Difference between revisions of "Dungeons and Dragons"

Revision as of 16:02, March 14, 2007

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D or DnD) is a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game. It was originally published in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and is now published by Wizards of the Coast.^[1] The game almost always takes place in a pre-modern alternate world (in theory, players could create any world that comes to their imagination, however) inhabited by mythical creatures such as elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons, where magic is commonplace. Its players create and adopt the personae of fantasy heroes that populate this world and undertake a series of adventures or quests in order to further the goals of these characters. One player takes on the role of Dungeon Master (DM). The DM is essentially a narrator who controls the overall plot of the game as well as the actions of Non Player Characters (NPCs). In addition, dice of various types are used to determine outcomes. As players' characters accomplish more, they gain experience points (XP) which allow their characters to gain levels, which in turn make them more powerful and have more abilities. The DM may use a commercially-produced adventure, or may create one of his own.

The game's moral alignment system allows players to play either good, neutral, or evil characters. (Some DMs forbid evil characters as they are often disruptive to the game.) The game may include elements that some consider to be occult, including the use of ghosts, spirits demons and devils which the characters may fight or aid as they see fit. The game settings manufactured by Wizards of the Coast (Greyhawk, Faerun, Eberron, etc.) also expressly adopt a polytheistic pantheon of deities and reject real-world religions as a part of the game. That being said, there is nothing to stop a DM from coming up with a monotheistic world in which to run his adventures. Most characters in the game worship these fictional deities both as lay persons and as "clerics", a profession than any character may choose to undertake assuming their alignment matches or is close to a match with their chosen god. Clerics of these deities are granted magical powers by their chosen deity by means of which they can kill enemies, or heal their party members.

The game has been steadily modified and expanded since the original first edition and is now in edition 3.5.

There is now a Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) known as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach which takes place in the Eberron game setting.

The Magic System

The magic system used in Dungeons and 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 choosen 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.^[2][3]

The Combat System

The Combat system in Dungeons and Dragons is a dice based system. The dice that are used in the combat system are have 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4 sides. In combat there are three different ways that a character can deal damage to NPCs or PCs (Player Characters): Melee, ranged, or magical. Attacking a PC is usually greatly frowned upon.

Controversy

Although the original game deliberately used a system of magic that was not found in any actual occult or religious system, the game came under attack mainly from some conservative Christians as promoting witchcraft, satanism and murder. Its dangers were well and succinctly summarized in the Dark Dungeons tract by Christian thinker Jack Chick.^[4] These attacks came in the form of calls for censorship as well as boycotts and lawsuits. These worries have not been taken very seriously outside certain conservative Christian groups although the Israeli Defense Force has expressed concern that players may be "detached from reality".^[5] Tracy Hickman, one of the main authors of Dungeons and Dragons, and a Christian with conservative politics and theology, has written a number of articles defending and discussing D&D from a Christian perspective.^[6] Others within the Dungeons and 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?". In response to the perceived Christian persecution of the Dungeons and Dragons, darker themed, deliberately counter-cultural games appeared in reaction such as Call of Cthluhu which is based on the horror writing of H.P. Lovecraft and set in the Cthulhu Mythos.^[6]

References

1. ↑ Wizards of the Coast's D&D site
2. ↑ Forum discussion: "Is D&D magic purely Vancian?"
3. ↑ RPGnet: Review of "The Primer of Practical Magic"
4. ↑ Jack Chick: "Dark Dungeons"
5. ↑ Ynetnews: "Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons"
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture: "Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right"