D&D

The role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons has been with us for many a decade now which means we pretty much take it for granted, but it's hard not to overstate its importance to geek culture. This writer takes a look back at where the game came from and how it survived to the present and what effect it had on our times.

The game has been demonized over the years as being a bad influence on kids, but those of us who played it and grew up to be relatively normal adults realize what a bunch of bull that it is. Too bad no one told that the courts in Wisconsin. They upheld a ruling that that state's prisons can forbid inmates from playing the game because it leads to "gang" activity. Excuse me while I roll my eyes.

The original creators of D&D are now dead and many of their contemporaries are starting to grow older and join them in the Grey Havens. Some are starting to think its important to start preserving their histories before they all die off. Even documentarians are making films about the hobby. And if you like to read fiction inspired by role-playing games that is not written as a marketing tie-in, there's a new anthology inspired by gamers.

I've never been big on MMORPGs like World of Warcraft et al. The subscription fees are an annoyance and the game are addictive. Frankly, I waste enough time and don't need another time suck, but am intrigued by this bit of news about the online Dungeons and Dragons game.

They have retooled the site to make it free to play. They make money by charging for extras which are totally optional and casual players can have just as much fun than the folks who pony up for the shiny swords.

Meanwhile, someone's gone and mocked up a version of D&D for the Microsoft Surface. It's cool looking and I would appreciate the computer taking care of the labourious math housekeeping that is central to the game, but you can keep the virtual dice. I want to throw a  set of real bones when I play.

D&D's owners, the Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, have also been in the news lately because they won a copyright lawsuit against a pair of hapless pirates who posted the latest Player's Handbook to scribd.com. Each was fined more than $100,000. Needless to say, the lawsuit doesn't erase the fact that digital copies of the book are easily available online. Maybe instead of suing people, they should sell digital copies of their own.

When Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax died last spring, there was an outpouring of grief among the internet's geekier denizens, but frequently buried in those stories was the fact that Gygax didn't create the game alone. He was the co-creator along with Dave Arneson. Sadly, Arneson has joined Gygax once again. The game designer died this week of cancer at the age of 61.

I paid homage to the early designers of D&D back in the era when I still played the game by naming places on my maps after the names listed in the credits in the various dungeonmaster and gamer's manuals that I used. It made for a bizarre taxonomy of place names, but while it might have lacked linguistic consistency, everyone got a kick out of recognizing one of those names as it came up during our gaming sessions.

D&D lives on in its 4th edition and continues to have a loyal following. There are plenty of websites catering to them. One that might interest you, if not just for the name, is Dungeon-a-Day. It was created by a former D&D designer and offers site members a daily dungeon encounter to work into their own campaigns.

The original Dungeons & Dragons is a masala of many fantasy settings, but the one it stole from the most heavily was J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth which is probably why this retelling of the story as a D&D adventure is highly amusing to anyone who's played the game.

D&D has come a long way from its humble origins. If you are curious to know what the original rulebook looks like, here's an online facsimile for you to peruse. I dare you to run a campaign with it!

The original game was more of a miniatures game than it is today, but there are still people who paint figurines of their characters and the creatures they encounter. Not only that, but there are still new games coming out that rely on miniatures. One that sounds like a blast is called War Rocket and it uses these ultra-cool figurines from Hydra Miniatures.

When it comes to science fiction role-playing games, I always had a soft spot for TSR Gamma World universe. That post-apocalyptic setting was perfect for those of us who grew up during the Cold War. There is a similar game available as a free download called Mutant Future that might interest you if you were also a fan of GW.

A similar-sounding game is Forgotten Futures, but it is actually a steampunk game. The creator of that game. The creator of the game recently auctioned off for charity the naming rights for four characters in an upcoming adventure based on the writing of Stanley G. Weinbaum.

Still, I wonder if all of those dice and paper are only for the old-timers. The kids of today are doing their role-playing online like on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I was sad to hear the news today that one of the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons game, Gary Gygax, has died at the age of 69. I loved D&D as a kid and have some great memories of that time. Even today, I enjoy a good gaming session and have Gygax to thank.

D&D still thrives, although I don't think it is the cultural phenomenon it once was. The fourth edition of the game is in the works and details about the latest incarnation have been leaking online.

The designers of the new edition have answered some questions from fans of the game over on Slashdot that make for interesting reading for anyone who still cares about D&D and role-playing games in general.

Gygax has also authored some fantasy novels, although I've never read any of them. When a writer dies I find myself curious about what I missed when he was alive. I guess I'll have to see if I can dig any of his books out of my collection. Any recommendations?