Treasured Surviving Relics

Series Contents Part One – The Birth of Chainmail Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail Collector's Guide to Chainmail Editions This companion reference provides a quick identification guide to the principal editions and printings of Chainmail . While many minor variations exist, the editions below are those most commonly encountered by collectors. Edition Year(s) Publisher Cover Binding Key Identifiers Tolkien Terms Rarity 1st Edition 1971 Guidon Games Yellow-orange Stapled 62 pages, no publisher address Present ★★★★★ 2nd Edition (1st) 1972 Guidon Games Yellow-orange Stapled Evansville address, white inside cover Present ★★★★☆ 2nd Edition (2nd) 1972 Guidon Games Yellow-orange Stapled Belfast address, orange inside cover Present ★★★★☆ 3rd Edition (1st) 1975 TSR Yellow-orange Stapled GK logo, $5 cov...

  Continue the series ⬅ Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Series Contents Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Collector's Guide More than half a century after its publication, Chainmail occupies a unique place in gaming history. Although it began life as a medieval miniatures wargame, its Fantasy Supplement helped create an entirely new form of entertainment that would become known as the role-playing game. Overshadowed by Its Successor The phenomenal success of Dungeons & Dragons inevitably pushed Chainmail into the background. Many gamers know the name only because the original 1974 rules referred readers to its combat system. Yet without Chainmail , the first role-playing game would almost certainly have looked very different. A Collector's Treasure Today original editions of Chainmail are prized by collectors of gaming history. Early Guidon Games printings, first-edition Fa...

Continue the series ⬅ Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing   |   Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail ➡ Series Contents Part One – The Birth of Chainmail Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail Companion Reference – The Collector's Guide to Chainmail Editions  By 1973 Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson had demonstrated that fantasy battles could become fantasy adventures. The remaining challenge was to transform those ideas into a coherent rules system that anyone could play. Building a New Game Working together, Gygax and Arneson expanded the concepts first explored in Blackmoor . Combat mechanics from Chainmail , fantasy creatures from the Fantasy Supplement and the campaign structure pioneered by Arneson were gradually woven into an entirely new game. The emphas...

Continue the series ⬅ Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything   |   Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons ➡ Series Contents Part One – The Birth of Chainmail Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail Companion Reference – The Collector's Guide to Chainmail Editions The Fantasy Supplement proved that dragons, heroes and wizards could exist within a tabletop wargame. Yet Chainmail was still about commanding armies rather than becoming a single adventurer. Enter Dave Arneson While Gary Gygax was expanding the possibilities of fantasy wargaming in Wisconsin, another innovator was experimenting with a radically different style of play hundreds of miles away in Minnesota. Dave Arneson drew inspiration from David Wesely's experimental Braunstein game...

Continue the series ⬅ Part One – The Birth of Chainmail   |   Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing ➡ Series Contents Part One – The Birth of Chainmail Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail Companion Reference – The Collector's Guide to Chainmail Editions When Chainmail appeared in 1971 it was intended as a historical medieval miniatures game. Knights fought battles, castles were besieged and tournaments recreated medieval warfare with remarkable detail. For many players, however, history alone was not enough. The fantasy fiction of J. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber and Poul Anderson had captured the imagination of wargamers who wanted dragons, magic and legendary heroes to march alongside medieval armies. The Fantasy Supplement Gary Gygax answere...

Continue the series ➡ Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Series Contents Part One – The Birth of Chainmail Part Two – The Fantasy Supplement That Changed Everything Part Three – Blackmoor and the Birth of Role-Playing Part Four – From Chainmail to Dungeons & Dragons Part Five – The Legacy of Chainmail Companion Reference – The Collector's Guide to Chainmail Editions Before There Was Dungeons & Dragons is a five-part historical series examining the people, games and ideas that gave birth to the modern role-playing hobby. Before there were role-playing 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 slim booklet with a distinctive yellow-orange cover, Chainmail appeared to be nothing more than a set of rules for medieval miniature battles. Hidden with...