Title: Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games
Date: 2024
Publisher: Versify (HarperCollins)
Writer: Steenz, Samuel Sattin
Artist: Steenz
Colorist: Aishwarya Tandon
Ambitiously tracing the history of tabletop roleplaying games back to ancient influences of early forms of dramatic play and boardgames all the way through the convergence of SF/fantasy fandom with wargaming in the works of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, this graphic novel history combined a nice mix of stories that I was familiar with and ones that were new to me. While the length and the format result in this being more overview than deep dive, it still delivered a lot of history while keeping a positive tone and never sinking into "kids these days" cynicism. It doesn't shy away from the problematic aspects of creators or the hobby culture in general, but looks forward to increasing inclusion and representation, as well as expanding the boundaries of where roleplaying games can take players.
All of which is done in a fun, graphic-novel visual style with a sprinkling of humor. It even contains a one-shot adventure with a couple of monster stat blocks for D&D 5e players to try out.
Rating: 8/10
