How Magic Was Born

[Zuran Djinn]

Have you wondered how Magic really started? You may know who started it but, did you know why he started it? Read on... Rip a rare! Zuran Djinn How Magic Was Born by Peter D. Adkison The story of Magic: The Gathering™ is really the story of the game's designer, Richard Garfield. Of course, for and adventure of this magnitude, Richard required a lot of help form other people. This is the story of my small role in helping him share Magic with the rest of the world. — — — — — Before I met Richard I was a gaming snob. I primarily played roleplaying games, and I looked down my nose at most other types of games. So when I finally tired of being a systems analyst for Boeing and decided to start a gaming company, it was clear to me that our focus would be on roleplaying games. And, for the next two years, we spent our energies creating Wizards of the Coast as a roleplaying company. Halfway through that time, I met a man who would significantly alter my opinions about games, change the course of Wizards of the Coaast, and reshape the future of the entire gaming industry—that man, of course, was Richard Garfield. I met Richard of the Internet through his close friend and fellow designer, Mike Davis. Mike saw a post I made on Usenet about starting up a new gaming company, and he decided to e-mail me an introduction and a description of a game he was trying to get published. The name of the game was "RoboRally," and he had co-designed it with a friend, Richard Garfield. I told Mike that we weren't really interested in doing board games because the margins were too slim; the startup costs for a board game are very high, and we were primarily interested in roleplaying games anyway. With that as a caveat, I did agree to take a look at RoboRally and I met with Mike and Richard a few weeks later in Portland, Oregon. I drove to Portland with my friend and associate Jay Hays, and we found the home of Richard's parents where we had planned to meet. I can still remember my first impressions of Richard: I was standing in the greeting area of his parent's house getting acquainted with Mike while Richard was "getting ready." Because Richard's family had guests over, we decided to go away from the house to talk. Richard looked somewhat confused as he searched for his shoes and kept remembering other things he wanted to take with him. Then, as now, he wore mismatched socks, had strange bits of thread and fabric hanging from parts of his clothing, and generally looked like someone who had just walked into the Salvation Army ande grabbed whatever seemed colorful. My immediate thought was, "Gee, I wish I were still on college." Because Mke Davis had already hinted that he and Richard might be interested in investing money in RoboRally, I was ready to talk about business. I figured Richard would be all set to talk about why we should publish RoboRally. As it turns out, Richard seemed oblivious to the business discussion: he wanted to show off some stock market game he'd been working on, even though he didn't think it was something we shouild publish any time soon. The message was clear—this Richard Garfield guy loved games. While I'm sure he wanted to get published, he loved games for the sake of games. Even though it seems obvious, I never understood until then that a great game designer would be fascinated by games simply for what they are, not for what could be gotten out of them. Of course, we eventually did get around to talking shop. Actually, Mike and I talked shop while Richard silently observed. I would learn in the years that followed that Richard doesn't really like to talk about money and business; he once said he didn't have the "constitution" for it. We were able to get Richard's attention, though, when the subject came around to future design work, as he was anxious to demeonstrate his skill at designing games. So, being a gaming snob, I asked Richard what sorts of games he liked; I guess I wanted to "classify" him. His response went something like this: "I like all types of games. I like roleplaying games, card games —poker is great— live-action games, charades, basically everything. I must admit I don't tend to like long, drawnout wargames, although I do enjoy Diplomacy™. This response had a huge effect on me-what an admirable attitude! Richard wasn't focused on a particular type of game. His vision was clear and went to the heart of gaming. He was looking for entertainment, social interactoin, mental exercise, creativity, and challenge. I suddenly felt stupid, remembering the time I had refused to play Pictionary™ even though I knew I would probably enjoy it. On that Saturday in August of 1991, my attitude about games was changed forever. But that wasn't the last time Richard would shake my world. Richard went on to say, "Describe a game concept—any concept— and I'll design a game around it for you." Now don't get this wrong. Richard is miles away from being arrogant; he's just the opposite, actually. So while this might seem a bit cocky, Richard said this because he loves a challenge. And what could be more challenging than to design a game around some random concept thrown at you? So I responded by asking Richard to design a game specifically for the convention circuit. I figured a card game would work, since the game would need to be highly portable. I also wanted something with a fantasy or science-fiction theme that would be a nice vehicle for showing off artwork. Above all, I wanted the game to be fast and compact, so people could play it while waiting around at a convention. After hearing this concept, Richard nodded and looked arouind thoughtfully, and the conversation went on to other things. After this meeting, I returned to Seattle and Mike Davis returned to Atlanta. Richard was staying in the arrea for another week, so he agreed to come to Seattle and demo RoboRally at a convention called Dragonflight. After the convention, I introduced Richard to my close friend and associate, Ken McGlothlen. We drove Ken over to Seattle Center so he could run a couple of errands, and ended up waiting for him in a parking garage across the street. While we were waiting, Richard said, "Remember that game concept you described? Well, I have an idea that might work." Richard went on to describe the basic idea of a trading card game—the idea that over the next few months would grow to become Magic: The Gathering™. Every person in a position like mine fears that he or she won't recognize that once-in-a-lifetime idea when it comes along. You always hear stories of the publisher who turned down Monopoly™ or the record producer that turned down the Beatles, and I will always thank the fates that I was clear-headed and lucky enough that day to recognize Magic's potential. Of course, Richard made it easy; when he's excited about something it's infectious. That child-like enthusiasm and sense of wonder came out, and if there's a kid in you anywhere, you get caught up in the idea, too. When Richard described the game to me, I was filled with the sort of excitement I hadn't felt since my first experience with Dungeons & Dragons™ back in 1979. I literally started dancing around, whooping and hollering. When Ken returned and heard the idea, he felt the same excitement. Later, after we had dropped Richard off, Ken made what would prove to be a radical understatement: "You know, this game could make a million dollars. Maybe even two." Starting Wizards of the Coast was sort of like getting on a roller-coaster ride—you could never really see what was coming around the next bend. Richard changed the course of the ride entirely, and, for the second time in one week, he dramatically changed my life. Although we all know now that this story has a happy ending, that was far from certain at the time. After getting me so excited about Magic, Richard brought me back to reality with a simple statement: "There's something you should know. I'm not sure that it's possible to design this game." I asked him what he meant, and he replied, "Well, this game concept is very different from anything that's ever been done. I can't think of anything that's nearly as complex, except perhapse those online MUDs (Multi-User-Dungeons). I know it's possible to design something, but I don't know if it will be any good. But I'll give it a try." With that, Richard went on his merry way and the rest of us at Wizards of the Coast charged forward with our roleplaying game ideas for Talislanta™ and The Primal Order™. Actually, Richard moved from concept to design fairly quickly. In about two months he had an "alpha" version, and just a short time later he was at "beta." It's incredible to think that the game then wasn't much different than the final result—if you saw the playtest cards, you could probably play with them without a problem. But it turned out that the initial design of the game was only half the battle. Richard realized that it would be a challenge to develop the game so it would have repeat play value, and so it would play well both out of the box and in a group of friends with several thousand cards available. Fortunately, Richard knew he would need a lot of help testing all of his ideas, and we struck gold again with the famous "East Coasters." These noe-famous playtesters were Richard's fellow students at the University of Pennsylvania. Fate had apparently drawn together some of smartest gaming minds of our time—the East Coasters enthusiastically tore into the task of not just playtesting, but actually developing Magic into what it is today. Here in Seattle we were merely observers watching the discussion go back and forth over e-mail. Soon names like Chris Page, Dave Pettey, Jim Lin, and Skaff Elias became familiar; over time, each name began to take on its own personality. While Magic was being developed and published, friendships were often forged without the benefit of face-to-face contact. While Richard clearly led the charge, the game achieved its full potential through the efforts of this intelligent and dedicated group of supporters. Richard and many of the "East Coasters" have since relocated to Seattle, allowing for most of the design and development work on Magic and other games to occur in our home office. The line between design and development has blurred, and most of our "R&D" team does a little of both, focusing mainly on Magic. Richard has pressed forward, doing what he likes best: designing new games. These days, he's occupied with Netrunner™, but sometimes he'll wander off and design some new board game, card game, or dice game, often not caring whether the concept could actually be published. Sometimes he just plays practical jokes on all of us, by reprogramming our computers to talk back or by making everyone speak in third person (including during board of directors meetings). Not only has Richard dramatically changed my life and my attitude about games, but he has affected all of us by giving us Magic: The Gathering. The Duelist #6 Volume 2 Issue 3

[Faust]

I actually found this to be rather interesting. I've always kinda wondered. But, now I know! Lol.