The French Monarchists often indulged in role playing games – mostly LARPs that were run on vast country estates. However, XDMs of their day were excluded from the court of Louis the XVI as being, by definition ‘radicals’. This gave rise the Société de l’Ultime Maîtres de Jeu (the Society of the Ultimate Masters of the Game). XDMs were then known as the “Maitre ‘d”(1) and were systematically excluded from the court of Louis the XVI and their excessive and extravagant gaming parties. The ‘Society of Ultimate Mastery’ then retreated from the public stage during the French Revolution.

Today, the Société de l’Ultime Maîtres de Jeu (or as it is more commonly known the Société de l’Ultime Maîtres or S.U.M.) is the official organizatioinal name of the XDMs worldwide.

(1) Game stores being difficult to run and make a profit (as always) the XDMs of the ‘Society of Ultimate Masters’ often ran their gaming enterprises in conjunction with taverns, restaurants and hostelries. This not only led to later confusion of the meaning of ‘maitre d’ but also may help us understand why so many adventure games begin in taverns.