Damn. I’m still coming to terms with the 2nd Edition of AD&D (1989), and now I find out that there’s not only been a 3rd Edition (2000), a 3.5 Edition (2003), but a 4th Edition, released last month. Also: Cry Havoc — one of my favourite games of the early ’80s — is available to download (and play) online, and even has a dedicated site. Cry Havoc was published by Standard Games, which has long since disappeared. D&D was originally published by TSR, but was bought (1997) by Wizards of the Coast, which is owned by Hasbro (1999), one of the largest game companies in the world. And Gary Gygax, one of the key figures in the development of the modern RPG, is also now sadly dead.
What happened to Dungeons and Dragons?
Darren Waters
BBC
April 26, 2004
Man Sentenced for Huge Theft From Ohio Vault
Sean D. Hamill
The New York Times
July 25, 2008
AKRON, Ohio — The man who masterminded what is believed to be one of the largest thefts in Ohio history was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison.
The man, Roger L. Dillon, 23, said he took more than $8 million last November from the vault of the armored car company where he worked because he felt helpless and frustrated by financial problems and a difficult upbringing.
Later in the day, Judge John R. Adams of Federal District Court sentenced Mr. Dillon’s mother, S. Lee Gregory, 49, to three years in prison. Ms. Gregory helped buy the getaway vehicle and fled with her son and his girlfriend to West Virginia, where they were caught five days later.
On Wednesday, Judge Adams had sentenced Mr. Dillon’s girlfriend, Nicole D. Boyd, 25, to five years in prison. All three defendants had pleaded guilty.
The Ohio case gained notoriety for the size of the theft when the money disappeared Nov. 26 from the vaults in the Liberty Township office of AT Systems, the armored car company where Mr. Dillon had worked for nine months.
None of those charged had a criminal background, and they had been struggling to get by in Rust Belt Youngstown. Mr. Dillon also apparently took his mother with him because he wanted to help her. After it was discovered that Mr. Dillon and Ms. Boyd’s Myspace pages noted their love for Dungeons & Dragons and vampire novels, they were dubbed the Goth Bonnie and Clyde.
As well as inspiring bank robbers, D&D also inspired the making of one of the most craptastic films of recent decades.
“Dungeons and Dragons”
This fantasy crap, fake-o effects and all, betrays princes of dice, masters of graph and wielders of bong.
Andrew O’Hehir
Salon.com
December 8, 2000
For several decades, the universe of Dungeons & Dragons — the fantasy role-playing game, or RPG, that pioneered an entire genre of gaming — has been ruled by the king geeks of every UV-lit rec room and every freshman dorm. You know the guys (and sometimes gals) I’m talking about. Yes, they are often unathletic and sometimes downright troll-like in appearance. But they possess a peculiar charisma all their own. They’re masters of graph paper, 10-sided dice and bongs made from thrift-store lamps. It’s these guys I feel bad for after seeing the lame, faintly agreeable spectacle of “Dungeons & Dragons,” a movie apparently authorized by Wizards of the Coast, the game manufacturer…
