Treasured Surviving Relics

Before there were roleplaying games, before fantasy gaming became a global industry, and before millions of players explored digital worlds like EverQuest or World of Warcraft , there was a modest little medieval wargame called Chainmail . Printed as a thin booklet with a yellow-orange cover, Chainmail was ostensibly a set of medieval miniatures rules. Yet hidden within its pages was something revolutionary: The foundation of Dungeons & Dragons itself. Today, Chainmail is often overshadowed by the game it inspired, but its influence on fantasy gaming and popular culture is difficult to overstate. The Origins: Wargaming in the Late 1960s The roots of Chainmail stretch back into the late 1960s and a small but passionate network of American wargamers. In 1967, a relatively obscure play-by-mail club known as the United States Continental Army Command (USCAC) focused largely on Avalon Hill strategy games. The club was run by Scott Duncan, Bill Speer and a young Gary Gygax, w...