William J. (“Bill”) Hoyt was an active gamer during the early years of TSR’s Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s. Hoyt became interested in gaming the previous decade after visiting relatives in England; while there, he met Scottish wargamer Charles Grant who introduced him to tabletop wargaming. After returning home to Minnesota, Hoyt got in contact with miniature wargamer Dave Wesely, who invited him to join the Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA): a group of collectors, gamers, and military historians. Hoyt became friends with Dave Arneson (and later, Gary Gygax). Hoyt and Arneson joined the Castle and Crusade Society, building armies of figurines, learning about the middle ages, and creating rules for wargames. The original edition of Dungeons & Dragons was developed from a campaign played by this group of gamers, and the first edition of D&D was published by Gygax’s TSR Hobbies, Inc. in 1974.

Hoyt, also a school librarian, created a class project for sixth graders involving D&D gameplay to teach mythology, map creation, and critical thinking. Hoyt founded World at War Productions in 1974, inspired by TSR’s success with selling game rules. WAW secured the rights to publish M.A.R. Barker’s Empire of the Petal Throne game, which TSR published in 1975. Hoyt continued to play war games and attend Gen Con events for the next several decades. His involvement with the origins of Dungeons & Dragons is documented in Jon Peterson’s Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures from Chess to Role-Playing Games and other documentary projects.