This is Heroic Worlds (1991), by Lawrence Schick (of White Plume Mountain fame).

All of these books about RPGs kind of boggle my mind, Heroic Worlds maybe most of all. Who on earth thought that what amounts to an index of every RPG product produced from 1974 to 1990 was something that needed to exist in the world? Like, I don’t understand it at all from a publishing perspective. It feels a tiny bit like an Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (another publication I’ve always been baffled by), except without the prices (though there is a small section on collecting (the advice in which still rings true today, primarily: be patient!).

That said, I adore this book. Schick has a dry wit that creeps into his capsule reviews that soon becomes addictive. And there is just something wonderful about having a period of time captured in one book so exhaustively. I don’t think everything ever published through 1990 is in the index, but it sure feels like it does. I refer to this book constantly.

Oh, and the sprinkles on top: the index is punctuated by short essays by Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Greg Stafford, Steve Jackson, Jennell Jaquays, Michael Stackpole, Ken St. Andre, Tom Moldvay, Ken Rolston, Sandy Petersen, Erick Wujcik, B. Dennis Sustare, N. Robin Crossby and Greg Gordon. That is a pretty all-star cast of characters talking about tabletop game design.

And holy crap. I was going to recommend anyone who is interested in the history of RPGs pick this up, but holy wow, it goes for a lot of money on the second hand market. I guess the secret is out.