Dungeons & Dragons is my biggest hobby next to gaming. It's no coincidence really seeing as Dungeons & Dragons is basically old school gaming. Gaming before there was gaming.
I want to spread the word on Dungeons & Dragons to the general public. I hope to do this over the course of several blog posts. Topics I intend to touch on include:
- What is Dungeons & Dragons?
- What do you need to play Dungeons & Dragons?
- How do you play Dungeons & Dragons?
- Why should you play Dungeons & Dragons?
I intend to make these posts here in the Dungeons & Dragons community and do some cross-posting in hope that it might get some traction.
From here on out I will use the term DnD as an abbrevation of Dungeons & Dragons.
My background
I've been playing DnD for close to eight years. I was first introduced to DnD somewhere around 2010 but it was not until 2013 I actually started playing. From then and until 2020 I played as a player. For about a year now I've been a Dungeon Master. I've been running consistent games for two different groups for about a year. You'll understand what that means a little later on.
Source: Dungeons & Dragons
What is Dungeons & Dragons?
The cool answer is that DnD can be anything you want it to be. The real answer is that it's a fantasy role-playing game. It's a role-playing game where you sit down with a group of friends and you tell a story together. Social and interactive storytelling at it's best. It's the worlds greatest role-playing game!
How this works is that some of you take on the role of players who feature as the main characters of the story. They are generally knows as player characters or PCs. A PC can be pretty much anything you want it to be but set inside a framework of rules. Some classics would be a Dwarf Barbarian, or an Elven Ranger. Each race and class comes with a predetermined skill set and features but you're free to choose your characters looks, personality and backstory.
The game is then played out in your minds through back and forth interaction between your fellow players and the Dungeon Master.
The game is governed by what is called the Dungeon Master or the DM. The DM functions as the narrator of the story and take on the role of the whole world, including the monsters and the people you meet. The DM decides what is hiding in the cave. The DM decide what you find inside the chest. The DM makes the world feel alive.
A general course of play could go like this:
DM: Two mangled horses block the road. You can't travel any further without removing them.
PC: I stop the cart and jump off. I want to investigate the horses. Do I see any wounds or signs of what could have killed them?
DM: In addition to deep cuts you see arrows sticking out of the horses sides. The arrows are crude and primitively made.
PC: Interesting. I start dragging the horses to the side to clear the way.
DM: As you start moving the horse an arrow flies towards you from the nearest bush.
PC: I cast fireball.
It's always fireball. This is a simple scenario but it should be enough to understand the gist of it. Moving on you might end up fighting gods or engaging in political intrigue. You might join the local thieves guild. You might trudge through the seven layers of hell to retrieve the soul of your dead cat. Maybe you just want to run a bar. The limit is in your own imagination.
Source: Arcane Eye
Why is Dungeons & Dragons?
DnD was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and was first published in 1974. There's a popular story floating around that Gary Gygax was spending so much time away from his family every night that his wife thought he was cheating. One night she decided to follow him and found him entering a basement. She burst in expecting to find him in the company of another woman. Instead he was standing around a map covered table playing with miniature figures alongside other grown men. Read more about this legend on Groovy History
Source: Boston
The evolution of Dungeons & Dragons
DnD was in a crude state at the time but it was still well received and widely popular. Since then it has been through several overhauls. Since the 1st edition from 1974 there has been eight officially released versions of the game. Right now we're sitting on the 5th edition.
Even though DnD is closing in on 40 years it's as popular as ever. It gained some real traction in 2017 and has been surpassing their best sales year ever since, according to Dicebreaker. Just in the year 2020 they released four new source books and the next upcoming release is scheduled for march 2021. It's turned into a billion dollar business.
There really is no time to start playing than now. DnD is in the wind like never before and all you need to start is some friends, or randoms on the internet even, and you're ready to go. You can choose to learn the rules before you start playing or you can learn them as you go. I've been playing for seven years and honestly even I don't know all the rules. In fact, as the DM I am the rules.
Source: Medium
I hope I may have ignited some spark of curiosity. There's still a lot to talk about so I will return with more posts on the subject.
If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments. If there's anything about DnD you might want me to write about feel free to tell me in the comments. I may not be an expert or know it all but I love this game so much that I'll gladly do the research.
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