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Strictly Fantasy: The Cultural Roots of Tabletop Role-Playing Games
Role-playing games seemed to appear of nowhere in the early 1970s and have been a quiet but steady presence in American culture ever since. This new look at the hobby searches for the historical origins of role-playing games deep in the imaginative worlds of Western culture. It looks at the earliest fantasy stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at the fans--both readers and writers--who wanted to bring them to life, at the Midwestern landscape and the middle-class households that were the hobby's birthplace, and at the struggle to find meaning and identity amidst cultural conflicts that drove many people into these communities of play. This book also addresses race, religion, gender, fandom, and the place these games have within American capitalism. All the paths of this journey are connected by the very quality that has made fantasy role-playing so powerful: it binds the limitless imagination into a strict framework of rules. Far from being an accidental offshoot of marginalized fan communities, role-playing games' ability to hold contradictions in dynamic, creative tension made them a necessary and central product of the twentieth century.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2021
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July 10, 2021
I like D&D. I have my whole life. It has played a pivotal role in shaping my interests, my pursuits and ultimately it has shaped who I am today. As a kid growing up in the Midwest in the late 70's & early 80's D&D vastly expanded my horizons and allowed me to figure out, through countless characters, what kind of person I wanted to be.
So, much like Frodo and the One Ring, it was my fate then to read this book once I'd discovered it. I have always wondered why D&D, and to a much lesser degree other role playing games, had such a grip on me as a kid. What itch did it scratch that TV, movies and even books didn't? Why was I so willing to spend countless hours hunched over a pair of discarded doors stacked on wooden crates in my neighbors cold, unfinished basement pretending to kill monsters? And why when I wasn't in that basement did I comb through rules books hundreds of pages long trying to understand how to play the game and improve my character?
This book had the answer to those questions and many other that I hadn't even thought about. Yes, it's generally written for an academic audience and no, that is not a bad thing. While other books about D&D may have a breezier general public feel to them I, for one, don't mind rereading a sentence or paragraph to better understand its meaning - especially when what it's trying to tell me is so worth knowing.
What makes the book really take flight is Prof. Natchwey's writing. As a self-confessed life long role player what he brings to this work is the very thing we all learn in D&D any real hero needs - heart. You can feel his love for this topic throughout but especially when he uses primary sources to illuminate how central role playing games were to many of the early creators and players of the game. And you can see it on display when he contextualizes many of the key ideas in this book in his own lived experience. It's those moments when the book really shines.
So what exactly did I learn? A lot. As a Professor of Medieval Literature Prof. Natchwey begins the book by grounding it in a lot of concepts about what 'play' is and how D&D is constructed of many different contradictions. The games only limits are supposed to be your imagination and yet it comes with a two hundred page rule book that details everything from how to strike someone with a two handed halberd to how to win a drinking contest at an Inn. As friend of mine once put it, D&D is pretending with rules.
The book moves on from there by exploring the role that literature has played in the development of the game - and here I was really struck by how Prof. Natchwey illustrates the influence of Robert Louis Stevenson as a sort of literary Godfather of the game. From there he explores how the geography of the Midwest, the leisure time of the middle class in the 70's and the crisis of male identity shape the game. Next he explores how spiritually and the role of ritual are essential to how fantasy role playing games work, with fascinating relationships to fundamentalist Christianity and the Satanic Panic of the 80's. Finally, it was his final chapter on gender and race that really hit home. Many of the things he brings up this final chapter are not necessarily easily to hear as someone who loves the game but felt extremely true upon reflection and are well worth thinking about in the future.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was that I wish some of the discussions he began were a little longer. At a 161 pages of text, and an additional 30 pages of notes, citations and bibliography, there were times I wish Prof. Natchwey would have went on a little longer about certain topics. In particular his discussion about fantasy literature was absolutely illuminating and I could easily have read many more pages about the origins, tropes and influences of the genre.
That said, the bibliography in this book is sublime - enough to give the famous Appendix N in the original Dungeon Master's manual a run for it's money. I can continue to work my way through that list of books for years to come making this book even more worth the money.
Over all this book is a challenging read. I won't deny that. However, like anything in life it is often the things you work hardest at that are the most rewarding. Since finishing this book I have thought of it often. I suspect I will never again be able to play a game of D&D without something I learned in this book coming back to me. Those ideas will, I'm sure, only deepen my appreciation of fantasy role playing games and for that I am very grateful.
They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and this case that is very true. While those first steps in this book were often challenging for me the destination I reached upon completing it was that much more gratifying for the trip. If you have ever played D&D this book is well worth your time. I guarantee you that by the end the reward you reap will be a great one.
So, much like Frodo and the One Ring, it was my fate then to read this book once I'd discovered it. I have always wondered why D&D, and to a much lesser degree other role playing games, had such a grip on me as a kid. What itch did it scratch that TV, movies and even books didn't? Why was I so willing to spend countless hours hunched over a pair of discarded doors stacked on wooden crates in my neighbors cold, unfinished basement pretending to kill monsters? And why when I wasn't in that basement did I comb through rules books hundreds of pages long trying to understand how to play the game and improve my character?
This book had the answer to those questions and many other that I hadn't even thought about. Yes, it's generally written for an academic audience and no, that is not a bad thing. While other books about D&D may have a breezier general public feel to them I, for one, don't mind rereading a sentence or paragraph to better understand its meaning - especially when what it's trying to tell me is so worth knowing.
What makes the book really take flight is Prof. Natchwey's writing. As a self-confessed life long role player what he brings to this work is the very thing we all learn in D&D any real hero needs - heart. You can feel his love for this topic throughout but especially when he uses primary sources to illuminate how central role playing games were to many of the early creators and players of the game. And you can see it on display when he contextualizes many of the key ideas in this book in his own lived experience. It's those moments when the book really shines.
So what exactly did I learn? A lot. As a Professor of Medieval Literature Prof. Natchwey begins the book by grounding it in a lot of concepts about what 'play' is and how D&D is constructed of many different contradictions. The games only limits are supposed to be your imagination and yet it comes with a two hundred page rule book that details everything from how to strike someone with a two handed halberd to how to win a drinking contest at an Inn. As friend of mine once put it, D&D is pretending with rules.
The book moves on from there by exploring the role that literature has played in the development of the game - and here I was really struck by how Prof. Natchwey illustrates the influence of Robert Louis Stevenson as a sort of literary Godfather of the game. From there he explores how the geography of the Midwest, the leisure time of the middle class in the 70's and the crisis of male identity shape the game. Next he explores how spiritually and the role of ritual are essential to how fantasy role playing games work, with fascinating relationships to fundamentalist Christianity and the Satanic Panic of the 80's. Finally, it was his final chapter on gender and race that really hit home. Many of the things he brings up this final chapter are not necessarily easily to hear as someone who loves the game but felt extremely true upon reflection and are well worth thinking about in the future.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was that I wish some of the discussions he began were a little longer. At a 161 pages of text, and an additional 30 pages of notes, citations and bibliography, there were times I wish Prof. Natchwey would have went on a little longer about certain topics. In particular his discussion about fantasy literature was absolutely illuminating and I could easily have read many more pages about the origins, tropes and influences of the genre.
That said, the bibliography in this book is sublime - enough to give the famous Appendix N in the original Dungeon Master's manual a run for it's money. I can continue to work my way through that list of books for years to come making this book even more worth the money.
Over all this book is a challenging read. I won't deny that. However, like anything in life it is often the things you work hardest at that are the most rewarding. Since finishing this book I have thought of it often. I suspect I will never again be able to play a game of D&D without something I learned in this book coming back to me. Those ideas will, I'm sure, only deepen my appreciation of fantasy role playing games and for that I am very grateful.
They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and this case that is very true. While those first steps in this book were often challenging for me the destination I reached upon completing it was that much more gratifying for the trip. If you have ever played D&D this book is well worth your time. I guarantee you that by the end the reward you reap will be a great one.
May 18, 2023
Gave me a paper cut. Nevertheless, 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews