In honor of
the fortieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, and for a change of pace, in this video I review the development of
Dungeons & Dragons through twelve rare artifacts from the period leading up to the first publication of the game. They include original documents from Braunstein, an early letter from Gary Gygax on the medieval setting, Dave Arneson's notes for his own early medieval game, fanzines and maps associated with the Castle & Crusade Society, and various pre-publication D&D rules. Readers of my book will see quite a few things from my personal treasure chest that I haven't discussed before. A full breakdown of the contents is after the jump.
1. Braunstein Order Card: Surviving written correspodence from Wesely's first Braunstein
2. Gygax Medieval Society Letter: 1970 letter from Gygax on a proposal medieval wargames group
3. Arneson’s Medieval Braunstein: A surviving set of instructions for a 1970 medieval multiplay game
4. Domesday Book #3: Copy of the DB hand-addressed from Gygax to Arneson
5. The Great Kingdom Map: Map showing Blackmoor and other Castle & Crusade Society holdings
6. Don’t Give up the Ship: A pre-publication draft of Gygax & Arneson's naval wargame
7. Wizard Gaylord Sheet: A surviving pre-D&D character sheet from the Blackmoor campaign
8. Creative Publications Dice: a d20, including an instance with colored faces
9. CoTT 1972 Blackmoor: Last issue of Arneson's Corner of the Table before D&D collaboration
10. Greyhawk Dungeon: A player map from 1973 of Greyhawk, drawn by Mornard
11. Mornard Fragments: Pre-publication 1973 D&D rules
12. Dungeons & Dragons: 1974 first printing of D&D