Carlos Morales
Roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons have solidly moved from the geek fringes to the mainstream in recent years, inspiring hit podcasts, massively successful crowdfunding campaigns, and blockbuster films. Now New York Times-bestselling and award-winning comics creators Fred Van Lente (The Comic Book History of Animation), acclaimed Wizards of the Coast and comics artist Tom Fowler (Books of Magic) and colorist Bill Crabtree are sharing the epic history of the tabletop’s triumph in their latest graphic novel Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games. The graphic history will be crowdfunded by publisher Clover Press via Kickstarter.
The story of the tabletop’s triumph even in our digital age begins in the day of actual sword-wielding warriors, leading right up to the fireball-casting avatars of today. Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games takes readers on an incredible journey from the mists of the past to the screen-lit present, showing not just how these games work and why we love them, but what they can tell us about ourselves.
“This project has been a labor of love for Tom and me since 2019, and it’s so exciting to bring it to fruition on the fiftieth anniversary of D&D,” said Van Lente. “It’s been so cool to follow the story of an idea, from the invention of chess and the earliest wargames, up through the birth of TSR in the 1970s, through all the innovations gamers and designers have added to the RPG genre since then, right up to Baldur’s Gate 3, really.”
Cartoonist Tom Fowler has worked for Disney, Simon & Schuster, Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, MAD, Marvel, and DC Comics on acclaimed comics including Books of Magic, Rick and Morty, Venom, and Mad Magazine.
“The tabletop gaming industry is where I learnt to be a professional artist,” said Fowler. “After some years away, it’s been a privilege to reimmerse myself in the strange history of of that world!”
Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games follows Fred Van Lente’s earlier New York Times-bestselling nonfiction graphic novels: The Comic Book History of Comics, which NPR said was “done with wit, energy, a healthy dose of insolence and a dedication to getting it right.” The Comic Book History of Animation, called “a must-read comic that will both entertain and educate” by ComicBook.com; and the American Library Association award-winning Action Philosophers, which the New York Times called “intensely goofy but intellectually rigorous”.
“Fred and Tom are both hardcore gamers, and it shows in this meticulously researched history of the tabletop RPG,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz. “Their passion for gaming comes through in their dramatic and often humorous take on how and why these games work, and why we love them so.”
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