Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated as D&D or DnD)[2] is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.[3][4][5] The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR).[5] It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, later a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system.[4][6] D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry,[5][7] and also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.[8][9][10]
This article is about the role-playing game. For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation).Designers
TSR (1974–1997), Wizards of the Coast (since 1997)
- 1974 (original)
- 1977 (Basic Set 1st ver.)[1]
- 1977 (Advanced D&D)
- 1981 (Basic Set 2nd ver.)
- 1983 (Basic Set 3rd ver.)
- 1989 (AD&D 2nd Edition)
- 1991 (Rules Cyclopedia)
- 2000 (3rd edition)
- 2003 (v3.5)
- 2008 (4th edition)
- 2014 (5th edition)
since 1974
Fantasy
Dungeons & Dragons
d20 System (3rd Edition)
Varies
Dice rolling
D&D departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for the game, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world, known as non-player characters (NPCs). The characters form a party and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve problems, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, player characters earn experience points (XP) to level up, and become increasingly powerful over a series of separate gaming sessions.[3][7][11] Players choose a class when they create their character, which gives them special perks and abilities every few levels.
The early success of D&D led to a proliferation of similar game systems. Despite the competition, D&D has remained the market leader in the role-playing game industry.[12][13] In 1977, the game was split into two branches: the relatively rules-light game system of basic Dungeons & Dragons, and the more structured, rules-heavy game system of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as AD&D).[14][15][16] AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, a new system was released as D&D 3rd edition, continuing the edition numbering from AD&D; a revised version 3.5 was released in June 2003. These 3rd edition rules formed the basis of the d20 System, which is available under the Open Game License (OGL) for use by other publishers. D&D 4th edition was released in June 2008.[17] The 5th edition of D&D, the most recent, was released during the second half of 2014.[13]
In 2004, D&D remained the best-known,[18] and best-selling,[19] role-playing game in the US, with an estimated 20 million people having played the game and more than US$1 billion in book and equipment sales worldwide.[3] The year 2017 had "the most number of players in its history—12 million to 15 million in North America alone".[20] D&D 5th edition sales "were up 41 percent in 2017 from the year before, and soared another 52 percent in 2018, the game's biggest sales year yet".[13] The game has been supplemented by many premade adventures, as well as commercial campaign settings suitable for use by regular gaming groups.[21] D&D is known beyond the game itself for other D&D-branded products, references in popular culture, and some of the controversies that have surrounded it, particularly a moral panic in the 1980s, which attempted to associate it with Satanism and suicide.[3][22][23] The game has won multiple awards and has been translated into many languages.
Development history[edit]
Sources and influences[edit]
An immediate predecessor of Dungeons & Dragons was a set of medieval miniature rules written by Jeff Perren. These were expanded by Gary Gygax, whose additions included a fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail. When Dave Wesely entered the Army in 1970, his friend and fellow Napoleonics wargamer Dave Arneson began a medieval variation of Wesely's Braunstein games, where players control individuals instead of armies.[70] Arneson used Chainmail to resolve combat.[6] As play progressed, Arneson added such innovations as character classes, experience points, level advancement, armor class, and others.[70] Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up the Ship!, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing "The Fantasy Game", the game that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax.[71][72][73] The name was chosen by Gygax's two-year-old daughter Cindy; upon being presented with a number of choices of possible names, she exclaimed, "Oh Daddy, I like Dungeons & Dragons best!", although less prevalent versions of the story gave credit to his then wife Mary Jo.[74]: 101
Many Dungeons & Dragons elements appear in hobbies of the mid-to-late 20th century. For example, character-based role-playing can be seen in improvisational theater.[75] Game-world simulations were well developed in wargaming. Fantasy milieux specifically designed for gaming could be seen in Glorantha's board games, among others.[76] Ultimately, however, Dungeons & Dragons represents a unique blending of these elements.
The world of D&D was influenced by world mythology, history, pulp fiction, and contemporary fantasy novels. The importance of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as an influence on D&D is controversial. The presence in the game of halflings, elves, half-elves, dwarves, orcs, rangers, and the like, as well as the convention of diverse adventurers forming a group,[77] draw comparisons to these works. The resemblance was even closer before the threat of copyright action from Tolkien Enterprises prompted the name changes of hobbit to 'halfling', ent to 'treant', and balrog to 'balor'. For many years, Gygax played down the influence of Tolkien on the development of the game.[78][79][80] However, in an interview in 2000, he acknowledged that Tolkien's work had a "strong impact" though he also said that the list of other influential authors was long.[81]
The D&D magic system, in which wizards memorize spells that are used up once cast and must be re-memorized the next day, was heavily influenced by the Dying Earth stories and novels of Jack Vance.[82] The original alignment system (which grouped all characters and creatures into 'Law', 'Neutrality' and 'Chaos') was derived from the novel Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson.[83][84] A troll described in this work influenced the D&D definition of that monster.[79]
Other influences include the works of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, Roger Zelazny, and Michael Moorcock.[85] Monsters, spells, and magic items used in the game have been inspired by hundreds of individual works such as A. E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer", Coeurl (the Displacer Beast), Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" (vorpal sword) and the Book of Genesis (the clerical spell 'Blade Barrier' was inspired by the "flaming sword which turned every way" at the gates of Eden).[83]
Legacy and influence[edit]
Dungeons & Dragons was the first modern role-playing game and it established many of the conventions that have dominated the genre.[240] Particularly notable are the use of dice as a game mechanic, character record sheets, use of numerical attributes, and gamemaster-centered group dynamics.[241] Within months of Dungeons & Dragons's release, new role-playing game writers and publishers began releasing their own role-playing games, with most of these being in the fantasy genre. Some of the earliest other role-playing games inspired by D&D include Tunnels & Trolls (1975),[242] Empire of the Petal Throne (1975), and Chivalry & Sorcery (1976).[243] The game's commercial success was a factor that led to lawsuits regarding the distribution of royalties between original creators Gygax and Arneson.[244][245] Gygax later became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR which culminated in a court battle and Gygax's decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.[246]
The role-playing movement initiated by D&D would lead to the release of the science fiction game Traveller (1977), the fantasy game RuneQuest (1978), and subsequent game systems such as Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu (1981), Champions (1982), GURPS (1986),[247] and Vampire: The Masquerade (1991).[76][248] Dungeons & Dragons and the games it influenced fed back into the genre's origin – miniatures wargames – with combat strategy games like Warhammer Fantasy Battles.[249] D&D also had a large impact on modern video games.[250]
Director Jon Favreau credits Dungeons & Dragons with giving him "... a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance."[251] ND Stevenson and the crew of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power were strongly influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, with Stevenson calling it basically a D&D campaign, with Adora, Glimmer, and Bow falling into "specific classes in D&D".[252]
Curtis D. Carbonell, in the 2019 book Dread Trident: Tabletop Role-Playing Games and the Modern Fantastic, wrote: "Negative association with earlier niche 'nerd' culture have reversed. 5e has become inclusive in its reach of players, after years of focusing on a white, male demographic. [...] At its simplest, the game system now encourages different types of persons to form a party not just to combat evil [...] but to engage in any number of adventure scenarios".[253]: 82–83 Academic Emma French, in Real Life in Real Time: Live Streaming Culture (2023), commented on the impact of actual play on the broader Dungeons & Dragons gaming culture – "actual play media circumvents D&D's insulated or exclusionary aspects, skewing away from 'basement dwelling nerds' in favor of a networked, global fandom. Live streaming is now a means of introducing individuals to the game, bringing it into the mainstream at a time when other geek pursuits have also achieved wider visibility and popularity".[254]: 213 French highlighted that in 2020 "no actual play live streams hosted by the official DnD channel featured an all-male cast—showing a massive shift from the brand ambassadors endorsed by Wizards of the Coast" previously.[254]: 209 French argued that not only has the more accessible and inclusive actual play landscape impacted the gaming culture but it has also impacted the Dungeons & Dragons product itself from the promotion campaign of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything featuring "diverse nerd celebrities" to "direct action taken against previous exclusionary behavior" as seen in Wizards of the Coast statements on diversity and Dungeons & Dragons.[254]: 213–214 French wrote, "as actual play live streams broaden the range of customers that D&D can market itself to, it may enact real, seismic change to the mainstream perception of geek identity, and contribute to a push for diverse representation within geek subculture as a whole".[254]: 214
