Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Game Wizards

  • The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons
  • By: Jon Peterson
  • Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
  • Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (16 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Game Wizards cover art

Game Wizards

By: Jon Peterson
Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.00

Buy Now for £16.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Your Best Game Ever cover art
Designers & Dragons: The '70s cover art
Third Eye cover art
Elric of Melniboné cover art
The King of Content cover art
Doom Guy cover art
No Red Lights cover art
The Deal from Hell cover art
Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master cover art
Old Harry’s Game cover art
Yes Man cover art
Confessions of a Puppetmaster cover art
The Battle for Sky cover art
You May Never See Us Again cover art
The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie cover art
The Knight of the Swords [Dramatized Adaptation] cover art

Summary

When Dungeons & Dragons was first released to a small hobby community, it hardly seemed destined for mainstream success—and yet this arcane tabletop role-playing game became an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. In Game Wizards, Jon Peterson chronicles the rise of Dungeons & Dragons from hobbyist pastime to mass market sensation, from the initial collaboration to the later feud of its creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. As the game's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Peterson—a noted authority on role-playing games—explains how D&D and its creators navigated their successes, setbacks, and controversies.

Peterson describes Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release of the game; the founding of TSR and its growth as a company; and Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR. He recounts the "Satanic Panic" accusations that D&D was sacrilegious and dangerous, and how they made the game famous.

With Game Wizards, Peterson restores historical particulars long obscured by competing narratives spun by the one-time partners. That record amply demonstrates how the turbulent experience of creating something as momentous as Dungeons & Dragons can make people remember things a bit differently from the way they actually happened.

©2021 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2022 Tantor

What listeners say about Game Wizards

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 23-02-24

Fascinating

An amazing account of how TSR and D&D came to be, and the effect it has on its creators while creating a whole new genre of game. What should have been a happy set of events turned to greed and mistakes. A great listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinationg delve into the depths of D&D

This history of D&D and the struggle for control of the franchise goes into far more depth than even a veteran player would know and is as compelling as it is informative.
The growth of the game, the rivalry between the creators, along with the later mismanagement and contests for control of TSR are fascinating for gamers and those interested in business alike. It is lso a fascinating insight into the people involved, whose lives were often shrouded by misleading news headlines as their personal claims. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Insanely interesting corporate growth and intrigue

This is a book about the birth and growth of a company (which it sets out clearly in its introduction). It is not a history of 'D&D' as such.

I found in insanely interesting nevertheless. Whoever thought corporate intrigue could be so fascinating.

My only ding is that it didn't carry on, that, by the end, it became 'The Story of Gary and Dave' rather than 'The Story of TSR'. What happened after Gygax's departure (was 2nd edition written purely to clean Gygax off the royalty agreement? 3rd edition to do the same for Wizards? 4th edition to sell minis? 5th to court new players...

Doubtless, Gygax is a good 'main character', and overt references to him and Arnesen as actual created people (Cro Magnon and the Wistful Tales of the History of Gary) was still interesting however.

The Satanic panic and the deep dive into the Egbert suicide fascinating (and, of course, relevant to the company, since, arguably, the press coverage of that case was what made D&D so popular so quickly).

There is a missing anecdote about Gary finishing his Gord the Rogue trilogy with actual armageddon and (in-universe, of course) complete destruction of Greyhawk, which perhaps unwittingly foreshadowed the almost complete takeover of Forbidden Realms as the chosen D&D setting, and thus an apt 'farewell' to Gary's contribution to the game's creative elements.

Oh man, this was interesting. I'm in on this publisher with a Critical of 20!


I have a performance ding. Although the narrator did a good job of making what could be quite dry corporate stuff energetic and humorous (helped in no small part by the prose), at times the intonation does not fit natural flow of the prose. Certain incorrect syllables are over-pronounced or others not pronounced strongly enough. It does not happen all the time, but it is enough to be distracting and to consider the performance choppy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!