Today marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of
Dungeons & Dragons, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
It is not an exaggeration to say that without Dungeons & Dragons there would be no Fighting Fantasy gamebooks either.
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone were sharing a flat in Shepherd’s Bush with another friend, John Peake, when the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was
published in 1974, and their lives changed for ever.
They had heard about D&D through fanzines, although
they did not actually get hold of a copy of their own until 1975. Jackson once
described the arrival of D&D as “manna
from heaven”. It was the
game they had been waiting for.
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone with Dungeons & Dragons in 1976.
(© Ian Livingstone, 2024)
Overwhelmed by the possibilities such role-playing games offered
imaginative individuals, Jackson, Livingstone and Peake decided to start their
own business. In February 1975 Games Workshop was established. Later that year
they secured the exclusive European distribution rights for Dungeons & Dragons. Games
Workshop started slowly but became a huge success over time, expanding from a bedroom mail order company to become a major retailer and publisher of wargames and RPGs.
You can read about those early years of the company in Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop, by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson.
Gary Gygax, Don Turnbull, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson in 1979.
(© Ian Livingstone, 2024)
Meanwhile, Geraldine Cooke has taken over Penguin Books' ailing science fiction, fantasy and horror list. Cooke’s best friend Geoff John, an avid Dungeons & Dragons player of
several years' standing, told her all about Games
Workshop. He told her to ring Jackson and Livingstone and see if they could turn the game, or something like it, into a book.
As a direct result of Cooke’s interest in Games Workshop, Penguin
Books took a stand at Games Day 1979 (Games Day being the annual retail and
gaming event established by Jackson and Livingstone in the same year they
co-founded Games Workshop) ostensibly to promote a new book called
Playing Politics.
Fired by a combination of entrepreneurial bravado and
youthful enthusiasm, Jackson and Livingstone agreed to work up a proposal and outline for a book about the growing fantasy role-playing hobby. The book was intended to be a 'How to' manual of role-playing, but the synopsis they submitted was for a simple solo RPG, presented within the pages of a book. A gamebook. The rest, as they say, is history...
Coming full circle, there are now
Dungeons & Dragons gamebooks, but they are not on the same level as your favourite Fighting Fantasy adventures. But without
D&D you wouldn't be reading this blog post today.
So, Happy Birthday, Dungeons & Dragons! Here's to the next 50 years!
