Playing at the World
by Jon Peterson · first published 2012
18mentions
13recommended by
15HN commenters
2013–2026first – last mentioned
87% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Exhaustively researched history of simulation games, tracing wargames, Kriegspiel, and Little Wars through to D&D and early roleplaying. Suits readers who like painstaking detail on how tabletop RPGs came to be.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…each game, and analyzing how they all influence each other. He'll often put extra effort into tracking down copies of obscure games and contacting authors. In some ways it reminds me of Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World", which thoroughly documents the origins and early history of D&D, which started the genre.
on “1970s mainframe RPGs we can no longer play” ↗They don't link to it among the links to Peterson's books (as far as I can tell) and they don't mention it in the interview, but Peterson's doorstop volume Playing at the World treats extensively of the roots of D&D. Looks like this Appendix N would make a great sourcebook (in the academic, not roleplaying, sense) companion to that book, since it mentions and describes lots…
on “The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons” ↗Used to game with John in the nineties. I don't think his contribution to documenting the history of the game can be overstated, and that will probably only ring more true in the future. Playing At The World is kind of an amazing book.
on “Happy 40th birthday, Dungeons & Dragons” ↗Playing at the World by Jon Peterson is a fascinating and comprehensive history of the wargames that led to Dungeons & Dragons, and the early years of the roleplaying hobby. I highly recommend it for anyone that likes painstakingly…
on “A 1979 War-Game That Takes 1,500 Hours to Complete” ↗…recommend the recently published "Role-Playing Game Studies: A Transmedia Approach" and specifically the chapter "RPG Theorizing by Designers and Players". For a much broader historical work there's also Playing at the World by Jon Peterson. For something more bite sized (and free) check out http://analoggamestudies.org/
on “Role-playing game theory” ↗…whom this...will be a special treat are those who enjoy solving word or logic puzzles. To be enjoyed to its fullest, this is a book that benefits from active participation on the part of the reader." * Playing at the World, Jon Peterson ("Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible.") * The Years of Lyndon Johnson (v1-4, 5 in…
on “Ask HN: What are some good books?” ↗If you are interested in the history of D&D, war gaming, and other role-playing games, I highly recommend Jon Peterson's encyclopedic Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventures: https://amzn.com/0615642047
on “Dungeons and Dragons Saved My Life” ↗It's at the bottom of the article, but I think it's worth noting that Jon Peterson does some impressive work for role playing game historical documentation. His book Playing at the World is a labor of love, giving not only a detailed history of the early days of wargames and tabletop rpgs, but a history of the science fiction and fantasy genres, a history of games in general, and how…
on “Your cyberpunk games are dangerous” ↗If you are interested in the history of role-playing games, I recommend Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventures, From Chess to Role-Playing Games". It is a monster 720 page tome. Very comprehensive and well-researched. https://amzn.com/0615642047
on “Destroy All Monsters: A Journey into the Caverns of Dungeons and Dragons (2006)” ↗For some great context around this, I highly recommend "Playing at the world" by Jon Peterson (https://www.amazon.com/Playing-at-World-Jon-Peterson/dp/0615...). It's a fairly detailed history of paper and pencil games with quite a bit of focus on Little Wars, Kreigspiel, and D&D.…
on “Little Wars – a game by H.G. Wells” ↗For those interested in learning more about simulation games and the grognards that play them, I strongly recommend "Playing at the World" by Jon Peterson. It's everything you ever wanted to know about the origins and theory of simulation games, especially D&D, but were afraid to ask. Jimmy Maher's thoughts about "experientialist" games…
on “The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization” ↗If this is your thing, check out Playing at the World by Jon Peterson. It’s a fantastic history of simulation games, including both wargaming and rpgs. Also includes a thorough review of pre-DnD fantasy literature, which I’m sure is appealing to more than…
on “Reflections on Teaching Wargame Design” ↗I have quite a few books on this topic. Perla's was probably the first that I read and it is good, but to anyone interested in the topic I would first recommend Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World" ("A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games"). It's a book about how D&D came to be and covers many topics, but the section on wargames is very well…
on “The Operational Wargame Series: The best game not in stores now (2021)” ↗Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World" is a fantastic book. Highly recommend!
on “Shall We Play a Game?” ↗…contributor. He posts under the handle "gronanofsimmerya." Jon Peterson who wrote THE book on the history of D&D also posts there using the handle "increment." Also check out the blog he setup for his book, Playing At The World, at http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/
on “Happy 40th birthday, Dungeons & Dragons” ↗