The Look Back

Dice in the Dairyland: The History of Dungeons and Dragons

[bright music] – What are we doing here?

– I don’t know, but I’m loving this outfit.

– Wait, Cat, I thought you were gonna teach us something about Wisconsin history.

– I am.

We’re just gonna do it by playing a game.

– This is supposed to be Dungeons & Dragons, right?

– Yeah, I don’t see any dragons or dungeons.

How do you even play D&D?

[lively music] – Okay, okay, since none of you have played before, let’s do a quick summary to get you up to speed.

Think of Dungeons & Dragons as kind of like a tabletop game with collaborative storytelling.

You each have your game character… – Wizard!

– Sorcerer!

– Ooh, bard!

– A ranger!

– And you determine how they act and what they do.

I’m the person running the game, known as the Dungeon Master.

I helped create the game world, and I helped determine what obstacles or enemies might get in your way.

– So are we playing against you?

– It’s more like you’re playing against the creatures and the people that I created in the game world.

I’m just here to help create the world and assist with the rules, and I might teach you a little bit about D&D history along the way.

And if you get stuck, just look around and see if anything interesting catches your attention!

– Hey, there’s a wooden chest here!

[playful music] Hmm, I probably should have checked this for traps, right?

[light tinkling] – All: Whoa!

– Taylor: It’s a book!

And it looks like it’s all about Dungeons & Dragons, but all the letters are scrambled.

– How are we supposed to read it if all the letters are scrambled?

– [broken Scottish accent] Hey!

They say there’s a spell on that book.

Yeah, I’m not gonna do voices.

There’s a spell on that book and only the group that overcomes the three great challenges will be able to break the spell and read the book.

– Three challenges?

– What if we split up and each take a challenge?

It’ll go faster that way.

– Please do not split the party already.

– Fine.

– Where do we start?

– Hmm, I’m not sure, but if I were trying to figure out a puzzle like that, I’d start with the Game Fairy just over the hill.

Be careful though, she’s a trickster fairy.

– Well, y’all heard her.

Let’s go!

– Wait, I also know a thing or two about– – No time!

– Oh, well.

The very first booklets for Dungeons & Dragons were basic rules for gameplay.

If you look at them, they’re not very long.

Really, they were just meant as a starting point for playing the game.

They gave basic ideas and instructions on how things worked in the Dungeons & Dragons world, but a lot of freedom was also left to the players.

At the time these books first came out, the mid 1970s, the community of these gamers was very small.

The company that published these booklets, Tactical Studies Rules, tried to keep things simple to keep costs down.

They hired young artists and included only the booklets.

Nothing else.

To everyone’s surprise, the first printing of Dungeons & Dragons sold better than expected.

It sold so well that they had to do a second printing by the end of the year, and then more!

This copy owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society is from 1977 and is already the sixth or seventh printing.

– Are you the Game Fairy?

– I am!

– Can you help us unscramble the words in this book?

– Hmm, tricky.

I can help, but for a price.

– Okay, and what’s it gonna cost?

Gold coins?

Doubloons?

– Ooh, I’m a bard.

[strums ukulele] Can I play you a song?

– Please don’t.

No, the price is you have to play a game with me.

One of you bests me at chess, and I will help you with your quest.

– My character is an expert at chess.

Game on.

[lively fanfare music] – Natural 20!

– Checkmate.

Game over.

– Players: Huzzah!

– Okay, fine.

[bright tinkling] – Players: Whoa!

– Look at that, the words are changing.

I think it says something here about war games?

– Wait a minute, but some of the words are still scrambled.

I thought you were supposed to unscramble them all.

– I’ve done all I can.

You must seek the ancient librarian if you wish to learn more.

– Ancient librarian?

We can do this; let’s go!

– But wait, don’t you wanna hear what I have to say about games and Dungeons & Dragons?

Oh, well.

Well, Dungeons & Dragons is a game, but it’s a very particular type of game.

It was developed out of the world of military simulation games, that is, war games.

These types of tabletop games, where players often control entire armies, go back at least to the 1800s.

They started to become a little more popular in the U.S. in the 1950s.

The two main people who developed Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, were both really involved in the war gaming community.

They met at the second Lake Geneva Wargames Convention, GenCon, in 1969.

[zombie groans] – Wait, is this a normal library?

– You could roll for investigation.

[sad trombone music] Ooh, natural 1.

Critical fail!

[zombie groans] – Yeah, this is totally a normal library.

– Greetings, mortals!

What have you come to ask of the ancient librarian?

– We need help unscrambling the words in this book.

Can you help us?

– Yes, for a price.

– Ugh, not again!

– Answer my riddle and I will grant you what you ask.

– Riddles?

Oh, I love riddles.

Plus, my character’s pretty intelligent.

Bring it on.

– Okay.

What has roots that nobody sees, is taller than trees, goes up and up and yet never grows?

– Wait, I’m a huge fantasy nerd!

I know this.

Did you steal that from The Hobbit?

– Um… – You did!

It’s a mountain.

– Correct.

[poof] But there still is one more challenge to face.

All I can tell you is what’s written on this library card.

[chiming] – All right, well, let’s go see if we can figure this out.

– Wait, there’s more!

Dungeons & Dragons was heavily influenced by fantasy books like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it wasn’t the first game to feature these elements.

A precursor to D&D was the medieval war game Chainmail, released in spring 1971 by some of the same people who later worked on Dungeons & Dragons.

Chainmail was initially a bit controversial in the war gaming community.

Why?

Because it included a bunch of fantasy elements like wizards, elves, and orcs.

Many war gamers thought these were too childish.

War gaming was supposed to be a mature, serious hobby, but it turned out that lots of war games players were already fans of fantasy authors.

The game sold better than expected.

This was a good sign to keep going in this direction, and eventually, it led to the development of Dungeons & Dragons.

– Two long numbers.

Anybody got any ideas?

– Is there anything we should be paying attention to?

– Well, did any of you find anything at the last place?

– Luckily for us, I did borrow this map from the ancient library.

– All right, let’s see, what do we got here?

What if the numbers are latitude and longitude?

That means it would be pointing, yeah, right there to Lake Geneva.

– All right, well, you know what, we better get going.

I’ll sing us a little song for our journey.

What does Lake Geneva have to do with Dungeons & Dragons?

– Victor Raymond: That is a good question.

It is the birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons.

Gary Gygax, the co-author of Dungeons & Dragons, he lived here at 330 Center Street, that house across the street.

And he had written a set of medieval miniatures rules called Chainmail, which is what Dave Arneson used to put together his fantasy game.

In 1973, Dave Arneson had come down to Lake Geneva to show off this fantasy game that he had been doing.

Gary then picked it up, and with the help of a couple of friends, at the end of 1973, he had put together enough money to print the first printing of the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, released in January of 1974.

But it was really at GenCon in 1974, that’s where it all took off, and that’s one block away.

This place is special because by 1974, when GenCon met here, there were probably somewhere between 100 to 200 gamers that would show up.

And from accounts that we have written back then, about half of them were playing this newfangled game called Dungeons & Dragons.

That’s how the game became popular is people got direct exposure, they had a chance to play, and they bought it, and they ran it for their groups, wherever they were from.

That’s what makes Horticultural Hall special is because this is where people discovered D&D.

– How did D&D end up in Wisconsin specifically?

– You had people like Gary Gygax here who also had connections to other people.

There was already a gathering of gamers that happened every year.

There was a local game club that was there to support it, and so the infrastructure was in place to let a new idea take hold.

But as it was, it happened here, and it was because of this amazing constellation of people.

– Great work, everyone.

Thanks for such a fun game together.

Dungeons & Dragons may have started in a small Wisconsin town, but it soon expanded far beyond its roots.

Within a few short years, there were millions of players.

One of the things that makes it so special is how the players create the story together.

This means that no two games are ever the same.

Have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons?

If you have, share what you love best about the game with your friends and classmates.

If not, share another game you enjoy and what you like about it, and maybe consider starting your own Dungeons & Dragons group with people.

It’s a great way to connect with a part of Wisconsin history and have some fun in the process.

[all laughing] Natural 20!

– It is a 20, it is a 20!

– Yeah!

– Yeah!