Original Dungeons & Dragons of the 1970s was found in nine booklets, plus supplementary material. Rules, Character Classes, Spells, and Treasure were scattered throughout. Given that OD&D was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson – hobbyists gone professional – unsurprisingly, all this was published without an index.
Dave Arneson decided to remedy this absence of a directory. TSR didn’t publish it though. Arneson did himself in cooperation with Heritage Models. The result is the Dungeonmaster’s Index.
The DI never saw much of a publishing run, and fell into obscurity. It is quite rare today.
I have a nice Dungeonmaster’s Index passing through the shop. I am currently auctioning it for Scott Bizar, owner of Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). He’s included a letter for the winner. It’s a fascinating history, back when the hobby was small.
Auction on Ebay!
Auction ended 10 Dec 2023 at $332.37 in 20 bids.
Scott B. Bizar Fantasy Games Unlimited PO Box 1082 Gilbert, AZ 85299
Regarding “Dungeonmaster’s Index”
I obtained my copy of Dungeonmaster’s Index when it was first released as it was given to me by Dave Arneson. This was quite a common occurrence back in the 70s and 80s at major conventions as those who might be expected to act at competitors were often friends and quite proud and happy to present copies of our latest projects to each other.I had that type of relationship with Flying Buffalo, Chaosium, Game Designers Workshop, Avalon-Hill, SPI, and also often “traded” new products of interest with other companies.
When I showed this book to Wayne he immediately began to search for a signature as a “presentation copy”, but none of us ever signed the new products we gave to each other as such would imply that we felt more important or somehow better than those to whom we were giving new books. None of us ever really thought about future possible sales of the books and we were simply friends sharing our interest in gaming.
Additionally (and amusingly), Dave Arneson also had a habit of signing things right on the cover, not on the title page as would be expected of most authors. I remember that Dave flew into New York for the opening weekend of our first retail shop in 1977 and was an unofficial “guest of honor” during that weekend. He went over to the shelf on which we had several copies of the original boxed set of three small books on Dungeons & Dragons and signed the front of each box on the shelf. Some days later a woman approached the sales counter with one of those boxed sets and asked if it were a used copy (she was buying it for her son) as it had someone’s name written on the box. We had to explain that she was holding an author-signed copy and that Dave simply signed the front of the box. She was then happy to make the purchase and (hopefully) made her son very happy as well. This copy of the “Dungeonmaster’s Index” has been in storage in a box for many years and I have only recently come across it again. I hope that whoever purchases it is happy to find this scarce book and with the mint condition it is in.
Dungeon Master’s (Dungeonmaster’s) Index, 1st Edition
1977 … Dave Arneson … 38 pages
An index to Chainmail; D&D (Vols. 1-3); Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Eldritch Wizardry; Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes; Swords and Spells; and Strategic Review (Issues 1-7).
This book is rare. Over at the OD&D Discussion Boards, folks (in 2009) were discussing how to get this useful index get back into print, but Dave Arneson himself popped in (just a few months before his untimely death), casting shade on the idea:
Yes I still have the rights. But the Index is far from being all inclusive since it contains none of newer OD&D products or the DRAGON. Or my own FFC or AIF. It was totally obsolete the years after it was published.
FFC refers to his “First Fantasy Campaign”; and AIF “Adventures in Fantasy”.
That said, a bootleg PDF version can be found on the internet.
Interior photos
See Also:
Did you notice the illustration of Gertie the Dragon?
Haha no. Missed that!