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Turns and Turn Order Are the Worst, so Why Do Roleplaying Games Make Us Spend...
What rates as the most exciting phrase spoken in a Dungeons & Dragons game? “Roll for initiative.” What rates as the most unwelcome task? After those three words, the minutes of bookkeeping...
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For Years AD&D Rounds Lasted Six Times Longer Than D&D Rounds and Only Gary...
When gamers imagine an attack in a game like Dungeons & Dragons, they picture a wind up and sword swing, perhaps one second of motion. So two combatants only need a few seconds to trade blows, even...
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25 Years Ago I Posted My Wish List For D&D. How’s it Going?
At Gen Con in 1999 Wizards of the Coast revealed plans for a third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, scheduled for release in 2000. The upcoming release would preserve the “essential look and feel” of...
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Daggerheart vs. the MCDM RPG vs. D&D: A Playtest Comparison
If games to suit every play style and new games bringing fresh ideas makes a golden age, then the best time for gamers is now. In the past weeks, I’ve played preview releases of two upcoming games: the...
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5 Roleplaying Products That Shaped How I Play Dungeons & Dragons 1978-2000
Tomb of Horrors (1978) In the early days, I enjoyed plenty of time to create my own adventures, so I had little interest in playing the published ones. But I still drew inspiration from them. Nothing...
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5 Roleplaying Products That Shaped How I Play Dungeons & Dragons 1977–1978
Holmes Basic Set (1977) The blue box of the 1977 Holmes Basic Set introduced me to D&D. To 99% of Dungeons & Dragons players, the edition that introduced them to the game stands as their most...
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4 Ways D&D’s Creators Tried and Failed to Balance Classes
The classes in today’s Dungeons & Dragons game are balanced to make sure that when players leave a session, everyone feels like their character contributed to the party’s success. No player should...
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Dungeons as a Mythic, Living Evil
In 1974, dungeons tried to kill you. More than just the creatures inside, the walls and stone wanted to murder you. Dungeons changed when you looked away. Page 8 of the original, brown book, The...
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Meet the Woman Who by 1976 Was the Most Important Gamer in Roleplaying After...
In 1976, after Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, the most important person in roleplaying games was a Los Angeles woman named Lee Gold. She still contributes to the hobby and still runs a...
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How D&D Got an Initiative System Rooted in California House Rules
Some groups playing first-edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons might have run initiative by the book, but with the incomprehensible rules text, no one knew for sure. Besides, the full rules proved...
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The Arduin Grimoire: The “Coolest RPG Book Ever,” also the Book Gygax Mocked...
When creators dream up imaginary worlds, they can go in two directions. They can build their world from a curated set of ideas, and then fit these pieces together into a logical and consistent manner....
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5 Ways Magic the Gathering Changed the Rules of D&D
Magic the Gathering designer Richard Garfield rates Dungeons & Dragons as the most innovative game of all time. Nonetheless, in any ranking of influential games, Magic’s revolutionary design...
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XP Started as One of D&D’s Breakthrough Ideas. Now the Designers Don’t See...
When Dave Arneson ran a session of his Blackmoor dungeon for his Dungeons & Dragons co-creator, Gary Gygax’s biggest impression came from two innovations: (1) the dungeon expedition and (2) how...
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Hitting the to-hit sweet spot
(This post continues a discussion I started in “What does D&D have to do with ironclad ships?”) Through the evolution of Dungeons & Dragons, the game uses two mechanics to determine an attack’s...
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5 role-playing products that shaped how I play Dungeons & Dragons 1978-2000
Tomb of Horrors (1978) In the early days, I enjoyed plenty of time to create my own adventures, so I had little interest in playing the published ones. But I still drew inspiration from them. Nothing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 role-playing products that shaped how I play Dungeons & Dragons 1977-1978
Holmes Basic Set (1977) The blue box of the 1977 Holmes Basic Set introduced me to D&D. To ninty-nine percent of Dungeons & Dragons players, the edition that introduced them to the game stands...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The dungeon comes alive in the mythic underworld
In 1974, dungeons tried to kill you. More than just the creatures inside, the walls and stone wanted your life. Dungeons changed when you looked away. (See page 8 of the original, brown book, The...
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Once subversive, the Arduin Grimoire’s influence reaches today’s games
When creators dream up imaginary worlds, they can go in two directions. They can build their world from a curated set of ideas, and then fit these pieces together into a logical and consistent manner....
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