Empire of Imagination

Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons by Michael Witwer, 242 pages

It is hard to describe how mythical a figure Gary Gygax was for gamers who grew up in the '80s.  Gygax was tied to TSR, the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, in the same way that Steve Jobs was tied to Apple - in the public imagination, the two were impossible to separate.  Although other RPG publishers like Steve Jackson at Steve Jackson Games or Kevin Siembieda at Palladium were also strongly identified with their brands, TSR's flagship line was synonymous with the hobby itself, like Kleenex and tissues - nerdy kids were "playing D&D" even if they were really playing Cyberpunk 2020 or Call of Cthulhu.  And then, quite suddenly, he was gone, ousted from control of the company, and then, with AD&D Second Edition, gone from the books as well.  Rumors and gossip whispered of bruised egos and financial mismanagement.  Gygax spent a decade on the margins of gaming before eventually transitioning into the respected role of founding father.  The story of how Dungeons & Dragons was created, how it grew under Gygax's care, and how he eventually lost control of it is the central story of Empire of Imagination.

Witwer uses a unique writing style.  Each chapter is only a few pages long, and begins with a vignette, more or less fictional, then places the vignette into the broader biographical context.  For example, Witwer does not describe Gygax's increasing problems in his career as an insurance adjuster, some of them related to his preoccupations with gaming, climaxing in his firing - instead Witwer describes Gary arriving on the front porch of his family home, jug of wine in hand, contemplating how to tell his wife that he has been let go, then backtracks to describe his problems at work and finally summarizes his attempts to deal with his new situation.  This creates numerous problems in addition to being annoying in repetition - in the chapter describing the breakup of Gygax's first marriage, some of the blame is placed on his "escalating use of cocaine", which is the first and last time this cocaine use is mentioned.  Some of these problems raise questions about the depth of Witwer's research, with most of the material seemingly culled from printed interviews of Gygax.  Possibly as a result, Witwer treats Gygax's attempt to deny Dave Arneson royalties on AD&D as at least possibly legitimate, and doesn't mention that, in addition to the ongoing legal feud with TSR, Gygax's Dangerous Journeys was hopelessly unfashionable at the time of its release, a dice-, statistics-, and rule-heavy game at a time when White Wolf's Storyteller system, with its emphatic emphasis on drama and playacting rather than die-rolling and rules, was the new cool kid in the neighborhood.  More seriously, major conflicts, notably that between Gygax and Lorraine Williams, which resulted in Gygax leaving TSR, become incomprehensible.  Some of his may not be Witwer's fault - there may not be any clear facts about the rift between Gygax and Williams, only conflicting accounts - but there has to be something more substantive than vague allegations that Williams was overheard making disparaging comments about gamers and a belated acknowledgement that Gygax may have publicly insulted her at a convention.

There are good things about Empire of Imagination - Witwer is excellent when it comes to retelling amusing anecdotes.  It is fun to relive Gygax's childhood exploration of an abandoned mental institution armed with a flashlight and a hatchet.  It is gratifying to learn that silly fantasy names have been a part of D&D from the beginning - characters in Gygax's first campaign already had names like "Ahlissa" and "Robilar".  Unfortunately, the entire book is built on anecdotes.  The result is a work that is easy enough to read but provides little real insight into its subject.