Review: Empire of Imagination

Nice homage to the cover of
“Unearthed Arcana”

Note: This is a repost from June, but since the book is due out today, I thought it was worth another look.

Michael Witwer’s Empire of Imagination (coming October 6, but available at Amazon) is a biography of Gary Gygax, an individual who will need no introduction to my readers.

Witwer’s book covers similar ground to other books published over the last couple of years, such as Playing at the World, Designers & Dragons, and Of Dice and Men, but does so with a particular emphasis on Gygax himself, including a lot of non-game-related information not covered in most other works. That said, there’s not much relating directly to D&D or TSR that you won’t find in those other books.

Witwer’s style is light and easy to read. I found his accounts of events compelling, and actively looked forward to picking the book up again each time.

Although the sub-title of the book, “Gary Gygax and the birth of Dungeons & Dragons” does telegraph that the period up to the mid-1980’s will receive the most coverage, I found this to be the greatest deficiency in the book. What we have is not a biography of Gary Gygax, but only the first half of one. Everything past 1987 or so is mentioned almost as an afterthought, covering thirty years in thirty pages. Suddenly Gygax has a second wife, of whom we have not previously heard. His later work with other companies such as Troll Lord Games is given but a single sentence, and no word is given at all to his rapprochement with the publishers of D&D (by that time Wizards of the Coast) and his renewed series of articles in Dragon magazine.

I think a more balanced look at the whole of Gygax’s life and career would have been both more interesting and valuable than yet another look at the intricate details of 1970-75. It should be taken as a compliment that the only major deficiency I find in Empire of Imagination is that it’s not long enough. I could easily have read another hundred pages that went into an equal amount of detail on the post-TSR years of Gygax’s life.

Note: I requested, and was sent, an advance review copy of this book by the publisher.

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.