Dungeons and Dragons

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A Dungeons & Dragons game in progress.

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D or DnD) is a role-playing game with a medieval theme featuring mythical creatures such as elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons. Players take the role of characters who solve a series of heroic adventures or quests. Largely considered harmless fantasy, the game has attracted some criticism.

Players do not compete with one another. Rather the players cooperate to achieve goals and objectives while a referee, in this case called the dungeon master (DM) interprets rules and adjudicates the success or failure of the players efforts.

The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules. Most of those rules and many of the subsequent rules were authored by Gary Gygax. There are some who claim that Dave Arneson was the actual "inventor" of D&D, but this claim is disputed, not least by the fact that many references were authored by Gygax. The game was eventually sold to Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro.[1]

In the late seventies the game's popularity exploded and it can rightly be said that the game is now a part of American culture. Dungeons & Dragons spawned countless variations and permutations, but during the earliest days of the game's growth, there were accusations that the game contributed to Satanic worship, teen suicide and general moral depravity. These criticisms have largely been addressed and the game remains controversial to only a tiny minority of Americans.

D&D Terminology

Because D&D was a revolutionary game, it developed its own unique set of terminology to describe certain concepts in the game. Here's a quick list of important game terms which may be important to understand the game and its impact on American society.

  • Dungeon Master --- The Dungeon Master (DM) is not the player's opponent or ally, but is the game's referee. As the referee, it is the DM's responsibility to adjudicate the results player's actions. Additionally, the DM must play the role of monsters and the player's opponents. The DM has a duty to make the game fair, fun and playable. Many derivative games refer to this player as the Game Master or GM.
  • Player --- Any participant in the game that is not the DM.
  • Player Character --- The player character (or character) is the player's in-game persona. The character is most usually a heroic archetype such as a warrior, priest, wizard or rogue of some kind. The game allows for each archetype (called a "class") to possess unique skills and powers. If the player character survives the game session, the character can advance in experience and acquire higher levels and powers.
  • Monster --- A monster is any creature or in game character who may provide a challenge to the player characters. Many monsters like dragons or giants are monstrous, but others are fantastic such as pixies or unicorns. The DM chooses the actions of monsters.
  • Campaign --- In traditional games, the game ends and the game session ends. In D&D, the game continues through multiple sessions with the game always picking up where the last session ended. A series of game sessions that have some internal logic or structure is called a campaign.
  • Spells --- In D&D, the term spells describe imaginary powers bestowed to certain player characters. This would be analogous to Gandalf's fireworks or Merlin's enchantments. In the game, spells are designed to mimic the powers and abilities found in fantasy literature and have no further relation to witchcraft or anything occult.
  • Experience Points --- Experience Points or XP are a metric representing the number of the heroic actions of a player character has achieved in a given campaign. The more XP a character acquires, the more powers and abilities the character has in the game.
    Some of the unusual dice required to play Dungeons & Dragons.
  • d20 --- Actions and combat in D&D are most often resolved by rolling polyhedral dice. While standard dice are six-sided cubes, polyhedral dice have can have 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, or 4 sides. To distinguish between dice the standard nomenclature is d# where the # indicates the number of sides on the die. The d20 is the most commonly rolled die in D&D.

History and Development

To many Americans Dungeons & Dragons seemed to appear from nothingness as a wholly born concoction of occult elements and hypnotic game play. The truth is that the game evolved from mundane roots in a quite corner of Wisconsin outside Milwaukee. The origins of D&D are found in a prior generation of miniatures games such as H.G. Wells' Little Wars. Little Wars is a set of rules which describe how to play a game with toy soldiers.

Wells' rules were themselves were based upon a earlier games which were primarily played by nobility and royals to teach warfare strategy. [2]. With the publication of Little Wars, H.G. Wells hoped to bring a game previously known only to kings to the common man. Because tin soldiers do not bleed and do not leave widows, it was Wells hope that men could settle differences by little wars rather than real wars.

Miniature gaming such as Little Wars was nearly unknown in America, although there were pockets of hobbyists such as "International Federation of Gamers", a tiny group near Milwaukee Wisconsin.[3] Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were members of that gaming group. It can rightly be said that Gygax and Arneson are the fathers of modern role-playing games, but the contributions of other local gamers are muddied into this mix as well.

Gygax & Arneson

In the earliest days, the International Federation of Gamers was possessed of a grand name, but little more. Of course few records were kept at that time. Thus, there is some dispute about who exactly invented what aspects of the game. In 1969, Gary Gygax adapted rules meant to govern wooden ship combat into a medieval combat game which was published by Guidon Games under the name Chainmail. The game was very popular locally and grew organically over the next few years. At the same time, Lord of the Rings was gaining mass appeal in the United States. This inspired players to incorporate elements of fantasy into their wargames.

By 1970, Dave Arneson adapted these and other club rules into something generally referred to as the fantasy game [4]. The fantasy game had several key innovations --- many of which were of Arneson's devising. In previous wargames, players generally led an army of toy soldiers. But in the fantasy game, each player had only one soldier, described as a character or player character.

Further the game evolved to include the concept that at the next game session would pick up where the last game session ended. Another evolutionary concept was the idea of a referee or game master. The referee, often played by Arneson or Gygax, had the job of making final judgments and augmenting the rules as necessary to keep the game going. [5]

There is some question as to who exactly designed what in the fantasy game with at times Gygax and Arneson jointly and severably claiming to have "invented the game". There is no doubt that both many, and many gamers, where involved in the evolution of the game. Arneson's chief claims rest on his evolution of certain key concepts that would constitute all role-playing games to follow. Gygax's claim rests upon the fact that most of the early reference works were authored by Gygax.

OD&D

In 1972, Gary Gygax and others formed a partnership called Tactical Studies Rules and in 1974 Tactical Studies Rules published Gary Gygax' version of "the Fantasy Game", later named Dungeons & Dragons. [6] This version of the game --- often called Original Dungeons & Dragons, Old Dungeons & Dragons or OD&D --- was printed in staple-bound paperback form from folded sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper and sold as a boxed set.

By many accounts, OD&D was a clunky game, sparse on rules, but in this game one would find all the elements of a modern role-playing game: player characters, a game master, serial adventures, and the opportunity for character growth. Several print runs of this version sold out quickly and went on to exceed the expectations of everyone involved.

After the tremendous success of the D&D paperbacks, Tactical Studies Rules reorganized with partners Gary Gygax, Don Kaye and Brian Blume under the name TSR Hobbies Inc. In 1975, TSR Hobbies published OD&D supplements, Gygax's Greyhawk and Arneson's Blackmoor. [7] [8]

Dungeons & Dragons began to be noticed by American culture at about the same time the company released Eldritch Wizardry and God, Demigods & Heroes. The cover of Eldritch Wizardry featured an nude dress female strewn over an altar. [9] Gods, Demigods & Heroes was a mythological reference with gods and heroes from the legends and lore of Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Norse and more. Many of these mythological gods are considered creatures of human invention, but some are now considered demons by the Christian Church.

Although the game was gaining popularity, the works served as a lightning rod for criticism. Although some of the art in these and later editions would violate the Comics Code, the publishers at TSR failed to appreciate the danger of ignoring these rules. Some of TSR's management believed that D&D was marketed toward adult males, not teens and preteens, and thus the Comics Code did not apply. It soon became evident that D&D's popularity reached beyond college-age males.

First Edition

In 1977, TSR Hobbies published the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, a boxed set containing revised and abbreviated rules for easier introduction to the game. This was followed in 1978 by the publication of the "core rule books" of D&D: the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide and the Monster Manual. (Later editions of this game would follow this pattern.) Taken as a whole with several other reference books this version of the game is alternatively referred to as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, 1E, 1ED&D. This version of the game revised and organized the notes from OD&D into a single playable whole in hardback books.

Although the art found in the books is hardly obscene and does not approach what is found regularly in American culture today, there were a handful of depictions that did not meet the Comics Code. For example, a harpy, a creature from Greek mythology, that is half-woman half-vulture was depicted with nipples revealed. [10] And a mermaid was depicted topless with her hair covering parts of the chest. [11]

Additionally the game had references to many demons and devils (intended as adversaries). Also the game had a polytheist mythos with some players playing the part of clerics, or priests, of these imaginary or mythical gods. (See backlash below.)

Second Edition

In 1983, TSR Hobbies changed its name to TSR, Inc. For the next several years, TSR, Inc. released supplements and adventures for AD&D, along with reprints of the AD&D core books. Typical adventure supplements sold 10,000 to 100,000 units, while each print run of the AD&D core rules sold 40,000 copies. [12] While the company continue to sell respectable amounts of product, internal disorganization, in-fighting and corporate inefficiencies limited profitability. After a bitter fight with partners, Gygax was forced from the board of directors and eventually left the company. With Arneson gone since First Edition, the game was now in the hands of a second generation.

In 1989, TSR Inc. released Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This version of the game was largely a rewrite of the previous edition that was nearly fully compatible with First Edition AD&D. The game was largely sanitized and edited, but not so much reborne. For example, the art of Second Edition achieved a more professional standard. The art did not violate the Comics Code. Second Edition removed all references to "real" gods, devils and demons and inserted divas and angelic creatures.

Under the umbrella of Second Edition D&D, TSR, Inc. released some of its most enduring and popular titles. Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance were all second edition products.

Third Edition

In 1997, TSR, Inc. was purchased by Wizards of the Coast. (Wizards is often called WotC, and this acronym is pronounced what-see.) Wizards (eventually acquired by Hasbro) continued to improve the art and graphics of D&D and in 2000 released Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons to supplant second edition. While preserving the concepts of RPGing and many of the archetypes of AD&D, Third Edition (3E) would do what Second Edition had not.

Third Edition rewrote many of the basic constructs of the game in an effort to "modernize" the game and streamline some of D&D's clumsiest and clunkiest mechanics. Third Edition rules and supplements broke from the tradition of improving an existing system. Rather third edition replaced the previous system with "new and better" mechanics.

By the time of the release of Third Edition, most of the controversy associated with D&D had dissipated as secular culture had digressed far beyond anything found in previous D&D. With little controversy or fanfare, D&D reintroduced demons and many of the darker concepts of Dungeons & Dragons.

Now based in Seattle Washington, rather than Lake Geneva Wisconsin, the editors at WotC seem to exhibit the cultural norms found in Seattle rather than the heartlands. For example, rather than using the pronoun he in non-gender specific rules, Third Edition D&D bypasses the clumsy but politically correct construct he/she and opts to describe all rules with the feminine pronoun she. This was perhaps not a political statement, but rather an attempt to market the game to females.

The D&D ethos traditionally favored good characters, but Third Edition seems to hold up neutral as the ideal. This is a troubling symptom of our cultural drift from conservative values but not the cause of that drift.

Fourth Edition

With much fanfare, the Fourth Edition of the game was recently announced. Coveting the tremendous revenue of miniatures games like Games Workshop's Warhammer, Fourth Edition is compatible with the new D&D Miniatures game. Fourth Edition also uses many of the conventions wildly accepted in online computer games following widely successful games like Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Diablo.

D&D Online

There is now a Dungeons & Dragons Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) known as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach which takes place in the Eberron campaign setting. Online and computer games are similar to D&D in many respects, but the play of these games is entirely different. D&D is characterized by a human referee and complete freedom of action. Without these key components, the game is a mere shadow of D&D.

Summary

Dungeons & Dragons is nothing more or less than a formalized game of pretend, similar to imaginary adventures that children everywhere play. But, the simplicity of this concept was not immediately evident to players of Dungeons & Dragons or the public at large. Although D&D has a fantasy theme and many rules for resolving actions, Dungeons & Dragons is at its core a game of pretend like "cops and robbers" or "cowboys and Indians".

Concerns and Criticisms

In the late seventies and early eighties, the sudden popularity of Dungeons & Dragons resulted in a cultural and religious backlash against perceived dangers from the game. Dungeons & Dragons was linked to the occult, witchcraft & demonology. Additionally there was some criticism about the art depicted in the earliest versions of the game. Much of this criticism came from the natural tendency of people to fear the unknown and to fear new ideas, but some of this criticism was valid and affected later versions of what was published under the name Dungeons & Dragons.

Demons and Devils

In D&D, player characters (the player's in game persona) are constantly gaining strength and power. Therefore, they are forever seeking more powerful adversaries and more difficult challenges. For example, at the start of a campaign player characters may be doing battle with creatures short of stature with few may limitations (low intelligence, fear of sunlight) such as goblins or kobolds. But as the player character's power increases, so to increases the deadliness of their opponents. In the search for ever more powerful opponents game designers eventually developed attributes for demons and devils.

The publishers of the game had imagined that they would sell a few hundred copies to college-aged males and never imagined that the game would experience explosive popularity, especially among teens as young as thirteen. Therefore, no thought or planning was invested into the potential impact of defining the powers and abilities of demons and devils. To the game's designers and players, killing a demon (in game) was no more controversial than killing a bishop in a game of chess.

But to bystander's the very inclusion of demons and devils was enough to cast suspicion upon the entire game. Additionally, the inclusions of demons and devils in the game begged other questions, such as why are there no angels in the game? There were no angels in the earliest editions of the game, because there was no reason to have an angel in the role of a monster. (See terminology above.) By late First Edition and early Second Edition, the game included and defined angels, divas and other highly powerful creatures of good. This led to the criticism that religious icons were being disrespected by inclusion in the reference works.

In the Second Edition, the publishers tried to sanitize D&D by removing demons and devils, but many players (who enjoyed the challenge of destroying demons) resisted this effort. Later editions removed many references to "real" demons. Additionally, the terms "devil" and "demon" were replaced with the terms "baatezu" and "tanar'ri," and "the Nine Hells" (the outer planar home of devils/baatezu) was renamed "Baator."

However, in Third Edition, the game's original terms were readopted. An entire "mature" supplement (though there is no age restriction on who may buy it), known as the Book of Vile Darkness[13] was produced to introduce more overtly evil concepts into the game.

D&D and the Occult

The game includes fictional depictions of supernatural abilities called magic, evil monsters called demons and devils, and fictional deities along with their followers. Christians are divided on how this interacts with their faith. A minority of Christians believe that fictional depictions of fantasy elements such as those found in Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Dungeons & Dragons are blasphemous. But, most Christians see no problem with fictional works such as these.

Starting in the late 1970s the game and others like it came under attack mainly from some fundamentalist Christians as promoting occult and criminal activity. The game's dangers were alleged in the Dark Dungeons tract by Jack Chick[14], which portrays D&D players committing suicide when their characters are killed or joining secret witches' covens and learning to cast real magic spells when their characters reach a high enough level.

The fact is that Dungeons & Dragons designers and players had nothing to do with occult or criminal activity and thirty years later it may be hard to understand how people could confuse D&D with occult activities. In the earliest days of D&D it was easy for an uninformed bystander to draw faulty conclusions based upon a limited knowledge of the game. In it's earliest days, OD&D often sold out leaving bystanders with little access to the rules and little direct knowledge of the game.

For example, bystanders knew the game was developing a devoted cult-following. There is an important distinction between a cult-following and a cult itself, but this was lost on some bystanders. As a cult-following, D&D developed an insular fraternity of fans who were plugged into something exciting and new. Each day the world of D&D expanded and every player everywhere had a hand in the growth of the game. The players were developing their own lexicon and making new and ever expanding rules. This close bond and strange lexicon was easily misunderstood by those with limited exposure to the game.

In the late seventies the game's popularity was preceded by rumors that players were involved in some strange occult activities. Bystanders knew that D&D players were talking about fantastic creatures, magical spells and even demons because the game often includes descriptions of occult elements like magic, ghosts, spirits, demons and devil. To an uninformed bystander this may be pretty scary stuff. But, the truth was significantly less mysterious and sensational.

These misperceptions have largely evaporated because of the game's popularity and as people became aware that players were not involved in anything occult but were involved gaming in a fantasy setting. Most everyone in America knows someone who has played Dungeons & Dragons, so these days it's no longer possible to blur the line between occult activity and role-playing games.

God and gods

One item of concern for conservative Christians is that players' characters do not usually worship God, but instead choose a patron deity from a fictional polytheistic pantheon. The game settings manufactured by Wizards of the Coast (Greyhawk, Faerun, Eberron, etc.) expressly adopt a polytheistic pantheon of fictional deities and reject real-world religions as a part of the game. The question of what extent and form of religion should be depicted in the game has been a question since the earliest days of the game. In an in depth look at monotheism in fantasy games, Joseph R.Ravitts raised some of the problems and benefits for a born-again Christian's point of view.[15]

Ravitts already understood the power of role-playing, which is now well known. Namely, role-playing is a powerful behavior modification tool. If you pretend that you believe something, eventually you will believe that something. For this reason, he posited that it was important to avoid role-playing in a polytheistic world. Referencing the classic argument from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, Ravitts explained how polytheism is really just atheism or monotheism in disguise. He believed that if players and DM's actively played in an atheistic world, they would eventually become atheists.

He then pointed out the difficulties of importing Christianity or other religions into D&D. Ravitts pointed out it is a simple matter to import mythological gods like Zeus or Thor into a fantasy setting. One simply imagines these gods are in the fantasy world and begins playing. But, this is much more difficult with religious figures like Jesus, Muhammad or Buddha. Each of these three men are real historic personages. For example, Jesus lived, died and rose again in the Middle East at a specific time and place.

Ravitts proposed two simple work-arounds, for those who care about their spiritual well-being. Firstly, one could assume that all humans are teleported from Earth or descended from folks who were teleported from Earth. These humans have preserved their religious identities and thus Christianity is an option for players without tampering with the historical nature of Jesus.

Secondly Ravitts proposed altering the game's mythos to allow for an all-powerful detached God reigning over the "gods, demigods and devils". In this way the "gods" are not gods at all, but just ultra-powerful beings who distract souls from worshiping the one true God.

Of course there are alternatives such as Testament a D&D type game set in the Biblical Era. But ultimately, D&D is a game of pretend and players are encouraged to alter the game world to better suit their tastes. Many Christian players altering the game world so that it better fits their personal beliefs. The parent of a role-playing gamer or any gamer who is concerned for his spiritual health is well-advised to consider the power of role-playing as a behavior modification tool. If you pretend to be heroic long enough, eventually you will be heroic. The danger of pretending to be an atheist or pretending to be an evil character should be obvious and should be avoided.

The art of D&D

Another criticism is that illustrations in the rule books for Dungeons & Dragons often contain images of immodestly dressed women. For example, in the First Edition Monster Manual a number of drawings depicted topless creatures of fantasy such as the harpy (half-vulture half-woman) or the succubus (a demoness). The OD&D reference featured the profile of nude woman. Most of these images are fairly crudely rendered and are not particularly racy by today's standards, but they did exceed the limitations of the Comics Code of the time[16].

By the publication of Second Edition, the art and layout of the D&D game is managed by professionals. As a result the quality of the art increased significantly and anything racy was eliminated from the art work. In current forms of the game there is nothing particularly shocking in the art for a child or adult of any age.

Unchristian Activities

Although Dungeons & Dragons does not present itself as either pro-Christian or anti-Christian, the game features many elements which can be considered to agree with or go against the teachings of Christ. The game has drawn criticism for allowing players to undertake un-Christian activities: the rules allow a player to have their character perform evil acts, including the summoning or worshiping of demons and devils. Certain fundamentalists disagree with the very format of the game in that player characters can pretend to cast imaginary spells while playing the game.

Some feel that the primary action of the game involves the fictional slaying of monsters and the fictional accumulation of wealth, some Christians feel that this goes against the teachings of Christ regarding pacifism (Matthew 5:38-42) and the accumulation of wealth (Matthew 19:24). Others see these actions as heroic endeavors and wealth is a byproduct of doing good things. Either way, the game and it's choices are a matter of free will.

Former United Methodist Church minister James Wyatt wrote an essay comparing the freedom of a Dungeons & Dragons player to choose his own actions, to the Christian concept of Free Will. As in real life, a player may, when presented with a moral choice, decide for himself whether to do good or evil. If the player was not able to do evil, he would be forced to do good, removing his freedom. Similarly, God allows human beings to choose between good and evil in real life, and people must accept the consequences of their choice.

Tracy Hickman, one of the main authors of the Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance book series, and a Christian with conservative politics and theology, has written a number of articles defending and discussing D&D from a Christian perspective. [17] Others within the Dungeons & Dragons community responded by writing other defenses from rationalist perspectives or other perspectives or by writing parodies such as "Chess: The Subtle Sin: Should Christians play chess?". Some argue that in response to the perceived Christian persecution of the Dungeons & Dragons, darker themed, deliberately counter-cultural games appeared in reaction such as Call of Cthulhu which is based on the horror writing of H.P. Lovecraft and set in the Cthulhu Mythos[17], or Vampire: the Masquerade, where players act the roles of undead vampires.

Warning to Parents and Players

D&D is a "game of pretend" whereby players pretend to take certain actions and the DM adjudicates the results of those actions. By it's very nature, this leaves players open to experiment with various moral quandaries and social dilemmas. This is a valuable tool for players to learn the implications and results of playing both good and evil characters.

However, parents and adults who play the game should be aware that it is inherently dangerous to regularly and habitually play the part of evil characters. D&D can be a mind-expanding, spiritually affirming game. It can also be the first step on a spiral into darkness.

Some liberals describe guns as evil, when in fact guns are tools: neither evil nor good. Guns can protect. Guns can kill. It is hypocritical and wrong for conservatives and fundamentalists to describe role-playing games as evil. Role-playing games are emotional mental tools and toys. They can be used to build or they can be used to destroy. Parents who care about their children's spiritual well-being will not allow young or inexperienced children to play D&D without appropriate supervision.


Game play

Dungeons & Dragons is a free-form game in which a referee (the Dungeon Master) describes a situational problem to the players and then the players reply with any imaginable response. The exploits of players can occur in any fantasy setting but at some point the adventure often occurs in a dungeon or subterranean locale not unlike Moria in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. For example a DM might say to the players, "You have arrived the edge of a deep pit. The pit is so deep as to prevent you from seeing the bottom and so wide as to look impossible to jump. Far below you hear hissing and rustling as if a thousand poisonous snakes await you in the darkness."

Depending upon how motivated the players are to continue in this direction, the players might ask the DM various interrogatories such as "Is it possible to walk along the edge of the pit and continue down the passage?" or "Is there anything on the opposite side of the pit to which we might be able to tie a rope?"

Next the players will decide what course of actions their characters will take. Each player tries to take advantage of his character's unique talents. The player of the rogue will no that his character is skilled at climbing walls. By jamming his fingers and toes into the cracks in the mortar, his character can negotiate along the wall to the opposite side. If the character's actions are reasonable and relatively easy to accomplish the DM allows for them to happen. If the action is more outrageous, or risky, the DM consults rules and conventions to determine which dice will govern the success of the action.

At the end of each gaming sessions, the DM grants all players a number of Experience Points (XP's) to represent the player accomplishments. When the character has acquired enough Experience Points, the character can gain more powers and abilities.

Alignment System

Because D&D players can basically do "anything" there are moral implications to the choices players make. To provide a frame of reference and to help the game make sense Gygax devised an alignment system. All characters are required to choose an alignment and the character must adhere to the beliefs of that alignment. Similarly, all monsters have alignments and thus their actions can be predictable and make sense.

"Good" characters strive to do acts of goodness and while avoiding actions which are hurtful to others. "Evil" characters think only of their own needs. Animals and certain other creatures don't care much about good or evil. At the same time "Lawful" characters believe that it is important to adhere to the rule of law, while "Chaotic" characters are more concerned with personal freedoms than with laws. Some characters do not care whether an action is lawful or chaotic, but only whether it is good or evil. By combining these two frameworks, we arrive at the nine alignments: lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good, lawful neutral, true neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil, or chaotic evil.

These alignments help a player separate what the player or referee would do in a given situation from how the character or monster might react in the same situation. Some DMs forbid evil characters as they are often disruptive to the game, though the rules do not expressly require that players choose good characters.

Components of a Character

A character is described in detail on a "character sheet" where the player records important facts about the character. This includes the character's "race", vocation, unique skills, and numerical ratings of the character's attributes.

In this case, "race" refers to a race from fantasy such as an elf, dwarf, gnome or halfling. The races which are allowed in the game vary from DM to DM according to the tastes of players and the setting that the DM has devised. The vocation or "class" of the character refers to the fantasy archetype the player wishes to play, i.e. wizard, barbarian, rogue, or cleric. The selection of race and class will impact skills and attributes which are available to the character as well as the strengths and weaknesses the character.


The Magic System

The magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons was adopted very roughly from the writing of fantasy and science fiction author Jack Vance. In the Vancian system, magic-users such as wizards must prepare all of their spells in advance for that day by memorizing them and a spell leaves the wizard's memory upon being cast. To cast the spell again, the magic-user must once again memorize the spell. The Vancian system was chosen for a variety of reasons such as its originality compared to pre-existing magical systems, its avoidance any connection with systems of magic described in any religion or occult theory, and it being the creation one of Gygax's favorite authors.[18][19]

The Combat System

In combat there are three different ways that a character can damage another character: melee, ranged, or magical. Attacking another Player Character (PC) is often an evil act that will get you tossed out of that group, but PC-vs-PC combat is sometimes entered by mutual agreement of the players as part of a plot, or due to magical influence (such as a dominate spell) affecting a character.

References

  1. Wizards of the Coast's D&D site
  2. http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=6040&pageno=2 Foreword to Little Wars by H.G. Wells
  3. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDArchives_History.asp
  4. http://jovianclouds.com/blackmoor/
  5. http://jovianclouds.com/blackmoor/rpg2.html
  6. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDArchives_History.asp#
  7. http://www.dadsdnd.com/greyhawk.html
  8. http://www.dadsdnd.com/blackmoor.html
  9. http://www.deigames.com/eldwiz2.JPG
  10. Monster Manual by Gary Gygax published by TSR Hobbies 1978
  11. Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax published by TSR Hobbies 1979
  12. http://www.acaeum.com/library/printrun.html
  13. "Book of Vile Darkness"
  14. Jack Chick: "Dark Dungeons"
  15. "Monotheism in Gaming" by Joseph R. Ravitts, Pegasus Magazine Issue #4 published in 1981 by Judges' Guild
  16. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8580/cca3.html
  17. 17.0 17.1 The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture: "Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right"
  18. Forum discussion: "Is D&D magic purely Vancian?"
  19. RPGnet: Review of "The Primer of Practical Magic"

External Links