Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson poured a mere $2000 into creating the first role-playing game, a sum so meager that the resulting product looked like a home-made project rather than a commercial release. The brown wood-grain box contained three digest-sized booklets and six reference sheets, all produced with an artwork budget of only $100. Gygax recruited a makeshift team of artists who were paid just $2 or $3 per illustration, including local artist Cookie Corey, fellow TSR co-founder Don Kaye, and even his wife's half-sister Keenan Powell. Dave Arneson himself contributed drawings, while Greg Bell, a member of Jeff Perren's gaming group, provided artwork that was often lifted directly from comic books. One illustration of a sorcerer before a blazing cauldron was copied from a panel in Strange Tales No. 167, and the cover art featuring a sword-wielding Viking warrior on a rearing horse was also taken from that same comic issue. This amateurish production value stood in stark contrast to the revolutionary nature of the game, which would eventually spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. The initial printing of the set, designated TSR 2002, was released in 1974, and despite its rough edges, it introduced a new way for people to play games together.
Medieval Rules and Miniatures
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was not designed as a standalone game but as a supplement to existing wargaming systems. Players were expected to own and have played the miniatures wargame Chainmail, which provided the measurement and combat systems that D&D inherited. The rules assumed familiarity with Outdoor Survival, an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration, and used inches to define movement rates and areas, mirroring the mechanics of miniatures wargaming. The game introduced three character classes: fighting-man, magic-user, and cleric, along with four races: human, dwarf, elf, and hobbit. It also established three alignments: lawful, neutral, and chaotic. The set included rules for traveling through wilderness by land and sea, hiring specialists, constructing fortifications, and establishing baronies. An optional combat system was included, which later evolved into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. The Men & Magic booklet recommended using miniatures only if players had them available, suggesting cardboard counters as an alternative. This reliance on prior knowledge and existing systems made the game inaccessible to many, yet it also gave it a depth and complexity that set it apart from other games of the time.From Hobbits to Halflings
The initial printing of the set referred to some of the creatures in the game as hobbits and ents, names borrowed directly from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. However, legal difficulties forced these names to be changed to halflings and treants, respectively. The Monsters & Treasure booklet contained some of the first depictions of the game's most iconic monsters, many of which were adapted from mythology and various literary works. The set also included brief guidelines on how to use monsters as player characters, a concept that was ahead of its time. The game's influence extended beyond its immediate mechanics, as it introduced elements that became standard in later editions, including abilities such as strength, intelligence, and dexterity, and character levels. The set also presented rules for underground dungeons consisting of halls, rooms, and doors protected by tricks and traps, as well as magic items such as intelligent swords. These elements, combined with the game's flexibility, allowed for a level of creativity that was unprecedented in the gaming world.