Dungeons & Dragons ( abbreviated as D & D or DnD ) is a fantasy role-playing game ( RPG ) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. ( TSR ).

As teenagers Gygax and Kaye designed their own miniatures rules for toy soldiers with a large collection of and figures, and they used " ladyfingers " ( small firecrackers ) to simulate explosions.

Gygax became active in fandom and became involved in play-by-mail Diplomacy games, for which he designed his own variants.

Gygax designed a set of dungeons underneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk as a testing ground for new rules, character classes and spells.

The adventure module The Village of Hommlet was a 24-page booklet designed by Gary Gygax, and published by TSR in 1979.

Gygax designed the adventure both to challenge the skill of expert players in his own campaign, and to test players who boasted of having mighty player characters able to best any challenge.

" Gygax designed the Tomb of Horrors modules for two related purposes.

David C. Sutherland III and Gary Gygax designed the module, which was then published in 1980 as a 32-page booklet with a folder of maps.

Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008 ) was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) with Dave Arneson.

Gygax dropped out of high school in his junior year and worked at odd jobs for a while, but he moved back to Chicago at age 19 to attend night classes in junior college.

Gygax learned about H. G. Wells ' Little Wars book for play of military miniatures wargames and Fletcher Pratt's Naval Wargame book.

Gygax later looked for innovative ways to generate random numbers, and he used not only common, six-sided dice, but dice of all five platonic solid shapes, which he discovered in a school supply catalog.

During the 1960s, Gygax worked as an insurance underwriter for the Firemen's Fund in Chicago.

In 1968, Gygax rented Lake Geneva's vine-covered Horticultural Hall for to hold the first Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention for short.

Late in October 1970, Gygax lost his job at the insurance company and then became a shoe repairman, which gave him more time for pursuing his interest in game development.

Basing their work on Arneson's modified version of Chainmail for his Blackmoor campaign, Gygax and Arneson collaborated on The Fantasy Game, the role-playing game that later became Dungeons & Dragons.

Gygax worked on rules for more miniatures and tabletop battle games, including Cavaliers and Roundheads ( English Civil War, with Jeff Perren ), Classic Warfare ( Ancient Period: 1500 BC to 500 AD ), and Warriors of Mars.

The Dragon debuted in June 1976, and Gygax commented on its success years later: " When I decided that The Strategic Review was not the right vehicle, hired Tim Kask as a magazine editor for Tactical Studies Rules, and named the new publication he was to produce The Dragon, I thought we would eventually have a great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide ... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan.

" Gygax wrote the supplements Greyhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, and Swords & Spells for the original D & D game.

Role-playing campaign settings like Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.

Gygax realized that novels set in Greyhawk could have a similar benefit for his campaign world and wrote Saga of Old City, the first in a series of novels that would be published under the banner Greyhawk Adventures.

Gygax then provided some errata for the boxed set in the September 1985 issue, which was the last mention of the Greyhawk world in Dragon for almost two years.

In the time since Gygax had left TSR, no original Greyhawk material had been published, and many letter writers had requested ideas for new adventures.

Although TSR and WotC had each in turn owned the official rights to the World of Greyhawk since the first folio edition was published in 1980, the two people most responsible for its early development, Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, still had most of their original notes regarding the fifty levels of dungeons under Castle Greyhawk.

However, in 2003, Gygax announced that he was working with Rob Kuntz to publish the original castle and city in six volumes, although the project would use the rules for Castles and Crusades rather than Dungeons & Dragons.

In a 1984 interview for Polyhedron Newszine, Gary Gygax revealed several " alternate Oerths " while explaining the setting for his HEROES CHALLENGE game books, co-written with author Flint Dille and published under the aegis of the Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corporation by the Wanderer Book division of Simon & Schuster.

These were expanded by Gary Gygax, whose additions included a fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail.

Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up the Ship !, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing " The Fantasy Game ", the role-playing game ( RPG ) that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax.

In 1977, Gygax began work on a more comprehensive version of the game, called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

After leaving TSR in 1985 over issues with its new majority owner, Gygax continued to create role-playing game titles independently, beginning with the multi-genre Dangerous Journeys in 1992.

In 2005, Gygax was involved in the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, which was conceived as a hybrid between D & D's third edition and the original version of the game conceived by Gygax.

While visiting Lake Geneva in 1972, Arneson ran his fantasy game using the new rules, and Gygax immediately saw the potential of role-playing games.

In 1973, Gygax attempted to publish the game through Avalon Hill, who turned down his offer.

* 1938 – Gary Gygax, American game designer and writer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons ( d. 2008 )

In late 1972, Dave Arneson demonstrated a new type of game to a group of gamers in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, including game designer Gary Gygax.

Dangerous Journeys is a roleplaying game created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons system.

According to a FAQ on the official Gary Gygax website, the Mythus Fantasy setting for Dangerous Journeys was merely one of several settings planned for the system.

Gygax had originally devised Lejendary Adventure as a role-playing video game using a simple and rules-light system based on skill-bundles, but subsequently decided to develop the game as a printed fantasy RPG.

By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all Dungeons & Dragons characters whose names were anagrams or versions of his own name, such as Yrag and Zagyg.

By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D & D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name ( for example, Yrag and Zagyg ).

The party has also run into various characters from classic D & D adventures and novels, such as Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance, Elminster from the Forgotten Realms, and Count Strahd von Zarovich from Ravenloft, as well as the game's creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.