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Designers & Dragons #5
Designers & Dragons: Platinum Appendix
Designers & Dragons: The Platinum Appendix is a collection of additional essays and indices to enhance and expand the material found in the Designers & Dragons series by author-historian Shannon Appelcline.
In this appendix, you’ll find:
Essays on women in the roleplaying industry, the Auriana Gang, the Hero Auxiliary Corps, and the Runequest Mafia
Shannon's collected yearly chronicles of the industry from 2008 to 2014
An index for the appendix, as well as combined indices for all company histories and all sidebars & boxes from the four-volume Designers & Dragons set
Expand your knowledge of the characters and gamers behind the games in Designers & Dragons: The Platinum Appendix!
In this appendix, you’ll find:
Essays on women in the roleplaying industry, the Auriana Gang, the Hero Auxiliary Corps, and the Runequest Mafia
Shannon's collected yearly chronicles of the industry from 2008 to 2014
An index for the appendix, as well as combined indices for all company histories and all sidebars & boxes from the four-volume Designers & Dragons set
Expand your knowledge of the characters and gamers behind the games in Designers & Dragons: The Platinum Appendix!
114 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 27, 2015
A collection of stretch goals and top-tier rewards from the Kickstarter for the Designers & Dragons campaign.
The highlight for me was the "Women in the Roleplaying Industry" essay that begins the volume. While some female designers and editors are mentioned in the main history, this helps put their role in the early history of games into context, and as a result shows just how male-dominated both the hobby and the industry was in those early years.
The next section details three game clubs, two of some historical importance, and the author's own club. I found the first two of these to be more interesting than I thought they would be. They help show how fan organizations can have a real impact on the games they support. The third I found less interesting, but I don't really begrudge the author writing about his own group. I am a bit jealous that he has been part of the same group since college.
The section compiling the author's year-end summaries of the gaming industry from 2008 to 2014 were moderately interesting, but by their nature they weren't really that informative since it's recent history that I'm well aware of.
Overall, I'm glad to have it on my shelf next to the four volume set of Designers & Dragons.
The highlight for me was the "Women in the Roleplaying Industry" essay that begins the volume. While some female designers and editors are mentioned in the main history, this helps put their role in the early history of games into context, and as a result shows just how male-dominated both the hobby and the industry was in those early years.
The next section details three game clubs, two of some historical importance, and the author's own club. I found the first two of these to be more interesting than I thought they would be. They help show how fan organizations can have a real impact on the games they support. The third I found less interesting, but I don't really begrudge the author writing about his own group. I am a bit jealous that he has been part of the same group since college.
The section compiling the author's year-end summaries of the gaming industry from 2008 to 2014 were moderately interesting, but by their nature they weren't really that informative since it's recent history that I'm well aware of.
Overall, I'm glad to have it on my shelf next to the four volume set of Designers & Dragons.
December 7, 2022
A brisk addition to the D&D series, it makes me look forward to volume V (or possible VI) updating the series for events of the teens.
June 20, 2018
This was created as a Kickstarter stretch goal, and while good, is smaller and much more limited than the main four books.
The first part is a collection of four essays done as a result of the Kickstarter that funded the publication of the main series. One is on women in the industry, and starts off reasonably interesting, but falls into a wall of names for the end, which is a common problem with things like that. The other three are about different fan groups that had an influence on the industry. The last of these is somewhat autobiographical, as its the group Appelcline was (and is) part of, while one is a group that had an impact on the tournament scene and helped the popularity of the Hero System, and the first one is about the group that generated the thief class in D&D.
And all of them do a lot to shore up weaknesses in coverage of main volumes. Fan communities have had some profound effects on the history of RPGs, but much of that gets lost in the focus on companies, so that fans that started companies become the only glimpse into that world we get. In addition, the look at women in the RPG industry is the only place where Appelcline tries to take a look at overall trends, instead of focusing on what was going on in a particular place. With a few more chapters like these (perhaps some that at least summarize what has happened in non-English speaking countries), the entire work will be much more complete.
The last part of the book is a reprint of a series of yearly ‘year in review’ essays that Appelcline has been writing since 2008. Since it’s the entire industry, a year at a time, it has a different perspective than the main text, and since this volume came slightly later, it includes the 2014 essay. There’s also some nice asides included where he comments on his own comments.
This is about a quarter of the size of the main volumes, and not as packed with info, due to the format, but still well worth a read.
The first part is a collection of four essays done as a result of the Kickstarter that funded the publication of the main series. One is on women in the industry, and starts off reasonably interesting, but falls into a wall of names for the end, which is a common problem with things like that. The other three are about different fan groups that had an influence on the industry. The last of these is somewhat autobiographical, as its the group Appelcline was (and is) part of, while one is a group that had an impact on the tournament scene and helped the popularity of the Hero System, and the first one is about the group that generated the thief class in D&D.
And all of them do a lot to shore up weaknesses in coverage of main volumes. Fan communities have had some profound effects on the history of RPGs, but much of that gets lost in the focus on companies, so that fans that started companies become the only glimpse into that world we get. In addition, the look at women in the RPG industry is the only place where Appelcline tries to take a look at overall trends, instead of focusing on what was going on in a particular place. With a few more chapters like these (perhaps some that at least summarize what has happened in non-English speaking countries), the entire work will be much more complete.
The last part of the book is a reprint of a series of yearly ‘year in review’ essays that Appelcline has been writing since 2008. Since it’s the entire industry, a year at a time, it has a different perspective than the main text, and since this volume came slightly later, it includes the 2014 essay. There’s also some nice asides included where he comments on his own comments.
This is about a quarter of the size of the main volumes, and not as packed with info, due to the format, but still well worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews