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History of DnD
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What is
role playing. Role playing is when you act as something
or someone you are not. The term roleplaying used to be
reserved for the psycology textbooks. Now roleplaying
means to put yourself into the shoes of an imaginary
character and try to think act like that character. This
doesn't mean to stand up and give a speech as if your
character was. it means to act and think in your
imagination. You think of the action you are doing. you
do not act it out.There is one game that defines
roleplaying the most. It is called Dungeons
and Dragons.
Some times reality can be a bit too much to take from bullies, school, and work to just pure boredom.
Dungeons and Dragons introduced the people to an answer that would help them escape reality for an hour or two a week.
Even the shy and the most awkward could become the fearless fighter, cunning thiefor a powerful magic-user in the world of DnD where elves, basilisks, giants, and even dragons still roam the land.
DnD gave meaning to role playing. For DnD role playing means ypu create a unique fictional character that lives in your imagination and in the imaginations of your friends.
DnD started from a strategic war game the military used. It started in Prussia. The military used a map and metal miniture pieces to recreate military conflicts. It was also used as a training aid for Prussia officers.
Wargaming slowly became popular not as a tool for the military but as an underground hobby for fans in all corners of the world. This led to the formation of the IFW(International Federation of Wargaming). Here many groups formed based on different historical periods.
Gygax was mostly interested in medieval battles. He founded his own group called Castle and Crusade Society. Here one piece on the map or board represented 20 men. Then they represented one person. Then a set of rules were published called Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association Medieval Military Minitures Rules.
These rules were quickly embraced. Later more rules were added and fantasy rules were added. These rules took wargaming out of the realm of histoy. Archers and pikemen gave way to orcs and elves, heroes and wizards, faeries and dragons. In 1971 the rules were republished and called
Chainmail: Rules of Medieval Minitures.Chainmail was about commanding troops. It still was a wargame but with a twist of fantasy.
Dave Arneson wasthe founder of the wargaming group~ the Midwest Military Simulation Association~ at the University of Minnesota. He was also a member of the IFW.Dave didn't know Gygax until they met at the 1970 Gen Con. Gen Con, Short for Geneva Convention, started as a small weekend gaming event organized by Gygax and other wargamers from the Geneva Lake area.
Arneson created a scenario using the 1:1 variant of the Chainmail rules to shift in focus from past wargaming to heroic adventuring rather than military conquest. After this, the games became less about commanding armies and more about enacting the role of a single character on heroic quests.
Allowing characters to develop and grow in power made players be more attached to the game and their characters. This affected how Chainmail was ran. In Chainmail you were either alive or dead. No one like the idea of a sudden death system. Arneson changed that to having armor class, hit points, and hit dice system.
All this lead to Gygax and Arneson comparing and joining notes. This lead to the creation of The Fantasy Game. Not only did they this based on their notes, but they had Dave Megarry, who created Dungeon and Rob Kuntz who created Greyhawk, had also helped.
There was only one problem. No one wanted to publish The Fantasy Game. In 1973 they determined if they want to publish it that the were calling it Dungeons and Dragons and they had to publish it themselves. The name was suggested by Gygax's wife.
TSR(Tactical Studies Rules), a company formed by Gygax, published DnD in 1974. The game came in a box and consisted of three rulebooks. Dice didn't come with the game until 1981. The idea of the dice came from a school supply catelog. Compared to later versions of DnD, the original version rules were rudimentary, open-ended, and more than a little confusing.
In January 1975, a Employee that shared partnership for TSR, Inc died. His wife inherited his share of the company. They later shut down TSR, Inc. and bought the share of the company she owned. It was later reopened as TSR Hobbies, Inc.
In the same year, Gygax and Arneson had complications between each other.
Arneson ended up leaving the company. They were fighting about who should have the credit of the game. The original version credited both of them as co-creators. Others after his departure did not mention him. TSR also refused to pay royalties to Arneson. He ended up taking the company to court. The matters were settled 2 years later. Details were agreed not to be discussed about as part of the settlement.
While Arneson was gone, Gygax worked on an advanced version of DnD. He called it Advance Dungeons and Dragons.
In 1977, Monster Manual was release as the first hardcover rulebook followed by Player's Handbookin 1978 and then Dugeon Master's Guide in 1979.
Now there is two magazines called Dungeon and Dragon, many books and versions of the game. The latest version is 3.5.