Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Unpublished Greyhack Manuscript???

Tue May 12, 2009 9:22 pm Name Before D&D

Didn't I read somewhere that Gygax said him and his partner had a name for the game until someone's wife said why they didn't call it Dungeons & Dragons? What was the original name that was never used?

Tue May 12, 2009 11:30 pm

Scrabble, I think, or Major League Baseball. Then he found out those names were taken.

I read his daughter chose the D&D name.

Wed May 13, 2009 10:24 am

IIRC: I heard somewhere that originally Gygax wanted to call the game

Caves & Creatures

I also recall his daughter chose the D&D name.

Wed May 13, 2009 1:12 pm

Gary recounted this story many times. He wanted a name with two elements: _____ & _____. He made lists of both elements and solicited opinions. I believe it was his daughter Elise who picked "Dungeons" & "Dragons" from the two lists. Gary liked the alliteration, so the name stuck. The precursor to D&D, of course, was Chainmail.

Thu May 14, 2009 7:17 am Quote

I feel like I read the Gygax quote a couple of weeks ago but now I can't remember where I read it. It'd be nice to reference it so we're not making up rumors by mistake.

Thu May 14, 2009 10:25 pm

It's almost certainly in one of the Dragon Annual articles, as well as in a Soapbox article. See http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_sources.html for citations.
_________________
Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html

Thu May 14, 2009 11:39 pm

I think it was the Dragon Annual #1.

Thu May 21, 2009 5:25 pm The Fantasy Game

I see now there are several hits which say D&D was called "The Fantasy Game" when I search for:

"The Fantasy Game" Gygax

in a search engine. I just didn't see Gary's whole quote where he attributes the naming of D&D to someone else which would help lend authenticity to the reference.