# Happy 50th Dungeons and Dragons

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-50th-dungeons-and-dragons/996776>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** rpg-dnd-wargames\
**Created:** [January 28, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-50th-dungeons-and-dragons/996776 "2024-01-28T18:24:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-50th-dungeons-and-dragons/996776/41 "2024-02-10T20:55:38Z")

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Hilarious indeed, but the column cannot be an 1980 original through and through, given that Cecil refers to company happenings in the mid-80’s in it.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-50th-dungeons-and-dragons/996776/42 "2024-02-10T21:01:07Z")

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> [@Toxylon](#):
>
> but the column cannot be an 1980 original through and through, given that Cecil refers to company happenings in the mid-80’s in it.

Yeah; the passage below suggests that the article was, if not entirely written, at least partially revised, sometime between 1986 (when Gygax formally left TSR), and 1997 (when TSR was bought out by WotC).

> [@](#):
>
> Although Gygax left the company in the mid-1980s, TSR today continues to crank out D&D rule books

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**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-50th-dungeons-and-dragons/996776/43 "2024-02-10T21:11:12Z")

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Indeed it is revised. I have what may be the original version, or at least just a few years after 1980, on my shelf in the first SD anthology book, copyrighted in 1984; there are many differences. Coming just 6 years after the invention of the game, Cecil’s original writeup comes across as a lot more bemused, and somewhat more disparaging.

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