Our games are built on paper and dice
Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items
As a tip of the hat to the passing of a tabletop gaming icon, I thought it worthwhile to link back to a great article Allen Varney wrote for the Escapist website in 2005. Entitled "Our Games Are Built On Paper", it outlines the incredible impact that people like Gary Gygax and Dave Arenson have had on videogames in general and Massively Multiplayer games in specific. The piece notes the numerous PnP designers that have made the jump to videogame development; a reminder of the numerous people who have worked on City of Heroes and City of Villains that originated in the pen and paper world. It concludes by noting the advances of a more recent generation of tabletop designers, and fittingly begins with words that ring very true today:
IN THE BEGINNING - which is to say, 1974 - there were E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, two tabletop miniatures gamers in Wisconsin who begat Dungeons & Dragons. And D&D begat an orc-horde of paper-and-dice imitators and emulators. And it was good.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-04-2008 @ 9:34PM
Alarie said...
Thank you for the link! I think the penny-arcade today said it best. If you haven't seen it check it out.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic
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3-05-2008 @ 7:58AM
GRT said...
I have very fond memories of those 3 thin beige pamphlets that were the original edition of D&D. Even though I never actually played the game (I lived in a rural area and all my friends were more interested in fishing and hunting than playing some weird game that didn't even have a board or any pieces!) I built all kinds of maps and campaigns and rolled up dozens of characters and simulated battles... I had a huge box of stuff from The Judges Guild and wrote a high school paper called "On Building a Consistent Universe" (based almost 100% on things I'd learned fooling around with D&D materials) that prompted my English teacher to endeavor to get me into a college with a strong creative writing program (which is where I ended up). So yeah, Gygax had a pretty strong influence on my life... Rest In Peace, Gary.
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