(July 29, 2024) 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.”
Here’s what folks are saying about GAMEMASTERS…
“When researching DIE, I read the vast majority of the existent histories of the RPG. What Van Lente and Fowler have done here is in the first rank of them, absolutely the most accessible and certainly the funniest. I’m actively envious.”— Kieron Gillen, Die,The Wicked + the Divine, Young Avengers
“A raucous, personal history of tabletop gaming — and especially the personalities who shaped it.” — Patton Oswalt, Minor Threats
“Gaming’s twisted history has more heads than a hydra and yet Fred and Tom manage to strike them all and slay the beast. Gamemasters is impressively well researched, masterfully illustrated, and thoroughly entertaining.” — Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons)
“A fascinating history of real live people who sound like they should be made up and how they made a living making stuff up.” — comedian and writer Blaine Capatch, Nerd Poker
“Fred and Tom have created something very special here. They have managed to take the typically dry subject of gaming history and inject it with all of the excitement and creativity associated with those games. The perfect marriage of storytellers and subject.”
— Stuart Wellington (The Flop House Podcast)
“Van Lente and Fowler roll a critical hit! Gorgeous, funny, and informative — perfect for grognards and new gamers alike!” — Matt Forbeck (designer, Marvel Multiverse RPG, Shotguns and Sorcery, Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeonology)
“Gamemasters strikes the rare balance of historical comics where the laughs are as present as the research. If you have an interest in gaming as a medium and want to understand how tabletop mechanics developed over time, Gamemasters is both wildly entertaining and the sort of must-have resource that belongs on your shelf. In my contributions to the roleplaying game industry, I’ve often gone back to the basics of, ‘why did we make this choice?’ Gamemasters gives so many clear, amusing, and memorable answers that its wit will be a part of my thought process for years to come.” — Nolan T. Jones, Co-Founder of Roll20
“This insanely compelling graphic history had me itching to pick up a d20 (or twenty).”—DC Pierson, author, The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep And Never Had To
For updates, follow Clover Press on X, Instagram, and Facebook. To support the campaign, visit Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpress/1974448294?ref=4e200j.
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Fred Van Lente’s first published work was a GURPS article for Steve Jackson Games’ Pyramid magazine and his first book was a Call of Cthulhu supplement for Chaosium (The New Orleans Guidebook). He went on to become a six-time New York Times bestselling writer of comics and graphic novels, notably The Comic Book History of Comics (“Done with wit, energy, a healthy dose of insolence and a dedication to getting it right.”—NPR), The Comic Book History of Animation (“A must-read comic that will both entertain and educate”–ComicBook.com), and the American Library Association award-winning Action Philosophers (“Intensely goofy but intellectually rigorous”–The New York Times), all with artist Ryan Dunlavey. His fiction comics include The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Zombies, Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award Nominee, Best Series) and the latest volume of Paizo’s Pathfinder comics series. His past comics with Tom Fowler include Hulk: Incredible Origins (Marvel) and Howtoons: (Re)Ignition (Image).
Writer, cartoonist, and illustrator Tom Fowler started his career drawing and painting for RPGs and card games such as Shadowrun, Werewolf Wild West, Deadlands, Doomtown, Hell on Earth, Star Wars, and Men in Black, as well as Dragon and Dungeon magazines. He went on to work for a variety of publishers including DC, Marvel, Simon & Schuster, Hasbro, Oni, Valiant, and Mad Magazine. His comics include Rick and Morty, Mysterius, Venom, Books of Magic, and Refrigerator Full of Heads. He lives in Ottawa, Canada with his family and occasionally goes by the name Skrrrrrrlok Gnollmes, World’s Greatest Meat Detective.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
About Clover Press: Headed by IDW co-founder Robbie Robbins and former DC executive Hank Kanalz, Clover Press publishes a wide variety of collected and original content ranging from re-mastered reprints of classic newspaper strips to horror graphic novels, and high-quality art books. Clover Press is working with a wide variety of creators including Kevin Eastman, Steve Niles, Gabriel Rodriguez, Ruben Bolling, Richard Bennett, Ray Troll, John K. Snyder III, Stewart Kenneth Moore, Aron Wiesenfeld, David Mack, Alex Maleev, David Nakayama, Russell Dauterman, and more.
