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Jon Peterson
Приєднався 5 вер 2012
Videos by Jon Peterson, author of Playing at the World, further detailing the history of wargames and role-playing games.
Playing at the World Episode #2: Identifying 1970s Dice
Want to learn to identify the dice available to hobby gamers in the 1970s? This video shows the first dice people used to play Dungeons & Dragons and other early RPGs and wargames. For the quick reference guide, see: playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2020/02/identifying-dice-of-1970s.html
We use obscure magazine and catalog notices to sequence the dice made by Creative Publications, Lou Zocchi and others, and also some dice from the early 1980s that it is easy to confuse with the dice of the previous decade.
We use obscure magazine and catalog notices to sequence the dice made by Creative Publications, Lou Zocchi and others, and also some dice from the early 1980s that it is easy to confuse with the dice of the previous decade.
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D&D Radio Show Pilot
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In the early 1980s, TSR developed a syndicated radio show that would promote D&D by broadcasting audio examples of play. Jon Peterson of Playing at the World reviews some excerpts from the unreleased pilot. playingattheworld.com Hear the full radio show pilot on the Wizards of the Coast podcast here: dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/jon-peterson-lost-radio-show
Playing at the World Episode #1: Original D&D
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Jon Peterson visits with Bill Meinhardt to explore the original boxed set editions of Dungeons & Dragons sold by TSR in the mid-1970s. This video explains how Dungeons & Dragons first went to market and identifies the differences between early printings of the game. Music from Jukedeck - create your own at www.jukedeck.com
A History of D&D In 12 Treasures
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Role-playing game historian Jon Peterson reviews twelve rare artifacts that grant us unique insight to the initial development of Dungeons & Dragons. 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-publica...
More videos Jon. Thank you.
Wild that this got recommended. Loved the first edition of playing at the world. Enjoyed this video.
Hey there, I wonder if you have any information regarding white D20 with a combination of red and black colored numbers ? As for the Holmes dice, they don't show any number between 11 and 20. Thanks for tour help :D
Someone else who has the original Cyberpunk boxed set! Are you annoyed as I when everyone says Cyberpunk 2077 is based on the "original tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020"?
I own a set of Holmes Basic Set dice (red/orange d6), but never owned the Holmes Basic set. In 1977-78, was the Holmes Basic dice set available for purchase separately from the Holmes Basic set?
I've played since Moldvay and find something to love in every edition. My 5.5 book arrives today. Your video will help me celebrate. Thank you.
You need to scan these documents and post them on internet archive. Otherwise you're just flexing your private collection.
INCREDIBLE
"They were being cobbled together by the Gygax family." Cobbled..inadvertent pun due to Gygax working with shoes at the time to support his family?
Hoarding all those copies indicates a mental disorder.
In the 70s and early 80s, we would raid our board games for regular pipped d6s. This was due to supply and some locations did not see dice separately due to gambling laws. Some school supplies did sale dice too. I have(had) a blend of the some the sets you mention.
Just wanna say how much I appreciate this video. It's a topic I'm fascinated by, and I always stumble back to this video every year or so. Thank you for making such high quality content!
What book did you write?
Please reprint your book Jon! The inflated prices of the first printing say it's time. I read it thru my local library and now even that copy has been swiped. I need one on my shelf!
Mr. Peterson, you have a very cool collection of dice. Wow, 👍
Hi Jon, just a quick question: why is it that the "Strategos A/N" documents have not been shared with the world? You and others have been writing about them for years, with references in many books, but there are no copies for other hobbyists to peruse? Some friends and I are trying to figure out the workings of Chainmail, and it certainly looks like there are some "assumed rules" from another source that aren't explicitly detailed in Chainmail. Any help on this would be appreciated!
I have your book at my elbow right now. All 700 large pages of it,(front and back ) I DnD to justify my dice habit ..
What is the name of the castle model displayed at 0:11. I had that as a kid and have always wanted to know what it was.
1🇺🇸🌈🎄📚🥷🏽🏈 THE EVOLUTION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST...
Part 2...
WOW!!! Who's museum is that? I almost fell out of my chair when I saw so many copies of the wood grain OD&D boxes together. Amazing!!
Your videos are incredible!! Only problem you only did three. :-( Everyone that does UA-cam TTRPG history videos is hugely indebted to you and Shannon Applecline -- the TWO master TTRPGs historians -- Read "Playing at the World" cover to cover, and Chapters 1 and 5 twice. Loved it!! When are you doing a reprint -- please do a reprint! :-)
I really hope you scan all this treasure and release the pdfs, so this is open and preserved for future generations! I'm also interested in know about the original Arneson rules for Blackmoor, because by the sheet it seams it was a kind of D20 system, skill + 1d20 than compare to enemy kind of system!
That's very cool stuff, most of which I didn't know existed. I never colored in the dice like that tho, not the whole faces, just the numbers. Well, you'd color the face with the crayon then wipe off the surface, and the number would stay colored. Crayons aren't exactly the most durable coloring when you handle them all the time.
WOW, your channel is great, I have watched all your videos so far and am subscribing. now if you could just give me your addresses so I could send my Rouge over to... Just kidding, what a great collection you guys have and keepers of history.
SUPER GEEK! Your awesome though.
Jon, where I can buy or download pdf of your excellent book "Playing at the world". Amazon and abebooks want more than $300 now..
I think you can still buy a digital copy, you're right physical copies are crazy expensive. That's what I did several of years ago, bought a digital copy I think through Amazon for the Kindle. Don't own a physical copy. Jon -- please do a REPRINT!! I actually hear that maybe a reprint is in the works. 🙂
Jon, here is a related video straight from the proverbial horse's mouth with Tim Kask telling hwo they used to take care of storing the bits and assembly of the products as orders came in. Starts around at 51:50 ua-cam.com/video/RwKztsXquoM/v-deo.html
Nice to know my set is original.
Really looking forward to any new video content you have coming!!
What is ironic is that we never seem to get part 2, so the show about the show also never came to fruition. This is sad as Jon does a fantastic job and his insights are astute and engaging. I really enjoyed it, but it has me wondering why this ended 6 years ago. I just discovered it due to the upcoming D&D movie. Perhaps the renewed interest in D&D will spur more shows like this. Great job, Jon.
I remember even in the mid-late 80 getting dice from the Mail Order Hobby Shop in the Zocchi style. I still have a few.
More please.
Very in-depth look at early D&D dice. Very informative. Very cool!
Great video! It is nice to see all the versions in one place for comparison. When I was a kid I saw the Holmes edition on display at a local toy store and really wanted it. I never got the money to buy it. I loved looking at that cover art. I have been able to read it since then but I still don’t have a copy. It is funny how us kids talked about Gary Gygax all the time at school, but I never played a real game. We would role play at recess with no dice or books. We lived in a poor area.
Please start a museum for these artifacts and I will be there to give you my money! ... great stuff!
amazing stuff! Im only a few minutes in but this presentation seems to be more enjoyable ( to me ) than most of the podcasts/videos from today
Hey Jon, is there a possibility that one might gain access to or that you might be able to share Strategos N/C/A to the public (if you have them)? These rules seem impossible to find on the web.
Very insightful and informational!
This channel does not have many vids ☹️
That’s awesome
I'm trying to recreate my original TSR D&D dice set from when I was a kid. It came in the basic starter set (the one in the red box with the dragon on the front). I lived in the UK at the time, and this set was a hand-me-down that would have been from the late 70s to early 80s. I'm having trouble pinning down the colors of each die, because I can't find a photo of a set like the one I had. Perhaps it's because mine was a UK set? I definitely remember that the d4 was red, and had sharp points, not the blunted type. I'm 90% sure the d6 was orange. The crayon to fill in the numbers was white. Does anyone have a photo of this set so I can jog my memory about the colors of the other dice?
Man still waiting on the sequel
Braunstein is Role-playing. NOT wargaming. More then one army in the 'background' But each player was a individual with different goals. They know the threat of war on 3 or more sides.... No actual armies involved. And NOT proto roleplaying.
The dice market has come so far since the 70's, honestly. I mean, not a lot of people back then would think about taking epoxy resin to just make their own sets, I think.
That is because the original Dungeons and Dragons edition 0 is more like what we call a Table Top Miniature game with Campaign Rules, and with rules that we could call Theater of the Mind, but had an associated Map, but the idea at the foundation was to play out battles associated with the campaign setting, to give a backstory as to WHY and WHO will be fighting, and that is why the original players are more like Overlords or Commanders or leaders of their respective domains, than the traditional 'player character' who generally is viewed as a singular individual. Think of the 'adventure' aspect of original Dungeons and Dragons as the experiences of the time before that leader becomes the Lord or Commander per se, and when they use their collective imagination to go forth to find or collect some 'treasure' or resources to then later help with fueling their running of their Domain. That activity then morphed into more of a focus on the gaining of the resources aspect, and as DnD evolves the original elements of focus on commanding a Domain fall by the wayside, but still remain in vague ways, and often the GM defines that. Some DnD later settings were specifically designed more to be one where you are a potential ruler, like the Birthright setting. Yet, for example, in a campaign I played in I eventually made it to the higher levels and became a House Wizard, to the Royal House, and joined a leadership position in the Wizard's guild, and thus adventures take a more political dimension, and intrigue among higher level opponents and fellow Wizards. The game renewed these concepts with higher level supplements as the editions evolved, yet over time the focus is more on the experience of a few characters going around 'adventuring'. Whereas, if you look at the Hirlings and Henchmen, and concepts like a group could include tens or dozens of people, even if one of the people is simply a Torch Bearer hired by a player character, and yes you can do this today in 5e if you wish or DCC or any other rpg system. But players tend not to do that. It simply adds complexity. Player characters instead just carry and use their own torches. But I do wish we could see a modern 5e game where the 1st level characters or maybe as they advance to 2 to 5 level gain and hire Hirlings and Henchmen. Porters, Torch Bearers, whatever function the players seek to be done by someone. Realize these are not "Fighting Men", but retainers whose job description is rather narrow. "I only carry and light the torches sir'. I would personally have a hireling that carried the 10 foot pole to check for traps or carry extra loot like a human or demi-human or humanoid Mule. Imagine some of the 5e Races. Maybe a Firbolg whose sole function is to carry stuff the group finds. Weight Allowance, sure pile it on the Firbolg. Point is, most groups don't do stuff like that. I"m sure there are a couple to a few out there who might, but most do not. Instead various magic spells, like Tensers Floating Disk achieved that function potentially, or magic items like Bag of Holding. But the original game was conceived more of as a Campaign Setting with a sizable and growing player base assumed to lead or one day lead a sizeable territory and holdings, and thus have many potential retainers and henchmen and hirlings. Think then more like Knights who were quasi-Nobles effectively or true Nobility who are NOT peasants, the Peasant stock you see assumed that the average Dungeon Crawl Classics character is assumed to start as, or the average starting Dungeons and Dragons player character is assumed to be most of the time. Sure the DnD game, like 5e, allows you to start as a Noble, and yet, this is more of a Social and Roleplaying thing, rather than saying "hey fellow players you are all peasants, but I'm a real noble and I will inherit that Castle and lands, so think of me as your Rich Friend who one day will most likely be far richers than any of you". Yet, in DnD all characters are assumed, even the lowest of peasants, to Rise in Station in the Hiearchical Fantasy world. You can become stinking Rich and then use that wealth to become "like Kings'. But the original campaigns from which DnD springs was with the intention to create a place to play out the political and military aspects of domains controlled by Players. That is why a setting like Birthright sorta re-elevated that original idea, but Ravenloft for example is NOT about that at all. You are not a potential Darklord who will get their own Domain and rival Strahd. "Yeah Strahd you better watch your Attitude with me Mister or else when I am a Dark Lord I will invade the Lands of Barovia.".
I got one of those basic sets in the original Gamma World box set. One thing I did not like about the set was the fact each dice was a different color and a shade that was not dark or deep, rather it was a lighter version of the color. I did not like that. The first chance I got to get a set of dice with the same color I jumped on it. I also owned the Black and Red 20 sided d10 used for percentile too. I liked when they made D20's that you didn't have to take Crayola or ink pen and color the numbers. That is another thing you could do. Number 0 thru 9 by inking them or using a Crayola to put the wax inside the grove of the number, and then leave the other 0 thru 9 without doing this so you then have instead of a twenty sided d10 a true 'd20 as the numbers with the Ink or Wax are the 'teen' numbers 11-20. That is the first true d20 that existed, before they made some official produced one. I did this and owned a few of those. If you look at the twenty sided d10 depending on the color of the die you would want to use a lighter color Wax or Ink so it stood out, OR if already a lighter colored die, or White, then a Darker colored Wax or Ink. I personally loved Lighter colored wax or ink. So if it were a Black die then i would use Yellow or White or maybe light brighter Green or even light or brighter Blue as the Wax or Ink choice. Depends on the die and the whim at the time I had. I even took a set of the other sided dice to match the same color as I used the Crayola to color in their numbers too. I don't remember it working all super-well, but I did try and see how it would turn out. Of course, you could clean up the dice and start over depending on the Ink or die you used, but I liked using Crayola instead. ----- I liked the pointy more 'lethal' style d20 than the one with the flat ends. I also don't care if the d12 is so large. If it is smaller fine, but I can see why they would want a more uniform matching relative size for each dice. The current dice I own are 'oversized' and what we could call Chunky' sized dice, ie the D6, the other dice are all morel like the size of that large original D12, larger than most other dice of their same type. They look fantastic and are modern created dice, with the highest number for each die type a distinction image, which many modern dice feature. I love that, and I love the slightly chunker and large dice feel in my hand. -------- I remember that "Tumble Die" I owned one those, and the set of dice that appeared when ADnD was launched. I remember the Tan-brown d20. I liked that tumble die more though. Thank you for making this video. I really enjoyed it and learned things I didn't know.
That is why Stategos was dumb for wanting a result like 1-12 as if you have 2d6, two Die 6 you can fact roll 2-12 result and do NOT need any other made up method. Until you invent a D12, which was already known and invented long ago with Pythagorean Solids. I get the probability is off, but just make the chart 1-11. Evoking Spial Tap, "But then it is not 12", but just make the list go to 11.
I remember those pitted d8. I REALLY liked those. The red ones are nice, but also later I got bone white ones at Gen Con, like in 1982 or something like that.
I got my first use of dice at my friends house who already owned the original DnD edition zero. It was the White box. I remember either seeing 1976 as a printing date, maybe 1975). Maybe it was the brown one, and I remember getting the Gamma World box with all those funky different colored die, and then I got ADnD books so I never needed or got the DnD boxset. You really didn't need it, and if you were Hard Core, and a Big Boy (or Girl) gamer, so the idea of playing Dungeons and Dragons was not appealing to a 7 year old mature gamer when he can play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and had older friends who were 12 and then when I was 12 myself I went to Gen Con for the first time (started playing in 1977, and I think in 1976 I saw my first books, miniatures, dice. I went to a Gen Con and that is where I found my first real set of dice. Later, I found a miniature wargaming store in my local City but I lived in a City so I had access to something like that. In fact, I think there were a couple of them. One was like the Toy Soldier store or something like that, and it had Dungeons and Dragons, but also all those miniatures and other gaming related things. Once I found that place and then others, I could find more choices. I then got addicted to Dragon Magazine and then Dungeon, and other magazines so I found new sources to find new things. Yet, in 1977 we didn't view Dungeons and Dragons like it actually really originally was, a Quasi-Wargame/RPG or a Fantasy Wargame, (with emphasis on use of Miniatures, Tactics, and use of Roleplaying elements to expand to then play out battles and run Kingdoms) We viewed it as a true Roleplaying Game with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. DnD quicikly fell out of favor, and either people got Basic/X Dungeons and Dragons, or they got, mostly everyone got, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Why play a game where you have an Elf class, when you can play an Elf plus another Class. That is what we were thinking. If you have questions just ask. I remember all this very clearly, at least the vast majority. I also remember Citadel miniatures, who were running the original 1st edition Warhammer, a very different game than later WHFB and then its companion 40k. I remember Battleroids, the precursor to Battletech, and the addition of all the non-Dungeons and Dragons rpg games, from Traveler, to Call of Cthulhu, Gamma World and so many others. I also remember the early 80s as the time when our choices grew many times over for things like Dice and remember seeing my first set of dice where they were all the same color which is really what I wanted. I wanted all my dice to be the same color.
Great content Jon. Thank you for your insight and passionate work. Cheering for you.
I don't recall if I have saved any of the maps that I drew for dungeons. Being that I was usually the Thief in the group, I always got the job of drawing the maps. And as for 20 sided dice, we would just use a d6 as a control die for high and low.
Wow :) That proto-Greyhawk map is amazing :)