New book about the history of RPGs coming out!

[chirine ba kal]

I hope that this is all right to post here; I thought all of you would like to see this:

(This is from Konrad Lischka, who intervewed me back in 2008 for "Der Speigel Online" about Prof. Barker and Tekumel; his articles are here:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/spielzeug...49336.html
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/zum...22126.html

-chirine)

Dear Jeff Berry,

some time ago we interviewed you for our upcoming book about the history
of roleplaying games. We have finished the manuscript and wanted to give
you a quick heads up what is going to happen next.

Our book is going to be be published in German in early 2014 (and later
in English). It will be called “Drachenväter. Die Geschichte des
Rollenspiels und die Geburt der virtuellen Welt.” (Dragonfathers. The
history of RPGs and the birth of the virtual world.) It is a cultural
history of RPGs, from the Prussian Kriegsspiel and Howard’s Hyborea to
the birth of D&D and the rise of role playing.

The finished book will be a 300+ page affair, in full color, with dozens
of pictures. It will be more like a coffee table book than a classic HC,
containing lots of old covers, pictures from conventions etc. It will be
available in print and various digital formats.
Here are some early layouts, to give you an idea:

[url]https://db.tt/L8kUkAsm{/url]

We have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on

http://www.startnext.de/drachenvaeter

(the German equivalent of Kickstarter) and hope to raise the 10.000
Euro needed to go ahead - if this spread on social networks we will be
sucessfull in financing layout and printing. If all goes well, the book
is going to be published in Q1/2014 to coincide with the 40th
anniversary of D&D.

We intend to follow up with an English version. We have not yet decided
whether we will do this through Kickstarter & self-publishing or with
the help of a classic publisher and literary agent (yup, we actually
have one). Should you have any suggestions on how to go about it (we do
not know the US book market very well) then we would be most grateful.

Once the German book is ready we will reach out to you and tell you
where you can download a free digital copy.

We would like to thank you again for helping us with our research. The
most amazing thing about this three year journey has been the support of
game designers all over the world. Almost everyone agreed to be
interviewed. We hope you like the result as much as we do.
Any questions? Feel free to contact Konrad (e-mail edited CbK) or Tom
(e-mail edited - CbK). You can also follow us on Facebook & Twitter or
have a look at our bilingual site:

http://www.drachenvaeter.org
http://twitter.com/drachenvaeter
http://facebook.com/drachenvaeter

Best regards from Hamburg and Munich
Konrad & Tom

- yours, chirine

[Rafael]

I disagree with many of Lischka's views, but of course I'll check out the book, the author being German, and all.

He shows a good writing style, but the substance is sometimes rather thin, IMO.

[Havard]

Sounds interesting! Thanks for pointing this out Chrine!

My German is not very good, but if this is succesful I might want to get myself a copy of this book and see if I can make anything out of it. Besides, the coffee table style would appeal anyway.

Also, hoping for the English version to become a reality eventually of course

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

I disagree with many of Lischka's views, but of course I'll check out the book, the author being German, and all.

He shows a good writing style, but the substance is sometimes rather thin, IMO.

Oh, interesting! I only know the authors from the interview they did with me on Prof. Barker, so I'd be interested in hearing more about this. I'd be interested in comparing this book to Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World".

yours, chirine

[chirine ba kal]

Sounds interesting! Thanks for pointing this out Chrine!

My German is not very good, but if this is succesful I might want to get myself a copy of this book and see if I can make anything out of it. Besides, the coffee table style would appeal anyway.

Also, hoping for the English version to become a reality eventually of course

-Havard

You're welcome! I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this announcement, so feel free to move it if you need to...

yours, chirine

[Havard]

Good point. This is newsworthy enough to move it to the Temple of the Frog

-Havard