Sauromatian, all these worlds are yours, except Europa.  Attempt no landings there.

Nogrod -- sorry I missed you.  Greg Svenson is still out and about as far as I know, see http://shamsgrog.blogspot.com/2009/05/q ... enson.html for example.  The last news I have on Jeff Perren is that his son was reporting he was in care for diabetes if I recall.  Can't find the link right now.

Hi FormCritic, I have a nice narrative being drafted for each year, about ~400 pages for 1964-1972.  I found that people can't really parse it without their eyes crossing so I've used the terse timeline instead while I move things around.  Sorry about the acronyms.

MMSA = Midwest Military Simulation Association (Minneapolis wargamers)
USCAC = United States Continental Army Command (group Gygax was with, postal Diplomacy and IFW forerunner)
LGTSA = Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (Lake Geneva wargamers/Chainmail group)

Sources are being tracked, but they're a little ridiculous and a tangled web.  Right now I'm averaging 10-20 footnotes per page of narrative.

I'm getting close to having the first draft of 1972 done (~100-150 pages), and will provide a major update of the 1972 timeline above in a couple of days for review once it's complete.  I'm probably going to have to hold off on writing up 1964-1971 due to a lack of Blackmoor resources, since my narrative for those years as it stands would strongly and falsely imply that Gary was the only one busy at that time.  Hoping to address this in the near future; for now 1964-1971 will just be a timeline.  If anyone can point me to any online summation of Corner of the Table etc. that would be great.

Got it, thanks much.  Pre-ordered your book and looking forward to it.

Thank you Scribe, that would be great.  It's exciting to see collaboration on the research.  I think a vast amount of "the secret story" is already in collectors' hands, and in comparing notes a lot of the historical account can be retroactively crowdsourced just through people revealing what they've seen.  There's a lot of obfuscation and misinformation out there and I think it's crucial that the history be refined and clarified while many of our grognards and "founding fathers" are still around.

I've included my big ol' revision of the 1972 event sequence in the top post of this thread, adding a lot more detail which I left out of the first posting and informed by data and corrections I've been provided by lots o' people.  (Thanks all!)  Comments always welcome.  I'm actually able to rough out some of the approximate dates when play sessions occurred, IF and ONLY IF I take everyone at their word ... often when recollecting things from 30-40 years ago.  But the resulting narrative is going to be pretty interesting.

scribe wrote:ps: I still owe Allan some Malvern, PA c. 1965ish details, if I can find more.

Adam:  there's some good info about that convention in Jon's book, but any additional details would be good to know.  I know from David Axler and Frank that D&D came to the Philly area sometime in 1975, and that Grenadier moved in fantasy minis in 1975 as well, but having a better sense of how much contact there was between the Chicago/Lake Geneva/Twin Cities scenes and the Philly scene would be interesting to hear more about.

1973 timeline version 1.0, still being developed.  Comments welcome.

* January 1:  The number of people aware of pre-publication Dungeons & Dragons at this time is estimated at 300.

* January:  Gygax rolls his soon-to-be-favorite character, Mordenkainen.  Mordenkainen begins his adventuring career in El Raja Key.

* January:  Gygax continues to create dungeon levels for his Greyhawk campaign.  January is the estimated timeframe for completion of dungeon level 9, continuing the troll caverns.

* Early:  Gygax begins adding deities to his Greyhawk campaign.

* Early:  The rust monster, inspired by a toy, is first used in play.  (Other toys in this pack include the owlbear, troglodyte, umber hulk and bulette prototypes.)

* Early?:  Arneson expresses disappointment with the direction of D&D game design.  Nevertheless, legal correspondence indicates that the two were still heavily collaborating as Gygax refined the game.

* Early?:  Gygax continues to receive playtester feedback encouraging him to publish.

* February or March:  Estimated timeframe for creation of Greyhawk dungeon level 10, the deepest level of the troll caverns.

* March or April:  Estimated timeframe for creation of Greyhawk dungeon level 11, ruled by an evil wizard and his Balrogs.

* Early Spring (March-April?):  Gygax begins writing the second manuscript of Dungeons & Dragons.  Arneson is not always aware how his game design ideas are being implemented.

* April or May:  Estimated timeframe for creation of Greyhawk dungeon level 12, the dragon level.

* May:  The article Setting Up a Wargames Campaign, by Tony Bath.

* May:  At this time, Gygax and Kuntz are running four or five Greyhawk sessions a week, sometimes for as many as 20 players.

* May:  By this time, multi-generation photocopies of photocopies of the first manuscript are common.

* May or Early June:  Estimated timeframe for creation of Greyhawk dungeon level 13, Zagyg's lair, completing Gygax's original conception of the area (excluding special side levels).

* May or Early June?:  The second manuscript of Dungeons & Dragons is completed.

* Spring (Early June?):  Approximately 50 copies of the second manuscript are mailed out for playtest.

* Late Spring? (June?):  On Gygax's recommendation, Megarry shows his prototype game Dungeons of Pasha Cada to Lowry at Guidon.  Lowry likes it, but can't afford to publish it.  Lowry gives the game to Gygax to return it to Megarry, which Gygax does.

* June?:  Despite the rejection of Pasha Cada by Lowry, Gygax encourages Lowry to publish Dungeons & Dragons.  Lowry turns that down as well.

* June:  Game Designer's Workshop is founded.

* June:  At this time or earlier, Guidon Games is able to begin selling polyhedral dice sets for gamers.

* June?:  Gygax offers the second manuscript of D&D to Avalon Hill for publication consideration.

* June?:  Avalon Hill turns down the game.

* June?:  An artist for D&D is hired "on the cheap."  Gygax may have made these arrangements when he realized that he would need to publish D&D on his own.

* June to August:  Art signatures by Keenan Powell indicate that much of the artwork for D&D was created during these months.

* August 18-19:  Gen Con VI.  Game Designer's Workshop exhibits their first wargame product.  According to Gygax, D&D is played.  Brian Blume is one of the attendees, and is admitted into the LGTSA.

* Late August:  Anticipation for the future publication of D&D spreads as Gen Con attendees return to their home gaming groups.

* Late August:  Don Kaye asks Gygax if he thinks he can run his own game company.

* September 2:  J.R.R. Tolkien dies.

* Early? September:  After Gen Con, Gygax and Kaye make plans to start their own game company.  They realize that they still lack sufficient funds to publish D&D.

* September:  Gygax's fantasy wargaming article is published in Panzerfaust.

* September:  Gygax co-DMs a Castle Greyhawk session with Bill Hoyer.

* September?:  As a result of play at Gen Con VI, more interested Lake Geneva players join the Greyhawk campaign.

* September?:  Convinced that Gygax will be able to run a game company, Kaye borrows against his life insurance policy to come up with capital.  (A 1982 Inc. article indicates that Gygax convinced Kaye to do this.)

* Early? Fall:  Brian Blume plays D&D with Gygax.

* Fall:  Mike Mornard moves away from Lake Geneva, exiting the Greyhawk campaign.

* Late September?:  Hugh Burdick, Gygax's uncle, draws up a partnership agreement for Gygax and Kaye.

* October 1:  Gygax and Kaye form their partnership, Tactical Studies Rules.

* October:  TSR's first game, Cavaliers & Roundheads, is published so that enough money can be raised to publish D&D.

* November 1:  Preparing for publication, Gygax writes the Foreword to D&D.

* November:  Sales of Cavaliers & Roundheads are slow, and Gygax and Kaye discuss bringing in another partner to acquire sufficient capital for D&D's publication.

* Late November:  Brian Blume asks Gygax if he can join TSR as an equal partner.  Gygax discusses the matter with Kaye.  Kaye considers the matter for a week, and then a meeting is held.

* Early December:  Brian Blume is accepted as an equal partner into TSR, and his cash contribution is used to prepare D&D for publication.

* Early December (weekend):  Blume brings his $2,000 check to Gygax.

* Early December (following Monday):  Gygax deposits the check.  The D&D manuscript and illustrations are taken by Gygax to Graphic Printing for printing.  A print order of 1,000 copies is planned, based on Gygax's earlier estimate for a $2,400 investment in boxes, labels and printed booklets.

* December:  An advertisement by MiniFigs, announcing the availability of Mythical Earth fantasy figures.

* December:  Gygax's draft is quickly retyped for the January 1974 publication of Dungeons & Dragons.

Still to add:  computer gaming notes, inspirational fiction, Sir Robilar and other accounts of play in the deep Greyhawk dungeons.