Peter Bebergal on the Roots of Dungeons & Dragons

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Peter Bebergal. Peter is a writer and the author of numerous books, and the editor, most recently, of Appendix N: Weird Tales From the Roots of Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons was created by Gary Gygax and draws from numerous sources, which Gygax listed in Appendix N of his Dungeon Master’s Guide. Peter took this list as the basis for creating a fascinating collection of stories that inspired D&D.

Peter and Sam talked about the origins of this book and how he chose what to include in the anthology. But they also spoke more broadly about pulp and high fantasy, remixing and creativity in the role playing world, and even how all of this led to Peter’s favorite parts of the Internet.