Dungeons and Dragons. The most venerable and prolific of fantasy RPGs, known by all gamers and even most non-gamers. Now in it's 4th edition, D&D has had a long and varied career with ups and downs, some great material (and some not so great), and a varying image in the public eye. Accused of corrupting youth, being an escape, being a psychological tool, and any number of other things. There are plenty of websites discussing D&D and detailing it, so here we will just touch on the basics, and provide a map through the different incarnations of this grandfather of games.Current Edition
Dungeons and Dragons is currently in it's 4th Edition as numbered editions goes, but is in it's 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th incarnation (depending on the criteria). The current edition was released in June of 2008, and has been generally well received by the role playing community. The current release tends to favor action more akin to online MMORPGs than the previous editions, which is considered both a boon and an anchor, depending on which side of the fence is asked.
Release History
- Chainmail (Predecessor game)
- D&D (1974)
- D&D Basic Set (1977)
- AD&D (1977)
- D&D Basic Set 2nd Revision (1981)
- D&D Basic Set 3rd Revision (1983)
- AD&D 2nd Edition (1989)
- D&D Rules Cyclopedia (1991)
- D&D 3rd Edition (2000)
- D&D 3.5 (2003)
- D&D 4th Edition (2008)
D&D
Chainmail
The predecessor to D&D was a wargame for medieval type miniatures known as Chainmail. Written by Jeff Perren and Gary Gygax, the rulebook was published by Guidon in 1971 and contained a fantasy supplement that was the basis for the D&D game.
Resources
Chainmail game at Wikipedia
Chainmail at RPGNet
D&D "OD&D" (1974)
Published as a set in 1974, the original D&D game consisted of 3 booklets.
No comments:
Post a Comment