D&D Gets TIME Magazine 50th Anniversary Special
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2024 has been a big for Dungeons & Dragons, with the game officially ringing in its 50th anniversary. As part of the celebration, it was recently revealed that TIME Magazine would be releasing a special edition issue looking back on the unique legacy of the game.
The news was announced by Luke Gygax (son of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax) via his Facebook page, after he received an early review copy of the magazine (notably, Gygax indicated that he was interviewed in the issue). So just what will be included in the TIME D&D special edition? Below, we page through all the details.
What is the D&D Time Magazine Special Edition?
So far we don’t know too much about what will be included in the TIME magazine Dungeons & Dragons special. We do know that it’s meant to be a retrospective look back at the lasting impact of D&D over the past 50 years and includes a number of interviews with various individuals who contributed to the development and growth of the game. This will include a range of official artwork and archival photographs.
Notably, this isn’t the only instance of TIME covering D&D. In fact, as recently as March 2023, Wizards of the Coast designer Kate Welch wrote an in-depth article entitled The Magic of Dungeons & Dragons Can Save Us—But Only If You Let It. Prior to this in 2008, TIME featured a retrospective entitled How D&D Changed the Culture, which was written following the death of Gary Gygax and examined both his legacy and the larger cultural impact of D&D.
The TIME special edition, however, marks a new milestone in that it’s the first time a dedicated issues has focused on Dungeons & Dragons. Unfortunately, the official TIME website does not currently have any information on when the publication will be released or where it can be purchased. That being said, if its anything like other TIME special editions, copies should be relatively easy to come by from most major retailers.
Final Thoughts
Over the years, some of entertainment’s biggest names have graced the cover of TIME magazine, so it’s great to see D&D get its time in the spotlight. While the brand has taken a beating over the past few years in the wake of the OGL scandal and other recent controversies, the impact of D&D on pop culture and millions of lives is unmistakable and definitely worth celebrating.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead and will update this page with more information as it’s made available. Below is also a short 2023 documentary entitled Adventure Never Ends that explores the history and impact of D&D and was co-produced by TIME Studios and the streaming platform Kanopy.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
