At some point in the late 60s and early 70s a handful of young wargaming geeks in Wisconsin and Minnesota - almost by accident - found a new way to create and explore imaginary worlds, realities and lives. It was like nothing they'd experienced before, bringing pleasures and excitements far beyond anything people normally associated with "gaming." In a few short years, this new immersive fantasy experience spread from these tiny local wargame clubs to become an international phenomenon that changed the world.

Playing at the World is a study of the creation of Dungeons & Dragons (first published in 1974), and the birth of fantasy role-playing games. Like a methodical archaeologist, Peterson painstakingly uncovers D&D's origins in the theory and subculture of wargaming, in fantasy literature and fandom, and in the wider social context and subcultures of 1960s-70s America. For anyone interested in role-playing games (as a cultural phenomenon and as a narrative/world-simulation form), this book is an inexhaustible treasure trove of information and insights. The depth of Peterson's research is extraordinary and his prose style is confident and enjoyable (and the presentation, editing and design prove that self-publishing is no barrier to absolute professionalism). It's true that some casual readers may be put off by the (deliciously nerdy) comprehensiveness (Peterson is determined to identify and analyse every conceivable source for and influence on D&D's development), but for someone genuinely fascinated by the subject, that is merely another of the book's many pleasures.

But looking beyond the breadth and detail, there are plenty of important larger themes here, which Peterson does a better job of exploring than almost anyone else I've read on the topic. I've long felt that the rise of Dungeons & Dragons was a significant turning point in the culture: a shift in the content, structure and uses of fiction. D&D coalesced various emerging trends and brought them together to provide an imaginary experience that was immersive, exploratory and interactive - in effect providing a template for many of the wider cultural developments since. It offered a new kind of relationship to fictional stories and realities, one that I often think has come to dominate the contemporary world.

Peterson sees this too, and underlying much of this book is his search for a deeper understanding of what made such a shift possible and of what it might mean. He undertakes that search not by making sweeping generalisations or launching into academic cultural theory, but by methodically and fastidiously sifting through the detail: who said, wrote and did what when? And why? What did this mean to the people involved at the time? How was all this shaped by the context (both at the micro level of the Lake Geneva and Twin Cities wargaming scene of the early 70s, and also at the macro level of 1970s America)? Along the way - often in very quiet, subtle ways - Peterson draws out some rich and intriguing connections, resonances, meanings. I love this kind of historiography, where broad themes and profound insights emerge out of a careful nuanced reading of complex concrete factual details. It sometimes demands a degree of patient effort on the part of the reader but the rewards can be tremendous.

Add to that the pleasures of nostalgia (of which there's plenty to be enjoyed here) and personal drama (albeit less than some might like, thanks to Peterson's determination to be judicious and fair and avoid gossip), and Playing at the World is one of the most satisfying books I've read in a while. It was clearly an enormous task, and I'm very grateful to Peterson for what he has achieved. There will be more books by other authors on the invention of D&D, and there will be many more insights and pleasures to be enjoyed. But we should count ourselves lucky indeed to have such a thorough, carefully-researched, solidly written and thoughtful book among the first.

P.S. If Playing at the World leaves you hungry for more, Peterson also maintains a hugely enjoyable blog which extends his research into the minutiae of RPG history: [...]

I opened Jon Peterson's book for the nostalgia. I was one of the many young people who began playing Dungeons and Dragons during the initial 1979-1982 heyday and I thought it might be interesting to take aon adults eye view of a hobby that I thoroughly enjoyed as an adolescent. Indeed I did get that. But I think this book is much more. Its an intensely micro-level view of a true intellectual breakthrough.

D&D was built on a foundation of many influences, but at the same time a true innovation greater than the sum of its parts. Peterson has made an exhaustive effort to disentangle all of the varied influences (fantasy & sci-fi, military wargaming, board-gaming, role playing psychology, strategy etc.) to convincingly identify the unique breakthrough. The true new thing developed in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign was an open ended game based on each player building and advancing a character to identify with in repeated play. This character building element had not been done before and made gaming attractive to a much broader audience than serious gaming previously had. This aspect has appealed to millions of games and probably tens of millions in all of the various computer games that use this format.

One of the great parts of this book was it demonstrated how important the local community of gamers in St. Paul and Lake Geneva was toward the development of the campaign. The book illustrates the parallel development of like games in the UK which was retarded by the absence of a necessary critical mass of players.

There's been a lot of talk about this book recently, so I checked it out... and I'm glad I did! If you're at all curious, I recommend downloading the free Kindle sample because it's easily 200 pages of reading for free. My guess is that it'll convince you to buy the full book- it's simply an amazing release. Meticulously researched, fascinating and unbiased, this has been my favorite read of the past few years, no exaggeration.

Peterson lays out the origins of the hobby in exhaustive detail, while keeping it interesting and fresh through hundreds of pages. He covers pretty much every angle you could ask for: early wargaming history, rules iterations, popular fiction influences, you name it. For me, the most pleasant surprise was how interesting each and every topic was, as presented by Peterson. I have never been much interested in pulp fiction from the 50s, nor did I ever think I would care about hundred-year-old Prussian war simulations. And yet, the author writes about it all with such fervor and ecstatic detail, you can't help but get sucked in and fascinated.

The only reservation I have is that the physical copy is quite unwieldy: it's a massive brick of text and the layout could have been much cleaner. I found the large page size and tiny margins to be a bit imposing, and the Kindle version was a lot easier on the eyes. But I feel guilty even mentioning this, because the actual content is so far past amazing that it's worth the eyestrain, I promise. I seriously cannot recommend this book enough.

If this topic interests you this is a must-read.
Peterson does an excellent job creating a narrative from the scattered sources of the era. There are plenty of details, but the history moves along well. Several sections build the background for the tale (wargaming since Wells, fantasy fiction since Poe, etc.) and even though I think myself well informed on these topics I still savored new facts and marveled at how the histories intertwine.
The specifics of the evolution of D&D and why it happened in Lake Geneva were new to me and fascinating. Several personalities stand out and Peterson does well to present all sides. A good history makes you want to be there to see it happen and I wish I had been, probably the only time I've ever wanted to revisit the '70s.
This is a truly unique episode that might easily have disappeared in time. My thanks to the author for making sure it is recorded fairly and well.