Designers & Dragons: a History of the Roleplaying Game Industry

I had mentioned this title over a year ago, but never devoted any time to covering it. I only have the first book in this four volume set and, admittedly, have limited interest in the later volumes. Still, this is the definitive academic work on the subject and if you have any interest in carrying books on the history of RPGs in your library -- these are the ones to get.

Instead of a straight chronology, the companies are covered chronologically, by when they were founded. So TSR, which started it all with Dungeons & Dragons, gets to go first and takes up a significant portion of this first volume. Each company history may mention other companies, or trends in the industry at certain times, but then each history ends with a list of see also references for where to go in the four volumes to read more.

These are well-researched entries, with the Judges Guild entry standing out by having been proofed by company founder Bob Bledsaw himself before he died. Although sources are not cited, it seems likely that Shannon has gained all or most of this information from personal interviews. Shannon Appelcline may be better known outside of gaming circles for writing about cryptocurrencies, but he has a long history with RPGs as well, having written many product reviews at rpg.net, as well as introductions for many of Wizards of the Coast's e-book reprints of classic TSR products.