The History of Dungeons & Dragons

The phenomena of Dungeons & Dragons is an interesting one, to say the least. It’s something that most people are familiar with on a superficial level, particularly in the Americas and general Western world. But if you get to asking people about the details of the game itself, they can’t detail past the idea of rolling dice in a basement and pretending that you’re slaying dragons and saving princesses. Most people seem to not really know that D&D is to tabletop roleplaying as Lord of the Rings is to the modern fantasy novel, in that it is not quite the first, but it certainly was the first of its kind. The first edition of D&D was released in 1974, primarily developed by Gary Gygax, widely considered the father of tabletop gaming. Gygax was a developer of some of the original Tabletop Wargames. Wargaming bears a strong resemblance to Roleplaying, both employing the use of dice, miniature figures, and even terrain. D&D was a huge step forward in engaging the player, letting them possess a single character, instead of an entire warring faction. This truly changed the genre of Tabletop from a literal game of dice, and strategy and added in the aspect of Roleplaying, truly creating the genre of Tabletop Roleplaying.[1]

D&D’s classic setting system is still based loosely off of J.R.R. Tolkien’s own works, often coining the term, “Tolkienesque Fantasy.” With stories of elves and dwarves, rogues and mages largely based off of the Tolkienesque concept, it allowed for an interactive fantasy novel that anybody could participate in with a book and a set of dice. As it is with most things that are the first of its kind, D&D has ruled the roleplaying world, and to this very day it is still the go-to system for most. There isn’t a single system out there that can’t attribute part of its inspiration to it. The game mechanics today are based off the idea of the d20 system, using a twenty-sided die for most of your rolls in the game. Also employing other varieties of multi-sided dice, from the strange d4 all the way up to 100-sided die to determine unique factors and actions of characters and the worlds they interact with. D&D didn’t take too long to change, releasing the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons manual in 1978 and Second Edition Dungeons & Dragons in 1989. Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons followed up in 2000, introducing the d20 system, which was the biggest, and most widely accepted, revision to the game mechanics. This was when the original development company TSR, Tactical Studies Rule, was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, who had been famous for the card game Magic the Gathering. This change in publishing marked the point when the tabletop gaming world would truly begin to split and diversify. 2003 marked Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition, bearing similarity to 3rd edition, but mechanics within the game had been changed.[2]
At this point, many gamers within the D&D world, and those who had begun to explore games
that had branched off into different settings and systems, began to have what many would refer to as, “Edition Wars.”

The biggest schism within the roleplaying community can be again seen with D&D’s development into the modern era. 2007 brought about Dungeons & Dragon’s Fourth Edition [3], the current edition of D&D. Many long time players had grown attached to the 3rd and 3.5 Edition of D&D, with 4th edition introducing vast game-changing mechanics, many claimed it to be an entirely new game, sparking a feud between New and Old. Many gamers refused to play the fourth edition, or were vastly disappointed by it. [4] One of the most prevalent complaints was that it felt too much like a video game, criticizing that it was trying to emulate games like World of Warcraft or The Elder Scrolls, losing a lot of interest and flavor of playing outside of a computer. Similar to how many video games have been criticized, many proclaimed that it was too simplistic in their attempt to make it accessible. Truly, anybody could play it, but experienced D&D players had varying interest in it, many receiving it as just a way to pandering for a larger demographic. With a market hole left by WotC, Paizo Publishing stepped up to bat to replace the void that was classic D&D style game style. 2008 brought the world The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, which bore a remarkable resemblance to 3.5 edition of D&D, but with further updated rules and mechanics. [5] It instantly clicked with the community, heavily dividing fans between Fourth Edition, Pathfinder, and older editions of D&D. The past four years have been a struggle between those systems, with Pathfinder managing to rival D&D’s long time standing
as top dog of the roleplaying world.

Early January 2012 brought about a hope, or perhaps yet another contender for the fight.
WotC announced plans for development of the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. This time
citing that they would focus more on player input and play-testing in order to make a system that
would appeal to all sorts of players. [6] Many gamers have been interested, and wary, of the
upcoming Fifth Edition, planned to come out sometime late 2012. Leaked play-testing has had
mixed results among interested parties of the niche hobby, but so far development had managed
to stay relatively under wraps. The future of D&D may very well be a combination of past
editions, streamlined for the common person, but developed for experienced players. Or perhaps
yet another new approach to tabletop roleplaying. Until Fifth Edition is released, only time can
tell.


[1]“The History of TSR,” Wizards of the Coast, 2003, Accessed February 19th 2012, http://
www.wizards.com/dnd/dndarchives_history.asp#HISTORY.

[2]“Dungeons & Dragons,” Wikipedia, Accessed February 19th 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Dungeons_%26_Dragons.
[3]Chris Perkins, Wizards of the Coast, D&D Introduction, Youtube Video, 6:12, September 22nd
2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76yhnu4Kwew.

[4] Justin Alexander, “Pathfinder vs. 4th Edition (Grrr...),”The Alexandrian (Blog),February 21st 2011, Accessed February 19th 2012, http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/2734/roleplayinggames/ pathfinder-vs-4th-edition-grrr.

[5]“Pathfinder Roleplaying Game,” Pathfinder Wiki, Accessed February 19th 2012,http://
www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Roleplaying_Game.
[6]Ethan Gilsdorf, “Players Roll the Dice for Dungeons & Dragons Remake,” The New York Times
Online, January 19th 2012, Accessed February 19th 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/
arts/video-games/dungeons-dragons-remake-uses-players-input.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.