Despite a distinct lack of gaming in 2024, I've still been absorbing a lot of D&D-related material. Books, blogs, podcasts, videos on Youtube... there's a lot of good stuff out there that I can recommend. I'm sure I'll forget some things, but below is a list of the D&D-related material that's been firing my synapses lately.
The Collected Works of Jon Peterson
- The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977
- Playing at the World Vol. 1
- The Game Wizards
The first two of these I purchased as soon as they were released, and devoured almost immediately. I discovered The Game Wizards on Spotify, available to anyone who has Spotify Premium. All three of these are great. The Making of OD&D is a good overview and collection of documents related to D&D's early days, including the rulebooks and supplements, and of course the draft version of the game was fascinating reading for someone as interested in the progression of the rules as I am. Playing at the World gives an excellent look at the wargaming scene that gave birth to D&D, and I learned a lot about how that transition came about. I'm very much looking forward to Volume 2, which will dig more into the rules elements of D&D and their influences and origins. The Game Wizards was more focused on the creation of D&D by Gygax and Arneson, their ensuing legal battles, and the financial growth and collapse of TSR up through 1985. It's all interesting stuff, although it can get bogged down a bit in the numbers and figures and incessant talk about stock options. I'm not sure I'd have appreciated it as much without the context given by the following podcast, which was not by Peterson but makes a great companion to his works:
- When We Were Wizards
This oral history of TSR I found captivating. Most of it is sourced from actual quotes by ex-TSR staff and other involved parties, or actors quoting their words exactly. The actor who portrays Gary Gygax did a great job in particular. Tense boardroom meetings, politics, drama, Gary's wild Hollywood excesses... This podcast has it all, and is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of the hobby.
Blogs
I've been a fan of Alexis Smolensk's D&D writing for years, and I've always admired his dedication to improving the game and his give-no-fucks attitude towards the game's creators and current custodians. He's always consistently produced enlightening material, but this year his 39-part RPG 201 series has been a particular highlight. Reading the whole thing will require a subscription to his Patreon, but it's the sort of high-quality, thoughtful material that will benefit any DM who reads it. Definitely worth shelling out 3 bucks for - hell, as an Aussie I had to shell out 5 bucks! Still worth it.
JB has been blogging for a long time now, and I always pay attention when he has a new post or a rant. I've found his evangelizing for AD&D in the last few years to be particularly eye-opening, but more than that his blog has been my gateway to a number of other inspiring parts of the D&D online scene: Anthony Huso's blog, the Fantasy Adventure Gaming movement, and the German AD&D scene. Those last two I'll talk about later (but definitely check out Huso's AD&D blog posts if you haven't yet).
Podcasts
- The Classic Adventure Gaming Podcast
There aren't many episodes of this show (and there hasn't been a new one in quite some time) but what there is is very good. Each episode covers an aspect of old-school D&D play and features in-depth discussion from a roundtable of folks who know what they're talking about. The Fantasy Adventure Gaming scene (or Classic Adventure Gaming for those who desire a less objectionable acronym) is heavily focused on a style of play that emphasises the game as a game, and prioritises effective play over theatrics and story-gaming. This is the playstyle I've come to favour, and there's a lot to learn from this podcast.
- Zock Bock Radio
On a related note, this podcast comes out of the German AD&D scene. Most of the episodes are in German, but when they have non-German guests they're in English, and those episodes are highly entertaining. Settembrini and his regulars have an intelligent, refreshing and entertaining take on AD&D that aligns pretty closely with the CAG scene I mentioned above. In particular I recommend episode 38, in which Settembrini and Prince of Nothing debate the relative merits of AD&D vs. BX.
Also, they have the catchiest theme song and it will get stuck in your head.
Youtube
- Wandering DMs
I've been following this show since its inception in 2018, and I'm always surprised that they're not bigger than they are. Hosts Dan and Paul have very different approaches to the game, but they always approach their topics with enthusiasm and it's hard not to come away from each show energised about D&D. I tend to prefer what I call the "Dan" episodes, which are the ones where they do a deep-dive into particular aspects of the rules, but they also have great interviews and occasional looks into the current 5e scene and more social aspects of the hobby. Just a great show all around with two very engaging hosts who obviously love each other's company and would no doubt be doing what they do even without an audience. The best way to start my Monday morning every week.
- Daddy Rolled a 1
I've been enjoying this show in the last year or so. It does deep dives into the history and rules of D&D and other parts of the hobby, and the host delivers it with an unscripted, conversational style that I really like. It's a great companion-piece to the Jon Peterson books I mentioned above.
Alexander Macris, the creator of Adventurer, Conqueror, King, tackles all sorts of high-level aspects of D&D and RPGs in this series. There's a level of rigorous, intellectual thought that's gone into these videos that can't be found in too many other places online, where the majority of the pundits out there are recycling the same DMing advice that's been circulating for years or decades. It does get a little too systematised in places for my tastes, but this series is full of concrete DMing guidance that's of a calibre head and shoulders above the norm. I definitely want to do a rewatch of these so I can properly grok the concepts he's talking about (and I definitely need to check out ACKS for its wargaming and domain play aspects).
Ah, the BroSR... They are an amusing bunch of trolls at times, but I like a lot of their ideas. Running games by the book, using 1-to-1 time for tracking campaign downtime, exploring Braunstein play in relation to RPG campaigns, handing control of important NPCs or factions to other players to increase the game's unpredictability... For me, this Youtube series is the best distillation in one place of everything these guys have been doing, and it's mostly free of their self-congratulatory and self-aggrandizing tone that I find funny but many others find intolerable. There are a lot of great ideas in this series for anyone who wants to run a grand campaign in the old-school style.
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