Dungeons & Dragons

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{{infobox RPG |title=Dungeons & Dragons |image=Image:WotC Dungeons & Dragons.jpg |caption=The Dungeons & Dragons logo |designer=Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson; 3rd Edition by Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet and Skip Williams |publisher=Tactical Studies Rules
Wizards of the Coast |date=1974 (1st Edition)
1989 (2nd Edition)
2000 (3rd Edition) |genre=Fantasy |system=d20 system |footnotes= }}

For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation).

Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) published by Wizards of the Coast. The original Dungeons & Dragons, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, was first published in January 1974 by Gygax's company, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). Originally derived from tabletop wargames, this publication is generally regarded as the beginning of modern role-playing games, and by extension, the role-playing game industry.

Contents

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Introduction to D&D

Players of D&D invent fictitious characters who embark upon imaginary adventures in which they battle many kinds of fictional monsters, gather treasure, and earn experience points as the game progresses. The game departed from traditional wargaming by assigning each player a specific character to play, as opposed to legions and armies. It also developed the concept of a Dungeon Master (DM) or Game Master (GM), the storyteller and referee responsible for creating the fictional setting of the game, moderating the actions of the players' characters, and playing the supporting cast of non-player characters.

The early success of Dungeons & Dragons quickly led to a proliferation of similar game systems, such as RuneQuest, Tunnels and Trolls, Traveller, and Arduin. Despite this competition, D&D has continued to dominate the role-playing game industry throughout its existence, enjoying a nearly impenetrable market position. In 1977 the game was split into two slightly different versions: the simpler Dungeons & Dragons and the more complex Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as AD&D or ADnD). In 2000, the simplified version of the game was discontinued and the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons was released as a major revision of the AD&D game. The current version of the game, released in July 2003, is Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 (also known as the Revised 3rd Edition or D&D3.5).

As of 2006, Dungeons & Dragons remains the best-known and best-selling role-playing game, with an estimated 20 million players worldwide and over US$1 billion in book and equipment sales (according to a BBC news report). Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of the RPG products sold in 2002Template:Citeneeded. Outside of the gaming community, "D&D" has become a metonym used to refer to role-playing games in general.

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Play overview

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Dungeons & Dragons is a structured, yet open-ended, "make-believe" game. Each player in the game typically takes on the role of a single character. The game is presented to the players by the Dungeon Master (or DM). The DM does not have a single character, like the other players, but acts as a narrator, choosing and describing the other characters, settings, and situations the players' characters encounter. During the course of play, each player will choose the actions of their characters and the results of those actions will be determined by the DM using the rules of the game, which govern everything from combat to social interaction. In some situations, the DM may choose to substitute or override a rule. This is called "DM discretion".

The rules of the most recent version of the game are detailed in three core rulebooks: The Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. Additional rulebooks, such as the Complete Warrior, contain optional rules which can also be used. Abbreviated versions of the rules are available to help beginners learn the game.

The only items required to play the game are the rulebooks, a character sheet for each player, and a number of polyhedral dice, although there are many optional items which can be used to supplement or enhance the gaming experience, such as pre-designed adventures and campaign settings. Special gameboards or cloth mats are sometimes used to visually depict the situations in the game, and miniature figures can be used to provide a three-dimensional representation of the characters. Computer programs are also available for supporting the game.

Image:DnD Dice Set.jpg Before the game begins, each player creates their own character, recording the details on a character sheet. First, a player will typically roll dice to determine their character's ability scores (strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma). The player then chooses a race (such as an human, elf, or dwarf) and a character class (such as a fighter, wizard, or rogue). The player will then choose skills and feats for their character, describing specific abilities and talents that the character possesses. The player will also select an alignment to describe their character's moral and ethical outlook. These choices determine what the character can do and how well they can perform different actions. As the game is played, the character will grow and change as they gain experience and wealth.

When a player chooses to have his character attempt an action (such as punching an opponent or picking a lock), the outcome will be determined by a character's abilities, the difficulty of the task, a random dice roll, or by some combination of the three. Different characters will be skilled at accomplishing different things, and the system encourages a well-balanced team of specialised characters.

When characters defeat an enemy or accomplish a difficult task they are awarded an appropriate number of experience points (or XP) by the DM. Attaining a certain number of experience points causes a character to advance a "level", gaining more abilities and improving existing ones.

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Adventures and Campaigns

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A typical Dungeons & Dragons game consists of an "adventure", which is roughly equivalent to a single story. After completing one adventure, players will usually start a new adventure while continuing to play the same characters.

Adventures are usually designed by the Dungeon Master, but throughout the history of Dungeons & Dragons, numerous pre-made "adventures" or "modules" have been published. These modules allow DMs to run a game without needing to create their own adventures, and typically include a backstory, maps, and one or more objectives for players' characters to achieve. Some modules include illustrations or hand-outs to supplement the basic gaming experience. Still, despite the convenience of ready-made adventures, many Dungeon Masters take great pride in creating their own, with extensive backstories and highly original dungeon designs often laid out by hand on graph paper.

A series of adventures played through by a common group of characters is commonly referred to as a "campaign". As a result, the fantasy settings in which D&D games take place are often known as "campaign settings". Like the individual adventures themselves, many Dungeon Masters create their own fantasy settings, but there are also many official campaign settings which can be purchased. These worlds range from magic-rich to magic-poor, from traditional western settings to exotic oriental fantasies, from sword and sorcery to swashbuckling adventure. A campaign may be site-based, event-based, or a combination of the two. For example, in a site-based campaign, the players might defend a town throughout a long war without ever leaving it. In an event-based campaign, the players might pursue and defeat a warmongering villain through several locations over a long period of time.

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Miniature figures

The wargames from which Dungeons & Dragons evolved used miniature figures to represent combatants. D&D continued the use of miniatures in a fashion similar to its direct precursor, Chainmail, with each figure representing a specific character or monster.

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While the original rules of D&D required the use of miniatures to resolve combat situations, the rules quickly evolved to a point where combat could be resolved verbally and miniatures were no longer required for gameplay.

Although no longer essential, miniatures remained popular with players and continued to serve as a useful visual reference, and many gamers took pride in painting and decorating their figures to make them unique. In the early days of D&D, the miniatures were often placed on acetate-covered graph paper with walls and other references drawn with grease pencils. As the adventurers moved from one area to another, the grease pencil markings could be wiped off and a new area drawn.

In the 1980s numerous companies began to sell miniature figures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons and similar games. TSR partnered with Grenadier Miniatures, who released their figures under the Dungeons & Dragons brand, while other miniature manufacturers (such as Ral Partha and Citadel Miniatures) simply release generic, fantasy-themed figures.

Professional products were also released to serve as grid-references for miniature play, from simple rollable mats printed with square or hexagonal grids, suitable for use with non-permanent markers, to elaborate systems of interlocking tiles. Some players would build entire floor-and-wall sets from wood or cardboard and would invest in large inventories of trees and other model objects to create more realistic environments for their miniatures. Professionally-built sets were later released, as well.

Periodically, Dungeons & Dragons returned to its wargaming roots with supplementary rules systems for miniatures-based wargaming. Supplements such as Battlesystem (1985 & 1989) and a new edition of Chainmail (2001) provided rule systems to handle battles between armies. The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game (2003) is sold as sets of plastic, randomly assorted, pre-painted miniatures that can be used as either part of a standard Dungeons & Dragons game or as a stand-alone collectible miniatures game.

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Game History

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Influences

The fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, evolved in the early 1970s from the Chainmail system of wargaming rules by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. The game was influenced by mythology, pulp fiction, and contemporary fantasy authors of the 1960s and 1970s.

The presence of halflings, elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, dragons and the like often draw comparisons to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, although Gygax maintains that he was influenced very little by The Lord of the Rings, stating that he included these elements as a marketing move to draw on the then-popularity of the work. Other influences, according to the 1977 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide, include the works of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, and Poul Anderson.

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Edition history

Template:Main Dungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between the different editions.

The original Dungeons and Dragons was published in 1974 and was supplemented over the next two years with Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes. Official and popular unofficial rule supplements were also published in the magazines The Strategic Review and its successor, Dragon Magazine.

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In 1977, TSR released two new versions of the game: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons.

Dungeons & Dragons was a simpler, sometimes "introductory", version of the game. In 1977 the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, also referred to as the Second Edition, was published as a boxed set. This edition was revised in 1981, which also coincided with the release of an Expert Set to accompany the Basic Set. Between 1983 and 1985 the Third Edition was released in a series of five boxed sets, including the Basic Rules, Expert Rules, Companion Rules, Master Rules, and Immortal Rules.

The Dungeons & Dragons game was revised again in 1991. This edition included the Dungeons & Dragons Game (an introductory boxed set) and the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (a hardback manual which included the material from the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master sets). In 1994 the introductory boxed set was renamed the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game. In 1999 the introductory box set was revised and released as the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (or AD&D) was a more complicated version of the game, designed to collect, revise, and expand on the rules from the original version and its supplements. Between 1977 and 1979, three hardcover rulebooks, commonly referred to as the "core rulebooks", were released: The Player's Handbook (PHB), the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), and the Monster Manual (MM).

In 1989, AD&D was revised for a 2nd Edition (sometimes referred to as AD&D2 or 2nd Ed). The game was once again published as three core rulebooks, incorporating the expansions and revisions which had been published in various supplements over the previous decade. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder which was later replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993.

The release of AD&D2 also corresponded with a policy change at TSR. An effort was made to remove aspects of the game which had attracted negative publicity. Character classes such as the assassin and monk were eliminated, heroic roleplaying and player teamwork were stressed, demons and devils were renamed tanar'ri and baatezu (respectively, and only after they were eliminated from the game entirely and were "restored" by the outcry of outraged fans), and the product artwork became less racy. The target age of the game was also lowered, with most 2nd edition products being aimed primarily at teenagers. The Second Edition art and marketing were also modified to appeal more to female players.

In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as "optional core rulebooks". Although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition, this revision is seen by some fans as a distinct edition of the game and is sometimes referred to as AD&D 2.5.


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In 1997, a near-bankrupt TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast. The new company almost immediately began designing a new version of the game, which would be released in 2000 as Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (also referred to as D&D3 or 3E and not to be confused with the 1983 edition of the basic D&D game). The 3rd Edition was the largest revision of the D&D rules to date. 3rd edition also served as the basis for a broader role-playing system designed around 20-sided dice, called the d20 System.

The 3rd Edition rules were designed with the intention of making them more internally consistent and significantly less restrictive than previous editions of the game, allowing players much more flexibility in creating the characters they wanted to play. Skills and feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage players to further customize their characters. The new rules also standardized the mechanics of action resolution and combat. 3rd Edition also introduced the concepts of "Prestige Classes" (high-level classes which characters can only enter upon meeting certain character-design prerequisites or fulfilling certain in-game goals) and expanded the idea of high-level campaigns with the Epic Level Handbook (a supplementary core rulebook).

In 2003, the 3rd Edition rules were revised as Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 (also known as Revised 3rd Edition or D&D3.5). This release incorporated numerous minor rule changes and expanded the core rulebooks.

A wide variety of optional supplements have been published for every edition of D&D. These supplements commonly include new rules, items, spells, and creatures. Other supplements include new adventures or detail entire fantasy worlds.

The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons have won many Origins Awards, including All Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977, Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989 and Best Roleplaying Game of 2000 for the three flagship editions of the game.

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Influence

Dungeons & Dragons was the first modern role-playing game, establishing many of the conventions which have dominated the genre. Particularly notable are the use of dice as a resolution mechanic, character record sheets, progressive character development, and game-master-centered group dynamics.

The elements which made up Dungeons & Dragons can be seen in many hobbies of the time, though they had existed previously. Character-based roleplaying, for example, can be seen in historical reenactment and improvisational theatre. Game world simulations had been well-developed in wargaming. Fantasy milieus specifically designed for gaming could be seen in Glorantha's board games and M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel, among others. Ultimately, however, Dungeons & Dragons represented a unique blending of these elements, creating its own niche and leading to the development of a multitude of role-playing games. Science fiction, horror, superheroes, cartoons, westerns, spies and espionage, and many other fictional settings were adapted to role-playing games.

Over the years, many gamers have criticized various aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons rules. In previous editions, clunky and inconsistent mechanics were often seen as inefficient and confusing. Trying to find solutions to these problems led to other game developers to expand on and modify aspects of the game. Within only months of Dungeons & Dragons's release, new role-playing game writers and publishers began releasing their own role-playing games. The first arrivals to achieve lasting influence were RuneQuest, released by Chaosium in 1976, and the science fiction role-playing game Traveller, released by Game Designers Workshop in 1978. Some of the later systems include Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, Champions by Hero Games, GURPS by Steve Jackson Games and Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf Game Studio. These games also fed back into the genre's origin, miniatures wargames, with combat strategy games like Battletech, Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Warhammer 40,000. Collectable card games, like Magic: The Gathering, were also heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons and its legacy.

With the launch of Dungeons & Dragons's 3rd Edition, Wizards of the Coast made the d20 System available under the Open Gaming License (OGL) and d20 Trademark License. Under these licenses, authors are free to use the d20 System when writing their own games and game supplements. The OGL and d20 Trademark License are also responsible for making possible new versions of older games, such as Call of Cthulhu, using the new system.

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Related products

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Magazines

Image:Dragon342Cover.jpg In 1975, TSR began publishing The Strategic Review. At the time, roleplaying games were still seen as a sub-genre of the wargaming industry, and the magazine was designed not only to support Dungeons & Dragons and TSR's other games, but also to cover wargaming in general. In short order, however, the popularity and growth of Dungeons & Dragons made it clear that the game had not only separated itself from its wargaming origins, but had launched an entirely new industry unto itself. The following year, after only seven issues, TSR cancelled The Strategic Review and replaced it in 1976 with The Dragon (later Dragon Magazine). Although Dragon Magazine was originally designed to support the roleplaying industry in general, it has always been primarily a house organ for TSR's games with a particular focus on D&D. Most of the magazine's articles provide supplementary material for the game, including new races, classes, spells, traps, monsters, skills, and rules. Other articles will provide tips and suggestions for players and DMs. The magazine has also published a number of well-known, gamer-oriented comic strips over the years, including Wormy, SnarfQuest, Yamara, Knights of the Dinner Table, Nodwick, Dork Tower, and The Order of the Stick.

In 1986, TSR launched a new magazine to complement Dragon. Dungeon Adventures, published bimonthly, published nothing but adventure modules for Dungeons Masters. While Dungeon now publishes other kinds of material as well, Dungeons & Dragons adventures remain its main focus.

Although many other magazines have partially or fully devoted themselves to supporting Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon and Dungeon remain the only two official publications for the game. In 2002, Wizards of the Coast licensed the two magazines to Paizo Publishing.

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Films and TV

A popular Dungeons & Dragons animated television series was produced in 1983. The cartoon was based upon the concept of a small group of young adults and children who get transported to a D&D-based fantasy realm by riding a magical roller coaster. When they arrive, they are given potent magical weapons and must survive against the chromatic dragon Tiamat and a power-hungry nemesis called Venger. They are assisted in each episode by a gnome-like creature called Dungeon Master and a baby unicorn named "Uni".

A Dungeons & Dragons movie was released in 2000. Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God, a made-for-TV sequel, was first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on October 8th, 2005, and is scheduled for release in February 2006 on DVD. (This sequel is also known by the alternate title Dungeons & Dragons 2: The Elemental Might.)

In 2003, a computer animated motion picture entitled Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure was produced for DVD, featuring the iconic characters (Regdar, Mialee, and Lidda) created for the 3rd Edition. This is an interactive movie that asks viewers to decide what actions the heroes should take at crucial points in the story, allowing hundreds of different story-telling combinations. A special edition was released later that included even more choices, two additional endings, the making of the Scourge of Worlds, and the original (linear) version of film.

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Computer and video games

Fifty-three computer games and sixteen video games (ten for consoles, four for handheld devices, and two arcade games) had been released and sold under the D&D license as of October 2004. Almost half of these games were published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI). Most, but not all, are computer role-playing games that use rules derived from some version of the D&D rules. Notable titles include

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For a full list of licensed D&D computer and video games, see List of Dungeons & Dragons computer and video games. Many other CRPGs, including the numerous Roguelike games, MUD's (Multi-User Dungeons) and MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) are based on the D&D game. One popular example was the Wizardry series that was first released on the Apple II in the 1980s and eventually became available on the Commodore 64, Apple Macintosh and IBM PC under DOS and Microsoft Windows.

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Novels

Several hundred novels have been published based upon Dungeons & Dragons.

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Comics

Image:TempestGate1Cover.jpg During the 1980s and 1990s, DC Comics published several licensed D&D comics, including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, and Spelljammer. Also during the 80s, one-page "mini-comics" appeared as advertisements in both Marvel and DC publications, always ending with "To Be Continued..."

After the release of the 3rd Edition, KenzerCo, better known for the popular gaming comic Knights of the Dinner Table, secured the licensing rights to produce official D&D comics. Using the license, they produced a number of different mini-series. One notable mini-series for this comic line entitled Tempest's Gate was authored by Sean Smith. It featured memorable iconic characters of D&D such as Zed Kraken, a powerful and influential magus.[1]

In 2002, Iron Hammer Graphics published the single-issue comic Vecna: Hand of the Revenent. In 2005, the license passed to Devil's Due Productions. Starting in June of that year, Devil's Due began releasing official adaptations of D&D tie-in novels, starting with Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy.

As webcomics grew, many were created around the idea of D&D, some of them even going as far as publishing actual books. Amongst the more popular ones are Rich Burlew's The Order of the Stick and Tarol Hunts's Goblins. The game has also been seen in several FoxTrot comic strips over the years played by Jason and his best friend Marcus.

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Board games

Several board games have been sold either under the Dungeons & Dragons trademark or in association with it:

  • Dungeon (1975), a board game published by TSR, featured similar gameplay and genre tropes to D&D and was frequently advertised in D&D products.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Computer Labyrinth Game (1980) This was the first computer/board game hybrid and the first D&D licensed game that contained digital electronics.
  • The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons (1991) This game is in a way an introduction to RPG but is played as a board game. Three expansions were released for it: Dragon's Den, Haunted Tower, Goblin's Lair.
  • DragonStrike (1993) used a simplified form of D&D and included an instructional video tape in which costumed actors, combined with computer-generated imagery, played the characters and monsters from the board game.
  • Introduction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1995) An introductory board version of the AD&D system via basic scenarios played with miniatures (plastic, included), and a campy/nifty CD for both ambiance and automated DM instructions.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (2000) Based upon the roleplaying system D&D here we have a typical dungeon crawl game.
  • Dungeons and Dragons Clue (2001) Standard Clue with a D&D fantasy theme and optional wandering monsters.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Adventure Boardgame (2002) Cooperative dungeon crawl game in which a party of four heroes strives to complete adventures that the Dungeon Master puts before them (In the Style of HeroQuest). Two expansions have been released for this game:
    • Eternal Winter (2004)
    • Forbidden Forest (2005)
  • Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (2004) A simplified version of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game, designed as an introduction to roleplaying, but is in essence a boardgame in the style of presentation.
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References in popular culture

Template:Main As the popularity of D&D grew throughout the late-'70s and '80s, references to the game often began to appear in popular culture. For example, in the movie E.T., several of the young characters are shown playing the game.

More typically, D&D players are seen as the epitome of geekdom, and references to the game are used as a shorthand to establish characterization (as in the movie Airheads) or provide the punchline of a joke (for example, on Saturday Night Live). Many players, miffed with this stereotype, embrace the fact that film stars Vin Diesel, Robin Williams, and Stephen Colbert have confessed to playing D&D.

The Television show Freaks and Geeks featured some of its characters playing Dungeons and Dragons, as did The X-Files, which included a variant in which players made wagers on the outcomes of dice rolls.

The TV Series Futurama also contained numerous references to Dungeons & Dragons, including an animated appearance by Gary Gygax himself.

It should also be noted that D&D is frequently parodied, with parodies of the game existing in nearly all media, including film, television, and cartoons, among others. Much of the potential for parody in Dungeons & Dragons may exist because, with its heroic millieu and imagination-based gameplay, it exaggerates the gap between the actuality of the players' self-image and the grandiose personas they adopt in gameplay [2] (PDF).

The band Weezer's song In The Garage begins with the lines:

I've got a Dungeon Master's Guide,
I've got a twelve-sided die ... '
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Controversy and notoriety

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Religious objections

At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity for alleged promotion of such practices as devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder. In the 1980s especially, some religious groups accused the game of encouraging interest in sorcery and demonic creatures. Many of these criticisms, though often mentioning "Dungeons & Dragons" by name, were actually aimed at RPGs or the fantasy genre in general and are discussed in the article on the History of role-playing games.

The controversy nevertheless led TSR to remove references to demons, devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D. Many of these exclusions were not returned to the game until the release of the 3rd Edition in 2000. In fact, a few 3rd Edition products have addressed demons and devil-worship far more explicitly than materials from previous editions. The more 'extreme' manuals, such as the Book of Vile Darkness, bear a "For Mature Audiences Only" label.

Though religious groups have alleged promotion of satanic and evil ideas, the original AD&D rules actually provided for an equal balance of power between the capabilities of good and evil forces. This equipotential view of good and evil, itself controversial to some groups, continues to be found in newer editions of the game.

Ironically, (despite the opinions of Gary Gygax noted above), the fictional universe of Dungeons and Dragons has several similarities to the writing of JRR Tolkien, a practicing Catholic.

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Business disputes at TSR

The game's commercial success led to lawsuits initiated in 1979 regarding distribution of royalties among Arneson and Gygax. Specifically at issue were the royalites for AD&D, a product for which TSR did not acknowledge Arneson's intellectual property claims. Those suits were settled out of court by 1981.

Gygax himself became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR and disputes related to the company’s deteriorating financial situation in the early 1980s. The disagreements culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.

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Licensing and trademark violations

Early in the game's history, TSR summarily revoked the license to create AD&D-compatible items it had previously granted to the publishing company Judges Guild. TSR's action was a primary cause of the smaller publisher's decision to cease operations in the early 1980s.

Grimoire Games, which published David A. Hargrave's multi-volume Arduin series, had no such license. When presented with a cease and desist order regarding the use of TSR's trademarks, Grimoire was forced to rely on white-out and typing correction tape to mask its use of AD&D references in subsequent printings of the Arduin series.

TSR itself ran afoul of intellectual property law with respect to the Cthulhu Mythos and Melnibonéan Mythos it had included in early versions of the Deities & Demigods manual. These problems were ultimately resolved by excising the material from later editions of the book. Similarly, references in early TSR publications to certain creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical Middle-earth were also removed or altered due to intellectual property concerns. For example, TSR replaced all references to the race of Hobbits in D&D with their alternate (but non-infringing) name, Halflings.

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Powergaming

A point of controversy within the gaming comunity is so-called "powergaming." This term describes the style of gaming in which players design their game characters with the intent to exploit loopholes or other anomalies in the rules system. A player may be able to min-max a character with skills and capabilities greater than would normally be expected, providing that player with a potentially significant advantage in the game.

Strictly speaking, powergaming may not qualify as "cheating" because it does not actually violate the game's rules. Some D&D players nevertheless view it as dishonest or unfair and actively discourage the practice. Opponents also object to powergaming because it encourages "metagame thinking." Specifically, they argue, placing such an undue focus on exploitation of the rules inhibits the player's ability to suspend their disbelief, role-play their characters and simply enjoy the game.

Proponents of powergaming see the practice as simply a way to use the rules to the player's tactical advantage, and therefore a legitimate approach to the game. Some powergamers also derive enjoyment from the careful planning and tactical execution necessary to develop perfectly optimized characters within the rules system.

The issue of powergaming is not unique to Dungeons & Dragons, but rather a generic concern common to many role-playing games. Powergamers are commonly derided as "munchkins" or "roll-players" more interested in rolling dice than role-playing.

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See also

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References

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External links

Community sites

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