Domesday Book                                                                 Home Up
 

The Domesday Book was a newsletter published by the Castle & Crusade Society (a subsidiary of the International Federation of Wargaming, or IFW) beginning in 1968.  The newsletter was founded by Gary Gygax, who was the editor of issue #1.  Subsequent issues apparently had rotating editors.  They were hand-typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter, then photocopied for distribution.

The official IFW newsletter, International Wargamer, makes several mentions of the Castle & Crusade Society, occasionally referring to their newsletter as the "Doomsday Book" (notice the spelling difference).  In the August 1970 International Wargamer, the current Domesday Book issue is described as 32 pages long, with a subscription rate of $2 for 12 issues.  (Thanks to Adam Shultz for this info).

From Best of Dragon Volume 1, in an article by Gygax: "The medieval rules, Chainmail (Gygax and Perren) were published in Domesday Book prior to publication by Guidon Games.   Of course they were in a less developed state, and were only for 1:20 figure scale.  Between the time they appeared in Domesday Book and the Guidon edition, I revised and expanded the rules for 1:20 and added 1:1 scale games, jousting and fantasy."

The only other information we have on this publication comes from an auction posting in 1997 for issue #13, which at the time was in the possession of Rob Kuntz (editor of that issue).  Thanks to Ed Courtroul, Rob Kuntz, and Phillip Rhodes for this info.

Issue #13 contents:

  • The Storming of Minis Ithil :  page 3
  • Facts About Blackmoor (by Dave Arneson):  page 6
  • Feudal Kingship:  page 8
  • Missives (Letter Column):  page 9
  • Letter from the King:  page 11
  • Precedence by Title or Office:  page 13
  • Knights Jousting Tourney:  page 14

"Facts About Blackmoor" appears to be the first published article on the Blackmoor campaign.  It also includes the first published map of Blackmoor (viewable here), which is slightly different from the later version in the Judges' Guild supplement First Fantasy Campaign.

"Knights Jousting Tourney" is a reprint of an article appearing in issue #6, and deals with tournament rules for jousting (miniatures).  The rules were later incorporated into Chainmail.

The C&C Society began with twelve members, and at its zenith was said to be about 60 - 80.  Therefore, roughly 80 copies of each issue (maximum) were printed, and probably only a handful survive today.  Indeed, only two copies (both of issue #13) are known to exist.