From the back of the book: Welcome to Dave Arneson's Basement! It's 1971 and you've been invited to play this cool new game... Dragons at Dawn is a retro tribute to the very first fantasy gaming system pioneered by Dave Arneson, the man who later went on to co-author the worlds most popular roleplaying game. The result of years of careful historical research, Dragons at Dawn is entirely consistent with Arneson's original, largely forgotten methods of play developed in 1970-1973.