What is Dungeons and Dragons?

 

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop role playing game that was created by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson in 1974 that as of writing currently has five core rulebooks with Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition being the most recent (and also my favourite).

 

D&D from my point of view serves as a platform/sandbox where people can utilise their imagination to realistically do whatever they want with a group of friends, which in my eyes is the charm of the game. While as I will discuss further into the blog D&D’s core rulebooks provide guides on how to play groups can and often will bend the rules to fit the adventures that will be the most enjoyable for them. Whether that’s fighting dragons, exploring the high seas, saving the world, or all of the above. Now that I’ve hopefully drawn your attention lets move on to how to play. 

The game is played at its most basic level with dice, the players handbook, and your imagination as well as two types of players a dungeon master and adventurers. The dungeon master acts as a narrator and author of the world in which the adventurers explore controlling everything apart from the adventurers themselves. This is by far the more complex of the two roles but if you are interested in learning more regarding being a dungeon master (because at the end of the day all groups need one) Dummies have written a great article exploring in greater depth what the role entails. On the other hand the adventurers (the role I by far have the greater experience with) are a lot more beginner friendly with you just needing to know the basic rules and what your specific character can do both of which are discussed in depth in the players handbook. While I could spend all day discussing the intricacies of both the roles and really wish I could, I’ll leave that to the linked resources as it isn’t super important to the general understanding of the game as a whole.

 

When you have these things and at least a vague grasp on the rules you can move on to playing the game which requires a world. Thankfully especially for newer players you don’t have to make a world yourself as D&D has many officially published worlds known as modules which cover a variety of settings ranging from the sprawling city of Waterdeep to the hellish pits of Avernus. For now, I think I'll leave it here, for a deeper dive into the individual modules take a look at the in-depth blog by Mike Bernier on Arcane Eye.