Review of 'Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Great title, but this book is merely okay. This personal journey (and part road trip) has a history of Dungeons & Dragons, a description of role playing, and some related topics (such as war gaming), interspersed with "in character" story thoughts. Reads like a long magazine article.
The author sets things up as a personal journey, but neither we nor he learn anything from this trip. Towards the end, he describes a change from player to game master, but even this is unresolved. Other aspects of this book involve looking at who plays (mostly stereotyped) and how (a bit on the long side). There are better histories of role playing (in general) and D&D (specifically) to read, and the section on war games is just painful to read.
So why two stars instead of one? Towards the end, the author is involved in the early D&D 5th Edition rollout, and …
Great title, but this book is merely okay. This personal journey (and part road trip) has a history of Dungeons & Dragons, a description of role playing, and some related topics (such as war gaming), interspersed with "in character" story thoughts. Reads like a long magazine article.
The author sets things up as a personal journey, but neither we nor he learn anything from this trip. Towards the end, he describes a change from player to game master, but even this is unresolved. Other aspects of this book involve looking at who plays (mostly stereotyped) and how (a bit on the long side). There are better histories of role playing (in general) and D&D (specifically) to read, and the section on war games is just painful to read.
So why two stars instead of one? Towards the end, the author is involved in the early D&D 5th Edition rollout, and it is interesting to read about how Wizards of the Coast plans to reconnect with the fan base and put out a product that brings together the best aspects of the game. At the time this book was released, that would have been quite timely and an excellent preview. Also, the book is a fairly quick read.
Alternate suggestions would include [b:Playing at the World|16007126|Playing at the World|Jon Peterson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347591542s/16007126.jpg|21502915], [b:Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons|23848482|Empire of Imagination Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons|Michael Witwer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445262031s/23848482.jpg|43458389], or [b:The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons And Growing Up Strange|1607816|The Elfish Gene Dungeons, Dragons And Growing Up Strange|Mark Barrowcliffe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1358746856s/1607816.jpg|1601279].