Designers & Dragons The 90S Game

Designers & Dragons #3

by Shannon Appelcline

Designers & Dragons: The '90s is a comprehensive picture of the beginnings of the RPG industry. In this volume, we profile an RPG titan - Wizards of the Coast - and cover the rise of storytelling RPG settings like White Wolf's World of Darkness. Regardless of your gaming background, Shannon Appelcline's meticulously researched history won't disappoint.

Genres: History, Role Playing Games, Nonfiction, Gaming, Games, Ebooks, Video Games

416 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been an avid gamer since at least the late 70's, I lived through a lot of this history. So some of this was familiar to me, but it was nice to get the insider's perspective. It was also nice to read about games that I remember seeing in stores or hearing about, but never played. Appelcline gives the complete history of all of the major--and many of the minor, as well--RPG producers that started up during the 90's. So White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, and Fantasy Flight obviously, but also Guardians of Order, Last Unicorn, Kenzer & Co., and countless others. It's fascinating seeing how it all fits together as designers move from one job to another and companies get bought and sold. I also appreciated the rundown on the origin of the term, “splatbook.” I knew what one was, but was puzzled as to its origins. I loved this book, and this series in general, but I suppose those not already interested in the hobby may be bored.

[Rindis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third volume of Shannon Appelcline's history of the RPG industry maintains the same general format as before: about four hundred pages, separate chapters for each publisher, covering (essentially) a decade of time (1990-1999).

I tend to be fascinated by beginnings, and with 25 years since the first RPG when this book opens, the beginnings are over, leading to a slightly lower interest for me. Also, this is a time period where I wasn't paying as much attention to RPGs, so there's not a lot of personal connection. Reading through the '10 things about the decade' section in the back shows that maybe it was mutual. Trends in the '90s angled away from my interests, which carried over into less interest in some company histories. Cyberpunk did well in the late '80s, and urban fantasy did well throughout the '90s, and they're both genres that have never appealed to me.

But there's still a lot of interest to me here. Most notably, part two of the book is a single chapter, a pattern that echoes TSR being the sole chapter of part one of the first book. In fact, it is called 'The Other Half of the Story', on the idea that the story of the RPG is still very much the story of D&D, and Wizards of the Coast is the other half of that. This was published in 2014, so actual end of 4th Edition D&D and the last few years of 5th are too recent to be covered, which is a shame (and great grist for a future update of this volume). Past that, AEG was interesting, as they kind of came out of left field on me with a few issues of Shadis being handed out for free at cons. The full stories of a few other companies I knew of (especially the train-wreck of Imperium Games) were very nice to see, though I found the history of Guardians of Order didn't seem to dig in to what exactly happened to the company as much as I'd like.

There's 21 company histories this time, plus four mini-histories, and a nice page on Ars Magica fanzines and how they helped keep that property going; an all too rare look at the fan side of the industry in these histories. There's also a good section on early Swedish RPGs as the background to '90s English-language publisher Metropolis. As much as I admire how wide-ranging these books generally are, it is a little annoying to not get any sense of what was going on outside the US, Canada and Britain (and I imagine far more than merely 'annoying' for anyone from outside those countries).

It's another well-written book, and I doubt there's any other wide-ranging source for RPGs in the '90s, and so is recommended if you have any interest in that subject. I will note that the (necessarily) focused coverage on RPGs continues to hurt proper coverage of what exactly many of the companies were doing, but instead of the lack of wargame coverage, now it is the lack of CCG coverage that causes problems. However the overall CCG boom-and-bust cycle was so fast that what is given is sufficient in many, but not all, cases.

[Monty Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I established in my reviews of the first two books in this series, histories of RPG companies are something I love. I played a ton of Vampire: The Masquerade, and reading about the internal decisions at White Wolf is fascinating to me.

And then, as it happens, I worked at Wizards of the Coast for seventeen years, so stories purporting to be about internal decisions there are also fascinating to me.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to impress. In fact, like most epic tales, it gets richer as it goes.

As I've said in my reviews of the first two books, Appelcline does an amazing job making what could be dry historical material interesting and relevant. These are the stories of the intersecting lives of the people who have poured their hearts, souls, and hard-earned money into this hobby and this industry. Making a living designing, developing, and producing material for RPGs sounds like a hard and dangerous thing, and I appreciate all those who have braved the field to make it happen.

The industry is small enough that the players pop in and out of the individual stories so that an entire tapestry appears as the individual threads cross and recross. And since Appelcline follows each company from its inception to its end, we are still encountering the trajectories mapped out in the first volume of the series as the tales of these companies in the 90s are told. Many times I have wanted to go back and pick up the first volume again to make all the connections firmer in my mind.

Appelcline also does an impressive job of finding theses and through-lines for each decade, motifs that recur throughout each decade so that a comprehensive picture is produced even if your brain, like mine, can only keep so much in focus at one time. While I do not feel like a master of the subject from my single reading, I do feel like I have seen things from the 30,000 foot level and watched the trends come and go.

I especially love when the Appelcline takes the time to dive into the unique mechanics and approaches of particular games that either made a lasting impression or failed to make a lasting impression when their innovations should have made one. The only real danger in reading the series is that I have made a ridiculous number of bids on out-of-print games on Ebay to have and see for myself these innovations and ideas.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shannon Appelcline's third volume of Designers & Dragons covers the history of role-playing game publishers that started their output in the 90s, and therefore has to give up a sixth of the book each to White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast, which I think you'll agree is perfectly appropriate. It was the decade of the splatbook and of experimenting with storytelling devices, taking us away from the crunchier, more gamist perspectives of the previous two decades. But another trend is that these companies are more often bought and sold, with product lines starting in one place, ending up in another, etc. It happened to older companies, sure, but it makes sense that those born in the 90s had more of a struggle surviving the booms and busts the market threw at them, specifically CCGs and the d20 explosion (oh Wizards, those are both your fault, aren't they?). And RPG publishers were out of the basement by this time, so it may just be that business deals are just more a part of the narrative than when they were passion projects piloted by enthusiasts. Whatever the case may be, it makes this decade a story of ups and downs for even the most successful lines, and therefore a pretty entertaining read. And if a book makes me want to check out games I missed back in the day, that can't be a bad thing...

[Mikael Cerbing · Rating 4 out of 5]

You need to be a special kind of nerd to think of reading a 400 page book about the pen and paper RPG industry in the 90s. And as this is the third book in the series, and you are here looking, I guess you are.

So yes, if this is something that interest you, this is a really good book on the subject. You will get a genereal idéa about how the thought around RPG was going (storytelling, D20 etc) and some background when needed (CCG etc). But most its about the rise and many falls of rpg companies.
This book felt a bit repetative compare to the other two, by no fault of the book itself. All companies working in this time had two things impact on them in different degrees: first Magic and the CCG rise and fall. And then the D20 boom in the beginning av the 00s. So when Appelcline goes through all these companies, we see the same thing happen again and again. In a way it is a bit interesting to see how different compaies reacts to the same thing, but it get a bit repetative.

In ant case, to be a book about such a dry subject, its pretty great.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro está repleto de historias fascinantes, con relatos, testimonios y análisis de las editoriales y los diseñadores de Juegos de Rol que marcaron los años 90. Memorables editoriales, innovaciones revolucionarias y grandes juegos surgieron en esta época, en la que yo me inicié a los RPGs. Los 90 en los RPGs están marcados por White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast y por la innovación constante para conseguir una cuota en un mercado saturado de CCG. Es la década en donde se consolidan los splatbooks: por primera vez se hacen de manera exitosa y masiva libros orientados a los jugadores, en vez de a los GMs. Además es la década de los metaplots: los RPGs ya no se contentaban con unas reglas y un setting, sino que había una historia independiente de la que vivían los personajes. Muchos de los grandes diseñadores de hoy en día empezaron en los 90 y hoy siguen publicando e innovando. Es un libro fenomenal y me deja con muchas ganas de seguir leyendo la última entrega.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite installment in the Designers & Dragons series so far. I think that's because I was vaguely aware of the gaming industry during the 90s, specifically in the CCG world, which this book touches on. But I also liked how it finally explained what the d20 boom and bust were all about. The previous volumes mentioned d20 without explaining it, as though I were already familiar with the history, but this book actually does explain it in the history of Wizards of the Coast. Wizards has had quite a rocky history, apparently, although they seem to be doing well now with 5th Edition D&D.

A lot of the games mentioned in the book sound pretty interesting, especially because they started trending toward a more narrative style instead of a crunchy, simulationist style. Those are the kinds of games I like to play.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author continues his chronicle of the history of role play games, this time focusing on the 1990s. This series is an incredible achievement—well written and thorough, with tons of background and details of the RPG industry and more than a few bankruptcies, betrayals, and shenanigans. We started with D&D in 1975 and rarely ventured outside the confines of that game, but often thought about designing our own RPGs and boardgames but thought better of it. We had the talent and inspiration but were too hooked on our ‘real jobs’ to take the plunge. Until reading this series, I had no idea how successful these games were, how much money there was to be made in the industry.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Potted history of companies who entered the RPG field in the 1990s - the big beast here being Wizards of the Coast. Includes a fascinating look at the inside story of 4E and its chaotic launch. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...

[Adam Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shannon Appelcline's thorough and surprisingly readable history of the RPG industry continues, this time detailing the companies that arose in the 1990s. If you have an interest in this sort of stuff, it's definitely worth your time.

[Itamar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another part of the saga of RPG history. Well-written and well-researched, it wasn't as eye-opening for me, as I'd lived and gamed through the decade described.
Still, I'm glad I read it and I'm looking forward to reading the next installment.

[P Roberge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book for a fascinating history!

[excelsior]

it's not happenign

[Evan Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Excellent history. Some proofreading oversights distracted from the reading experience though.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the Gaming industry and culture in the 90s

So, I really enjoyed Volume I (the 70s, the period I tried to reconstruct an understanding of from what I could find out "on the ground" in the 80s) and volume II (the 80s, the period of the beginning of my love affair with the Hobby), so I had high expectations for volume III (the 90s, the period during which Gamed the most frequently, during the Golden Age of the Storytelling style of Gaming). This book does not disappoint. It chronicles the rise of White Wolf and the surprising, sad fall of TSR, as well as myriad other shifts in the industry throughout the 90s.

[David Keffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third volume covering the 1990s is equal in quality to the first two volumes covering the 1970s and 1980s. My review of the first volume also applies to this volume and is reproduced below.

This four volume set of books describes the history of the role-playing industry from its infancy to the present. The amount of information contained in these books is staggering. That one individual was able to bring to fruition such a monumental undertaking is beyond impressive. Even more impressive is the quality of the writing. As a player of RPG's, I imagined that I might have a modest interest in the behind-the-scenes story. Here, the books are organized very well. Each individual chapter is self-contained and told in a very interesting and readable way. The four books don't have to be read cover to cover in order. Rather, readers can peruse individual chapters on specific companies. Where references to other chapters are given, just enough information is provided to allow the reader to understand the context without being over redundant. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this and how much I learned from it. Taken together, the content, the writing, the editorial judgment in finding a balance for including the appropriate amount of detail without being bogged down in minutiae results in a really exceptional book on the subject. One imagines that this four-volume series will become the seminal reference for any study of the RPG industry from 1970-2009. For those readers who think they might have an interest in understanding the history of the RPG industry, this is clearly the definitive work.

[David Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book four stars only in the context of someone who is a bit obsessive, enjoys history, and played role-playing games in the 90s.

Given all that, hell yeah, this is cool stuff.

(Otherwise, why the heck are you even still reading this?)

I assumed I would grow bored after reading about Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf, but it turns out there is plenty of other material in the 90s to work with, and much of it existed on the boundary of my own limited exposure to 90s roleplaying.

[Jeff Schultz]

Three down, one to go!! Overall this series is a good overview of the role playing game industry (and my extension the collectible card game industry, because those guys wiped out numerous rpg companies). I like the approach the author took in these histories (i.e. taking a company from start to finish even if that takes them beyond the decade in question); it does tend to rehash some points in each company's history, though (the a fore mentioned CCG craze), that a year-by-year history wouldn't have, but I think overall a company-by-company history is easier to digest.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong entry in this exhaustive series on the history of role playing games. While Wizards of the Coast had their entry in this volume, the gaming industry will continue to feel their impact in the '00s due to that whole d20 OGL thing, you may have heard about it. I'd recommend this book to those gamers out there who remember the days when White Wolf was the big dog and TSR faded out of existence.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustive, detailed history of the third wave of RPG design companies, including Wizards of the Coast, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and other children of the genre. Appelcline's style is conversational yet detailed; you can almost hear a folksy documentary being narrated. Recommended for anyone with a deeper interest in the history of the hobby.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the 80s volume, there's not that much added to this one from the original printing, but still a great read.

Fewer rage inducing moments in this volume as the companies covered that I'm a fan of are either still around or have had their legacies well tended to.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampires, dice pools and CCGs, welcome to the 90s when RPGs moved away from their war gaming origins towards more story based systems.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The D20 history is really interesting but around it gets very dry. Don't take this as a proper review as skimmed a fair chunk of it.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating history of the roleplaying industry in the "boom and bust" decade.