Dungeons and Dragons
From LibertyWiki
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Dungeons and Dragons is a massively known Role Playing Game created by Gary Gygax and is often abbreviated down to (D&D or DnD)
During the year 1997, Wizards of the Coast founded the company from it's previous owner. Wizards of the Coast then became a subsidary of Hasbro, creators of the game and anime series .hack.
As of 2002, 50% of all RPGs sold are branded Dungeons and Dragons. It is taken from a Norse standard which are similar to those of The Lord of the Rings.
[edit] Development
D&D created the first idea of having a dungeon master which entails a person creating a fictional world for the gamers where a band of heroes must fulfill a quest whatever it may be.
As the game progesses, these heroes must encounter monsters as simple as Goblins to their own best friend if he were to come under a spell, this will earn them treasure and experience that will draw them closer to their task, if this is not undertaken the game will be short-lived and the main heroes would not survive for long.
The original game allowed you to take on one character, either:
- A Fighter
- An Magic-User (later called Mage)
- A Cleric
And they would be able to choose either one of these races:
- Half-ling
- Dwarf
- Elf
As the game grew older, more racers and classes were invented allowing you to become human, a thief, asassin, a mix and many more. There are more than 100 possibilities today as who you play as.
D&D do not only focus on the realms of these legends. More genres are available such as Science Fiction, Horror, Cartoon, Epsionage etc which now dominate the Role-Playing world.
[edit] Version Rules
There are two main version of the Dungeons and Dragon rules, Basic Dungeons and Dragons and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons however many other rule sets have been released or created such as the Expert, Companion, Immortal and Gods rule sets allowing you to focus your adventure on these certain things.
The most expensive rule sets that you can buy are the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition set released back in 1989 changing the title of Magic-User to Mage (this is common in all D&D now) and making the combat system tougher enraging fans causing the previous owners to sell out to Wizards of the Coast
During the Millennium, the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition as released (3E) which introduced the common 20 sided dice (20d). Some previous ideas were removed and a Feat rule was introduced alowing all the players to customise their own characters with whatever Feats they want.
The less common Rogue was added to the third edition along side of the elementalist which proved to be very successful, having sides on a dice made everything easier to calculate and adventure creators could easily make their own rules without having to go into extra complications
Because of it's success, the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition won the title of Best Roleplaying game in 2000 by Origin
[edit] Playing Guide
The game (as mentioned above) is presented by a Games Master to the heroes (generally around 3 - 6 players) who creates the storyline before hand. This could be as simple as slaying a dragon or to infiltrate a trap ridden castle. The Dungeon Master will control all the events based around the heroes, from Non-Playable Characters (NPC) to the main actions that surround them.
Once the heroes have reached the point where they find out their goal, it will be given to them simply. E.G "You must find the treasure of Titus" and will bare no complexities. The heroes will then be given some possibilities such as "Steal the treasure from the townsman" however because it is an open game, the heroes are free to find their own way to get the treasure e.g. "Become friendly with the townsman and steal it at night!" or they could choose to become friends with the townsman and let him keep the gold. A game can last from anywhere between 3 hours to 3 years (spanning multiple sessions of course)
At the start of a game, each player (other than the DM) creates his or her character. The player chooses his character's gender, race (elf, dwarf, gnome, half-elf, human, halfling, half-orc, and many others), his class (paladin, cleric, druid, rogue, barbarian, bard, ranger, fighter, monk, wizard or sorcerer, and many others) and generates basic qualities (strength, dexterity, constitution, wisdom, intelligence, and charisma, referred to in the game as "ability scores").
Many actions that a character can perform are determined by a dice roll. These dice, coupled with the character's various skills, determine whether or not he succeeds at a particular action (e.g. hitting an opponent with a weapon or picking a lock), and/or how well he has done it (e.g. how severe an injury he inflicted). Most binary success/failure actions are determined with the roll of a twenty-sided die (d20): the player rolls the die and adds certain "modifiers" to the result; these modifiers are determined by, among other things, his skill in that type of action, the quality of his tools or whatever magical enchantments he is blessed or cursed with. If the sum is higher or equal than the given Difficulty Class value of the action (e.g. how tough the opponent's armor is, or how complex the lock is), then he has successfully performed the action. By carefully choosing what class to play, what skills to develop and what tools to carry, a player can significantly improve his chances of success in particular areas of expertise, cementing his role in the group. The system encourages a well-balanced group of specialised characters.
When a character defeats an enemy or accomplishes a difficult task, an appropriate number of experience points (xp) are awarded to him by the DM. When a character accumulates enough experience points, he is considered to have advanced to the next level of proficiency, and so his abilities increase. Some of these improvements are predetermined according to the class he has chosen (e.g. all fighters will see a significant improvement in their general weapon skills), while others can be chosen by the player, allowing a certain degree of customization (such as developing particular skill with a longbow). The modification of the player's character sheet due to a change in level are referred to as "levelling up".
