|
The premiere fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) first hit the market in 1974. Based on the idea of tactical miniature war games, the idea for this game was to take the thrill that one finds in those war games and place it in an entirely new setting that allows players to experience a mystical alternate world. In this world, players adopt a character persona, who they encounter everything in the alternate world as.
They are able to use skills and powers unique to that alternate character and, in turn, players often become quite adept at using that character to its fullest potential. The concept of the alternate world that players can fully enter and experience caught on well with the public and it wasn't long before this game began to dominate the role-playing industry. Other role-playing games have since been released, but from 1974 up through today, it is still the most popular game of all.
In 1977, the game was split into two separate categories. The regular version continued to exist, but the game's designers also released an advanced version of the game. The advanced edition took things much farther than the original game. While the original version only gave three character classes, four races, and a handful of monsters, the advanced guide took things well above and beyond this meager offering. This guide, however, did not indicate that anyone playing it had to be a master at the original game, it simply implied that the game
's designers put much more thought and effort into this version.
The advanced edition of the game featured three separate rule books compared to the one simple one that the original offered. One of these rule books was designated for the specific monsters that players would encounter, while another rule book was made for the players themselves, helping them understand all the abilities, limitations, and skills of each of their character types and classes.
The third rule book was created for the Dungeon Master, giving them guidelines which would not only help them to craft the specifics of the world that the players would find their characters in, but the guide would help the Dungeon Master keep everything straight. Every aspect of the DnD game is very detailed and it would be rather easy to get something confused, leaving both the Dungeon Master and all of the players in a muddle.
Both the traditional and the more popular advanced edition of the game continued to sell side-by-side until the year 2000, when the game publishers decided to simply do away with the traditional edition of the game and make the advanced edition the only one available. They removed the "Advanced" name from the title and thus, this expanded edition is the only game available which is named "Dungeons and Dragons." With such attention to detail and care given to the design of the game, it is no wonder that this game continues to be the leading role-playing game of the world.
|
Rate This Article
Add Comments
Send To Friends
Print 
Download as PDF