THE CREATION of the world's preeminent Fantasy Role-Playing Game (FRPG), Dungeons & Dragons, is one of the most fascinating tales to be told in all the shared histories of entertainment, play and game design. Two very different men, David Lance Arneson and Ernest Gary Gygax, undertook an unprecedented collaboration which gifted us - as their shared legacy - with one of the most intriguing games the world has yet experienced. Their game did not just simulate one isolate corner of reality; it dared to encompass the entirety of all realms of adventure, the consensual playground of the human imagination.
HAWK & MOOR tells the story of Dave and Gary, and the many other people whose efforts gave first life to the game we know and love today. Arneson had spectacular ideas, but Gygax knew how to refine them. Collaboration soon turned to conflict as Arneson believed his game was being taken from him, and Gygax crystallized systems where incomprehensible riddles had stood before. Both men were creative geniuses, but the game they created from Gygax's Chainmail (1971) was the end result not only of their teamwork, but also of their clashes and disagreements.
HAWK & MOOR Book IV: Of Demons and Fallen Idols tells the tale of 1976, when the Original D&D game reached its fullest form and the designs of both Basic D&D (with Dr. John Eric Holmes) and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (without Dave Arneson) finally began. This tome includes the last known tales of Lord Robilar, and features further adventures chronicling The Monk With No Name, the Striped Mage of Greyhawk, and Mordenkainen's journey with Robilar to the City of the Gods.
Other major events featured herein include: the opening of the Dungeon Hobby Shop; more chronicles of the Blackmoor campaign; Dave Arneson's time and tribulations with TSR; the publications of Eldritch Wizardry, Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes, and Swords & Spells; the design and release of the Lankhmar game with Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer (the Gray Mouser); the publication of Metamorphosis Alpha; the dawn of The Dragon; the celebrations of Gen Con IX and Origins II; the rise of Judge's Guild and the City State of the Invincible Overlord; and the classic dungeons featured in Palace of the Vampire Queen, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, The Dungeoneer #1, and The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth. An elaborate chronology of these and many other events from 1976 is included as an appendix for easy reference as well.
HAWK & MOOR Book Four: Of Demons and Fallen Idols includes 70,800 words on over 360 pages, supported by 458 footnotes and annotations. Prepare yourself, take up torch and sword. Come along and experience an unprecedented journey into the Golden Age!
