Playing at the World

By Jon Peterson,

Book cover of Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games

Book description

Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible. From a vast survey of primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World distills the story of how gamers first decided fictional battles with boards…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Playing at the World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Peterson is the foremost historian on the history of Dungeons and Dragons. 

To research this book, he tracked down countless documents from the early history of the game––including things like greeting cards from game creator Gary Gygax. But this book doesn’t just cover D&D.  It traces the history of simulation games from chess through nineteenth-century military training exercises and finally into the emergence of fantasy role-playing games. 

This is the definitive source on the history of these games.

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