You may have already heard it mentioned in movies and TV shows or through your friends but what is Dungeons and Dragons and why is it so popular to so many people? From college students to healthcare professionals, people have played Dungeons and Dragons for countless hours, and they seem to always come back for more.
What makes Dungeons and Dragons so addictive and fun that people keep talking about it? Dungeons and Dragons or DnD is a tabletop role-playing game played by a group of friends. They go on certain quests and adventures set inside an imaginative and fantastical world the game is built upon.
But, how does a role-playing game become a widely successful tabletop game and amass millions of fans worldwide? Learn more about what is Dungeons and Dragons and how it became one of the best role-playing game ever.
What is Dungeons and Dragons?
Dungeons and Dragons is a role-playing game that is played amongst a group of people called a party. The party consists of players that create their characters. Each person would choose their character.
The group would have to assign a Dungeon Master where he narrates the entire game and controls the narrative for the most part. The Dungeon Master or DM provides the goals of the game as well as the rewards. The DM maps out the entire storyline and creates fun and exciting challenges for the party.
History of Dungeons and Dragons
It is thought that the game is heavily influenced by the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series with its comparison to elves, dwarves, orcs, and even the undead. Other influences of the game include H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and even Lewis Carroll.
DnD became the first-ever tabletop roleplaying game that received commercial success. Role-playing is one of the core aspects of the game which has only strengthened its charms since its inception around the 1970s. Throughout the game's colorful history, DnD has experienced a lot of changes.
One of which was the introduction of the two-pronged strategy in the late 70s. The Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set introduced new players to the world of DnD and made the game more accessible to the general public. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons catered to the hardcore fans of the genre and provided in-depth gameplay and rules to the game.
This strategy continued into the late 90s during the acquisition of the game by Wizards of the Coast. By that time, a third edition of the game was released which streamlined it into a singular more unified game.
Achievements
Throughout its history, Dungeons and Dragons have won many awards including All-Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977, Best Roleplaying Game of 2000, and many more. The game has been inducted to the Origins Hall of Fame Games.
Games magazine also placed Dungeons and Dragons as one of their top 100 lists for three years in a row starting in 1980. In 2016, the game was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame a year after.
The Legacy of Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons were the first of its kind. People have played it in gaming conventions since it was released. Within months, writers and publishers have released countless campaigns and stories about the game.
It also inspired a lot of other tabletop role-playing games such as Traveller, RuneQuest, and many more. The game heavily shaped and influenced the fantasy genre that we enjoy up to this day.
Conclusion
The way the game is played brings people together. Dungeons and Dragons is not just a commercial RPG. It is a community-driven game where players learn to empathize and understand each other's situation, meet new friends, and create a fantastical world to go on adventures together. This is what makes DnD the best RPG game of all time.
