James Maliszewski is best known as author of oldschool Dungeons & Dragons blog Grognardia, as well as contributions as a D&D writer.
Life and career[]
Early involvement in the hobby[]
Maliszewski first entered the D&D hobby in late fall of 1979, when he read his father's copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Holmes Basic boxed set.
He submitted a letter which appeared in The Forum, Dragon #105 (Jan 1986), p.6. Maliszewski argued that alignment was an integral component of D&D, and that it should heavily influence the manner in which a character acts, as well as limit entrance to certain character classes.
Grognardia[]
On March 30, 2008, he founded Grognardia, a blog dedicated to oldschool style Dungeons & Dragons. Maliszewski was spurred in part by the recent announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition and a perception that D&D was increasingly inspired by comic books, video games, and a fantasy genre which was itself now heavily influenced by D&D. He sought to present a return to D&D's pulp fantasy roots, drawing on the works which originally inspired D&D, such as the authors listed in Appendix N of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1e) (1979).[1]
Maliszewski successfully established himself as an expert on oldschool Dungeons & Dragons. He was cited in Underdark, Dragon #381 (Nov 2009), p.89, and subsequently wrote the article A Tangled Web: The Origins of the Drow, Dragon #412 (Jun 2012), p.44. A quote from his blog was included in the D&D 4th edition Into the Unknown (2012), p.107, from an interview with Lawrence Schick about the original adventure module S2 White Plume Mountain (1979).
Bibliography[]
Articles[]
- A Tangled Web: The Origins of the Drow, Dragon #412 (Jun 2012), p.44