Dungeons & Dragons and Computer Role-Playing Games
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The first true role-playing game came from an unlikely place indeed: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In the 1960s, E. Gary Gygax created a medieval wargame called Chainmail. Chainmail was a minor success, and soon Gygax and friends were hosting a small local convention called "Gen Con" in support of it. (At that time, Gen Con attracted 100-500 attendees. Last year the venerable convention hosted over 21,000). The gathering attracted a Minnesotan named David Arneson, who had modified Chainmail to a 1:1 scale (one figure equals one character). Gygax reportedly liked the immediacy and the threat of instant death having a single 'character' added to his game; soon the two were working together. On that day, Dungeons & Dragons was born.
