30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons is a 2004 publisher's retrospective written by Harold Johnson

Harold Johnson (game designer)

Harold Johnson is a game designer and editor, and an author of several products and articles for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.-Early life and education:...

, Steve Winter

Steve Winter

Steve Winter is a game designer who has worked on numerous products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR and later Wizards of the Coast.-Early life:Steve Winter was born in Dubuque, Iowa on December 8, 1957...

, Peter Adkison

Peter Adkison

Peter D. Adkison is the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast , as well as a hobby game professional.During Adkison's tenure, Wizards of the Coast rose to the status of a major publisher in the hobby game industry. Wizards achieved runaway success with its creation of "Magic: the...

, Ed Stark, and Peter Archer. It is an illustrated, behind-the-scenes history of the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

 (D&D) fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 roleplaying game, issued by the game's publisher (Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...

) to commemorate the game's 30th anniversary.

Overview

30 Years of Adventure presents D&D's history in mostly-chronological order, beginning with the creation of the game by Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax

Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....

 and Dave Arneson

Dave Arneson

David Lance "Dave" Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game , Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s...

, and ending with the Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

's acquisition of Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...

. It includes chapters devoted to the development history of various D&D campaign settings such as the World of Greyhawk, Dragonlance

Dragonlance

Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of popular fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job application...

, and the Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...

. In keeping with its historical theme, nearly all of the book's artwork is taken from D&D products of the era.

30 Years of Adventure also features short essays by a variety of celebrities (including comedian Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...

, actor Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...

, and animator Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Borisovich Tartakovsky is a Russian-American television animator, director and producer. His best-known creations are Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Sym-Bionic Titan...

), describing their experiences with Dungeons & Dragons. The book's foreword is by actor Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...

.

Editions

• 2004, United States, Wizards of the Coast (ISBN 0-7869-3498-0), pub date 1 Sep 2004, Hardback
• 2006, United States, Wizards of the Coast (ISBN 0-7869-4078-6), pub date 7 Feb 2006, Paperback

Further reading

• Drake, Matt (2004). Review of 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons, retrieved June 20, 2006.
• Fiegel, Michael (2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D (review), retrieved June 20, 2006.