Wow this video was an absolutely fascinating look at the origin and early history of our hobby. I want to highlight specific bits of it that were particularly interesting, but honestly there were so many of them all I can say is just watch it.
This guy is also absolutely fascinated with it, and it showed. I’ve only played a few sessions ever, and this was a very interesting watch.
Ooh, from the way you phrased that it sounds like you may not have ever encountered Colville before? If so, I’ll just say I cannot recommend his stuff highly enough. He has an enormous series “running the game”, most of which is aimed at GMs but much of which is also useful for players to have an understanding of. He also has a few videos on the history of the game/his experience of the game from way back in the day, as well as some of the history of other games. He’s done a bunch of media criticism and analysis, including a mini-series on 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as ones about bigger nerd-culture franchises like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Videos about online or societal discourse, including both related to RPGs and more broadly applicable in society.
He’s also the CEO of a company that used to make 3rd-party D&D 5th edition content but is currently developing their own RPG.
I’ve obviously only linked a single example of a handful of different subjects, but I highly recommend going through his upload history and seeing what strikes your fancy. I often find myself disagreeing with his takes in many areas, but have never once failed to understand where he’s coming from and believe what he’s saying is at least worth discussing.
I almost skipped over this video, because I thought it was about some other drama about the origins of D&D, which is mostly just outrage tourism.
Happy to be mistaken! It’s been a little bit since I watched Matt Colville, so I’ll give this a watch when I have the time. And it includes a book recommendation on top of that!
This book sounds absolutely fascinating. I love weird obscure, hobby history. It’s why I really miss the history segments of The Great British Bake Off (even though some people apparently found them boring?). I’ll definitely have to add it to my list of books to get.
Ooh that’s a good one! And quite concise by Colville’s standards /j
I need to get me my hands on The Elusive Shift, as well!