Name: Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1
Price: 29.95 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Jon Peterson
ISBN: 9780262548779

The first volume of two in a new, updated edition of the 2012 book Playing at the World, which charts the vast and complex history of role-playing games.

This new edition of Playing at the World is the first of two volumes that update the 720-page original tome of the same name from 2012. This first volume is The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons, which explores the publication of that iconic game. (The second volume is The Three Pillars of Role-Playing Games, a deeper dive into the history of the setting, system, and character of D & D.) In this first volume, Jon Peterson distills the story of how the wargaming clubs and fanzines circulating around the upper Midwest in the 1970s culminated in Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s seminal role-playing game, D & D. It augments the research of the original editions with new insights into the crucial period in 1972–3 when D & D began to take shape.

Drawing from primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World explores the origins of wargames and roleplaying through the history of conflict simulations and the eccentric characters who drove the creation of a signature cultural innovation in the late twentieth century. Filled with unparalleled archival research (from obscure fanzines to letters, drafts, and other ephemera), this new edition of Playing at the World is the ultimate geek’s guide to the original RPG. As such, it is an indispensable resource for academics and game fans exploring the origins of the hobby.

“Peterson proves an able guide . . . carefully selecting which individuals and publications to highlight, building toward a taxonomy of role-playing games and their core elements. . . . A highly readable history of ideas.”
—The Washington Post

“The most striking thing about this readable history is the way in which Peterson brings to life the culture of hobbyist clubs that birthed the roleplaying game. . . . If you’re interested in the ways in which hobbyist culture can have a lasting impact on the world . . . Playing at the World is essential.”
—Fortean Times

“[Peterson] is our dungeon master, guiding us through history with the precision of a veteran player who knows every rule and secret of the game. . . . This book is a critical hit.”
—Stuff Stoners Like

“A very readable and engaging history of the origins of D&D, and the further years of research Peterson has done on this subject clearly shows. . . . Few [academic histories] are as exciting as this one.”
—Stuart Ellis-Gorman, author of The Medieval Crossbow: A Weapon Fit to Kill a King

“Jon Peterson has dug wider and deeper into the secret history of D&D and unearthed more arcana than anyone out there. Fascinating reading not just to fans of the game but to anyone who wants to understand how a cultural phenomenon can be born in a basement, crawl up into the light, and conquer the world.”
—D. B. Weiss, cocreator of Game of Thrones and 3 Body Problem

“I’m a bit embarrassed thinking of how many times I’ve talked about the history of D&D, thinking I knew the story—I realize how little I knew. Playing at the World applies a higher standard of research than any other work on the history of role-playing games I’ve seen. Check out this awesome book!”
—Peter Adkison, GenCon Chairperson of the Board; Founder and CEO of Wizards of the Coast, 1993–2001

“The most carefully researched, loving, and impeccably documented history of Dungeons & Dragons we are surely ever going to see . . . a simultaneously immersive and authoritative book our world would be a dimmer place without.”
—Matthew Kirschenbaum, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland; coeditor of Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming

Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1

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