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Game Historian: Gygax Swiped Fantasy Rules From a Forgotten 1970 Wargame (blogspot.com)

Posted by timothy on from the cultural-learnings dept.

An anonymous reader writes: According to game historian Jon Peterson, Gary Gygax's Chainmail fantasy wargame (which became the basis for Dave Arneson's Blackmoor and later Dungeons & Dragons) borrowed heavily from an earlier set of rules published by Leonard Patt, a long-forgotten member of the New England Wargamers Association. Among the appropriations were rules for heroes and wizards including the iconic fireball spell, which ended up in everything from Magic: the Gathering to World of Warcraft, as well as monster rules for dragons, orcs, ents, and other Tolkien creations. Gygax had something of a reputation for borrowing things without giving proper credit, and this latest revelation shows how the open and collaborative environment of early gaming was quickly exploited for commercial purposes.

7 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. And that guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... And that guy stole it from something else, which got it from some other dude, who took it from the Bible, which stole it from the pagans, who got it from Ancient Aliens.

  2. And... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shakespeare stole everything he read for his plays, including making up new words for the English language. In short, so what?

    1. Re:And... by mujadaddy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Headline is pure bait: the blog poster makes no generalization such as "swiping", as wargaming rules were in constant flux, even from session to session.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
  3. We get it by JackieBrown · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Gygax had something of a reputation for borrowing things without giving proper credit, and this latest revelation shows how the open and collaborative environment of early gaming was quickly exploited for commercial purposes.

    We get it. Commercial is bad. Everything should be non-profit. We should all make the same wage. We should all have the same stuff.

  4. Doesn't matter anyway by Forgefather · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is ridiculous. You can't patent game mechanics and you can't get copyright on something as general as 'Fireball'. This is how the sharing of ideas was intended to work not some illicit theft of ideas.

    --
    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
  5. Re:But the REAL question on all our minds is... by The-Ixian · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Step 1. Become disabled
    Step 2. Collect economic assistance from the state
    Step 3. Create business cards with "Game historian" printed on the front
    Step 4. Profit

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  6. Re:Idea owners unite? by cfalcon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe read the article?

    Fireball in Dungeons and Dragons is a particular spell with particular rules, and it has ABSOLUTELY BEEN COPIED STRAIGHT in many cases since then.

    If you are disputing that Chainmail took "fire ball" from this guy, read the article- the rules specifics are way too much to be a coincidence (including the specifics of saving throws for heroes, and how they interact with Dragons).

    If you are disputing that most of the modern gaming fireballs descend from Dungeons and Dragons / Chainmail / This guy, I don't know what to tell you, other than this is very unlikely. The idea of fire being used to attack is universal in human culture and mythology, but the specific visualization in question has some pretty clear pedigree. They aren't talking about the generic idea of an attack with fire, after all.