History of Dnd

[Dungeon Master]

The original Dungeons & Dragons setDungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between the different editions.


Dungeons & Dragons
The original Dungeons & Dragons was published as a boxed set in 1974 and featured only a handful of the elements for which the game is known today: just three character classes (fighting-man, magic-user and cleric); four races (human, dwarf, elf, hobbit); only a few monsters; only three alignments (lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The rules assumed that players owned and played the miniatures wargame Chainmail and used its measurement and combat systems. An optional combat system was included within the rules that later developed into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. In addition, the rules presumed ownership of Outdoor Survival, an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration and adventure (an unusual requirement, since Tactical Studies Rules was never in any way affiliated with rival Avalon Hill until two and a half decades later, when Wizards of the Coast - the purchaser of TSR's assets and trademarks - merged with Hasbro, which then owned Avalon Hill). D&D was a radically new gaming concept at the time, but the rules provided no overview of the game so it was difficult, without prior knowledge of tabletop wargaming, to see how it was all supposed to work. The release of a "Basic" rulebook in 1977, removed the game's dependency on the Chainmail rules, and made it much easier for new, non-wargaming players to grasp the concepts of play. Ironically, the ambiguities and obscurities of the original rules helped D&D's success as individual groups had to develop their own rulings and ways of playing and thus gained a sense of ownership of the game.

Supplements such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes (the last a predecessor of Deities and Demigods), published over the next two years, greatly expanded the rules, character classes, monsters and spells. For example, the original Greyhawk supplement introduced the thief class, and weapon damage varying by weapon (as opposed to character class). In addition, many changes were "officially" adopted into the game and published in the magazines The Strategic Review and its successor Dragon Magazine.

During this era, there were also a number of unofficial supplements published, arguably in violation of TSR's copyright, which many players used alongside the TSR books. The most popular of these were the Arduin series. For the most part, TSR ignored these unofficial supplements, although a few of the innovations from the Arduin series eventually made their way into mainstream D&D play, including critical hits, and the two-dimensional alignment system (pre-Arduin D&D had only a law/chaos axis, not a good/evil axis).


Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide (1979)An updated version of D&D was released as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (often abbreviated to AD&D). This was published as a set of three rulebooks, compiled by Gary Gygax, between 1977 and 1979, with additional supplemental volumes coming out over the next ten years. The AD&D rules were much better organized than the original D&D, and also incorporated so many extensions, additions, and revisions of the original rules as to make a new game. The term Advanced does not imply a higher level of skill required to play, nor exactly a higher level of or better gameplay; only the rules themselves are a new and advanced game. In a sense this version name split off to be viewed separately from the basic version below. The three core rulebooks were the Monster Manual (1977), the Players Handbook (1978), and the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979); later supplements included Deities and Demigods, the Fiend Folio (another book of monsters produced semi-autonomously in England), the Monster Manual II, and the Unearthed Arcana (which took most of its additional playing information from The Dragon magazine). This was followed by a fairly constant addition of more specific setting works and optional rule supplements.


Dungeons & Dragons, or the Basic Set and its sequels
While AD&D was still in the works, TSR hired an outside writer, John Eric Holmes, to produce an introductory version of D&D. Sold with dice and a module as the Basic Set, the first edition of Basic D&D, published in 1977, collected together and organized the rules from the original D&D boxed set and Greyhawk supplement into a single booklet, which covered only character levels 1-3. The booklet featured a blue cover with artwork by David C. Sutherland III. The "blue booklet" did away with the original's dependency on the Chainmail rules, and explained the game's concepts and method of play in terms that made it accessible to new players not familiar with tabletop miniatures wargaming. The original Basic Set was notable in that it was intended as a bridge between the original D&D and the AD&D rules rather than a simple introductory version of the game. Unusual features of the original basic game included an alignment system of five alignments as opposed to the 3 or 9 alignments of the other versions. This Basic Set was very popular and allowed many folks to discover and experience the D&D game for the first time. Although this Basic Set was not compatible with AD&D, players were expected to continue play beyond third level by moving to the AD&D version[1]; evidently the radical changes AD&D would make to the rules were not yet appreciated when the original Basic Set was produced.

Once AD&D had been released, the Basic Set saw a major revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay, which was immediately followed by the release of an Expert Set (supporting levels 4 through 14) to accompany the Basic Set. With this revision, the Basic rules became their own game, distinct both from original D&D and from AD&D. The revised Basic rules can be distinguished from the original ones by cover colors: the Basic booklet had a magenta cover, and the Expert booklet a cyan one.

Between 1983 and 1985 this system was revised and expanded by Frank Mentzer as a series of five boxed sets, including the Basic Rules (red cover), Expert Rules (blue), Companion Rules (green, supporting levels 15 through 25), Master Rules (black, supporting levels 26 through 36), and Immortal Rules (gold, supporting levels beyond 36).

This version was compiled and slightly revised in 1991 as the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, a hardback book which included all the sets except Immortal Rules which was also revised and renamed Wrath of the Immortals. While the Cyclopedia included all information required to begin the game there were also several editions of an introductory boxed set, including the Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991), the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994) and the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (1999).

Though often seen as simpler than Advanced Dungeon & Dragons, with the collection of all five boxed sets Dungeons & Dragons players had access to rules for everything from interdimensional and interstellar travel to the cost of hiring an animal trainer, including areas such as domain rulership which AD&D did not cover.

It is widely suspected in some circles that the Basic set was originally created for legal reasons, to give backing to the claim that Dave Arneson was not entitled to credit or royalty rights for the AD&D game. (See the Controversy and Notoriety section in the main article.)


Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition

The AD&D 2nd Edition Player's HandbookIn 1989, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition was published. By the end of its first decade, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had expanded to several rulebooks, including three monster manuals, and two books governing character skills in wilderness and underground settings. Initially, the second edition would consolidate the game, with three essential books to govern Dungeon Masters and players alike. Periodically, TSR published optional rulebooks for character classes and races to enhance game play.

Overall, the combat system was changed to a mathematical formula, known as THAC0, with actions based around real-life distances (feet) rather than miniatures-board distances (inches). Demi-human races were given higher level maximums to increase their long-term playability, though they were still restricted in terms of character class flexibility. Critical hits were created as optional rules. Moreover, the game editors made an effort to remove some objectionable aspects of the game, which had begun to attract some negative publicity, due (in part) to a company policy that tried to pander to people that didn't play Dungeons & Dragons. Shedding the moral ambiguity of First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the TSR staff eliminated character classes like the murderous assassin, while stressing the importance of heroic roleplaying and player teamwork. For the first few years, Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons managed to be very popular despite the number and diverse styles of games it now competed with.

The game was once again published as three core rulebooks, incorporating the expansions and revisions which had been published in various supplements over the previous decade. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder which was later replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993.

The concept behind the loose-leaf binder was it would allow updating the book. Originally this was considered for all the core manuals, based on the concept that had been used by Avalon Hill for Advanced Squad Leader. While eventually adopted only for the Monstrous Manual, it was replaced because of the issues of wear and difficulties in keeping alphabetic order when many pages had been printed with more than one monster. Besides the formatting, the major change in the contents of the Monstrous Compendium was greatly increasing the power of dragons. This was done to counter the perception of the relative weakness of the games "name" monster.

The release of AD&D2 also corresponded with a policy change at TSR. An effort was made to remove aspects of the game which had attracted negative publicity. Half-orcs were no longer presented as a player character race in the core rulebooks, heroic roleplaying and player teamwork were stressed, demons and devils were renamed tanar'ri and baatezu (respectively, and only after they were eliminated from the game entirely and were "restored" by the outcry of outraged fans), and the product artwork became less racy. The target age of the game was also lowered, with most 2nd edition products being aimed primarily at teenagers. The Second Edition art and marketing were also modified to appeal more to female players.


1995 revision of the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master GuideCritics of TSR have suggested that the second edition was produced mainly to have a set of core rulebooks to sell which did not list Gary Gygax as the primary author, and thus deprive Gygax of royalties; certainly, few major changes to the rules were made, aside from the addition of nonweapon proficiencies (which were introduced in various 1st Edition supplements) and the division of magic spells by group into Schools (for mages) and Spheres (for clerics) of magic.

In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as "optional core rulebooks". Although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition, this revision is seen by some fans as a distinct edition of the game and is sometimes referred to as AD&D 2.5.

After this auspicious start, the new owners of TSR (Gygax and Arneson had left earlier) angered some fans with several practices intended to make up for declining sales. These practices included raising prices, high split pricing of individual game products, and relentlessly pursuing copyright infringement lawsuits. They also repeated the practice of publishing many sourcebooks and handbooks, making it cumbersome to keep up with rule changes. Fantasy had begun its decline in popularity during the late 1980s, replaced by science fiction and horror themes. Furthermore, collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering offered a simpler means of fantasy gaming. Coupled with the rise in popularity of White Wolf, Inc.'s Storyteller System games (primarily Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse), this led to a gradual decline in popularity into the 1990s. In 1997 , TSR considered filing for bankruptcy but was purchased by former competitor Wizards of the Coast, the creators of Magic: The Gathering.


Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition
In 2000 , a major revision of the AD&D rules was released, called only Dungeons & Dragons, but popularly referred to as 3rd edition (or 3E for short). It is the basis of a broader role-playing system designed around 20-sided dice, called the d20 system. The rules are somewhat less restrictive than the second edition and allow players more flexibility and choice in the character that they want to play. The edition removed previous editions' restrictions on class and race combinations that were supposed to track the preferences of the race, and on the level advancement of non-human characters. Level advancement for all characters was greatly eased, allowing players to reasonably expect to reach high level in about one year of weekly play. Skills and the new system of feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage players to further customize their characters. Critics have suggested that these changes were motivated by a desire to increase sales to 'munchkin' players who tend to be young with disposable incomes. [citation needed]

The d20 system uses a more unified mechanic for action resolution, although some complain that D&D has been a late adopter when it comes to a "unified play mechanic". The 3rd Ed. rules also adopted most of the movement and combat system of the 2nd Ed. "Players Option: Combat and Tactics" book, though some feel that adding rules regarding "attacks of opportunity" and standardizing all movement onto a square grid made the game too complex. Magic-using classes were split from "Wizards" to Wizards, Sorcerers, and in later books such as the Complete Arcane to further classes such as Warmage. "Thieves" were renamed Rogues, a term that Second Edition had used to classify both the Thief and Bard classes. Third Edition also presented the concept of the Prestige Classes which characters can only enter at higher character levels upon meeting certain character-design prerequisites or fulfilling certain in-game goals, previously setting specific, such as the three Knights of Solamnia classes introduced in the 1st Ed. "Dragonlance Adventures" hardback book and continued in the 2nd Ed. "Tales of the Lance" Boxed Set.[citation needed] Expansions for the game added to the optional ruleset, including super high-level campaigns with the "Epic Level" campaign options, and psionics.

The introduction of the d20 system made it possible for authors to write new games and game supplements without the need to develop a unique rules system and, more importantly, without the need for approval from Wizards of the Coast. The d20 system is an open source version of the D&D core rules that was made available under the Open Gaming License. This makes it easier to market D&D-compatible content under a broadly recognizable commercial license. Many other companies have produced content for the d20 system, such as White Wolf, Inc. (under the Sword & Sorcery Studios label), Alderac Entertainment Group, and Malhavoc Press.


Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition

Monster Manual, 3.5 editionIn July 2003, a revised version of the 3rd edition D&D rules (termed version 3.5) was released that incorporated numerous rule changes, as well as expanding the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.

While the majority of players have shifted to 3.5 from 3.0 there was some frustration expressed with the way that Wizards of the Coast released the edition; many 3rd party publishers (publishing under the OGL or the d20 license) were caught unaware by the change and had large unsold inventories of 3.0 books.

The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons have won many Origins Awards, including All Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977, Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989 and Best Roleplaying Game of 2000 for the three flagship editions of the game.


Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition

4dventureOn August 15, 2007 Wizards of the Coast had created a count down page for a product called 4dventure, suspending all other Dungeons & Dragons articles on their site in place of the countdown. IVC2 announced on August 16, 2007 that this was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. The article stated that core books will be released in monthly installments, same as third edition: In May, 2008 the Player's Handbook will be released, in June the Dungeon's Master's Guide, and in July the Monster Manual.