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Playing at the World, Vol. 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons
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.
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.
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 3, 2024
Few books have impacted me quite as much as the first edition of Jon Peterson’s Playing at the World. A 700 page self-published brick of a history on the origins and influences of Dungeons and Dragons was exactly the kind of deep nerd lore that I craved. I devoured it while working on my PhD, and even snuck in a little reference to it on my footnotes. Now long out of print, it was a book I would recommend but with many caveats around people having to really be into this kind of thing specifically. Thankfully, Peterson has seen fit to put together a revised second edition, now available via MIT Press, and Playing at the World has never been so approachable. While a weirdo like me can’t help but miss some of the first edition’s idiosyncrasies, even I must admit that this is altogether a more polished history of the origins of D&D and roleplaying games in general.
For its second edition Playing at the World has undergone a complete restructure. No longer a single hefty tome, it is two volumes. The first - which I am reviewing here - is the more straightforward narrative history of how the duo of E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson happened to create Dungeons and Dragons between 1971 and 1974. It starts before either individual, though, and examines the early history of commercial board and miniatures wargaming in America to provide a clear contextual account of how the ideas that informed D&D happened to be in circulation for Gygax and Arneson to encounter. The second volume will examine what Peterson has called the “pillars” of influences on D&D, looking at things like how fantasy fiction of the time created the specific flavor of fantasy adventure that comprises D&D campaigns. While I believe this split makes complete sense, and certainly makes the book more accessible to general readers, I am a little saddened since I actually adored the weird structure of the first edition and many of my favorite aspects of Playing at the World are in the forthcoming volume 2.
Still, I can’t complain about what volume 1 achieves. This is 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. The book handily avoids falling into hero worship of the game’s creators and instead takes ample time to outline the many influences and side figures without whom D&D never would have come to be. As the book itself says, D&D was more than the creation of one person.
I particularly enjoyed the expanded sections on the introduction of various now iconic sub-classes. While I remember the story of the invention of the Thief character - submitted by fans to TSR and then later made official, without compensating the inventor of course - this new edition includes stories of how rangers, bards, and other classes emerged from the fan communities and even how fans reacted to new official sub-classes, like monk and assassin, by making their own versions.
While the founders of TSR do not exactly cover themselves in glory in this book, Peterson does a good job of explaining the challenges facing a company trying to balance their own commercial goals with the collaborative fan culture that made them as popular as they were. I don’t think anyone would say that sending letters from lawyers as a first step was the brightest idea for engendering a good relationship with the game’s fans, but Peterson does paint a complex picture of some of the gray areas that existed with the creation of a new style of game and the interaction between fan creation and publisher’s brand. This also helps to further underpin the narrative that while Gygax and Arneson’s names are on the game’s cover, D&D was a product of a wider community without whom we would not have roleplaying games as we do now. I also really enjoyed the factoid that apparently the term “role-playing game” was coined by one Richard Berg, an eccentric, prolific, and personal favorite designer of mine.
Peterson is an excellent writer and making this kind of dense sub-culture stuff both readable and engaging is no small feat. I read a lot of academic histories and few are as exciting as this one about midwestern nerds inventing a new game. I also really enjoyed how Peterson frequently engages with the fact that people struggled to describe D&D after it first came out - it is fascinating looking back from a time when RPGs are ubiquitous to examine a time when people didn’t have a name for them and even struggled to describe what the game was. A helpful reminder that language is tricky and explaining new concepts is hard.
I can never be who I was when I first read Playing at the World. Since then I have read several more books on the history of RPGs, including several by Peterson, so the new revised edition could never hit me the same way that the original did. Still, I had a great time reading it and didn’t want to put it down. If you haven’t ever read the original, you should definitely read this one and if you did read the original I think it is still worth your time. Now, who do I talk to about getting an advance copy of volume 2? I don’t think I can last until April.
This review originally appeared on my website, you can see other reviews by me there at: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blo...
For its second edition Playing at the World has undergone a complete restructure. No longer a single hefty tome, it is two volumes. The first - which I am reviewing here - is the more straightforward narrative history of how the duo of E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson happened to create Dungeons and Dragons between 1971 and 1974. It starts before either individual, though, and examines the early history of commercial board and miniatures wargaming in America to provide a clear contextual account of how the ideas that informed D&D happened to be in circulation for Gygax and Arneson to encounter. The second volume will examine what Peterson has called the “pillars” of influences on D&D, looking at things like how fantasy fiction of the time created the specific flavor of fantasy adventure that comprises D&D campaigns. While I believe this split makes complete sense, and certainly makes the book more accessible to general readers, I am a little saddened since I actually adored the weird structure of the first edition and many of my favorite aspects of Playing at the World are in the forthcoming volume 2.
Still, I can’t complain about what volume 1 achieves. This is 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. The book handily avoids falling into hero worship of the game’s creators and instead takes ample time to outline the many influences and side figures without whom D&D never would have come to be. As the book itself says, D&D was more than the creation of one person.
I particularly enjoyed the expanded sections on the introduction of various now iconic sub-classes. While I remember the story of the invention of the Thief character - submitted by fans to TSR and then later made official, without compensating the inventor of course - this new edition includes stories of how rangers, bards, and other classes emerged from the fan communities and even how fans reacted to new official sub-classes, like monk and assassin, by making their own versions.
While the founders of TSR do not exactly cover themselves in glory in this book, Peterson does a good job of explaining the challenges facing a company trying to balance their own commercial goals with the collaborative fan culture that made them as popular as they were. I don’t think anyone would say that sending letters from lawyers as a first step was the brightest idea for engendering a good relationship with the game’s fans, but Peterson does paint a complex picture of some of the gray areas that existed with the creation of a new style of game and the interaction between fan creation and publisher’s brand. This also helps to further underpin the narrative that while Gygax and Arneson’s names are on the game’s cover, D&D was a product of a wider community without whom we would not have roleplaying games as we do now. I also really enjoyed the factoid that apparently the term “role-playing game” was coined by one Richard Berg, an eccentric, prolific, and personal favorite designer of mine.
Peterson is an excellent writer and making this kind of dense sub-culture stuff both readable and engaging is no small feat. I read a lot of academic histories and few are as exciting as this one about midwestern nerds inventing a new game. I also really enjoyed how Peterson frequently engages with the fact that people struggled to describe D&D after it first came out - it is fascinating looking back from a time when RPGs are ubiquitous to examine a time when people didn’t have a name for them and even struggled to describe what the game was. A helpful reminder that language is tricky and explaining new concepts is hard.
I can never be who I was when I first read Playing at the World. Since then I have read several more books on the history of RPGs, including several by Peterson, so the new revised edition could never hit me the same way that the original did. Still, I had a great time reading it and didn’t want to put it down. If you haven’t ever read the original, you should definitely read this one and if you did read the original I think it is still worth your time. Now, who do I talk to about getting an advance copy of volume 2? I don’t think I can last until April.
This review originally appeared on my website, you can see other reviews by me there at: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blo...
April 11, 2025
“The importance of role-playing games does not lie in any artistic pretension so much as in their world-forging expansiveness, the sheer audacity of games in which an improvised table-top discussion conjures an epic world into being. It sounds absurd, even preposterous, yet it captured the imaginations of millions. Role-playing games are a testament to the curious ability of the human mind to embrace a bare sketch of a situation, to fill in its undefined areas and above all to believe it, to play at these worlds in such earnest that we lose ourselves in fictional personae.”
Dungeons and Dragons, and to a lesser degree all role-playing, has a special, special place near and dear deep in my heart. The history, the origins of such a sentimental, precious object have always interested me, intellectually as well as emotionally, particularly this work, which when I first heard of it six or seven years ago was spoken about in hushed and revered tones. Casual research brought the news hard and raw: that the book was no longer in print and the copies that were able to be acquired were not cheap. Dejected, I sought out alternatives hoping for the best. I settled on David Ewalt's less than spectacular "Of Dice and Men," which I reviewed as nothing more than "in-flight magazine expose at its worst. A work that lurks and lives in the shallow end of the pool." That would have to be enough until Peterson decided to put the book back into print or the news came of the next best option.
By the fall of 2024, many others and I were overjoyed to see not only that "Playing at the World" (now branded with 2E) was being published again but expanded and published in two volumes. It is presented in a serious, non-fiction narrative history of the origin of the Dungeons and Dragons beginning with its birth in dark Wisconsin and Minnesota basements playing Napoleonic war games up until 1974 as Dungeons and Dragons and the new game-style and art form of role-playing seized not only the world of gaming, but the world itself.
I would consider this the definitive resource chronicling the history and evolution of the world's greatest game, Dungeons and Dragons. It is a treasure trove of history and imagination, that player and scholar alike will devour.
Dungeons and Dragons, and to a lesser degree all role-playing, has a special, special place near and dear deep in my heart. The history, the origins of such a sentimental, precious object have always interested me, intellectually as well as emotionally, particularly this work, which when I first heard of it six or seven years ago was spoken about in hushed and revered tones. Casual research brought the news hard and raw: that the book was no longer in print and the copies that were able to be acquired were not cheap. Dejected, I sought out alternatives hoping for the best. I settled on David Ewalt's less than spectacular "Of Dice and Men," which I reviewed as nothing more than "in-flight magazine expose at its worst. A work that lurks and lives in the shallow end of the pool." That would have to be enough until Peterson decided to put the book back into print or the news came of the next best option.
By the fall of 2024, many others and I were overjoyed to see not only that "Playing at the World" (now branded with 2E) was being published again but expanded and published in two volumes. It is presented in a serious, non-fiction narrative history of the origin of the Dungeons and Dragons beginning with its birth in dark Wisconsin and Minnesota basements playing Napoleonic war games up until 1974 as Dungeons and Dragons and the new game-style and art form of role-playing seized not only the world of gaming, but the world itself.
I would consider this the definitive resource chronicling the history and evolution of the world's greatest game, Dungeons and Dragons. It is a treasure trove of history and imagination, that player and scholar alike will devour.
August 23, 2024
I've read three of this guy's books: The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity, Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons, and now this one. Part I of a two volume set, Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons is a history of the game design innovations that took place in the late 60s and early 70s that led to the creation of Dungeons&Dragons. I enjoyed this very much, and I am looking forward to the second part which will be a deeper dive into more specific topics (handily presented in bold text in this book). I have been playing these games since I was 12 years old, and I love them all. It has been 43 years and my interest has never lagged. I am so, so happy that books like theses (as well as Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons, Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worldsand Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons are being written about this crazy hobby that I have.
November 29, 2025
It's really fascinating how the small decisions and efforts of a few people, combined with many random circumstances, can lead to the creation of such a defining part of culture. Dungeons and Dragons and the role playing game genre that it pioneered has had an enormous impact on pop culture and my own life, so it was really fascinating to read about its history and all the pieces that had to fall into place for it to be created. I think there is something very human about D&D and how it encourages you to create and tell stories with your friends purely in the interest of fun and entertaining each other, and it was really enjoyable to read about how D&D was created in a very similar way. Gary Gygax was a pretty questionable guy, but I think the conclusion here is that neither him nor Dave Arneson can really be credited with the sole invention of D&D, as although they might have been the ones to sell it as a product, the game couldn't exist without the community behind it that all made their own contributions to the hobby, and I think that's pretty neat.
August 15, 2024
Still the most complete history of Dungeons and Dragons to date. The new edition is in a nice form factor, and I believe presents the text in a slightly revised manner from the original. I highly recommend it as the closest thing to an authoritative text on the topic.
It begins with the development of wargames and the zine-culture from which D&D emerged, then traces out the history of the thing. Remarkable work. Does an excellent job presenting the context of D&D while complicating pre-conceived notions and apocryphal stories about what D&D is and how it should be interpreted.
The narrative is very slightly Gygax centered. While it details Arneson's Blackmoor, it doesn't get deep into the weeds of Arneson's (apparently unhappy) time at TSR. The narrative also only goes through the original Dungeons and Dragons and its supplements. It does not cover the development of Advanced D&D, the Moldvay/Mentzer Basic D&D lines, or Wizards of the Coast.
Looking forward to Volume 2!
It begins with the development of wargames and the zine-culture from which D&D emerged, then traces out the history of the thing. Remarkable work. Does an excellent job presenting the context of D&D while complicating pre-conceived notions and apocryphal stories about what D&D is and how it should be interpreted.
The narrative is very slightly Gygax centered. While it details Arneson's Blackmoor, it doesn't get deep into the weeds of Arneson's (apparently unhappy) time at TSR. The narrative also only goes through the original Dungeons and Dragons and its supplements. It does not cover the development of Advanced D&D, the Moldvay/Mentzer Basic D&D lines, or Wizards of the Coast.
Looking forward to Volume 2!
May 19, 2025
I very much enjoyed Jon Peterson's 2012 "Playing at the World," a history of the invention of D&D and thus roleplaying games in general. When I heard that a 2nd edition was in the works, I could not see how such a thing could be necessary. But I must say, the arrangement of the materials into two volumes in a new edition is much clearer and allows for a better grasp of the history of RPGs starting from D&D. The book strives to be objective, and certainly puts no one on a pedestal (one can respect Gygax and Arneson's achievments in creating D&D without idolizing them!), and I think is rather successful in this regard. I very much enjoyed volume 1 of this revised edition, and look forward to volume 2!
August 15, 2024
Welcome rerelease of (half of) the long out-of-print book on the development of D&D. Peterson has wisely remixed the running order here; this book covers the story from the wargame scene of the late 1960s where Gygax and Arneson were percolating through to the release of D&D and early community reactions to it, whilst the material on the "prehistory" of the game - covering subjects ranging from the development of chess to the creation of wargames as training exercises for real-life militaries - has been delegated to the second volume.
Full overview of the new edition: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Full overview of the new edition: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
October 13, 2025
I haven't read any of the other histories of D&D, but I'd be astonished if any of them came close to Jon Peterson's more or less insane degree of scholarly thoroughness. He sifted through what must have been mountains of letters and zines that were probably only previous seen by a handful of people in order to obtain a definitive trail of the emergence of the world's first role-playing game (before anyone had come up with that term).
I'd like to continue on to the next volume, but for some reason it's over $50. Wth?
I'd like to continue on to the next volume, but for some reason it's over $50. Wth?
May 24, 2025
what a tremendous and well researched piece that explores the special war gaming community environment that gave birth to DnD. The attention to the many fanzines associated with the hobby and how ideas traveled within it provide a fascinating insight into the community traditions that turned enthusiasm into modification then modification into iteration and finally iteration and collaboration into full blown creation.
August 23, 2024
A reference book or textbook about the evolution of the rules of RPGs out of wargaming and the initial spread of role playing culture throughout the US. About 1/5 of the book are foot notes. Probably not a great introduction to the subject, but if you already know the basic history, this is a goldmine of details.
April 15, 2025
This second edition of Playing at the World continues to be the single best history of the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. Separating it into two volumes allows this first volume to focus solely on the development of Dungeons & Dragons up through the release of the final supplement for the original edition of the game.
A must-read for anyone interested in the subject.
A must-read for anyone interested in the subject.
September 10, 2025
A succinct history of the world's first role-playing game. It is very interesting to see the development of the genre as well as Dungeons & Dragons itself. Peterson does a great job at telling the history through zines and jumps around to key players and anecdotes from early conventions.
Read
August 30, 2024Excellent. Clear, well-supported, and engaging. I only wish the second part were already released
September 9, 2024
Enjoyable giveaway read to learn more about the history of D&D. Already have a family member anxious to read it next!
February 24, 2025
Very fun and interesting to read, extremely well researched.
Cannot wait for Volume 2.
Cannot wait for Volume 2.
July 21, 2025
The history, politics and business of D&D. Quite a complicated story to skim. It's surprising that we have the product that we have today.
May 7, 2025
This was a far more well researched and well written history of the invention of Dungeons & Dragons than I had expected, and I think it can't help but prove rewarding for anyone interested in this subject, or indeed, the general subject of the history of roleplaying games in the western world.
I had no idea just how incomplete D&D was as it originally arrived on the scene, and the vital role the wider wargaming community had played in its creation and in shaping it's early years of game design.
In sum, homebrew content (in the form of rules, classes, etc) is not ancillary to D&D, it is essential to its history, it is impossible to imagine D&D today without the creativity of its players.
The history of D&D reminds me of the way in which the video game Team Fortress 2 is now maintained by its player-base generating content, which the developers sell back to the community. If not for the fans of D&D submitting ideas about its improvements, we wouldn't have the Thief class, and frankly so much much more, which you can learn about by reading this book.
I had no idea just how incomplete D&D was as it originally arrived on the scene, and the vital role the wider wargaming community had played in its creation and in shaping it's early years of game design.
In sum, homebrew content (in the form of rules, classes, etc) is not ancillary to D&D, it is essential to its history, it is impossible to imagine D&D today without the creativity of its players.
The history of D&D reminds me of the way in which the video game Team Fortress 2 is now maintained by its player-base generating content, which the developers sell back to the community. If not for the fans of D&D submitting ideas about its improvements, we wouldn't have the Thief class, and frankly so much much more, which you can learn about by reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews