Gamers gather for Dungeons & Dragons anniversary

Thousands of Dungeons & Dragons players gathered in game shops around America to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the grandfather of fantasy role-playing games – a pop culture phenomenon that has influenced a myriad of video games, books and movies.

An estimated 25,000 fans in 1,200 shops celebrated the anniversary Saturday, said Charles Ryan, brand manager for role-playing games at Wizards of the Coast, a Renton, Washington, company that owns Dungeons & Dragons.

For a game with a broad international following, it had a very modest beginning.

In 1974, 1,000 brown-and-white boxes filled with pamphlets for “Fantastic Medieval Wargames” were distributed by a couple of guys who liked war role-playing and decided to set a game in the Middle Ages but with monsters and fantastic heroes.

Dungeons & Dragons went on to become one of the best-selling games of all time, inspiring fan devotion so great that some travel thousands of miles to play in tournaments.