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A review by worldofbookcraft
Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons by Michael Witwer
4.0
i very very very recently started playing dnd, and found this book so i got the audiobook and started listening.
DnD is pretty new to me, but empire that it, and Gary Gygax has spawned because of it, I'm pretty intimately familliar with (World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, fantasy books, RPG's in general).
While the first part of the book, which details Gary's early life wasn't that interesting to me, it was still entertaining. Where the book really started heating up was when it detailed DnD's life, and how Gary's life changed with DnD. There's always been a stigma surrounding DnD, so it's SO interesting hearing about how this negative stigma originated. It's also funny how the creator of a game that many people belive to be a form of "Satan worship" is actually a Christian.
Hearing about the lawsuits, and how corporate business people can change a game about imagination and fellowship into an icky copyright mess was also highly interesting.
Seeing Gary Gygax evolve and change from a boy who only cared about games and adventure into a man that treasured his family, his friends, his imagination, and inspired a phleothora of talented creators, AND created a genre that millions of people love (including me!) was amazing. I got a little misty eyed at the end when the book details Gary's prepration for death, his death, and all the people who honoured his memory, and his impact on pop culture and art itself.
SUPER interesting read! Listened to it while sewing and crafting a Vault Dweller cosplay, and it was a wonderful couple hours. Definietly way more excited to keep delving into the DnD world (my first character is a Wizard Wood Elf named Saturn Stormflower who has blue hair and is a netural chaotic).
If the begining wasn't so slow, it would be a five, but for now it's a low 4/high 3! Recommended!
DnD is pretty new to me, but empire that it, and Gary Gygax has spawned because of it, I'm pretty intimately familliar with (World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, fantasy books, RPG's in general).
While the first part of the book, which details Gary's early life wasn't that interesting to me, it was still entertaining. Where the book really started heating up was when it detailed DnD's life, and how Gary's life changed with DnD. There's always been a stigma surrounding DnD, so it's SO interesting hearing about how this negative stigma originated. It's also funny how the creator of a game that many people belive to be a form of "Satan worship" is actually a Christian.
Hearing about the lawsuits, and how corporate business people can change a game about imagination and fellowship into an icky copyright mess was also highly interesting.
Seeing Gary Gygax evolve and change from a boy who only cared about games and adventure into a man that treasured his family, his friends, his imagination, and inspired a phleothora of talented creators, AND created a genre that millions of people love (including me!) was amazing. I got a little misty eyed at the end when the book details Gary's prepration for death, his death, and all the people who honoured his memory, and his impact on pop culture and art itself.
SUPER interesting read! Listened to it while sewing and crafting a Vault Dweller cosplay, and it was a wonderful couple hours. Definietly way more excited to keep delving into the DnD world (my first character is a Wizard Wood Elf named Saturn Stormflower who has blue hair and is a netural chaotic).
If the begining wasn't so slow, it would be a five, but for now it's a low 4/high 3! Recommended!