History of the Fireball

There's a great post on Gamasutra.com (the game development website) that outlines the history of the fireball from it's earliest inceptions in Leonard Patt's 1970 rules for wargaming in Middle-Earth on up to the modern computer game depictions. Not much to say other than it makes for some fun reading to watch one element of "being a wizard" in contemporary gaming's life over 50 years! Check it out here.

Actually, I will mention that the bit about Leonard Patt's rules was news to me. The post links to this page at Playing at the World, which goes on to tell the tale. D&D definitely has a bit of developmental history/inspiration prior to the 1973-74 era of its arrival, and it was very interesting to learn a new bit I did not know about.