Empire of Imagination

August 10, 2015
In this entertaining biography, Witwer follows the life and accomplishments of Gary Gygax, called here the “King of the Nerds” for his creation of the long-enduring Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game. As Witwer demonstrates, Gygax was one of the modern gaming industry’s most instrumental figures, taking a lifelong passion for chess, strategy, and wargames, and adding Tolkien-inspired elements to create one of the earliest fantasy games, the Fantasy Supplement for Chainmail. Through interviews and research, Witwer reconstructs Gygax’s journey through the decades in “greatest hits” fashion, dramatizing and expanding on his family life (his first wife was convinced he was cheating on her, not playing board games); his troubled relationship with Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the game publishing company he cofounded but eventually lost control of; and his erratic post-TSR career. As Witwer states, “Gary Gygax’s legacy lives on through... the culture of geeks who played and subsequently took over the world—a world that he prepared for imagination.” Though Witwer clearly intends the book as a respectful tribute and often paints Gygax as the hero, he doesn’t shy away from his subject’s faults and failures, resulting in a fascinating examination of the birth and growing pains of the gaming industry and of Gygax’s lasting influence on pop culture. Agent: Jacques de Spoelberch, J. de S. Associates.

June 15, 2015
A gaming enthusiast pays homage to Gary Gygax (1938-2008), the creator of the swords-and-sorcery role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Chicago native Gygax acquired his taste for fantasy from a father who regaled him with bedtime stories of "giants and dragons [and] wise old wizards with magic rings." As he grew up, he indulged his escapist daydreams by reading pulp science fiction and fantasy magazines like Weird Tales while cultivating a passion for war games and chess. By the time he married and began his adult life, Gygax was spending so many of his evenings gaming with other locals that his wife suspected he was having an affair. In 1968, he helped organize the first war-games convention in Lake Geneva (called Gen Con for short) and started to develop games based on fantasy themes that used elaborate table settings, multisided dice, and miniatures. In 1973, Gygax formed a partnership with his closest gaming friends called Tactical Studies Rules and published the first 1,000 copies of the game he would call Dungeons & Dragons a year later. D&D grew rapidly in popularity during the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Yet its successes, which included cartoons and a (aborted) movie deal, were tainted by internal problems within TSR-e.g., lawsuits brought against Gygax by former partners and Gygax's own financial mismanagement. The D&D creator would eventually go on to found other small gaming companies, develop other games, and even write pulp sci-fi-style novels. By the early 2000s, he had become a beloved popular-culture icon, and Sync magazine "named Gary as number one on its list of the '50 Biggest Nerds of All Time.' " Witwer's respect for Gygax is evident throughout, but while his overview of D&D's influence on popular culture is informative, this book will likely find its strongest readership only among fellow gaming aficionados. Well-researched but with limited appeal.

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June 15, 2015

A business-proposal writer by day, Witwer's first book is a nimble, greatly dramatized biography of Gary Gygax (1938-2008) who created the legendary fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in 1974. As his biographer notes, Gygax crafted fantasy worlds that offer outlets from mainstream society and have shape geek culture, inspired massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft, and spawned demonstrably false allegations linking D&D to suicide and devil worship. Witwer reveals Gygax as an autocratic artist who concentrated on his game designs and commercial interests, often at the cost of his health, relationships, and finances. The author keeps things interesting by inventing melodramatic conversations, recounting tales of his subject's childhood years in a haunted house, and spotlighting his guest-star appearance alongside former vice president Al Gore on the hit TV show Futurama. Witwer cleverly sorts the narrative into "levels" rather than chapters; each level opens with a D&D-style scene that both foreshadows and entertains. VERDICT Niche audiences will appreciate the life story of D&D's iconic creator but readers without prior interest may wish for greater substance behind the gorgeous dust jacket.--Michael Rodriguez, Hodges Univ. Lib., Naples, FL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
In the world of gaming, Gary Gygax (19382008) is a legendand for good reason. Along with his partner (later his bitter enemy), Dave Arneson, Gygax invented Dungeons & Dragons, the granddaddy of role-playing games. This enthusiastic book tracks Gygax's life from his childhood as a fan of sf/fantasy and games of all kinds, through his years as a game designer and publisher, his legal battles over control of TSR (the company he founded in the early 1970s), and his post-D&D years. For fans of role-playing games, and D&D specifically, the book is required reading. But there is one caveat: the text is a mixture of real events and dialogue, along with re-created and/or imagined scenes. For some moments in Gygax's life, Witwer tells us, there is no documentation, no way of knowing exactly who said what. Rather than skim over these moments, he has filled in the gaps creatively, providing us with scenes that are more fiction than fact. This technique will not be greeted with applause in most quarters, but, taken as an imaginative blend of fact and, well, fan fiction, the book will surely intrigue gamers of a certain age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)