2024, being the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, will be a busy year for publishers and a great year for readers. We want to point out four upcoming books of interest for roleplayers and collectors (this is not a paid message!). The first is the updated edition of David M. Ewalt's Of Dice and Men that now covers all the years missing from the first edition, reaching the 50th anniversary. The first edition was a good book, we look forward to reading the updated one. Release due on April, 11th.
The second book we like to highlight is Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons, edited by by Premeet Sidhu and Marcus Carter. This is a collection of essays that "draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game". It looks like a book giving a different prospective from the one of fans and gamers and it could not be the one being published this year. Release due on May, 14th.
The third book is one that could be one of the very best, if not the best, or something which is just a corporate celebration of a successful brand: The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977. This book is published directly by WotC, that seems having noticed the success of the books about the game, and so it could draw on WotC extensive archives. The company is not shy about the contents that look to be amazing: "Unearth the very first draft of original D&D, never released to the public until now. Crafted on Gygax’s home typewriter, this 1973 document contains handwritten notes by both Gygax and Arneson. Discover approximately 30 early articles and rare documents that lay the foundation for modern D&D, including unpublished correspondence between Gygax and Arneson. Peruse a remarkable collection of magazine and fanzine articles, many of which are no longer publicly available or remain undiscovered by D&D historians and fans of classic D&D. Flip through facsimiles of all the first printings of Original D&D, compiled in a single book for the first time in D&D’s publishing history. Explore the creation and development of the original 1974 game with insightful commentary by Jon Peterson, one of D&D’s foremost historians. Commemorate our 50th anniversary with this homage to D&D's past. We invite you to look back on D&D’s history with a discerning eye as we celebrate how far D&D has come. Here’s to 50 years, and 50 more!". The book has commentary by noted historian Jon Peterson who will have two books released this year. Release due June, 18th.
And let's tal Peterson again because 2024 see the reissue, in two tomes, of his essential Playing at the World book. This was amost interesting and documented work and it returns, courtesy of MIT press, in a second edition starting with Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons. " In this first volume, Jon Peterson distills the story of how the wargaming clubs and fanzines circulating around the upper Midwest in the 1970s culminated in Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s seminal role-playing game, D & D. It augments the research of the original editions with new insights into the crucial period in 1972–3 when D & D began to take shape. Drawing from primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World explores the origins of wargames and roleplaying through the history of conflict simulations and the eccentric characters who drove the creation of a signature cultural innovation in the late twentieth century. Filled with unparalleled archival research (from obscure fanzines to letters, drafts, and other ephemera), this new edition of Playing at the World is the ultimate geek’s guide to the original RPG. As such, it is an indispensable resource for academics and game fans exploring the origins of the hobby". The access to WotC's archives must have been very handy. Release due July, 30th.