Gary Gygax

TSR games and rules editor, preface by author, credits and acknowledgements, 16 appendices, glossary, afterword, a list of tables and charts, and index.

Special Reference Work : a Compiled Volume of Information Primarily Used by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game Referees, Including Combat Tables, Monster Lists and Encounters, Treasure and Magic Tables and Descriptions, Random Dungeon Generation, Random Wilderness Terrain Generation, Suggestions on Gamemastering, and More

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide

Colton Ray

This was really fun to look through. Though I've never actually played D&D, I've always been interested in it. I used to figure it as super-complicated, full of hard-to-follow rules, and so only experimented with the 80s PC games, where the computer plays the DM, essentially. However, reading through this, I realized that (this version at least) is actually fairly simple to get started, operating mostly off the imaginations of the players involved. The rules must be set in order for the world to function properly, and that's the beauty: that this man was able to come up with these rules and instructions, and from that flowed literally endless adventures. 

I wish I could've grown up when D&D was at the height of its cultural force, though I probably would have been banned from playing it. The boogeyman of my time was the Harry Potter franchise! Perhaps one of these days, I'll find someone to run a campaign with.

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