1983: How DUNGEONS & DRAGONS cast its spell | South East at Six | Retro Gaming | BBC Archive

[@Rr0gu3_5uture]

I can't say I was much of a nerd back in the day, but I must admit, those early Fighting Fantasy books written by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone were actually pretty good fun.

[@total_betty]

Steve has just released a new book and I met him recently to get a signed copy.

[@richardwaldron1684]

The fighting fantasy books by Jackson & Livingstone were amazing, I loved them as a kid back in the 80s and 90s. Have to admit to buying new copies of these recently to relive a part of my childhood and finding them as much fun as I did back then.

[@kludgie]

Chalk & Dever - the men behind the Lone Wolf book series. I love Gary Chalk’s drawing style, especially in the original Talisman board game.

[@simonsparaguay]

And I still have a couple of dozen Fighting Fantasy books on the bookshelf...

[@eemoogee160]

Underrated social activity

[@Callisto74]

Geeks are consistently the same throughout history. I’m convinced that geeks during the reign of Henry VIII was just as enthusiastic about their turnip collection.

[@octaviussludberry9016]

"Sweeping the south-east"? I know it's a local programme, but it was all over the country by 1983. I'd been playing D&D for over a year and was going live role-playing at Peckforton castle by 1983.

[@davedogge2280]

The news reader is a Good Lawful Bard. And yes the good old days of Games Workshop before it became all corporate and re-branded itself as Warhammer, it wanting to be the UK version of dark Disney.

[@carlmyhill]

Weird that the picture behind the presenter is not from d&d it's from the Runequest box

[@robsawalker]

Ha ha, that's exactly what I said! (to nobody at all as I was alone)

[@Matt.Willoughby]

"A cross between a hobby and a cult"

[@wisteela]

Eddie Munson could vouch for that view.

[@darrynwalker6270]

Ironically, that's Rune Quest artwork behind the newscaster.

[@evanhughes7609]

The GW version of the 'Iguana Eating a Burrito' RuneQuest cover!

[@videogamebookreviews]

That picture in the background at the beginning: what computer game or video game used that as box artwork?

[@davedogge2280]

It was RuneQuest table top pencil and paper RPG

[@wisteela]

Meanwhile, in the town of Hawkins, Indiana...

[@bradypus06]

merci pour cette vidéo !

[@12345gerrard]

The birth of games workshop!

[@fabtjar]

What is the board game they are playing with the world map half way through?

[@SN-sz7kw]

When being a nerd was a completely analog experience - I remember it quite fondly.

[@tonyhancock3912]

If there's one thing that I was always saying back then it was that people ought to be playing the more serious war games

[@runlarryrun77]

The main presenter went on to quit his job at the BBC. He left the South East studio, presented main news shows, then went back to the South East's new studio only to blow the whistle about the toxic culture there a few years later.

[@stocktonjoans]

when did Jackson leave GW to set up Steve Jackson Games?

[@marks6928]

GW Steve Jackson and the Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson Games are actually two separate people (one is English and one is American).

[@stocktonjoans]

@@marks6928 Fair enough, I just saw Car Wars in the background and put 2 and two together

[@marks6928]

@@stocktonjoansthat’s fair enough, I only found it out by looking it up after seeing your comment and thinking “hmm that’s a good question, I’d like to know the answer to that” 🙂

[@davedogge2280]

yeah the Steve Jackson in the U.S. did Ogre and such; the Steve Jackson in the UK did the Fighting Fantasy choose your own adventure books and was one of the founders of Games Workshop in the late 1970s.

[@johnberry5296]

Even more complex is that Steve Jackson (US) came over to the Uk and bashed out two Fighting Fantasy books, so there are two completely separate men called Steve Jackson who have penned them! (His were Scorpion Swamp and Robot Commando)

[@OlafProt]

My best friend at school loved D&D. I tried to sit in once, I didn’t get it. It didn’t do anything. It seemed so dull compared to a zx spectrum 😂

[@videogamebookreviews]

Not just first comment - first view! A first for me! Oh dear. I'll try to set my sights higher.

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

Before Games Workshop became the Warhammer 40k company.

[@thecaveofthedead]

And then the wave passed and people started thinking again that table top rpgs were a fad. And now they're back again and far bigger than in the early '80s.

[@runlarryrun77]

Maybe for you. This stuff never went away.

[@omarnour348]

Am I just being cynical or was that a deliberate twist of the Carlsberg tin?

[@Traveller69]

Interesting. My immediate thought was ahh, the good old days when nobody at the BBC had a total meltdown just because a brand was visible.

[@MemphiStig]

Can't mention the game without using the word "cult" no matter how respectful they're being. And overall, they are quite kind. But this is post-panic, in America anyway. Idk if anything like it happened over there. Oh wait. There's a video on it now. Keep Calm and Game On.

[@12345gerrard]

Richard Branson has let himself go! Lol 😆

[@dtmt502]

BBC managed to find the only 2 female players even in 1982

[@microdot4374]

Of course, then came the .....................Oh yes the computer??X...🤪🤪🖥🖥🤳🏼🤳🏼✍🏼

[@total_betty]

Stop saying "cult"! 😁

[@MitchTaylor-x8c]

Back then even dnd nerds were better thanks todays cause todays are soulless corpses that don’t know squat of the lore no matter what they say

[@marks6928]

You’re making yourself look silly with this comment.

[@MitchTaylor-x8c]

@@marks6928 on whose ground, ya future troll starter

[@marks6928]

@@MitchTaylor-x8con the ground of every reasonable person reading your comment. “These young people don’t know anything, despite what they say”. Ok bro 👍 there’s absolutely no reason to take anything you say seriously.

[@Matt.Willoughby]

​@@MitchTaylor-x8cthat silly comment doesn't cancel out your 1st one.

[@MitchTaylor-x8c]

@@marks6928 well it’s true dnd was ruined by woc and modern dnd is no fun anymore

[@mickmackem1479]

Posh people game

[@ste1bro]

This working class Scouser and his working class RPG-playing mates beg to differ.