The Books
Designers & Dragons is a series of books & articles covering the history of the roleplaying industry. The following books are either currently available or in planning.
Company Histories
Designers & Dragons: The ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, and Platinum Appendix (Evil Hat: 2014-2015). Anthologies of company histories are the heart of Designers & Dragons. Four core volumes tell the stories of the roleplaying industry in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s, one company at a time. A Platinum Appendix contains additional histories requested by Kickstarter patrons as well as yearly chronicles from 2008-2014.
The second edition paperback editions of these books funded by a 2014 Kickstarter are partially out-of-print, but can still be found on some secondary markets. (We printed a lot!) They also remain available as audio books, as eBooks, and as POD hardcovers.
A shorter one-volume first edition of Designers & Dragons was published by Mongoose in 2011. Only about 750 copies were printed and it is now a rare collector’s edition. All of the content of this first edition was reprinted in the second-edition multivolume set.
Designers & Dragons: The Chromatic Appendix (Patreon). This is an organized collection of the history articles from this blog that haven’t reappeared in one of the core Designers & Dragons volumes.
The Chromatic Appendix is currently available as an amateur PDF at the Designers & Dragons Patreon. There’s no decision as to whether it might appear in a more professional form in the future.
System Histories
This is Free Trader Beowulf (Mongoose Publishing: 2024). This full-length story of the Traveller RPG covers the entire Traveller history, from its beginnings with GDW through the brief publication of Imperium Games into the hiatus of the Long Night and the modern day with Mongoose. Individual chapters also cover other major contributors such as the many third-party publishers of the 70s and 80s, DGP, and HIWG.
This book is available as a PDF from DTRPG and as an offset press book from Mongoose, Amazon, and elsewhere.
Pending Releases
Designers & Dragons Origins (Product History: Pending). A 4-book history of Dungeons & Dragons, covering OD&D, AD&D 1e, Basic D&D, and the later Mystara products for AD&D 2e. These books are under contract to Evil Hat and are currently in final editing; they should be handed off to them in Spring 2024.
Status. Turned over to Evil Hat in May 2024. Editing complete in March 2025. Final editing approvals in April 2025. Legal opinion on fair use of covers received in April 2025. Currently with a consultant to consider a few of the more contentious discussion while I gather covers for usage then work through some material in the book related to covers, with next turn over planned for June 2025.
Designers & Dragons: The Lost Histories & The ’10s (Company History: Pending). Work began on a new series of company histories in 2020, including two volumes telling the stories companies from the ’70s through ’00s not covered in the original volumes and a new volume covering the ’10s in the same format. 72 histories were eventually composed.
Because the second edition books are of print, it was a little tricky figuring out how to release these. The current plan is to release these in a limited form (likely PDF + POD) for fans who already have copies of the existing books, then to reshuffle the old and new histories alike into a third edition that contains everything.
Status. Feature complete in May 2025. Currently undergoing updates of all new histories to 2025, with turn over planned for approximately December 2025.