January 26, 1974: The 1st edition of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is released. It becomes a favorite pastime of fantasy fans and other "nerds."
It was created by Gary Gygax, a 35-year-old Chicagoan; and Dave Arnesen, 26, from Minneapolis. They had met at "Gen Con," a gaming convention founded by Gygax in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he was living at the time. They founded Tactical Studies, Inc. (TSR), to publish their ideas. "D&D" became the 1st one to hit it big.
Dave Arnesen (left) and Gary Gygax
D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.
D&D departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting.
A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for the game, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world, known as non-player characters (NPCs).
The characters form a party, and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve problems, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, player characters earn experience points (XP) to level up, and become increasingly powerful over a series of separate gaming sessions. Players choose a class when they create their character, which gives them special perks and abilities every few levels.
Later editions defined "alignments":
* Lawful Good: A character who typically acts with compassion and always with honor and a sense of duty. However, lawful good characters will often regret taking any action they fear would violate their code, even if they recognize such action as being good.
* Neutral Good: A character who typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A neutral good character has no problems with cooperating with lawful officials, but does not feel beholden to them. In the event that doing the right thing requires the bending or breaking of rules, they do not suffer the same inner conflict that a lawful good character would.
* Chaotic Good: A character who does whatever is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself but for others as well. Chaotic good characters usually intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of sync with the rest of society.
* Lawful Neutral: A character who typically believes strongly in lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules, and tradition, but often follows a personal code in addition to, or even in preference to, one set down by a benevolent authority. Examples of this alignment include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or enforcer who adheres mercilessly to the letter of the law, a disciplined monk, and some wizards.
* True Neutral: A character who is neutral on both axes, and tends not to feel strongly towards any alignment, or actively seeks their balance.
* Chaotic Neutral: An an individualist who follows their own heart and generally shirks rules and traditions. Although chaotic neutral characters promote the ideals of freedom, it is their own freedom that comes first; good and evil come second to their need to be free.
* Lawful Evil: A character who sees a well-ordered system as being necessary to fulfill their own personal wants and needs, using these systems to further their power and influence.
* Neutral Evil: A character who is typically selfish, and has no qualms about turning on allies-of-the-moment, and usually makes allies primarily to further their own goals. A neutral evil character has no compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit for themselves.
* Chaotic Evil: A character who tends to have no respect for rules, other people's lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set a high value on personal freedom, but do not have much regard for the lives or freedom of other people. Chaotic evil characters do not work well in groups, because they resent being given orders and usually do not behave themselves unless there is no alternative.
By 2004, there were an estimated 20 million people having played D&D, with more than $1 billion in book and equipment sales worldwide. The game inspired a CBS Saturday morning cartoon that ran in the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons. It has been shown in the film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial; and on the TV shows The Simpsons, NewsRadio, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Freaks and Geeks, Futurama, Community, The Big Bang Theory and Stranger Things.
TSR moved Gen Con around Wisconsin until taking on Milwaukee as a fixed annual site in 1985, before the company was bought by Hasbro, which moved Gen Con to Indianapolis in 2003. By that point, it was big enough of an event to be held at the domed stadium of the Indianapolis Colts, the RCA Dome until 2008, and since 2009 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Gygax died in 2008, of a heart condition, at age 69; and Arnesen the following year, from cancer, at 61. According to Arnesen's daughter, Malia Weinhagen, "The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life."
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January 26, 1974 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 122-98 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Buffalo Braves, 132-122 at The Omni in Atlanta. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 33 points.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 94-85 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-93 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There were 3 games in the ABA:
* The Carolina Cougars beat the Memphis Tams, 137-104 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 90-89 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum
(now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* And the Utah Stars beat their arch-rivals, the Denver Rockets, 119-117 at the Denver Auditorium Arena.
There were 4 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-0 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 3-3 at the St. Louis Arena.
There were 2 games in the WHA. The New England Whalers beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at the Boston Garden. And the Houston Aeros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
And in English soccer, Arsenal played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood. This was a 4th Round tie in the FA Cup. Four days later, they played again at Villa Park in Birmingham, and Villa won, 2-0.
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