 
  and especially Gamma World.  In later years he also noted that he would 
  have included the sequel, The Unforsaken Hiero (1983), in Appendix N 
  if it had only been written earlier.  Sadly, the series never progressed 
  beyond those two significant volumes. 
  
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  [L-15] Hiero’s Journey, [L-16] The Unforsaken Hiero 
  [77] 
  LEHNER, ERNEST & JOHANNA 
  A Fantastic Bestiary (1969) was one of the sources for the depictions of 
  creatures featured in the Monster Manual. 
  [L-17] A Fantastic Bestiary 
  [78] 
  LEIBER, FRITZ 
  Gygax was a devoted fan of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series, which 
  continued long after the publication of Appendix N in the 1979 Dungeon 
  Masters Guide.  There is little doubt that he loved all of Leiber’s fantasy 
  writings, and so the entire series is considered here.  The saga is told in a 
  bewildering array of short stories, which can be intimidating for new 
  readers. 
  The following recommendations include the more affordable collections 
  of Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales in their order of publication.  
  Readers who want to read the tales in the order which they occurred in 
  the chronology of Nehwon, however, are on their own! 
  The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser Series 
  [L-18] Recommended Book 1:  Swords and Deviltry.  A collection 
  compiled in 1970, featuring tales originally written from 1957 to 1970.    
  [L-19] Recommended Book 2:  Swords Against Death.  A collection 
  compiled in 1970, featuring tales originally written from 1940 to 1970.  
  [L-20] Recommended Book 3:  Swords in the Mist.  A collection 
  compiled in 1968, featuring tales originally written from 1947 to 1968.  
  [L-21] Recommended Book 4:  Swords Against Wizardry.  A collection 
  compiled in 1968, featuring tales originally written from 1964 to 1968.  
  [L-22] Recommended Book 5:  The Swords of Lankhmar.  A novel 
  published in 1968, featuring material from 1961.  [L-23] Recommended 
  Book 6:  Swords and Ice Magic.  A collection compiled in 1977, featuring 
  tales originally written from 1973 to 1977.  [L-24] Recommended Book 
  7:  The Knight and Knave of Swords.  A collection compiled in 1988, 
  featuring tales originally written from 1977 to 1988. 
  [79] 
  LEWIS, C. S. 
  
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  The Silver Chair (1953), in the Narnia series, was one of the inspirations 
  for the svirfneblin race featured in the D series of Dungeon Modules. 
  [L-25] The Silver Chair 
  [80] 
  LÖNNROT, ELIAS & CRAWFORD, JOHN MARTIN 
  The Kalevala, the Epic Poem of Finland into English, was a major 
  inspiration for Gygax (especially in regards to his own favorite PC, 
  Mordenkainen.) 
  [L-26] The Kalevala, the Epic Poem of Finland into English 
  [81] 
  LOVECRAFT, HOWARD PHILLIPS 
  Please note that selection collections of Lovecraft can be problematic, 
  due to the extreme number of such collections in print and their variance 
  in quality.  (Arkham House tends to be the best.)  Rather than list 
  collections, this selection will list tales which are particularly resonant 
  with D&D inspirational material. 
  The Dreamlands Cycle 
  These tales are recommended in chronological order of creation, not 
  publication:  [L-27] Polaris, [L-28] Beyond the Wall of Sleep, [L-29] The 
  White Ship, [L-30] The Doom That Came to Sarnath, [L-31] The 
  Statement of Randolph Carter.  Recommended due to the introduction 
  of a key character, not necessarily for plot.  [L-32] The Cats of Ulthar, [L-
  33] Celephais, [L-34] Ex Oblivione, [L-35] The Quest of Iranon, [L-36] 
  The Other Gods, [L-37] Hypnos, [L-38] What the Moon Brings, [L-39] 
  The Silver Key, [L-40] The Strange High House in the Mist, [L-41] The 
  Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, [L-42] Through the Gates of the Silver 
  Key 
  The Mythos Cycle 
  The topic of what constitutes a “Mythos” tale can be argued to R’lyeh 
  and back and throughout eternity, but to my mind the tales below form 
  the essential core.  These stories are recommended in chronological order 
  of creation, not publication, because I believe Lovecraft’s themes are best 
  understood if the reader approaches them in the order which they were 
  developed by the author. 
  [L-43] Dagon, [L-44] Nemesis (Poem), [L-45] Nyarlathotep, [L-46] The 
  Nameless City, [L-47] The Music of Erich Zann, [L-48] Azathoth, [L-49] 
  
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  The Hound, [L-50] The Rats in the Walls, [L-51] The Festival, [L-52] 
  Under the Pyramids, [L-53] The Call of Cthulhu, [L-54] Pickman’s Model, 
  [L-55] The Colour out of Space, [L-56] History of the Necronomicon, [L-
  57] The Dunwich Horror, [L-58] The Mound, [L-59] Fungi from Yuggoth 
  (Poetry), [L-60] The Whisperer in Darkness, [L-61] At the Mountains of 
  Madness, [L-62] The Shadow over Innsmouth, [L-63] The Dreams in the 
  Witch House, [L-64] The Horror in the Museum, [L-65] Out of the 
  Aeons, [L-66] The Thing on the Doorstep, [L-67] The Shadow out of 
  Time, [L-68] The Haunter of the Dark 
  (See also BALLANTINE, IAN & BETTY.) 
  [82] 
  LUMLEY, BRIAN 
  The cover illustration for The Burrowers Beneath (1974) (but not the tale 
  inside) was cited by Gygax as one of the inspirations for the mind flayer 
  monster.  The Star Spawn of Cthulhu in Lovecraft’s writings, however, 
  are almost certainly another inspirational source. 
  [L-69] The Burrowers Beneath 
   
   
  George MacDonald. 
  
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  [83] 
  MACDONALD, GEORGE 
  The Princess and the Goblin (1872) partly inspired Tolkien’s depiction of 
  humanoid monsters in the Middle Earth tales, and may have also inspired 
  Gygax as well. 
  [M-1] The Princess and the Goblin 
  [84] 
  MATANGO (FILM) 
  This 1963 movie may have partly inspired the depiction of violet fungi 
  and shriekers, although Hiero’s Journey, Sign of the Labrys, and The 
  Moon Pool are certainly stronger sources. 
  [M-2] Matango 
  [85] 
  MERRITT, ABRAHAM 
  A. Merritt had several significant stories which Gygax drew heavily from 
  in creating his environments, particularly for the D series of modules.  The 
  major works are:  [1] The Moon Pool (1919) (originally published in two 
  parts, with The Moon Pool and The Conquest of the Moon Pool); [2] 
  The Face in the Abyss (1923-1931, again originally published in two 
  parts); [3] Dwellers in the Mirage (1932); and [4] Creep, Shadow! (1934).  
  There are many other quality stories, but those are the ones which Gary 
  drew most heavily from. 
  
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  [M-3] The Moon Pool, [M-4] The Face in the Abyss, [M-5] Dwellers in 
  the Mirage, [M-6] Creep, Shadow! 
  [86] 
  MODE, HEINZ 
  The book Fabulous Beasts and Demons (1975) is almost certainly a source 
  work which informed the development of the Monster Manual. 
  [M-7] Fabulous Beasts and Demons 
  [87] 
  THE MONOLITH MONSTERS (FILM) 
  This 1957 movie may have partly inspired the depiction of earth 
  elementals in Dungeons & Dragons (although Moorcock and Paracelsus 
  are certainly stronger sources). 
  [M-8] The Monolith Monsters 
  [88] 
  MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL (FILM) 
  This 1957 film may have been one of the inspirations for the inclusion of 
  giant wasps in the D&D monster roster. 
  [M-9] Monster from Green Hell 
  [89] 
  THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD 
  (FILM) 
  The aquatic horror in this 1957 film may have been one of the 
  inspirations for the carrion crawler monster. 
  [M-10] The Monster That Challenged the World 
  [90] 
  MOORCOCK, MICHAEL 
  Mr. Moorcock has many, many books of worthy tales; but Gygax was 
  most interested in the first two major collections of the Elric saga, and 
  the stories of Dorian Hawkmoon.  Due to the number of different 
  editions and the various collections, I have broken down the title lists as 
  follows: 
  The Early Elric Saga, First Phase:  The Stealer of Souls 
  [M-11] Novelette 1:  The Dreaming City (1961), [M-12] Novelette 2:  
  While the Gods Laugh (1961), [M-13] Novelette 3:  The Stealer of Souls 
  
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  (1962), [M-14] Novelette 4:  Kings in Darkness (1962), [M-15] Novelette 
  5:  The Flame Bringers (1962) 
  The Early Elric Saga, Second Phase:  Stormbringer 
  [M-16] Novelette 6:  Dead God’s Homecoming (1963), [M-17] Novelette 
  7:  Black Sword’s Brothers (1963), [M-18] Novelette 8:  Sad Giant’s Shield 
  (1964), [M-19] Novelette 9:  Doomed Lord’s Passing (1964) 
  Outside of the Elric saga, Gary’s favorite Moorcock tale was “Dorian 
  Hawkmoon,” by which he probably meant the saga beginning with the 
  post-apocalyptic Hawkmoon novel The Jewel in the Skull (1967). 
  The Hawkmoon Saga, First Phase:  The History of the Runestaff 
  [M-20] Book 1:  The Jewel in the Skull (1967), [M-21] Book 2:  The Mad 
  God’s Amulet (1968), [M-22] Book 3:  The Sword of the Dawn (1968)  
  (Gary specifically recommended the first three books in the Hawkmoon 
  series, above.  The implication is that the later books were deemed less 
  influential.)  [M-23] Book 4:  The Runestaff (1969) 
  The Hawkmoon Saga, Second Phase:  The Chronicles of Castle Brass 
  [M-24] Book 5:  Count Brass (1973), [M-25] Book 6:  The Champion of 
  Garathorm (1973), [M-26] Book 7:  The Quest for Tanelorn (1975) 
  [91] 
  THE MUMMY (FILM) 
  This 1932 movie, and the many sequels which followed, was the 
  inspiration for mummies as they appear in the D&D roster of monsters. 
  [M-27] The Mummy 
  [92] 
  MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (FILM) 
  This 1961 movie may have inspired the inclusion of axe beaks and giant 
  crabs in the monster lists. 
  [M-28] Mysterious Island 
   
  
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  [93] 
  THE NAKED JUNGLE (FILM) 
  Rob Kuntz has noted that this 1954 film was likely one of the inspirations 
  for the D&D portrayal of giant ants. 
  [N-1] The Naked Jungle 
  [94] 
  NIGHT GALLERY (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  Rob Kuntz has noted that the episode The Caterpillar (1972) was the 
  inspiration for the monster known as the ear seeker. 
  [N-2] Night Gallery 
  [95] 
  NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (FILM) 
  This 1968 movie was one of the main inspirations for the D&D depiction 
  of zombies. 
  [N-3] Night of the Living Dead 
  [96] 
  NORTON, ANDRE 
  Gygax’s respect for Ms. Norton is a bit problematic, because she wrote a 
  1978-1979 novel entitled Quag Keep which used elements of the 
  Greyhawk campaign with permission, but Gary was not privy to the 
  working draft and was not allowed any significant input to the creative 
  process prior to publication.  Nevertheless, he cited Norton as an 
  
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  admired favorite, and I believe his interest revolves primarily around the 
  earlier-established Witch World series. 
  Unfortunately, due to later collaborations over several decades, back-
  filling, and historical restructuring, a reading order of Witch World in the 
  in-novel chronology would be confusing if it were to be cut off at 1979.  
  Therefore, I list the early books in the approximated order of publication.  
  (I am open to reinterpretation of this order by a reader who has mastered 
  the entire series!) 
  The (Early, Non-Collaborative) Witch World Series 
  [N-4] Book 1:  Witch World (1963), [N-5] Book 2:  Web of the Witch 
  World (1964), [N-6] Book 3:  Year of the Unicorn (1965), [N-7] Book 4:  
  Three Against the Witch World (1965), [N-8] Book 5:  Warlock of the 
  Witch World (1967), [N-9] Book 6:  Sorceress of the Witch World (1968), 
  [N-10] Reading Order 7:  Ully the Piper (1970 short story), [N-11] 
  Reading Order 8:  One Spell Wizard (1972 short story), [N-12] Reading 
  Order 9:  The Crystal Gryphon (1972), [N-13] Reading Order 10:  Spell 
  of the Witch World (1972)  (At this point, you may need to pick up the 
  1980 collection Lore of the Witch World to continue on with some of 
  the novellas.)  [N-14] Reading Order 11:  Legacy from Sorn Fen (1972 
  story), [N-15] Reading Order 12:  The Toads of Grimmerdale (1973 
  novella), [N-16] Reading Order 13:  The Jargoon Pard (1974), [N-17] 
  Reading Order 14:  Spider Silk (1976 novella), [N-18] Reading Order 15:  
  Trey of Swords (1977), [N-19] Reading Order 16:  Sword of Unbelief 
  (1977 novella), [N-20] Reading Order 17:  Zarasthor’s Bane (1978), [N-
  21] Reading Order 18:  Sand Sister (1979 novella), [N-22] Reading Order 
  19:  Falcon Blood (1979 short story) 
   
  
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  [97] 
  OMAN, SIR CHARLES WILLIAM CHADWICK 
  Oman was the author of the monumental The Art of War in the Middle 
  Ages (1885), which was one of Gary’s go-to references for Chainmail and 
  the later medieval-inspired combat system of Dungeons & Dragons. 
  [O-1] The Art of War in the Middle Ages 
  [98] 
  OFFUTT, ANDREW J. (EDITOR) 
  Gary specifically recommended the anthology volume Swords Against 
  Darkness III as being an inspiration for elements of Dungeons & Dragons.  
  For the sake of completely, I have listed all of the Offutt-edited 
  anthologies in the series here. 
  The Swords Against Darkness Series 
  [O-2] Book 1:  Swords Against Darkness (I) (February 1977).  Includes 
  tales by Howard, Anderson, Wellman, and others.  [O-3] Book 2:  
  Swords Against Darkness II (September 1977).  Includes tales by Norton, 
  Wellman, Offutt, and others.  [O-4] Book 3:  Swords Against Darkness 
  III (March 1978).  Includes tales by David C. Smith (Descales’ Skull), David 
  Madison (Tower of Darkness), David Drake (The Mantichore), Wellman 
  (The Guest of Dzinganji) and others, along with Anderson’s essay On 
  Thud and Blunder.  [O-5] Book 4:  Swords Against Darkness IV 
  (September 1979).  Includes tales by Anderson, Wellman, and others.  
  
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  [O-6] Book 5:  Swords Against Darkness V (November 1979).  Includes 
  tales by Ramsey Campbell, Tanith Lee, and others. 
  [99] 
  ONE MILLION YEARS B. C. (FILM) 
  This 1966 movie, along with many earlier lost world tales, is a likely 
  inspiration for the inclusion of dinosaurs and giant lizards in the D&D 
  monster roster. 
  [O-7] One Million Years B. C. 
  [100] 
  THE OUTER LIMITS (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  According to Rob Kuntz, the episode entitled The Bellero Shield (1964) 
  was the inspiration for the cube of force. 
  [O-8] The Outer Limits 
   
   
   
  [101] 
  PLINY THE ELDER 
  Naturalis Historia (the Natural History, 1st century AD) was one of the 
  sources for significant numbers of monsters of Greek mythology. 
  [P-1] Naturalis Historia 
   
  
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  Pliny the Elder. 
   
  [102] 
  PRATT, FLETCHER 
  Besides his collaborative fiction and his influential wargaming rules, Gary 
  recommended Pratt’s novel The Blue Star (1969).  I could also 
  recommend the earlier novel The Well of the Unicorn (1948). 
  [P-2] The Well of the Unicorn, [P-3] The Blue Star 
  (See also DE CAMP, L. SPRAGUE & PRATT, FLETCHER.) 
   
  
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  [103] 
  THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (FILM) 
  This 1955 movie may have been one (along with Lovecraft’s shoggoths 
  and the Oobleck of Dr. Seuss) one of the inspirations for Gygax’s 
  enigmatic demon lord, Juiblex. 
  [Q-1] The Quatermass Experiment 
   
   
   
   
  
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  [104] 
  RALSTON, M. A. 
  Consider Russian Fairy Tales:  A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-
  Lore.  I recommend this edition mostly for the tireless and extensive 
  mentions of Baba Yaga (here regarded as a species of witches / ogresses), 
  and the tale of Koschei the Deathless.  Please note that Gary was 
  probably introduced to these tales as a child from other sources (perhaps 
  including Jack and Jill), including The Red Fairy Book of Andrew Lang 
  (which features The Death of Koschei the Deathless). 
  [R-1] Russian Fairy Tales:  A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-Lore 
  [105] 
  THE RAVEN (FILM) 
  This 1963 film was the source of many D&D spells, including magic missile 
  and ray of enfeeblement. 
  [R-2] The Raven 
  [106] 
  ROHMER, SAX 
  Rohmer’s 1913 novel The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu may have partly 
  inspired Gary’s inclusion of giant centipedes in the Dungeons & Dragons 
  game. 
  [R-3] The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu 
   
   
  
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  [107] 
  SABERHAGEN, FRED 
  Gary specifically mentioned Changeling Earth as an inspiration upon 
  D&D, which is known for its portrayal of Orcus, arch-mages, and an 
  empire based on the ethos of lawful evil.  However, Changeling Earth is 
  actually part of an ongoing series: 
  The Empire of the East Series 
  [S-1] Book 1:  The Broken Lands (1968), [S-2] Book 2:  The Black 
  Mountains (1971), [S-3] Book 3:  Changeling Earth, aka Ardneh’s World 
  (1973), [S-4] Book 4:  Ardneh’s Sword (but not published until 2006) 
  [108] 
  ST. CLAIR, MARGARET 
  Sign of the Labrys (1963) and The Shadow People (1969) were both 
  strong influences on the development of the Gygaxian netherworld.  
  Also, the 1951 short story The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles 
  (derived from a Lord Dunsany-scripted predecessor tale) inspired the 
  depiction of gnolls in D&D. 
  [S-5] The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles, [S-6] Sign of the Labrys, 
  [S-7] The Shadow People 
  [109] 
  SAMPO (AKA THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE) (FILM) 
  This 1959 film was vaguely recollected by Gary in later years as being the 
  inspiration for his fascination with the Kalevala (which includes 
  Lemminkäinen, from which the name Mordenkainen was taken). 
  [S-8] Sampo aka The Day the Earth Froze 
  [110] 
  SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  Tim Kask’s conception of the landshark, or bulette, monster was inspired 
  in part by a repeated SNL skit which began airing on November 8, 1975. 
  [S-9] Saturday Night Live 
  [111] 
  THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBARD (FILM) 
  This 1958 movie inspired many monsters and scenes in the Greyhawk 
  campaign, especially the roc. 
  [S-10] The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 
  
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  [112] 
  SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT 
  Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818) is the primary 
  inspirational source for the flesh golem monster. 
  [S-11] Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus 
   
   
  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. 
   
  [113] 
  SHAVER, RICHARD SHARPE 
  Mr. Shaver was the author of the Amazing Stories cycle of tales now 
  known as The Shaver Mystery (c. 1945-1948).  These tales featured a race 
  of Detrimental Robots, aka the DeRos.  This race appears to be the 
  inspiration for Gygax’s derro race, as featured in Dungeon Module S4 
  and Monster Manual II.  The first volume of collected tales is 
  recommended as pulp curiosity. 
  [S-12] The Shaver Mystery, Book One 
  
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  [114] 
  SIGFUSSON, SAEMOND ET AL 
  Sigfusson was a collector of the anonymous works that are sometimes 
  known as the Elder Edda(s) (13th century AD and earlier).  I recommend 
  the fairly approachable version found on Project Gutenberg:  The Elder 
  Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson, translated from the Original Old Norse Text 
  into English, by Benjamin Thorpe; paired with The Younger Eddas of 
  Snorri Sturluson, Translated from the Original Old Norse Text into 
  English, by I. A. Blackwell. 
  [S-13] The Elder Eddas 
  (See also STURLUSON, SNORRI.) 
  [115] 
  SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (FILM) 
  This 1977 film, although a relatively late work, may have inspired some 
  aspects of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. 
  [S-14] Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 
  [116] 
  SLEEPING BEAUTY (FILM) 
  The Goon minions which appear in this 1959 Disney movie were likely 
  one of the inspirations for the portrayal of pig-faced and dungeon-
  dwelling orcs.  There are many interestingly parallel spell effects as well. 
  [S-15] Sleeping Beauty 
  [117] 
  SPENSER, EDMUND 
  The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) inspired aspects of the Harold Shea tales, 
  as well as Tolkien’s elves, and may also have affected Gary’s depiction 
  of gray elves and other races of faerie. 
  [S-16] The Faerie Queene 
   
  
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  Edmund Spenser. 
   
  [118] 
  STAR TREK (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  The 1967 episode Arena, featuring the Gorn race, is probably one of the 
  inspirations for the lizard man monster. 
  [S-17] Star Trek 
  [119] 
  STERANKO, JIM & LEE, STAN ET AL 
  Gary was apparently a fan of the Doctor Strange comic books, featuring 
  (among many other series of tales) the occult magic-user, Doctor Stephen 
  Vincent Strange.  Doctor Strange debuted in Strange Tales issue #110 (July 
  1963).  The character’s self-titled comic book run began in 1974. 
  
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  [S-18] Strange Tales 
  [S-19] Doctor Strange 
  (See also separate entry for DOCTOR STRANGE.) 
  [120] 
  STOKER, BRAM 
  The portrayal of vampires in the Monster Manual is based on the Dracula 
  movies (particularly the 1931 version starring Bela Lugosi) and the 
  original 1897 novel by Bram Stoker, in addition to Dark Shadows. 
  [S-20] Dracula 
  [121] 
  STURLUSON, SNORRI 
  Sturluson was the compiler of the Younger Eddas aka The Prose Edda 
  (early 13th century AD). 
  [S-21] The Younger Eddas aka The Prose Edda 
  [122] 
  THE SUPERMAN / AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE 
  (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  The episode Menace of the Black Manta (1967) appears to be the chief 
  inspiration for the ixitxachitl monster. 
  [S-22] The Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure 
   
   
   
  
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  [123] 
  THEM! (FILM) 
  Rob Kuntz has noted that this 1954 film was likely one of the inspirations 
  for the D&D portrayal of giant ants. 
  [T-1] Them! 
  [124] 
  THIS ISLAND EARTH (FILM) 
  This 1955 movie appears to have directly inspired David C. Sutherland’s 
  “exposed brain” representation of the doppelganger in the Monster 
  Manual. 
  [T-2] This Island Earth 
  [125] 
  THOMAS, ROY ET AL 
  Thomas is the master of the Marvel line of Conan comics.  In particular: 
  The Conan the Barbarian Comic Book 
  Comic book series.  275 issues, running from October 1970 to December 
  1993.  Please note that there are also 12 issues of the Conan Annual (1973 
  to 1987) and five issues of Giant-Size Conan (1974 and 1975). 
  Significant issues include: 
  [T-3] Issue #4:  The Tower of the Elephant (April 1971), [T-4] Issue #11:  
  Rogues in the House and The Talons of Thak (November 1971), [T-5] 
  Issue #14:  A Sword Called Stormbringer, introducing Elric (March 1972), 
  [T-6] Issue #58:  Queen of the Black Coast (January 1976) 
  The Savage Sword of Conan Comic Magazine 
  A “magazine” series (oversized and to avoid the restrictions of the 
  Comics Code Authority), featuring good artwork and a diverse series of 
  tales.  Issues #1 to 235 ran from August 1974 to July 1995. 
  Significant issues include: 
  [T-7] Issue #2:  Black Colossus (October 1974), [T-8] Issue #4:  Iron 
  Shadows in the Moon (February 1975), [T-9] Issue #5:  A Witch Shall Be 
  Born (April 1975), [T-10] Issue #15:  The Devil in Iron (October 1976), 
  [T-11] Issue #16:  The People of the Black Circle (December 1976), [T-12] 
  Issue #24:  The Tower of the Elephant (November 1977), [T-13] Issue 
  #26:  Beyond the Black River (January 1978), [T-14] Issue #30:  The 
  Scarlet Citadel (June 1978), [T-15] Issue #34:  The Lair of the Ice Worm 
  
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  (October 1978)  (And for the curious:  One of the most telling instances 
  which shows that the Conan the Barbarian comic was indeed on Gary’s 
  (and Rob’s) mind in the early 1970s:  the artwork featured on the cover 
  of the Domesday Book, issue #12, is a direct copy of the cover art which 
  had earlier been featured on Conan the Barbarian, issue #1.) 
  [126] 
  THE TIME MACHINE (FILM) 
  This 1960 film, along with the original 1895 H. G. Wells novella, likely 
  inspired some aspects of the Drowic netherworld featured in the D series 
  of Dungeon Modules. 
  [T-16] The Time Machine 
  [127] 
  TOLKIEN, J. R. R. 
  Despite Gary’s frequent downplaying of the obvious level of influence, 
  the Professor’s works are some of the most directly influential on the 
  early design of Dungeons & Dragons.  The important volumes are of 
  course The Hobbit (1937), and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which 
  consists of The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (also 
  1954), and The Return of the King (1955). 
  [T-17] The Hobbit, [T-18] The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the 
  Ring, [T-19] The Lord of the Rings:  The Two Towers, [T-20] The Lord 
  of the Rings:  The Return of the King 
  [128] 
  THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (AKA THE FLYING EYE) 
  (FILM) 
  This 1958 film seems suspiciously like an inspiration for Gary’s 
  reinterpretation of Terry Kuntz’s beholder monsters, especially with their 
  abilities of levitation and mind control. 
  [T-21] The Trollenberg Terror aka The Flying Eye 
   
  
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  [129] 
  ULTRAMAN:  A SPECIAL EFFECTS FANTASY SERIES 
  (TELEVISION SERIES) 
  While likely not a direct Gygaxian inspiration, the monster featured in 
  episode 9 (Operation:  Uranium, 1966) likely inspired the “prehistoric 
  beast” toy which Kask and Gygax later statted out as the bulette. 
  [U-1] Ultraman 
   
   
   
  
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  [130] 
  VANCE, JACK 
  Vance was Gary’s favorite author.  The most influential series were The 
  Dying Earth, and Planet of Adventure. 
  The Dying Earth Series 
  [V-1] Book 1:  The Dying Earth (1950), [V-2] Book 2:  The Eyes of the 
  Overworld (1966), [V-3] Book 3:  Cugel’s Saga (not published until 
  1983), [V-4] Book 4:  Rhialto the Marvelous (not published until 1984) 
  The Planet of Adventure Series 
  [V-5] Book 1:  City of the Chasch (1968), [V-6] Book 2:  Servants of the 
  Wankh (1969), [V-7] Book 3:  The Dirdir (1969).  The Dirdir was of 
  course the inspiration for the “Dirdir level” adventures which branched 
  off dimensionally from the dungeons beneath Castle Greyhawk.  [V-8] 
  Book 4:  The Pnume (1970) 
   
   
  Jules Verne. 
  
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  [131] 
  VERNE, JULES 
  The 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (original French title 
  Voyage au Centre de la Terre) was one of the inspirations for the Drowic 
  underworld, and of course lent its title in part to Dungeon Module D1, 
  Descent into the Depths of the Earth. 
  [V-9] Journey to the Center of the Earth 
  [132] 
  VAN VOGT, ALFRED E. 
  Van Vogt’s tale Black Destroyer (1939) (which became part of the novel 
  The Voyage of the Space Beagle, 1950) inspired the displacer beast 
  monster, and perhaps also the blink dog.  Rob Kuntz has noted this is 
  also the inspiration for Arneson’s City of the Gods setting. 
  [V-10] Black Destroyer, [V-11] The Voyage of the Space Beagle 
   
   
  A Vinycomb. 
   
   
  
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  [133] 
  VINYCOMB, JOHN 
  The book Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art (1906) appears to have 
  inspired the depiction of various D&D monsters in illustrations made by 
  David A. Trampier, and possibly by David C. Sutherland III as well. 
  [V-12] Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art 
   
   
   
  [134] 
  WALPOLE, HORACE 
  Although not a mentioned primary source of either Arneson or Gygax, 
  Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) is certainly the major inspiration 
  for the much later cinematic interpretation of Gothic dramas by 
  Hollywood.  Which, of course, led to the classic monster movies, which 
  in turn inspired Arneson and Gygax in developing monsters and other 
  elements for Dungeons & Dragons. 
  [W-1] The Castle of Otranto 
   
   
   
  
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  The Gothic and Otranto. 
   
   
  
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  [135] 
  THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (FILM) 
  This 1955 movie may have been one of the inspirations for the inclusion 
  of the giant octopus in the roster of D&D monsters. 
  [W-2] The War of the Gargantuas 
  [136] 
  WEINBAUM, STANLEY G. 
  I have never been able to ascertain which stories by Mr. Weinbaum Gary 
  had originally intended to recommend to fans of Dungeons & Dragons, 
  but my best guess (at this time) is that he was fond of A Martian Odyssey 
  (1934), and perhaps also Valley of Dreams (also 1934). 
  [W-3] A Martian Odyssey, [W-4] Valley of Dreams 
  [137] 
  WELLMAN, MANLY WADE 
  In recommending Wellman’s works to readers who would like to read 
  tales associated with D&D, Gary may have been thinking in one of two 
  directions.  Firstly, he may have been recalling Wellman’s tales which 
  appeared in the early Swords Against Darkness anthology volumes.  
  Specifically, Straggler from Atlantis, The Dweller in the Temple, and/or 
  The Guest of Dzinganji.  Secondly, he may have been recalling Wellman’s 
  acclaimed Arkham House anthology, entitled Worse Things Waiting 
  (1973). 
  [W-5] Worse Things Waiting 
  [138] 
  WELLS, H. G. 
  The classic Wells dystopian novella The Time Machine (1895) was an 
  inspiration for the development of the Drowic underworld, as featured 
  in the D series of Dungeon Modules. 
  [W-6] The Time Machine 
  [139] 
  WEREWOLF OF LONDON 
  I believe that this 1935 movie (and the many in the werewolf genre that 
  followed it) influenced the conception of lycanthropes in Dungeons & 
  Dragons. 
  [W-7] Werewolf of London 
  
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  [140] 
  WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS & SMITH, NORA A. 
  I recommend The Arabian Nights:  Their Best-Known Tales (1909).  This 
  edition was nicely illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.  This version includes 
  The Story of the City of Brass, as well as The Story of Aladdin, The Story 
  of Sinbad the Voyager, and others. 
  [W-8] The Arabian Nights:  Their Best-Known Tales 
  See also LANG, ANDREW. 
  [141] 
  WILLIAMSON, JACK 
  Although it remains a mystery, I believe that in recommending Mr. 
  Williamson to fans of D&D, Gygax may have had The Reign of Wizardry 
  (serialization 1940, novelization 1964) in mind.  There are several other 
  candidates, however, including Dragon’s Island aka The Not-Men (1951) 
  and The Power of Blackness (1976). 
  [W-9] The Reign of Wizardry, [W-10] Dragon’s Island aka The Not-Men, 
  [W-11] The Power of Blackness 
  [142] 
  WILSON, COLIN 
  Rob Kuntz has noted that Wilson’s novel The Mind Parasites (first 
  published in 1967) inspired the creation of the brain mole, intellect 
  devourer, thought eater, and cerebral parasite monsters. 
  [W-12] The Mind Parasites 
   
   
  
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  [143] 
  ZELAZNY, ROGER 
  Gary recommended the tale Jack of Shadows (1971) as well as, to a lesser 
  extent, The Chronicles of Amber.  The early volumes of The Chronicles 
  are as follows: 
  [Z-1] Jack of Shadows 
  The Chronicles of Amber 
  [Z-2] Book 1:  Nine Princes in Amber (June 1970), [Z-3] Book 2:  The 
  Guns of Avalon (1972), [Z-4] Book 3:  Sign of the Unicorn (February 
  1975), [Z-5] Book 4:  The Hand of Oberon (1976), [Z-6] Book 5:  The 
  Courts of Chaos (1978) 
   
  (Please note that research in this vein is considerable, and forever ongoing.  Much 
  more will be added to this resource in the future. ~KDK) 
   
   
  
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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
   
  BEGINNING PLAY as a chaotic neutral normal human with one measly hit point to 
  his name, KENT DAVID KELLY eventually became apprenticed to a magic-user of ill 
  repute ... a foul man who dwelt in the steamy deeps of the Ivory Cloud Mountain.  
  After this mentor carelessly misplaced an intelligent soul-sucking sword and then 
  died under suspicious circumstances, his former henchman Mr. Kelly escaped to the 
  deeper underground and there began playing Satanic role-playing games.  This, the 
  legends tell us, occurred in the year 1981. 
  Hoary wizard-priests who inspired Mr. Kelly in his netherworldly machinations 
  included the peerless Gygax, Carr, Arneson, Cook, Hammack, Jaquays, Bledsaw, 
  Moldvay, Kuntz, Schick and Ward.  Sadly, a misguided made-for-the-basements 
  movie entitled Mazes and Monsters gave Mr. Kelly’s parents conniptions in 1982.  
  As a result of that blasphemous Tom Hanks debacle (and other more personal lapses 
  in judgment), Mr. Kelly was eventually forbidden from playing his favorite game 
  for a considerable length of time. 
  Nonplussed but not defeated, he used this enforced exile to escape to a friend’s 
  alehouse, and there indulged himself in now-classic computer RPGs such as Zork, 
  Telengard, Temple of Apshai, Ultima, Tunnels of Doom, The Bard’s Tale, Phantasie, 
  Pool of Radiance, Wizard’s Crown and Wasteland.  He then went on to write 
  computer versions of his own FRPGs, which led to his obsession with coupling 
  creative design elements with random dungeons and unpredictable adventure 
  generation. 
  Mr. Kelly wrote and submitted his first adventure for Dungeon magazine #1 in 
  1986.  Unfortunately, one Mr. Moore decided that his submission was far too 
  “Lovecraftian, horrific and unfair” to ever serve that worthy periodical as a 
  publishable adventure.  Mr. Kelly, it must be said, took this rejection as a very good 
  sign of things to come. 
  In the late 80s and 90s, Mr. Kelly wrote short stories, poems and essays ... some 
  of which have been published under the Wonderland Imprints banner.  He wrote 
  several dark fantasy and horror novels as well.  Concurrently, he ran Dark Angel 
  Collectibles, selling classic FRPG materials as Darkseraphim, and assisted the Acaeum 
  with the creation of the Valuation Board and other minor research projects. 
  At this time, Mr. Kelly and his entourage of evil gnomes are rumored to dwell 
  in the dread and deathly under-halls of the Acaeum, Dragonsfoot, ENWorld, 
  Grognardia, Knights & Knaves, ODD, and even more nefarious levels deep in the 
  mega-dungeon of the Web. 
  
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  There he remains in vigil, his vampiric sword yet shivering in his hand.  When 
  not being sought outright for answers to halfling riddles or other more sundry sage 
  advice, he is to be avoided by sane individuals at all costs. 
   
   
  
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  OTHER BOOKS 
  BY KENT DAVID KELLY 
   
  CHRONICALLY AFFLICTED with the “Partial Completion Curse” of the Magus 
  Arneson, Kent is the author of hundreds of partial manuscripts, ranging from role-
  playing games, to novels, to poems, to songs, to short stories and gaming articles.  
  A few dozen of these pieces have even been published and read by others!  If you 
  enjoyed this book, the following additional works are available for your 
  consideration: 
  Perhaps the most relevant to HAWK & MOOR is THE STEAM TUNNEL 
  INCIDENT, the real-life account of the legendary “satanic hysteria” and the tragic 
  death of James Dallas Egbert III. 
  Mr. Kelly also publishes the well-received CASTLE OLDSKULL line of system-
  neutral gaming supplements, intended to inject classic “old school” flavor into any 
  Fantasy Role-Playing Game.  To date, there are eight books in the Castle Oldskull 
  series, detailing world design, dungeon design, character creation, urban 
  encounters, monsters, treasures, and more.  A similar extensive line of 5E (Fifth 
  Edition D&D) gaming supplements is available through DMsGuild.com, and Wizards 
  of the Coast.  The 5E DMsGuild line exemplifies gaming systems which are used to 
  bring old school (OD&D & 1E) themes, atmosphere, and methodologies into the 
  current 5E system. 
  Kent has also published three novels to date.  The first is ARACHNE, a dark 
  fantasy epic which is available in two volumes:  (I) Death, the Beginning and (II) 
  The Weave of Fate.  The second full novel is NECRONOMICON:  THE CTHULHU 
  REVELATIONS, a grimoire which depicts the nightmarish life of H. P. Lovecraft’s 
  anti-hero, Abd Al-Azrad.  Third and most acclaimed is FROM THE FIRE, a gripping 
  post-apocalyptic tale which is available both in a special omnibus edition and as a 
  series of novellas, beginning with Episode One:  End of Days. 
  To date, Kent’s published poetry has also been made available in two volumes, 
  comprising THE LYRIC BOOKS OF SHADOW.  These volumes include For the Dark 
  Is the Light and The Summoning of Dark Angels. 
  All of these works are available as affordable eBooks via Amazon.com, 
  DMsGuild.com, CreateSpace (limited selections to date) and other sites as well.  I 
  do try to balance my family’s financial needs with the interests and convenience of 
  my readership, and run free promotions and sales on my eBooks whenever I can.  
  Paperbacks may be released in the future if there is sufficient interest; please let me 
  
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  know of your preference! 
  Many additional works are being prepared as well.  I ask that you always feel 
  welcome to contact me via Facebook, my Amazon Author page, or at.  You can 
  also reach me through the Dragonsfoot.org or Acaeum.com websites (although 
  replies may be delayed) via account name darkseraphim. 
  If you have enjoyed this book, please do consider leaving me a review online, 
  as that “tip jar” has a direct and lasting positive effect on my future success.  And if 
  you would be kind us to tell at least one friend about this book, I would grateful.  
  Who knows?  Someday, I may even convince my family that my hobby is almost 
  as important as my day job.  I thank you in advance! 
   
   
  
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  HAWK & MOOR 
  BOOK II:  THE DUNGEONS DEEP 
   
  Now available at: 
  DriveThruRPG (Deluxe Edition PDF, Continually Updated with New Research) 
  RPGNow (Deluxe Edition PDF, Continually Updated with New Research) 
  Amazon.com (Kindle E-Book, Original Version, 2015) 
  Amazon.com (Hardcopy, Original Version, 2015) 
  
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/_GM Books/HAWK & MOOR TRILOGY - the Unoff - Kent David Kelly.pdf