From the birth of roleplaying to the discovery of the Forgotten Realms, from the rise of Basic D&D to the fall of Mystara, historian Shannon Appelcline brings you the story of OD&D, Basic D&D, and AD&D 1e in Designers & Dragons: Origins.
From the birth of roleplaying to the discovery of the Forgotten Realms, from the rise of Basic D&D to the fall of Mystara, historian Shannon Appelcline brings you the story of OD&D, Basic D&D, and AD&D 1e in Designers & Dragons: Origins. Check out the free preview here.
This massive 4-volume set covers the history behind each and every product released by TSR for OD&D, AD&D 1e, and Basic D&D.
Unearthed Arcana, the legendary orange-covered B3, the super-rare Up the Garden Path. It's all here.
Book by book, the four volumes in this series cover every product TSR released for: Vol 1: Original D&D and Advanced D&D 1e (1971-1983) Vol 2: Advanced D&D 1e (1983-1988) Vol 3: Holmes D&D, B/X D&D, and BECMI D&D (1977-1987) Vol 4: BECMI D&D, Black Box D&D, and Mystara (1987-1995)
How many products does Designers & Dragons: Origins encompass? This many:
While the scope of the series is comprehensive, each entry is cleanly, clearly structured to be easily digestible.
Find out for yourself in our 57-page free preview PDF. Download it here!
This is not a reprint or reboot of the original Designers & Dragons series Evil Hat published in 2015.
Those books profile various TTRPG companies decade-by-decade, documenting the evolution of the industry through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. We're pleased to offer PDF/epub/POD versions of those books as Add-ons.
Designers & Dragon: Origins is whole new series that focuses solely on the 300+ products TSR published for OD&D, AD&D 1e, and Basic D&D.
This new effort began in 2013 as a series of capsule histories written for DriveThruRPG.com. ENnie award-winning historian Shannon Appelcline has spent nearly a decade revising that original format and dramatically expanding the number of entries.
Designers & Dragons: Origins now stands at ~1400 pages and over 400,000 words. It's a comprehensive look at the artwork & design, origins, and other stories behind some of the most iconic books and adventures of the 70s, 80s, and beyond.
This video from Double Crit Flail gives a great overview of the project, with concise clips from an interview with Shannon.
The main reward in this campaign features all four volumes in a 6" x 9" hardcover format. Each book is over 350 pages and will be produced with full color interiors, deluxe endpapers, and ribbon bookmarks. The entire set will be enclosed in a vibrant custom slipcase. Lorne Colt's stylish illustrations will adorn each cover as well as the slipcase.
Author Shannon Appelcline spent nearly a decade researching these comprehensive histories from the early days of roleplaying. Our goal is to give the ~1400 pages of Designers & Dragons: Origins the fetching, high quality treatment you’ve come to expect from Evil Hat Productions.
This level also includes PDF, epub, and at-cost POD versions of the books.
If you want this package PLUS the DRM-Free Audiobooks of Designers & Dragons: Origins, step up to the Box Set + Digital Bundle.
For fans abroad who want to get Designers & Dragon: Origins as soon as possible, we recommend pledging for the PDF + POD + EPUB option listed below or exploring the use of a freight forwarding service.
The complete four-volume set of Designers & Dragons: Origins in PDF, epub, and POD (print on demand) formats.
Pledging for this bundle saves you $20 over selecting each PDF individually through the Build Your Own Bundle level!
The POD version allows you to print a hardcopy of any and all books you choose, at-cost. (We do not mark up the price that DriveThruRPG charges to print these copies.)
This option is the best choice for our fans overseas who want to get access to the material as quickly as possible.
We're very pleased to offer Designers & Dragons: Origins in DRM-free audiobook format.
These audiobooks will be 100% AI-free. Voice actor Colby Elliott will be lending his talents to Designers & Dragons: Origins, just as he did for the 2015 series of books.
NOTE: This is your only chance to own DRM-free versions of these audiobooks. Once they go into public release they will be posted on audible.com and, per Colby's contract, they will only be available through audible.com.
Do you just want one (or two) specific volumes? Build your own digital bundle and purchase the books of your choice with this pledge level.
Please note: Only digital rewards (PDF/epub/POD, audiobooks) are available for selection in the Build Your Own Bundle tier.
In order to streamline shipping and warehouse logistics, the print versions of Designers & Dragons: Origins will only be produced and packaged as the full 4-volume set with slipcase.
If you're interested in getting a physical copy of a specific volume but not the whole set, we recommend adding the PDF/epub/POD format of that book to your bundle. The at-cost POD code will allow you to print that copy via DriveThruRPG.
There’s a massive amount of material in Designers & Dragons: Origins. We are not going to jeopardize our production schedule by adding new material through stretch goals.
Instead we will be introducing something we’re calling “The Adventurers’ Hoard.”
As we reach funding milestones, we’ll be hosting polls here on the BackerKit page so that fans can choose which chapter they'd like to preview next. We'll unlock that winning entry and add it to the exclusive backer PDF.
At this level, the project is funded and we'll put Designers & Dragons: Origins into production.
FUNDED! Per backer vote, we've added the chapter on Lankhmar: City of Adventure to the exclusive Adventurers' Hoard preview PDF.
UNLOCKED: The history behind B1 In Search of the Unknown added to the Hoard!
UNLOCKED: The entry on The Wrath of the Immortals added to the Hoard!
UNLOCKED: The history of G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King added! The Adventurers' Hoard grows to 140 pages!
UNLOCKED: This stretch added the entry for the Dungeon Master's Design Kit from 1988!
UNLOCKED: It was a tight race, but backers chose to check out The Forgotten Realms Boxed Set
Second Chances! All the runner-up entries from the previous polls get one more opportunity to be included in the Adventurers' Hoard!
The Hoard is growing, and the loyal servants of the dragon are bringing more riches...
Shannon chats with Teos and Shawn of Mastering Dungeons about the project, as well as his early career in gaming and how he got started documenting the history of TTRPGs.
For this campaign, we're only shipping domestically in the United States (including Puerto Rico).
Due to tariffs, global shipping chaos, and the extraordinary amount of staff time it takes to calculate and apply customs fees for each country, we will only ship physical rewards from this campaign directly to US addresses.
However, just like every major release Evil Hat publishes, Designers & Dragons: Origins will go into international distribution shortly after crowdfunding is fulfilled.
When the books are released to the public, overseas fans will be able to purchase the set at a much, much more reasonable price than we would charge to ship it.
Also, because you’re buying in-store, you can inspect the condition of the books at the point of purchase—an important consideration given that international shipping is not often kind to packages with four heavy books inside.
We wish the situation were different, but we are one small company of six people and we're doing the best we can to manage our resources against global economic forces far outside our control. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
The estimated shipping cost is $15-20 per box set.
Please note:
All shipping fees will be chargedseparately, AFTER the campaign, during pledge management.
The price above is an estimate. Actual shipping prices will be determined after production is finished and we're gearing up to send out the books. Also, if you add-on additional physicalcopies of the box sets to your order, your shipping cost will increase.
Again, as outlined above, this campaign will not ship physical books to foreign addresses.
If you live outside the U.S. & Puerto Rico and want the absolute fastest access to these materials, consider these options:
Backing at the PDF + POD + EPUB tier. You'll get the PDFs as soon as they're available and having access to the POD codes means you can 1) choose which volumes you want to print and 2) avoid the worst of the extravagant shipping and customs fees you would incur if your books shipped from the US.
Waiting until the books reach your local retailer (online or neighborhood). Our PDF guarantee means that any time you buy one of our books new in a physical form, you get the PDF for free. Also, because you’re buying in-store, you can inspect the condition of the books at the point of purchase—an important consideration given that international shipping is not often kind to packages with four heavy books inside.
If you are deeply invested in getting the physical rewards from this campaign, investigate using a freight forwarder. This is likely neither cheap nor will it shield you from tariff-induced chaos or customs fees, but it will provide a U.S. address we can ship to.
Again, we're frustrated we can't efficiently ship physical books directly to the doorstep of every single person around the world. We've tried in past projects and it has only created a huge investment of resources for our staff and a lot of expense for our overseas customers. We appreciate your patience and understanding. We strongly encourage you to support your FLGS, get the POD version, or use a freight forwarding service.
Our expected delivery date for all rewards: July 2026
We have a great team on this project. Evil Hat is an experienced RPG publisher. We've run over twenty five successful crowdfunding campaigns and we've printed many roleplaying games and books in a variety of physical formats over the past few years.
This puts us in a fine position to take on the risks and challenges that will arise. Experience tells us that things don’t always go as planned.
Here's what we can anticipate as potential problems.
The Text: The text for Designers & Dragons: Origins is written, edited, and in layout. We'll be proofreading it, which is very exacting work over the next few months, and then sending it to printing.
Printing: We have a strong, established relationship with our printers. We’ve got them on tap to print the books in whatever quantity we end up needing. But printers can run into problems all the same: supply shortages, unexpected delays due to company holidays or industry events, shipping problems, printing errors, and so on. We’ve got the experience to stay atop those potential problems and the flexibility to pivot and address them promptly. In the event of defective product, we will send a replacement at no cost to you. We print our books in the USA so shipping time from the printer to our fulfillment center is both speedy and reliable.
Shipping: Packages get lost. We'll send replacements. Shipping can take longer than expected. We won't put the book on sale until all backer copies are shipped out. As noted in the Shipping section above, we regrettably can't offer delivery outside the U.S. as part of this campaign. We will release the box set into retail distribution overseas soon after the delivery of the campaign rewards and for most (if not all) fans in areas where we can't ship directly this will be your most affordable option.
Finances: Although various world events continue to throw curveballs into production and shipping, we're solidly profitable and well-positioned in 2025 and for the foreseeable future.
One final note: We often run two or three crowdfunding projects per year. Each one is a carefully planned process based on our 25+ successful campaigns in the past. We pride ourselves on fulfilling rewards quickly, but even so, different crowdfunding efforts can sometimes overlap. We have not had an issue tackling that. We make space for each campaign and work to ensure that resources are available to take each of our projects across the finish line. If, on the rare occasion something does go wrong, we're committed to being upfront and transparent about the issue and what we're going to do to fix it.
If there's any risk or challenge YOU can think of that we haven't mentioned here, please write in and ask. We love to answer questions, and we do our best to provide an unparalleled customer service experience whenever possible. We intend to impress you.
