Michael Witwer’s Empire of Imagination is a new biography of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax that not only tells the tale of this marvelous wizard but also explores the profound impact D&D had on popular culture, gaming, and geek culture. NPR spoke with Witwer for All Things Considered. Listen below.
“Many of the derivative games — and maybe it’s all of the derivative games we’ve talked about — whether it be computer role-playing games or whatnot, they actually lack most of the most important fundamental elements of a role-playing game,” Witwer says. “That is, sitting around with your friends and participating in this kind of group storytelling exercise: actually being in a room physically sitting at a table with nothing but pencils and paper and dice. There’s something very special about that, and it’s kind of a social experience that’s pretty hard to frankly re-create over any type of electronic media.”
Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons (Amazon)