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Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games
Roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, in which players take the roles of heroes in their own story, have solidly moved from the geek fringes to the mainstream, beloved by celebrities and inspiring hit podcasts and massively successful sales in games, comics, and hobby shops.
The story of the tabletop’s triumph even in our digital age begins in the day of actual sword-wielding warriors, leading right up to the fireball-casting avatars of today. In Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games, New York Times-bestselling and award-winning comics creators Fred Van Lente and Tom Fowler take you on an incredible journey from the mists of the past to the screen-lit present, showing not just how these games work and why we love them, but what they can tell us about ourselves.
The story of the tabletop’s triumph even in our digital age begins in the day of actual sword-wielding warriors, leading right up to the fireball-casting avatars of today. In Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games, New York Times-bestselling and award-winning comics creators Fred Van Lente and Tom Fowler take you on an incredible journey from the mists of the past to the screen-lit present, showing not just how these games work and why we love them, but what they can tell us about ourselves.
112 pages, Hardcover
Published June 17, 2025
About the author
Fred Van Lente
1,375 books321 followersFred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 23, 2025
Another excellent history by Van Lente right up there with the “Comic Book History of Comic Books” and the “Hooked on Classics” Philosophy series. This one delves into ancient polyhedrons, chess, Kriegsspiel, and the the modern RPG by way of Diplomacy and Braunstein. Nothing that isn’t covered in far more detail in books by such authors as Peterson, but presented in such a unique and interesting manner that this is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. Plenty of humor and many, many Easter Eggs hidden in the art make this a book to spend some time with to make sure nothing is missed. I backed this on Kickstarter and I am glad I did.
March 24, 2026
I've always been fascinated by the history of roleplaying games (RPGs), much more so than I have been in actually playing them. There's something really admirable about the eager nerds who built a cultural phenomenon around their enthusiasms for fantasy, science fiction and gaming. Few of the folks who originated the early RPGs made much money from them, but their passion for the hobby shone through in the wild flights of imagination spurred on by their work. In the emerging dark age of the internet, where a new generation of nerds uses their vast fortunes to bankroll autocracy, there's something truly quaint about what the pre-digital RPG designers bequeathed.
While others writers have delved deep into the extensive history of RPGs, Gamemasters is remarkably successful in encapsulating this same history in graphic novel format in just over one hundred pages. It obviously skips a lot of detail, but includes the most important milestones, and is all the more impressive for the scope of its coverage, with a timespan beginning in the sixth century (to trace the evolution of tabletop war-games from which RPGs evolved). Tom Fowler's full color art has enough imaginative expression to equal the games he is depicting, and Fred Van Lente's text manages the neat trick of being both concise and comprehensive. The only disappointment is the very many typos in the text, which are annoying but not overly distracting.
This is definitely a great introduction to the topic if your interest doesn't extend far enough to read something like the seven hundred plus pages of Jon Peterson's Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventure from Chess to Role-Playing Games.
While others writers have delved deep into the extensive history of RPGs, Gamemasters is remarkably successful in encapsulating this same history in graphic novel format in just over one hundred pages. It obviously skips a lot of detail, but includes the most important milestones, and is all the more impressive for the scope of its coverage, with a timespan beginning in the sixth century (to trace the evolution of tabletop war-games from which RPGs evolved). Tom Fowler's full color art has enough imaginative expression to equal the games he is depicting, and Fred Van Lente's text manages the neat trick of being both concise and comprehensive. The only disappointment is the very many typos in the text, which are annoying but not overly distracting.
This is definitely a great introduction to the topic if your interest doesn't extend far enough to read something like the seven hundred plus pages of Jon Peterson's Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventure from Chess to Role-Playing Games.
June 11, 2025
Soooo... I'm never making another joke about Gleemax.
A great history of the hobby and industry. It's rather shallow (a hundred page book on a fifty year industry + precursor hobbyists can't be in depth) but it's a good read and I like seeing everything brought into a context like that.
A great history of the hobby and industry. It's rather shallow (a hundred page book on a fifty year industry + precursor hobbyists can't be in depth) but it's a good read and I like seeing everything brought into a context like that.
December 3, 2025
From the ancient lives of my ancestors here in the Indian sub-continent to the deserts of West Asia to Napoleonic France and all the way through to the modern era. This is the kind of length and breadth of world history that is explored in this joyous effort at studying a history of one of the most timeless of human activities - gaming.
What is the connection between Chess and Dungeons and Dragons? Why did people hate dice games What was the Mechanical Turk? What did Buck Rogers have to do with Gary Gygax? There are these and many more questions you never even knew you had that will be answered within these pages.
Today, things like RPG's have slowly started to find a smidge more acceptance versus the heavily "geek/nerd" image associated with them for many decades. But it is fascinating to see the origins of them all - from the progenitors of what evolved into chess and then the evolution of military war-games for actually military leaders to hone their skills, it is a journey worth the taking because rendered lovingly herein and with both gentle touches of humour and whimsy, we get to see an aspect of human culture as it evolved. Full marks to the art trio as well who not only cross centuries of human history in this book, but they also render all of it with a consistent and colourful energy that is just cartoonish enough to elicit some chuckles, but never become an outright "funny book".
We all know that history is a story of how things went from how they were to how they are and we are many of us aware of (if not always agreeing on) the concept of evolution - not just in genetics, but of many things. This book and the narrative with, does a stellar job of showcasing a very niche socio-cultural aspect of human society that has gone through changes that I could not have really fathomed. I mean, I knew some things about the geographic evolution of chess, but this provided so much more crisply presented information to add depth to that knowledge and then showed me the connections it had to other things that evolved over time from those humble roots.
As a fan of table top gaming, comics, RPGs and history, I have to say that I was extremely pleased by my experience perusing these pages and if you share these interests, this is a remarkably thorough and well researched book that keeps itself surprisingly light and easy as a read.
What is the connection between Chess and Dungeons and Dragons? Why did people hate dice games What was the Mechanical Turk? What did Buck Rogers have to do with Gary Gygax? There are these and many more questions you never even knew you had that will be answered within these pages.
Today, things like RPG's have slowly started to find a smidge more acceptance versus the heavily "geek/nerd" image associated with them for many decades. But it is fascinating to see the origins of them all - from the progenitors of what evolved into chess and then the evolution of military war-games for actually military leaders to hone their skills, it is a journey worth the taking because rendered lovingly herein and with both gentle touches of humour and whimsy, we get to see an aspect of human culture as it evolved. Full marks to the art trio as well who not only cross centuries of human history in this book, but they also render all of it with a consistent and colourful energy that is just cartoonish enough to elicit some chuckles, but never become an outright "funny book".
We all know that history is a story of how things went from how they were to how they are and we are many of us aware of (if not always agreeing on) the concept of evolution - not just in genetics, but of many things. This book and the narrative with, does a stellar job of showcasing a very niche socio-cultural aspect of human society that has gone through changes that I could not have really fathomed. I mean, I knew some things about the geographic evolution of chess, but this provided so much more crisply presented information to add depth to that knowledge and then showed me the connections it had to other things that evolved over time from those humble roots.
As a fan of table top gaming, comics, RPGs and history, I have to say that I was extremely pleased by my experience perusing these pages and if you share these interests, this is a remarkably thorough and well researched book that keeps itself surprisingly light and easy as a read.
July 10, 2025
Firstly, this is not really a comic book, but a picture book for adults. Which is not a bad thing!
The art was great, innovative and at times supported the text very well, but in many places it also felt like a filler.
All in all, Van Lente did a good job of writing a rpg history within only 100 short pages! Well done! This was more informative than some proper books I’ve read on the subject. Although the start was a bit slow and the ending felt a bit rushed.
My only major criticism is that in the 1st chapter it is mentioned three times(?), that chess was played without dice and and adding dice to boardgames was a major innovative change in 1800s.
(When in fact the original form of chess was probably played with a dice. The muslims used dice in many of their chess games at least before 9th century. And most importantly chess was played in Europe a lot with dice from 12th century forwards. My centuries may be wrong, but the point is, chess was and is played also with dice.)
The art was great, innovative and at times supported the text very well, but in many places it also felt like a filler.
All in all, Van Lente did a good job of writing a rpg history within only 100 short pages! Well done! This was more informative than some proper books I’ve read on the subject. Although the start was a bit slow and the ending felt a bit rushed.
My only major criticism is that in the 1st chapter it is mentioned three times(?), that chess was played without dice and and adding dice to boardgames was a major innovative change in 1800s.
(When in fact the original form of chess was probably played with a dice. The muslims used dice in many of their chess games at least before 9th century. And most importantly chess was played in Europe a lot with dice from 12th century forwards. My centuries may be wrong, but the point is, chess was and is played also with dice.)
December 22, 2025
This probably needed to be two books.
Most of the book is devoted to the first twenty years of RPGs, and is understandably focused on Dungeons and Dragons. (Other systems get fairly detailed shout-outs, and there's a nice chapter on forerunners like ancient dice, chess, and wargames.) Many of the stories will be familiar to hobbyists and some of them are a bit sanitized, but it's a solid history overall and it's nice to have a (charmingly) illustrated version.
The last chapter then tries to take us from 1993 to the 2020s, and it works about as well as you would expect. The basic events of D&D's acquisition by Wizards of the Coast and then Hasbro are sketched out, as is the rise of Pathfinder and streaming, but the rest of the hobby and the effects of technology on it are barely acknowledged. It's understandable given the plan of the book, but the plan of the book needed some work.
Most of the book is devoted to the first twenty years of RPGs, and is understandably focused on Dungeons and Dragons. (Other systems get fairly detailed shout-outs, and there's a nice chapter on forerunners like ancient dice, chess, and wargames.) Many of the stories will be familiar to hobbyists and some of them are a bit sanitized, but it's a solid history overall and it's nice to have a (charmingly) illustrated version.
The last chapter then tries to take us from 1993 to the 2020s, and it works about as well as you would expect. The basic events of D&D's acquisition by Wizards of the Coast and then Hasbro are sketched out, as is the rise of Pathfinder and streaming, but the rest of the hobby and the effects of technology on it are barely acknowledged. It's understandable given the plan of the book, but the plan of the book needed some work.
June 12, 2025
Got this as a kickstarter
A history of rpgs with art by Tom Fowler?!? Yeah, I was getting this. Fred Van Lente is great at these historical-tainment books but I was honestly sold from Tom’s involvement. Love his expressive art.
I knew some of this history, but not all of it. Barely dives into video game RPGs (sorry Wizardry and Bards Tale!) though touches on those as they overlap with the tabletop versions. Which is a fine focus!
Amazed at how new a lot of these RPGs were when I first encountered them.
A history of rpgs with art by Tom Fowler?!? Yeah, I was getting this. Fred Van Lente is great at these historical-tainment books but I was honestly sold from Tom’s involvement. Love his expressive art.
I knew some of this history, but not all of it. Barely dives into video game RPGs (sorry Wizardry and Bards Tale!) though touches on those as they overlap with the tabletop versions. Which is a fine focus!
Amazed at how new a lot of these RPGs were when I first encountered them.
August 16, 2025
I have always loved Fred Van Lente's work on such classic titles as Action Philosophers, and while he is paired with a different (but just as good) artist on this project, the beauty of those earlier projects shines through. It's an incredibly daunting task to cover the history of RPGs in a comic book, but he does an amazing job, really covering a lot of the high points in a very understandable and entertaining way. I'm excited to see what he might tackle next, as I'd read pretty much any subject he'd care to discuss.
June 18, 2025
A very fun and very informative timeline of roleplaying games through history, from the earliest war games to the newest tabletop fantasy adventures! I learned a lot of history I didn't know, but Fred van Lente's writing always feels compelling and immersive, never dry or academic. Tom Fowler's art is vivid, dynamic, and filled with humorous Easter eggs. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the topic of roleplaying games!
May 29, 2025
I enjoyed reading this history of RPGs, which was shorter than I expected but packed in a lot of detail. I learned things and drew connections I hadn't been aware of, but the ending felt rushed and did leave me wanting more.
July 21, 2025
Very entertaining history of roleplaying games. It's nice that it covers more than DnD, showing the innovations that games like Traveller and Call of Cthulhu brought to the RPG space. Great art as well.
November 11, 2025
Well, that was a warm hug of a walk down memory lane. (Surprised there was no mention of the seminal Stuperpowers, which I picked up from Warlord Games in England in 1997.)
December 5, 2025
Absolutely essential read for anyone interested in TTRPGs.
Perfect execution. Super readable.
Perfect execution. Super readable.
December 24, 2025
Si estás metido en el mundillo del rol, es una lectura imprescindible.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews