Dungeons & Dragons - Jonny Nexus

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Jul 29, 2010 - As of 2006, Dungeons & Dragons remains the best-known[8] and best-selling[9] ... their ability scores
Dungeons & Dragons A History & Overview

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Contents Articles Introduction Dungeons & Dragons

The Early Years

1 1 20

Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

20

TSR, Inc.

27

Dungeons & Dragons (1974)

37

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set

39

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

41

Dungeons & Dragons controversies

53

The WotC Years

59

d20 System

59

Wizards of the Coast

63

Open Game License

68

About The Game

70

Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics

70

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

77

THAC0

85

People

86

Gary Gygax

86

Dave Arneson

98

Ed Greenwood

104

Monte Cook

108

Jonathan Tweet

110

Skip Williams

111

Books

112

Dungeon Master's Guide

112

Player's Handbook

115

Monster Manual

120

Monster Manual II

124

Fiend Folio

128

Unearthed Arcana

132

Oriental Adventures

137

Settings

141

Greyhawk

141

Forgotten Realms

171

Eberron

178

References Article Sources and Contributors

181

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

184

Article Licenses License

186

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Introduction Dungeons & Dragons

The 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons logo Designer

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Publisher

TSR, Wizards of the Coast

Publication date

1974 (original); 1977 (D&D Basic Set 1st revision); 1977–1979 (AD&D); 1981 (D&D Basic Set 2nd revision); 1983–1986 (D&D Basic Set 3rd revision); 1989 (AD&D 2nd Edition); 1991 (D&D Rules Cyclopedia); 2000 (D&D 3rd edition); 2003 (D&D v.3.5); 2008 (D&D 4th edition)

Years active

1974-present

Genre(s)

Fantasy

System

Dungeons & Dragons; d20 System

Playing time

Varies

Random chance

Dice rolling

Skills required

Role-playing, improvisation, tactics, arithmetic

Website

http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd

Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D)[1] is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997. It was derived from miniature wargames with a variation of the Chainmail game serving as the initial rule system.[2] D&D's publication is widely regarded as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.[3] D&D departs from traditional wargaming and assigns each player a specific character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon imaginary adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master serves as the game's referee and storyteller, while also maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur. The characters form a party that interacts with the setting's inhabitants (and each other). Together they solve dilemmas, engage in battles and gather treasure and knowledge.[3] In the process the characters earn experience points to become increasingly powerful over a series of sessions. The early success of Dungeons & Dragons led to a proliferation of similar game systems. Despite this competition, D&D enjoys a dominant market position in the role-playing game industry.[4] In 1977, the game was split into two versions: the more loose, open framework game system of Dungeons & Dragons and the much tighter and more structured game system of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as AD&D or ADnD).[1] [5] AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, the original version of the game was discontinued and the AD&D version was renamed simply Dungeons & Dragons with the release of its 3rd edition.[6] These rules formed the basis of the d20 System that is available under the Open Game License for use by other publishers. Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 was released in June 2003, with a 4th edition in June 2008.[7]

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As of 2006, Dungeons & Dragons remains the best-known[8] and best-selling[9] role-playing game, with an estimated 20 million people having played the game and more than US$1 billion in book and equipment sales.[10] The game has been supplemented by many pre-made adventures as well as commercial campaign settings suitable for use by regular gaming groups. Dungeons & Dragons is known beyond the game for other D&D-branded products, references in popular culture and some of the controversies that have surrounded it, particularly a moral panic in the 1980s falsely linking it to Satanism and suicide.[11] The game has won multiple awards and has been translated into many languages beyond the original English.

Play overview Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game. It is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a table-top. Typically, each player controls only a single character, which represents an individual in a fictional setting.[12] [13] When working together as a group, these player characters (PCs) are often described as a ‘party’ of adventurers, with each member often having his or her own areas of specialty that contributes to the success of the whole.[14] [15] During the course of play, each player directs the actions of his or her character and its interactions with the other characters in the game.[16] [17] A game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure, and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a ‘campaign’.[18]

A D&D game session in progress

The results of the party's choices and the overall storyline for the game are determined by the Dungeon Master (DM) according to the rules of the game and the DM's interpretation of those rules.[19] The DM selects and describes the various non-player characters (NPCs) the party encounters, the settings in which these interactions occur, and the outcomes of those encounters based on the players' choices and actions.[17] [20] Encounters often take the form of battles with 'monsters' – a generic term used in D&D to describe potentially hostile beings such as animals or mythical creatures. The game's extensive rules – which cover diverse subjects such as social interactions,[21] magic use,[22] combat,[23] and the effect of the environment on PCs[24] – help the DM to make these decisions. The Dungeon Master may choose to deviate from the published rules[19] or make up new ones if he or she feels it is necessary.[25] The most recent versions of the game's rules are detailed in three core rulebooks: The Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual. A Basic Game boxed set contains abbreviated rules to help beginners learn the game.[26] The only items required to play the game are the rulebooks, a character sheet for each player and a number of polyhedral dice. The current editions also assume, but do not require, the use of miniature figures or markers on a gridded surface. Earlier editions did not make this assumption.[27] Many optional accessories are available to enhance the game, such as expansion rulebooks, pre-designed adventures and various campaign settings.[28]

Release 3.5 of the three core rulebooks

Dungeons & Dragons

Game mechanics Before the game begins, each player creates his or her player character and records the details (described below) on a character sheet. First, a player determines his or her character's ability scores,[29] which consist of D&D uses polyhedral dice to resolve random events. These are Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, abbreviated as a 'd' followed by the number of sides. From left, d4, d6, d8, d12, d20 and two d10, both of which are used together to Wisdom, and Charisma. Each edition of the game has represent a d100, d%, or percentile die. offered differing methods of determining these statistics; as of 4th Edition, players generally assign their ability scores from a list or use points to "buy" them.[30] The player then chooses a race (species) such as Human or Elf, a character class (occupation) such as Fighter or Wizard, an alignment (a moral and ethical outlook which may have a Good or Evil component, a Lawful or Chaotic component, or something in between), and a number of powers, skills and feats to enhance the character's basic abilities.[31] Additional background history, usually not covered by specific rules, is often also used to further develop the character.[32] During the game, players describe their PC's intended actions, such as punching an opponent or picking a lock, and converse with the DM in character – who then describes the result or response.[33] Trivial actions, such as picking up a letter or opening an unlocked door, are usually automatically successful. The outcomes of more complex or risky actions are determined by rolling dice.[17] Factors contributing to the outcome include the character's ability scores, skills and the difficulty of the task.[34] In circumstances where a character does not have control of an event, such as when a trap or magical effect is triggered or a spell is cast, a saving throw can be used to determine whether the resulting damage is reduced or avoided.[35] [36] In this case the odds of success are influenced by the character's class, levels and (with the 3rd and later editions) ability scores.[35] [37] As the game is played, each PC changes over time and generally increases in capability. Characters gain (or sometimes lose) experience, skills[38] and wealth, and may even alter their alignment[39] or add additional character classes.[40] The key way characters progress is by earning experience points (XP/EXP), which happens when they defeat an enemy or accomplish a difficult task.[41] Acquiring enough XP allows a PC to advance a level, which grants the character improved class features, abilities and skills.[42] Up through the 3rd edition, XP can also be lost in some circumstances, such as encounters with creatures that drain life energy, or by use of certain magical powers that require payment of an XP cost.[43] Hit points (HP) are a measure of a character's vitality and health and are determined by the class, level and constitution of each character. They can be temporarily lost when a character sustains wounds in combat or otherwise comes to harm, and loss of HP is the most common way for a character to die in the game.[44] Death can also result from the loss of key ability scores[45] or character levels.[46] When a PC dies, it is often possible for the dead character to be resurrected through magic, although some penalties may be imposed as a result. If resurrection is not possible or not desired, the player may instead create a new PC to resume playing the game.[47] In the 4th edition of the game, XP cannot be lost or expended, and ability scores cannot be damaged.

Adventures, campaigns, and modules A typical Dungeons & Dragons game consists of an 'adventure', which is roughly equivalent to a single story.[48] The DM can either design an adventure on his or her own, or follow one of the many additional pre-made adventures (previously known as "modules") that have been published throughout the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Published adventures typically include a background story, illustrations, maps and goals for PCs to achieve. Some also include location descriptions and handouts. Although a small adventure entitled 'Temple of the Frog' was included in the Blackmoor rules supplement in 1975, the first stand-alone D&D module published by TSR was 1978’s Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, written by Gygax.

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A linked series of adventures is commonly referred to as a 'campaign'.[49] The locations where these adventures occur, such as a city, country, planet or an entire fictional universe, are also sometimes called 'campaigns' but are more correctly referred to as 'worlds' or 'campaign settings'.[50] D&D settings are based in various fantasy subgenres and feature varying levels of magic and technology.[51] Popular commercially published campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons include Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Mystara, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape, Birthright and Eberron.[52] Alternatively, DMs may develop their own fictional worlds to use as campaign settings.

Miniature figures

Several Dungeons & Dragons miniature figures. The grid mat underneath uses one-inch squares.

The wargames from which Dungeons & Dragons evolved used miniature figures to represent combatants. D&D initially continued the use of miniatures in a fashion similar to its direct precursors. The original D&D set of 1974 required the use of the Chainmail miniatures game for combat resolution.[53] By the publication of the 1977 game editions, combat was mostly resolved verbally. Thus miniatures were no longer required for game play, although some players continued to use them as a

visual reference.[54] In the 1970s, numerous companies began to sell miniature figures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons and similar games. Licensed miniature manufacturers who produced official figures include Grenadier Miniatures (1980–1983),[55] Citadel Miniatures (1984–1986),[56] Ral Partha,[57] and TSR itself.[58] Most of these miniatures used the 25 mm scale, with the exception of Ral Partha’s 15 mm scale miniatures for the 1st edition Battlesystem.[59] [60]

Periodically, Dungeons & Dragons has returned to its wargaming roots with supplementary rules systems for miniatures-based wargaming. Supplements such as Battlesystem (1985 & 1989) and a new edition of Chainmail (2001)[61] provided rule systems to handle battles between armies by using miniatures. Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (2000) assumes the use of miniatures to represent combat situations in play, an aspect of the game that was further emphasized in the v3.5 revision. The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game (2003) is sold as sets of plastic, randomly assorted, pre-painted miniatures, and can be used as either part of a standard Dungeons & Dragons game or as a stand-alone collectible miniatures game.[62]

Game history Sources and influences An immediate predecessor of Dungeons & Dragons was a set of medieval miniature rules written by Jeff Perren. These were expanded by Gary Gygax, whose additions included a fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail. When Dave Wesely entered the service in 1970, his friend and fellow Napoleonics wargamer Dave Arneson began a medieval variation of Wesely's Braunstein games, where players control individuals instead of armies.[63] Arneson used Chainmail to resolve combats.[2] As play progressed, Arneson added such innovations as character classes, experience points, level advancement, armor class, and others.[63] Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up the Ship!, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and

Dungeons & Dragons the two then collaborated on developing "The Fantasy Game", the role-playing game (RPG) that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax.[1] [64] [65] Many Dungeons & Dragons elements also appear in hobbies of the mid- to late twentieth century (though these elements also existed previously). Character-based role playing, for example, can be seen in improvisational theatre.[66] Game-world simulations were well-developed in wargaming. Fantasy milieus specifically designed for gaming could be seen in Glorantha’s board games among others.[67] Ultimately, however, Dungeons & Dragons represents a unique blending of these elements. The theme of D&D was influenced by mythology, pulp fiction, and contemporary fantasy authors of the 1960s and 1970s. The presence of halflings, elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, dragons, and the like, often draw comparisons to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Gygax maintained that he was influenced very little by The Lord of the Rings (although the owners of that work’s copyright forced the name changes of hobbit to 'halfling', ent to 'treant', and balrog to 'Type VI demon [balor]'), stating that he included these elements as a marketing move to draw on the popularity of the work.[68] [69] The magic system, in which wizards memorize spells that are used up once cast (and must be re-memorized the next day), was heavily influenced by the Dying Earth stories and novels of Jack Vance.[70] The original alignment system (which grouped all players and creatures into ‘Law’, ‘Neutrality’ and ‘Chaos’) was derived from the novel Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson.[71] A troll described in this work also influenced the D&D definition of that monster.[69] Other influences include the works of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, Roger Zelazny, and Michael Moorcock.[72] Monsters, spells, and magic items used in the game have been inspired by hundreds of individual works ranging from A. E. van Vogt’s “Black Destroyer”, Coeurl (the Displacer Beast), Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” (vorpal sword) to the Book of Genesis (the clerical spell ‘Blade Barrier’ was inspired by the “flaming sword which turned every way” at the gates of Eden).[71]

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Edition history Dungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between the different editions. The original Dungeons & Dragons, now referred to as OD&D,[73] was a small box set of three booklets published in 1974. It was amateurish in production and written from a perspective that assumed the reader was familiar with wargaming. Nevertheless it grew rapidly in popularity, first among wargamers and then expanding to a more general audience of college and high school students. Roughly 1,000 copies of the game were sold in the first year followed by 4,000 in 1975, with sales increasing thereafter.[74] This first set went through many printings and was supplemented with several official additions, such as the original Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements (both 1975),[75] as well as magazine articles in TSR’s official publications and countless fanzines. Two-pronged strategy In 1977, TSR created the first element of a two-pronged strategy that would divide the D&D game for over two decades. A Basic Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was introduced[65] to clean up the presentation of the essential rules, make the system understandable to the general public, and placed in a package that could be stocked in toy stores. In The original Dungeons & Dragons set. 1978, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) was published,[65] which brought together the various published rules, options and corrections, then expanded them into a definitive, unified game for hobbyist gamers. The basic set directed players who exhausted the possibilities of that game to switch to the advanced rules. Unfortunately, almost from its inception, differences of design philosophy caused this dual marketing approach to go awry. Gygax, who wrote the advanced game, wanted an expansive game with rulings on any conceivable situation which might come up during play. J. Eric Holmes, the editor of the basic game, preferred a lighter tone with more room for personal improvisation. As a result, the basic game included many rules and concepts which contradicted comparable ones in the advanced game. Confusing matters further, the original D&D boxed set remained in publication until 1979, since it remained a healthy seller for TSR.[67] Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was designed to create a tighter, more structured game system than the loose framework of the original game.[5] While seen by many as a revision of D&D,[6] AD&D was at the time declared to be "neither an expansion nor a revision of the old game, it is a new game".[5] The AD&D game was not intended to be directly compatible with D&D and it required some conversion to play between the rule sets.[76] The term Advanced described the more complex rules and did not imply "for higher-level gaming abilities". Between 1977 and 1979, three hardcover rulebooks, commonly referred to as the "core rulebooks", were released: the Player’s Handbook (PHB), the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), and the Monster Manual (MM). Several supplementary books were published throughout the 1980s, notably Unearthed Arcana (1985) that included a large number of new rules.[65]

Dungeons & Dragons Revised editions In 1981, Basic Dungeons & Dragons was revised by Tom Moldvay. However, the rules for the Dungeons & Dragons game continued to diverge and it became a separate and distinct product from TSR’s flagship game, AD&D. This game was promoted as a continuation of the original D&D tone, whereas AD&D was an advancement of the mechanics.[5] Although simpler overall than the Advanced game, it included rules for some situations not covered in AD&D. There were five sets: Basic (1977, revised in 1981 and again in 1983), Expert (1981, revised in 1983), Companion (1983), Master (1985), and Immortals (1986, revised in 1991). Each set covered game play for more powerful characters than the previous.[77] The first four sets were later compiled as a single hardcover book, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, sometimes referred to as AD&D2 or 2nd Ed, was published in 1989,[65] again as three core rulebooks; the primary designer was David "Zeb" Cook. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder that was subsequently replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993. In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised, although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition,[78] and a series of Player’s Option manuals were released as optional core rulebooks.[65] The release of AD&D2 deliberately excluded some aspects of the game that had attracted negative publicity. References to demons and devils, sexually suggestive artwork, and playable, evil-aligned character types – such as assassins and half-orcs – were removed.[79] The edition moved away from a theme of 1960s and 1970s "sword and sorcery" fantasy fiction to a mixture of medieval history and mythology.[80] The rules underwent minor changes, including the addition of non-weapon proficiencies – skill-like First edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon abilities that originally appeared in 1st Edition supplements. The Masters Guide. game's magic spells were divided into schools and spheres.[1] A major difference was the promotion of various game settings beyond that of traditional fantasy. This included blending fantasy with other genres, such as horror (Ravenloft), science fiction (Spelljammer), and apocalyptic (Dark Sun), as well as alternative historical and non-European mythological settings.[81] Wizards of the Coast In 1997, a near-bankrupt TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast. Following three years of development, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition was released in 2000.[82] This game is referred to as D&D3 or 3E and is not to be confused with the 1983 edition of the basic D&D game. The new release folded the Basic and Advanced lines back into a single unified game. It was the largest revision of the D&D rules to date, and also served as the basis for a multi-genre role-playing system designed around 20-sided dice, called the d20 System.[83] The 3rd Edition rules were designed to be internally consistent and less restrictive than previous editions of the game, allowing players more flexibility to create the characters they wanted to play.[84] Skills and feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage further customization of characters.[85] The new rules also standardized the mechanics of action resolution and combat.[86] In 2003, Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5, also known as Revised 3rd Edition or D&D3.5, was released as a revision of the 3rd Edition rules. This release incorporated hundreds of rule changes, mostly minor, and expanded the core rulebooks.[86]

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Dungeons & Dragons In early 2005, Wizards of the Coast's R&D team started to develop Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, prompted mainly by the feedback obtained from the D&D playing community and a desire to make the game faster, more intuitive, and with a better play experience than under the 3rd Edition. The new game was developed through a number of design phases spanning from May 2005 until its release.[87] Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition was announced at Gen Con in August 2007, and the initial three core books were released June 6, 2008.[7] 4th Edition streamlined the game into a simplified form and introduced numerous rules changes. Many character abilities were restructured into "Powers". These altered the spell-using classes by adding abilities that could be used at will, per encounter, or per day. Likewise, non-magic-using classes were provided with parallel sets of options. Wizards of the Coast is releasing other supplementary material virtually through their website,[88] [89] including player character and monster building programs.[90]

Acclaim and influence Beginning with a French language edition in 1982, Dungeons & Dragons has been translated into many languages beyond the original English.[1] [65] By 2004, consumers had spent more than US$1 billion on Dungeons & Dragons products and the game had been played by more than 20 million people.[10] As many as 6 million people played the game in 2007.[90] The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons have won many Origins Awards, including All Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977, Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989, and Best Roleplaying Game of 2000 for the three flagship editions of the game.[91] Both Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons are Origins Hall of Fame Games inductees as they were deemed sufficiently distinct to merit separate inclusion on different occasions.[92] The independent Games magazine placed Dungeons & Dragons on their Games 100 list from 1980 through 1983, then entered the game into the magazine’s Hall of Fame in 1984.[93] [94] Dungeons & Dragons was the first modern role-playing game and it established many of the conventions that have dominated the genre.[95] Particularly notable are the use of dice as a game mechanic, character record sheets, use of numerical attributes and gamemaster-centered group dynamics.[96] Within months of Dungeons & Dragons’s release, new role-playing game writers and publishers began releasing their own role-playing games, with most of these being in the fantasy genre. Some of the earliest other role-playing games inspired by D&D include Tunnels and Trolls (1975),[97] Empire of the Petal Throne (1975), and Chivalry & Sorcery (1976).[98] The role-playing movement initiated by D&D would lead to release of the science fiction game Traveller (1977) and fantasy game RuneQuest (1978), and subsequent game systems such as Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu (1981), Champions (1982), GURPS (1986),[99] and Vampire: The Masquerade (1992).[67] [100] Dungeons & Dragons and the games it influenced fed back into the genre’s origin – miniatures wargames – with combat strategy games like Warhammer Fantasy Battles.[101] D&D also had a large impact on modern video games.[102] Director Jon Favreau credits Dungeons & Dragons with giving him "...a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance."[103]

Licensing Early in the game’s history, TSR took no action against small publishers' production of D&D compatible material. This attitude changed in the mid 1980s when TSR revoked these rights (even from publishers they had earlier officially licensed, such as Judges Guild),[104] and took legal action to prevent others from publishing compatible material. This angered many fans and led to resentment by the other gaming companies.[67] Although TSR took legal action against several publishers in an attempt to restrict third-party usage, it never brought any court cases to completion, instead settling out of court in every instance.[105] TSR itself also ran afoul of intellectual property law in several cases.[106] [107] With the launch of Dungeons & Dragons’s 3rd Edition, Wizards of the Coast made the d20 System available under the Open Game License (OGL) and d20 trademark license. Under these licenses, authors are free to use the d20

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Dungeons & Dragons System when writing games and game supplements.[108] The OGL and d20 Trademark License also made possible new games, some based on licensed products like Star Wars, and also new versions of older games, such as Call of Cthulhu. During the 2000s, there has been a trend towards recreating older editions of D&D. Necromancer Games, with its slogan "Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel"[109] and Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics range[110] are both examples of this in material for d20 System. Other companies have created complete game systems based on earlier editions of D&D. An example is HackMaster (2001) by Kenzer and Company, a licensed, non-OGL, semi-satirical follow-on to 1st and 2nd Edition.[111] Castles & Crusades (2005), by Troll Lord Games, is a reimagining of early editions by streamlining rules from OGL[112] that was supported by Gary Gygax prior to his death.[113] With the release of the fourth edition, Wizards of the Coast has introduced its Game System License, which represents a significant restriction compared with the very open policies embodied by the OGL. In part as a response to this, some publishers (such as Paizo Publishing with its Pathfinder Roleplaying Game) who previously produced materials in support of the D&D product line, have made the decision to continue supporting the 3rd Edition rules, thereby competing directly with Wizards of the Coast.[114] [115] Others, such as Kenzer & Company, are returning to the practice of publishing unlicensed supplements, stressing that copyright law does not allow Wizards of the Coast to restrict third-party usage.[116]

Controversy and notoriety At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity, in particular from some Christian groups, for alleged promotion of such practices as devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder, and for naked breasts in drawings of female humanoids in the original AD&D manuals (mainly monsters such as Harpies, Succubi, etc.).[11] [117] These controversies led TSR to remove many potentially controversial references and artwork when releasing the 2nd Edition of AD&D.[79] Many of these references, including the use of the names "devils" and "demons", were reintroduced in the 3rd edition.[118] The moral panic over the game also led to problems for fans of D&D who faced social ostracism, unfair treatment, and false association with the occult and Satanism, regardless of an individual fan's actual religious affiliation and beliefs.[119] Dungeons & Dragons has also been the subject of rumors regarding players having difficulty separating fantasy and reality, even leading to psychotic episodes.[120] The most notable of these was the saga of James Dallas Egbert III,[121] which was fictionalized in the novel Mazes and Monsters and later made into a TV movie.[117] [122] The game was also blamed for some of the actions of Chris Pritchard, who was convicted in 1990 of murdering his stepfather. Research by various psychologists,[123] the first being that of Armando Simon, have concluded that no harmful effects are related to the playing of D&D.[124] The game’s commercial success was a factor that led to lawsuits regarding distribution of royalties between original creators Gygax and Arneson.[125] [126] Gygax later became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR which culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.[127]

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Related products D&D’s commercial success has led to many other related products, including Dragon Magazine, Dungeon Magazine, an animated television series, a film series, an official role-playing soundtrack, novels, and computer games such as the MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Hobby and toy stores sell dice, miniatures, adventures, and other game aids related to D&D and its game offspring.

In popular culture An elaborate example of a D&D game in progress. Among the

As the popularity of D&D grew throughout the late gaming aids shown are dice, a variety of miniatures and some 1970s and 1980s, the game was referenced more and miniature scenery. more in popular culture. Numerous games, films, and cultural references based on D&D or D&D-like fantasies, characters or adventures have been ubiquitous since the end of the 1970s. Typically, though by no means exclusively, D&D players are portrayed derogatively as the epitome of geekdom.[128] References to the game are used as shorthand to establish characterization or provide the punch line of a joke.[129] [130] Famous D&D players include professional basketball player Tim Duncan, comedian Stephen Colbert, and actors Vin Diesel and Robin Williams.[131] [132] [133] [134] [135] D&D and its fans have been the subject of spoof films, including Fear of Girls.[136]

See also • Category:Dungeons & Dragons creatures • Spells of Dungeons & Dragons • D&D Championship Series

References • Allston, Aaron (1992). Wrath of the Immortals. TSR. ISBN 1560764120. • Appelcline, Shannon (2006). "Chaosium: 1975–present" [137]. A Brief History of Game. RPGnet. Retrieved August 13, 2007. • Arneson, Dave (June/July 1979). "My Life and Role Playing". Different Worlds (magazine) #3 (Chaosium): 6–9. • Birnbaum, Jon (July 20, 2004). "Gary Gygax Interview" [138]. Game Banshee. Retrieved March 1, 2007. Archived copy of the article, taken 2009-07-13: page 1 [139], page 2 [140] • Bledsaw, Bob (July 1979). "From the Sorcerer’s Scroll: What has Judges Guild done for Dungeons and Dragons". The Dragon #27 (TSR Hobbies) IV (1): 10–11. • Boucher, Geoff (May 5, 2008). "Jon Favreau is the action figure behind 'Iron Man'" [141]. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original [142] on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2008. • Briggs, Jerry (November 30, 1997). "Duncan's unusual hobby and more unusual request". San Antonio Express-News (Texas). • Cardwell Jr., Paul (1994). "The Attacks on Role-Playing Games" [143]. Skeptical Inquirer 18 (2): 157–165. Retrieved August 4, 2007. • Carter, Michele; et al. (2007). Wizards Presents Races and Classes. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-4801-7. • Cohen, David X.; Keeler, Ken; Rogers, Eric (writers). (2005-05-05). Futurama, Anthology of Interest I. [Television production]. 20th Century Fox Television.

Dungeons & Dragons • Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan (2003) [2000]. Dungeon Master’s Guide v.3.5. revised by David Noonan, Rich Redman. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2889-1. • Cook, Monte. "The Open Game License as I See It, Part II" [144]. montecook.com. Retrieved March 15, 2007. • Currell, Latasha (September 1, 2004). "Dungeons and Dragons—30 Years and Going Strong" [145]. The Golden Gate [X]Press Online (The Journalism Department @ San Francisco State University). Retrieved April 3, 2007. • Dancey, Ryan S. (February 7, 2000). Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) [146]. V1.0. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved February 23, 2007. • Darlington, Steven (August 1998). "A History of Role-Playing Part IV: Part Four: Hell and High Finance" [147]. Places to Go, People to Be (4). Retrieved April 3, 2007. • Darlington, Steven (November 1998). "A History of Role-Playing Part V: The Power and the Glory" [148]. Places to Go, People to Be (Places to Go, People to Be) (5). Retrieved February 28, 2007. • Darlington, Steven (June 1999). "A History of Role-Playing Part VIII: Dark Times" [149]. Places to Go, People to Be (Places to Go, People to Be) (8). Retrieved February 28, 2007. • Darlington, Steven (August 1999). "A History of Role-Playing Part IX: The End and The Beginning" [150]. Places to Go, People to Be (Places to Go, People to Be) (9). Retrieved April 3, 2007. • Cook, David (1989b). Player’s Handbook. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-716-5. • Cook, David (1995) [1989b]. Player’s Handbook (Revised ed.). TSR. ISBN 0-7869-0329-5. • DeVarque, Aardy R.. "Literary Sources of D&D" [151]. Rec.games.frp.dnd FAQs. Archived from the original [152] on 2007-07-21. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Fine, Gary Alan (2002). Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. New York: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226249441. • Gagne, Kenneth A. (April 27, 2001). "Moral Panics Over Youth Culture and Video Games" [153]. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved August 27, 2007. • Grady, RJ (August 4, 2004). "In Genre: THE DUNGEON" [154]. RPGnet. Retrieved April 5, 2007. • Grigg, Robert (June 16–20, 2005). "Albert Goes Narrative Contracting" [155]. DiGRA 2005 Papers [155]. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Simon Fraser University. Retrieved August 12, 2007. • Gygax, Gary (1979). Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-02-4. • Gygax, Gary (April 1976). "The Dungeons and Dragons Magic System". The Strategic Review (TSR Hobbies) II (2). • Gygax, Gary; Arneson, Dave (1974). Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set). TSR. • Gygax, Gary (December 1978). "Dungeons & Dragons: What Is It and Where Is It Going?". The Dragon #21 (TSR) III (8): 29–30. ISSN 1062-2101. • Gygax, Gary (June 1979). "From the Sorcerer’s Scroll: D&D, AD&D and Gaming". The Dragon #26 (TSR Hobbies) III (12): 28–30. ISSN 1062-2101. • Gygax, Gary. "Gygax FAQ" [156]. The Creative World of Gary Gygax. Archived from the original [157] on January 28, 1999. Retrieved July 4, 2006. • Gygax, Gary (1977). Monster Manual. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-00-8. • Gygax, Gary (March 1985). "On the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D games". Dragon #95 (TSR Hobbies, Inc.) IX (10): 12–13. ISSN 0279-6848. • Gygax, Gary (1978). Player's Handbook. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-01-6. • Hallford, N.; Hallford, J. (2001). Swords & Circuitry: A Designer’s Guide to Computer Role Playing Games (1st ed.). Thomson Course Technology PTR. p. 39. ISBN 0761532994. • Hately, Shaun (February 1999). "The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III (Part I)" [158]. Places to Go, People to Be (6). Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Heinsoo, Rob; Collins, Andy; Wyatt, James (2008). Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4867-3.

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Dungeons & Dragons • Hite, Kenneth (March 30, 2006). "State of the Industry 2005: Another Such Victory Will Destroy Us" [159]. GamingReport.com. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Johnson, Harold; et al. (2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. • Kuntz, Rob (April 1978). "Tolkien in Dungeons & Dragons". The Dragon #13 (TSR Hobbies, Inc.) II (7). • Kushner, David. "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax" [160]. Wired.com. Retrieved October 16, 2008. • Leckart, Steven (June 26, 2007). "Ratatouille Star Patton Oswalt on Geeks vs. Nerds" [161]. Wired 15 (07). • McCuen, Mike (2002). "15mm Battlesystem Paladin 1994" [162]. Small Obsessions. Retrieved March 17, 2007. • Mead, Lawrence; Malcomson, Ian (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" [163]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved October 3, 2008. • Mentzer, Frank (1984). Dungeons & Dragons (Set 3: Companion Rules). TSR. ISBN 0880383402. • Mentzer, Frank (1986). Dungeons & Dragons (Set 5: Immortal Rules). TSR. ISBN 0880383410. • Mohan, Kim (1986). Wilderness Survival Guide. TSR. ISBN 088038-291-0. • Moore, Jeff. "15mm Scale Fantasy Figures" [164]. Humberside Wargames Society. Archived from the original [165] on 2007-04-06. Retrieved March 17, 2007. • Mythmere. "Castles & Crusades Players Handbook (4.6 stars)" [166]. Mythmere’s Wondrous Resource. Retrieved March 19, 2007. • O'Connor, John (December 28, 1982). "TV: 'Mazes and Monsters,' Fantasy" [167]. New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2007. • Pope, Thomas (March 25, 2004). "Grenadier Models, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" [168]. The Stuff of Legends. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Pope, Thomas (February 27, 2000). "Ral Partha" [169]. The Stuff of Legends. Retrieved February 28, 2007. • Pope, Thomas (November 5, 1999). "TSR" [170]. The Stuff of Legends. Retrieved February 28, 2007. • Pramas, Chris (July 14, 2008). "Green Ronin and Fourth Edition D&D" [171]. Green Ronin. Retrieved November 20, 2008. • Pryor, Tony; Herring, Tony; Tweet, Jonathan; Richie, Norm (1993). Creative Campaigning. TSR. ISBN 1560765615. • Rausch, Allen (August 19, 2004). "Dave Arneson Interview" [172]. GameSpy. Retrieved February 23, 2007. • Rilstone, Andrew (1994). "Role-Playing Games: An Overview" [173]. The Oracle. Retrieved April 4, 2007. • Roberts, Tara (September 13, 2005). "‘D&D’ players defy stereotypes" [174]. The Argonaut (University of Idaho). Retrieved April 3, 2007. • Schend, Steven E.; Jon Pickens, Dori Warty (Editors) (1991). Rules Cyclopedia. TSR. ISBN 1-56076-085-0. • Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-3. • Scott, Richard. "Otherworld, The Citadel AD&D Miniatures Range" [175]. Otherworld Miniatures. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Shanafelt, Steve (November 2, 2005). "The growing chic of geek: How turning 30 made Dungeons & Dragons feel young again" [176]. Mountain Xpress 12 (14). Retrieved August 4, 2007. • Simon, Armando (October 1987). "Emotional Stability Pertaining to Dungeons and Dragons". Psychology in the Schools 84 (4): 329–332. doi:10.1002/1520-6807(198710)24:43.0.CO;2-9. • Slavicsek, Bill (October 19, 2007). "Ampersand: Exciting News!" [177]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved October 22, 2007. • Slavicsek, Bill; Mathew Sernett (2006) (boxed set). Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-1869-3944-3. • Slavicsek, Bill; Baker, Richard (2005). Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies. Wiley Publishing. ISBN 0-7645-8459-6.

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Dungeons & Dragons • Svensson, Peter (July 21, 2008). "Dungeons & Dragons reborn" [178]. Associated Press. Archived from the original [179] on 2008-08-22. Retrieved November 17, 2008. • Svitavsky, William (June 2001). "Geek Culture: An Annotated Interdisciplinary Bibliography" [180]. The Bulletin of Bibliography 58 (2): 101–108. Retrieved November 25, 2008. • Thorn, Mike (June 9, 2006). "Review of Hackmaster 4th Edition" [181]. RPGnet. Retrieved March 19, 2007. • Tonjes, Wayne (October 19, 2005). "Interview with Charles Ryan on the 2005 Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day" [182]. Gaming Report. Retrieved August 4, 2007. • Tweet, Jonathan (2004) (boxed set). Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3409-3. • Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip (2000). Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1550-1. • Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip (2003) [2000]. Player’s Handbook v.3.5. revised by Collins, Andy. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2886-7. • Tweet, Jonathan (May 20, 2004). "What Are D&D Miniatures?" [183]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved February 28, 2007. • Waldron, David (Spring 2005). "Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic" [184]. The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, The University of Saskatchewan) IX. Retrieved February 27, 2007. • Ward, James M (February 1990). "The Games Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck (And what we do about them)". Dragon Magazine #154 XIV (9): 9. ISSN 0279-6848. • Waskul, Dennis; Lust, Matt (2004). "Role-Playing and Playing Roles: The Person, Player, and Persona in Fantasy Role-Playing" [185] (PDF). Caliber 27 (3): 222–256. doi:10.1525/si.2004.27.3.333. Retrieved December 23, 2008. • Waters, Darren (April 26, 2004). "What happened to Dungeons and Dragons?" [186]. BBC News Online. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • Williams, J. P.; Hendricks, S. Q.; Winkler, W. K. (2006). Gaming as Culture, Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games. McFarland & Company: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-7864-2436-2. • Williams, Skip (1995). Dungeon Master Option: High Level Campaigns. TSR. ISBN 0-7869-0168-3. • Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte (2000). Monster Manual. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1552-8.

Unknown author • "Archive of List of Origins Award Winners" [187]. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. 2006. Archived from the original [188] on 2007-01-25. Retrieved February 22, 2007. – select year on right of page. • "Hall of Fame" [189]. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. 2006. Archived from the original [190] on 2007-06-26. Retrieved July 6, 2007. • "List of Winners" [191]. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. 2001. Archived from the original [192] on 2007-08-30. Retrieved September 1, 2007. • "Hall of Fame" [193]. Games Magazine Online. 2007. Retrieved August 13, 2007. • "Dungeon Crawl Classics" [194]. Goodman Games. Archived from the original [195] on 2007-03-24. Retrieved March 20, 2007. • "D20 Products with 3rd Edition Rules, 1st Edition Feel" [196]. Necromancer Games. 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2007. • "Paizo Publishing Announces the Pathfinder RPG" [197]. Paizo Publishing. March 18, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2008. • "How Dungeon & Dragons shaped the modern videogame" [198]. PC Gamer. Future Publishing Limited. February 8, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2007.

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Dungeons & Dragons • "Castle Zagyg Product Page" [199]. Troll Lord Games. Archived from the original [200] on 2007-02-22. Retrieved March 19, 2007. • "The d20 System" [201]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved August 14, 2007. • "Dungeons & Dragons Flashes 4-ward at Gen Con" [202] (PDF). Wizards of the Coast. August 16, 2007. Retrieved August 19, 2007. • "The History of TSR" [203]. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original [204] on October 4, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2005. • "What Is D&D?" [205]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved February 21, 2007. • "Wizards of the Coast at Gen Con!" [206]. Wizards of the Coast. 2007. Retrieved August 18, 2007. • "Mike Myers". Inside the Actors' Studio. February 4, 2001. No. 9, season 7. • "Countdown to 3rd Edition: Feats and Fighters". Dragon #270 (Wizards of the Coast) XXIV (11): 30–31. April 2000. ISSN 1062-2101. • "Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma" [207]. The Onion (Onion) 31 (21). June 18, 1997. Retrieved April 3, 2007. • "Interview with Dave Arneson" [208]. Pegasus (Judges Guild) (1). April/May 1981. Retrieved February 23, 2007.

Further reading • Bebergal, Peter (November 15, 2004). "How 'Dungeons' Changed the World" [209]. The Boston Globe (The New York Times Company). Retrieved January 4, 2008. • Edwards, Ron. "A Hard Look at Dungeons and Dragons" [210]. The Forge. Retrieved February 23, 2007. – an essay on the early history of the D&D hobby. • Fannon, Sean Patrick. The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer’s Bible, 2nd Edition. Obsidian Studios, 1999. ISBN 0-9674429-0-7 • Gygax, Gary. Roleplaying Mastery. New York, NY: Perigee, 1987. ISBN 0-399-51293-4 • Gygax, Gary. Master of the Game. New York, NY: Perigee, 1989. ISBN 0-399-51533-X • Miller, John J. “I Was a Teenage Half-Orc” [211], National Review Online, October 15, 2004. • Miller, John J. "Dungeons & Dragons In a Digital World" [212], Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2008. • Mona, Erik. "From the basement to the Basic Set: The Early Years of Dungeons & Dragons" [213]. The MIT Press. Retrieved May 6, 2009. • Pulsipher, Lew (1983). "Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons, Parts I-V". The Best of White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Articles Volume II): 10–18. • Slavicsek, Bill; Richard Baker (2006). Dungeon Master For Dummies. Wiley Publishing. ISBN 0-471-78330-7. • Wagner, James (March 29, 2000). "Opening the dungeon" [214]. Salon. – an article about the conflict over the proprietary or open-source nature of Dungeons & Dragons • Studies about fantasy roleplaying games [215] – a list of academic articles about RPGs • Gamespy’s 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons special [216] • The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange, Mark Barrowcliffe. Soho Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-56947-601-7

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Dungeons & Dragons

External links • Dungeons & Dragons official site [217] •

Media related to Dungeons & Dragons at Wikimedia Commons



The Wiktionary definition of Dungeons & Dragons

• • • • •

Dungeons & Dragons at Wikibooks. Dungeons & Dragons [218] at the Open Directory Project The Hypertext d20 SRD [219]: 3rd edition D&D rules online. D&D Wiki [220]: A Wiki dedicated to 3.5/4e and Modern DnD. The Acaeum [221]: Site with detailed information on all 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons items produced by TSR up through roughly 1989.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Mead, Malcomson; Dungeons & Dragons FAQ Birnbaum 2004 Williams, Hendricks & Winkler 2006 introduction "Frankly, the difference in sales between Wizards and all other producers of roleplaying games is so staggering that even saying there is an 'RPG industry' at all may be generous." (Cook; The Open Game License as I see it)

[5] [6] [7] [8]

Gygax; "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" in The Dragon #26 Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure, p. 253 Slavicsek; Ampersand: Exciting News! According to a 1999 survey in the United States, 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D. (Dancey; Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary) [9] Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of the RPG products sold in 2005. (Hite; State of the Industry 2005) [10] Waters; What happened to Dungeons and Dragons? [11] Waldron; Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right [12] Sometimes, if there are not enough players, one may control multiple characters. The Basic Game suggests, “If there are characters left over, some players may play more than one (but they don't have to)”. (Tweet; Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game). [13] Waskul, Lust; "Role-Playing and Playing Roles" in Caliber 27 (3) [14] Slavicsek, Baker; Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies p. 268 [15] Bethke, Erik (2003). Game development and production. Wordware Publishing, Inc.. p. 12. ISBN 1556229518. [16] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 5 [17] Williams, Hendricks & Winkler 2006 "The Role-Playing Game and the Game of Role-Playing" [18] "Encounters are to adventures what adventures are to campaigns" (Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 129) [19] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 4 [20] Slavicsek, Baker; Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies p. 293 [21] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 98 [22] Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide p. 114 [23] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 114 [24] Mohan; Wilderness Survival Guide [25] Tweet; Dungeons & Dragons Basic game p. 32 [26] As of 2007 there have been two version of the basic game. Both contained a cut down, introductory version of the D&D v.3.5 rules, miniatures, dice and dungeon map tiles with a 1" grid (Tweet; Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game and Slavicsek, Sernett, Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game [27] Wizards of the Coast; What is D&D? [28] Slavicsek, Baker; Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies p. 363 [29] The original game used 3d6 in the order rolled (Gygax, Arneson; Dungeons & Dragons). Variants have since been included (Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 11) and the standard for 3rd edition is "rolling four six-sided dice, ignoring the lowest die, and totaling the other three" (Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook [3.0], p. 4), arranging the results in any order desired. [30] Given is the current standard order for ability scores, with the three physical scores before the three mental scores. Prior to the first edition of AD&D they were ordered: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Charisma. In the first edition they were ordered: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. [31] Heinsoo, Collins, Wyatt; Player's Handbook p. 4 [32] Gygax; Player's Handbook, p. 34 [33] Tweet; Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game p. 24

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Dungeons & Dragons [34] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 62 [35] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 136 [36] “Generally, when you are subject to an unusual or magical attack, you get a saving throw to avoid or reduce the effect.” There is identical language in sections titled ‘Saving Throws’ in (Tweet 2000:119). [37] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook (3.0), pp. 119–120 [38] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 197 [39] Early editions did not allow or had severe penalties for changing alignment (Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 24) but more recent versions are more allowing of change. (Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 134) [40] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 59 [41] Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 84 [42] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 58 [43] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 46 [44] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 145 [45] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 289 [46] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 296 [47] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 41 [48] Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 43 [49] “A D&D campaign is an organized framework ... to provide a realistic setting for a series of fantastic adventures.” (Schend, Pickens, Warty; Rules Cyclopedia, p. 256) [50] "It is important to distinguish between a campaign and a world, since the terms often seem to be used interchangeably ... A world is a fictional place in which a campaign is set. It's also often called a campaign setting." (Cook, Williams, Tweet; Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5., p. 129) [51] Williams ; Dungeon Master Option: High Level Campaigns, p. 45 [52] Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Mystara, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Dark Sun and Planescape are the campaign settings given their own chapter in Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure. Eberron was only released in 2004 and, as of 2007, is one of two campaign settings, the other being Forgotten Realms, still actively supported with new releases by Wizards of the Coast. [53] Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure, p. 23 [54] The first Dungeon Masters Guide gave only a quarter of a page out of a total 240 pages to discussing the option use of miniatures. (Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 10) [55] Pope; Grenadier Models [56] Scott; Otherworld [57] Pope; Ral Partha [58] Pope; TSR [59] Moore; 15mm Scale Fantasy Figures has a list of the 15 mm Ral Parthat Battlesystem figures. [60] McCuen; 15mm Battlesystem Paladin 1994 has a photographic example of a 15 mm Ral Partha Battlesystem figure. [61] Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design; List of Winners (2002) [62] Tweet; What Are D&D Miniatures? [63] Arneson; "My Life and Role Playing" in Different Worlds #3 [64] Kushner; Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax [65] Wizards of the Coast; The History of TSR [66] Grigg; Albert Goes Narrative Contracting [67] Schick; Heroic Worlds, pp. 17–34 [68] Kuntz; "Tolkien in Dungeons & Dragons" in Dragon #13 [69] Gygax; "On the Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D games" in Dragon #95 [70] Gygax; "The Dungeons and Dragons Magic System" in The Strategic Review, Vol. 2, No. 2 [71] DeVarque; Literary Sources of D&D [72] The first seven listed here are the “most immediate influences”. (Gygax; Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 224) [73] Carroll, Bart; Winter, Steve (2009-02-06). "Name Level" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ DnD/ Article. aspx?x=dnd/ 4alum/ 20090206). Dragon (Wizards of the Coast) (372). [74] Lancaster, Kurt (1999). Warlocks and Warpdrive: contemporary fantasy entertainments with interactive and virtual environments. McFarland. p. 34. ISBN 0786406348. [75] Schick; Heroic Worlds, pp. 132-153 [76] Schend, Pickens, Warty; Rules Cyclopedia, p. 291 [77] Gygax; "Dungeons & Dragons: What Is It and Where Is It Going" in The Dragon #21 [78] "This is not AD&D 3rd edition" Winter, Steven (in the forward to Cook; Player's Handbook). [79] Ward; "The Games Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck (And what we do about them)" in Dragon #154 [80] Cook; Player's Handbook (1989), pp. 25-41 [81] Pryor, Herring, Tweet, Richie; Creative Campaigning

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Dungeons & Dragons [82] "After ... the idea of acquiring TSR began to swim in my mind it took me maybe thirty seconds to decide, We’ve got to do a third edition of Dungeons & Dragons." (Adkison, Peter in Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure, p. 250). [83] Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure, p. 273 [84] Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure, pp. 255-263 [85] "Countdown to 3rd Edition: Feats and Fighters" in Dragon #270 [86] Tweet, Cook, Williams; Player's Handbook v3.5, p. 4 [87] Carter, et al.; Wizards presents races and classes, pp. 6-9 [88] Wizards of the Coast; Dungeons & Dragons Flashes 4-ward at Gen Con [89] Wizards of the Coast; Wizards of the Coast at Gen Con! [90] Svensson; Dungeons & Dragons reborn [91] Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design; Archive of List of Origins Award Winners [92] Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design; Hall of Fame [93] Schick; Heroic Worlds, pp. 414-418 [94] Games Magazine Online; Hall of Fame [95] "Although we have come a long way since D&D, the essential concept is still the same, and is one that will endure." (Darlington; "A History of Role-Playing Part IX"). [96] Rilstone; Role-Playing Games: An Overview [97] Schick; Heroic Worlds, pp. 223–244 [98] Fine; Shared Fantasy, pp. 16-19 [99] Darlington; A History of Role-Playing Part V [100] Darlington; A History of Role-Playing Part VIII [101] Grady; In Genre [102] PC Gamer; How Dungeons & Dragons shaped the modern videogame [103] Boucher; Jon Favreau is the action figure behind 'Iron Man'. [104] Bledsaw; "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" in Dragon #27 [105] Appelcline, Shannon (July 16, 2008). "Games & The Law, Part Seven: The D&D Dilemma" (http:/ / www. skotos. net/ articles/ TTnT_/ TTnT_209. phtml). . Retrieved July 7, 2009. [106] Copyright conflicts with the Tolkien Estate lead to removal of references to Hobbits, Ents and others. (Hallford, Hallford; Swords & Circuitry) [107] Disputes over licenses led to an agreement for Chaosium to use the Thieves' World license in exchange for allowing TSR to legally publish the Cthulhu and Melniboné mythoi in Deities & Demigods. (Appelcline; Chaosium: 1975–present) [108] Wizards of the Coast; The d20 System [109] Necromancer Games; D20 Products with 3rd Edition Rules, 1st Edition Feel [110] Goodman Games; Dungeon Crawl Classics [111] Thorn; Review of Hackmaster 4th Edition [112] "Castles & Crusades is a fantasy RPG, clearly based upon the first edition of AD&D but with streamlined d20-like rules." (Mythmere; Castles & Crusades Players Handbook (4.6 stars)) [113] Gary Gygax was writing an entire line of Castle Zagyg products for Castles & Crusades. (Troll Lord games; Castle Zagyg Product Page) [114] Paizo Publishing; Paizo Publishing Announces the Pathfinder RPG [115] Pramas; Green Ronin and Fourth Edition D&D [116] Anonymous (July 9, 2008). "Kenzer & Co, D&D, and Trademarks" (http:/ / robertsongames. com/ role-playing-games/ dungeons-dragons/ kenzer-co-dd-and-trademarks). Robertson Games. . Retrieved July 7, 2009. [117] Cardwell; "The Attacks on Role-Playing Games" [118] Williams, Tweet, Cook; Monster Manual, pp. 41,47) [119] Gagne; Moral Panics Over Youth Culture and Video Games [120] Darlington; A History of Role-Playing Part IV [121] Hately; The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III (Part I) [122] O'Connor; TV: 'Mazes and Monsters,' Fantasy [123] Svitavsky; "Geek Culture" in The Bulletin of Bibliography 58 2 [124] Armando; "Emotional Stability Pertaining to Dungeons and Dragons" in Psychology in the Schools 84 (4) [125] Judges Guild; "Interview with Dave Arneson" in Pegasus #1 [126] Rausch; Dave Arneson Interview [127] Gygax; Gygax FAQ [128] Curell; Dungeons & Dragons-30 Years and Going Strong [129] Onion; "Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma" in The Onion 31 (21) [130] Cohen, Keler, Rogers; Anthology of Interest I [131] Manson, Marilyn; Strauss, Neil (1999). The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. HarperCollins. p. 26. ISBN 0060987464. [132] Diesel, Colbert, Lillard: Tonjes; Interview with Charles Ryan on the 2005 Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day [133] Diesel, Williams, Moby, Lillard, Colbert: Shanafelt; The growing chic of geek

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Dungeons & Dragons [134] Briggs; Duncan's unusual hobby and more unusual request [135] Diesel contributed the introduction, and both Colbert and Wheaton page personal reflections to Johnson, et al.; 30 Years of Adventure [136] Lees, Jennie. "Fear of Girls." Joystiq (http:/ / www. joystiq. com/ 2006/ 01/ 30/ fear-of-girls/ ) [137] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ columns/ briefhistory/ briefhistory3. phtml [138] http:/ / www. gamebanshee. com/ interviews/ garygygax1. php [139] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. gamebanshee. com%2Finterviews%2Fgarygygax1. php& date=2009-07-13 [140] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. gamebanshee. com%2Finterviews%2Fgarygygax2. php& date=2009-07-13 [141] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. latimes. com%2Fentertainment%2Fla-et-favreau5-2008may05%2C0%2C6653890%2Cfull. story& date=2008-05-17 [142] http:/ / www. latimes. com/ entertainment/ la-et-favreau5-2008may05,0,6653890,full. story [143] http:/ / www. rpgstudies. net/ cardwell/ attacks. html [144] http:/ / www. montecook. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?mc_los_155 [145] http:/ / xpress. sfsu. edu/ archives/ arts/ 001575. html [146] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ wotcdemo. html [147] http:/ / ptgptb. org/ 0004/ hist4. html [148] http:/ / ptgptb. org/ 0005/ hist5. html [149] http:/ / ptgptb. org/ 0008/ hist8. html [150] http:/ / ptgptb. org/ 0009/ hist9. html [151] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5QUGV3ikF [152] http:/ / www. geocities. com/ rgfdfaq/ sources. html [153] http:/ / www. gamebits. net/ other/ mqp/ #23 [154] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ columns/ ingenre04aug04. html [155] http:/ / hdl. handle. net/ 1892/ 1547 [156] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 19990128161605/ http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What%20Happened%20to%20Gygax%20-%20TSR? [157] http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What%20Happened%20to%20Gygax%20-%20TSR? [158] http:/ / ptgptb. org/ 0006/ egbert. html [159] http:/ / www. gamingreport. com/ modules. php?op=modload& name=Sections& file=index& req=printpage& artid=186 [160] http:/ / www. wired. com/ gaming/ virtualworlds/ news/ 2008/ 03/ ff_gygax [161] http:/ / www. wired. com/ entertainment/ hollywood/ magazine/ 15-07/ pl_screen [162] http:/ / games. necrosys. com/ gal_paladin. shtml [163] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp [164] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070406174328/ http:/ / www. barr. karoo. net/ hws/ dbx/ fantfigs. htm [165] http:/ / www. barr. karoo. net/ hws/ dbx/ fantfigs. htm [166] http:/ / mythmere. tripod. com/ reviewph. html [167] http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ gst/ fullpage. html?res=9E01EEDA1438F93BA15751C1A964948260 [168] http:/ / www. cs. cmu. edu/ ~tpope/ sol/ grenadier/ advanced_dnd. html [169] http:/ / www. cs. cmu. edu/ ~tpope/ sol/ ral-partha/ index. html [170] http:/ / www. cs. cmu. edu/ ~tpope/ sol/ tsr/ adnd. html [171] http:/ / greenronin. com/ 2008/ 07/ green_ronin_and_4e. php [172] http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 540/ 540395p1. html [173] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ oracle/ essays/ rpgoverview. html [174] http:/ / www. uiargonaut. com/ content/ view/ 360/ 38/ [175] http:/ / otherworld. me. uk/ [176] http:/ / www. mountainx. com/ features/ 2005/ 1102dandd. php [177] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dramp/ 20071019 [178] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080822150013/ http:/ / www. buffalonews. com/ 185/ story/ 396318. html [179] http:/ / www. buffalonews. com/ 185/ story/ 396318. html [180] http:/ / reconstruction. eserver. org/ 011/ GeekCulture. htm [181] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ reviews/ archive/ 12/ 12222. phtml [182] http:/ / www. gamingreport. com/ modules. php?op=modload& name=Sections& file=index& req=printpage& artid=166 [183] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ mi/ 20040520b [184] http:/ / www. usask. ca/ relst/ jrpc/ art9-roleplaying. html [185] http:/ / www. colorado. edu/ ibs/ pb/ thornberry/ socy5031/ pdfs/ waskul_lust_role_playing. pdf [186] http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ uk_news/ magazine/ 3655627. stm [187] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070125102348/ http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ aagad/ awards/ archive [188] http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ aagad/ awards/ archive

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Dungeons & Dragons [189] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070626195127/ http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ aagad/ awards/ hall-of-fame [190] http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ aagad/ awards/ hall-of-fame [191] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070830114254/ http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ awards/ 2001 [192] http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ awards/ 2001 [193] http:/ / gamesmagazine-online. com/ gameslinks/ hallofame. html [194] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070324034137/ http:/ / www. goodmangames. com/ DCCpreview. php [195] http:/ / www. goodmangames. com/ DCCpreview. php [196] http:/ / www. necromancergames. com/ [197] http:/ / paizo. com/ paizo/ news/ v5748eaic9l3h [198] http:/ / www. computerandvideogames. com/ article. php?id=157343& site=pcg [199] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070222225852/ http:/ / www. trolllord. com/ newsite/ zagyg/ index. html [200] http:/ / www. trolllord. com/ newsite/ zagyg/ index. html [201] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=d20/ welcome [202] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ company/ downloads/ WotC_4E_Announcement. pdf [203] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. wizards. com%2Fdnd%2FDnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04 [204] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp [205] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ whatisdnd [206] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=welcome/ conventions/ gencon07 [207] http:/ / www. theonion. com/ content/ node/ 29743 [208] http:/ / www. judgesguild. net/ guildhall/ pegasus/ pegasus_01/ interview. shtml [209] http:/ / www. boston. com/ news/ globe/ editorial_opinion/ oped/ articles/ 2004/ 11/ 15/ dungeons_and_dragons_we_love_you/ [210] [211] [212] [213] [214] [215] [216] [217] [218] [219] [220] [221]

http:/ / www. indie-rpgs. com/ articles/ 20/ http:/ / article. nationalreview. com/ ?q=ZmYzZDFmNWI5MTg1N2FmY2E4MTdlMWU5YzBjZjI1ODM= http:/ / online. wsj. com/ public/ article/ SB121487030020517745. html?mod=2_1578_middlebox http:/ / www. electronicbookreview. com/ thread/ firstperson/ original http:/ / archive. salon. com/ tech/ feature/ 2000/ 03/ 29/ open_dungeon/ index. html http:/ / www. rpgstudies. net/ http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538848p1. html?fromint=1 http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd http:/ / www. dmoz. org/ Games/ Roleplaying/ Genres/ Fantasy/ Dungeons_& _Dragons/ http:/ / www. d20srd. org/ http:/ / www. dandwiki. com/ http:/ / www. acaeum. com/

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The Early Years Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons include fantasy fiction, mythology, and wargaming rules among others. An immediate predecessor of Dungeons & Dragons was a set of medieval miniature rules written by Jeff Perren. These were expanded by Gary Gygax, whose additions included a fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail. When Dave Wesely entered the service in 1970, his friend and fellow Napoleonics wargamer Dave Arneson began a medieval variation of Wesely's Braunstein games, where players control individuals instead of armies.[1] Arneson used Chainmail to resolve combats.[2] As play progressed, Arneson added such innovations as character classes, experience points, level advancement, armor class, and others.[1] Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give up the Ship, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing "The Fantasy Game", the role-playing game (RPG) that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax.[2] [3] [4] [5] Many Dungeons & Dragons elements also appear in hobbies of the mid- to late twentieth century (though these elements also existed previously). Character-based role playing, for example, can be seen in historical reenactment and improvisational theatre. Game-world simulations were well-developed in wargaming. Fantasy milieus specifically designed for gaming could be seen in Glorantha's board games among others. Ultimately, however, Dungeons & Dragons represents a unique blending of these elements. The theme of D&D was influenced by mythology, pulp fiction, and contemporary fantasy authors of the 1960s and 1970s. The presence of halflings, elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, dragons and the like often draw comparisons to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien. Gygax maintained that he was influenced very little by The Lord of the Rings (although the owners of that work's copyright forced the name change of hobbit to halfling), stating that he included these elements as a marketing move to draw on the popularity of the work[6] [7] Other influences include the works of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, Roger Zelazny, and Michael Moorcock.[8] Monsters, spells, and magic items used in the game have been inspired by hundreds of individual works ranging from A. E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer" (the Displacer Beast), Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" (Vorpal sword) to the Book of Genesis (the clerical spell "Blade Barrier" was inspired by the "flaming sword which turned every way" at the gates of Eden).[9] One of the games designers, Gary Gygax, has specifically listed influences including Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fletcher Pratt, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, A. Merritt, and H. P. Lovecraft. Less significant influences were Roger Zelazny, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Philip José Farmer.[10] A number of elements were drawn from the fantasy work of J. R. R. Tolkien, although Gary Gygax claims the influence is primarily superficial.[11]

Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Classes Assassin The assassin appeared as a base class in 1st Edition AD&D and as a prestige class in 3rd Edition. They were loosely based on stereotypes of real-world assassins, and on the Islamic assassins that originated during the Crusades.

Barbarian The barbarian appeared as a class in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana. The class was obviously heavily inspired by Howard's Conan the Barbarian, whom Gygax professed to being a fan of since 1950.[12] As Conan was often deeply suspicious of magic, this barbarian was limited in its ability to use magical items until higher levels. This class was a great leaper and an able climber, like Conan. The D&D 3.5 version retained some similarities, but eliminated the disdain for magic. A less psychotic version of a berserker's fury was incorporated as the rage ability (previously, berserkers had been NPCs or monsters) for barbarians. The 3.5 barbarian remained close to its archetypal founder, however, possessing a trap sense and uncanny dodge abilities similar to Conan's keen eye for trouble. In 4th edition, the barbarians' rage abilities are overtly magical; the barbarian allowing himself or herself to be possessed by Primal (nature) spirits which provide supernatural rage.

Bard The bard made its earliest appearance in The Strategic Review #6 (February 1976), predating AD&D. It was inspired by stories of the Celtic bard, a musician and keeper of ritual lore, related to the druidic tradition. The original bard was a dual-classed fighter/thief/druid. Later editions diverged from this inspiration, making the bard a sort of scoundrel, minstrel, and enchanter with a knowledge of legends.

Cleric The cleric is largely inspired by folklore of the medieval cleric of Templar.[13] Like the Templars described in White's The Once and Future King, clerics in D&D were forbidden edged weapons by religious vows. Their spellcasting abilities parallel the miracles of saints, but bear little resemblance to the folklore of the fighting priest. AD&D 2nd edition introduced the concept of speciality priests, of which the druid is an example, who had different spell capabilities and different weapon choices. Clerics, in 3.5, are drawn to maces and staves primarily by a lack of proficiency with martial weapons, and to a lesser degree by a deity's favored weapon. The warhammer, typically presented as a small sledge, rather than the historical pick-like weapon, is another iconic cleric weapon, wielded by dwarven clerics in 3.5, with more than passing resemblances to the hammer of Thor.

Druid Although inspired by lore of Celtic priests in pre-Roman times, druids in Dungeons & Dragons bear little resemblance to their historical counterparts. A druid, in D&D, is a divine caster who reveres nature. They possess special supernatural powers, in particular the ability to change into animal form, and do not wear metal armor.

Fighter The fighter (or fighting man as he was originally called) is a very generic term used to describe all kinds of historical, mythological and fantastical warriors, mercenaries, knights and bandits.

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Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Monk The monk is based on the Asian martial arts tradition, particularly wuxia and appearances of kung fu, karate, and ninjitsu in the later part of the 20th century in the US. Many of their abilities are those ascribed to sifus and Zen masters.

Paladin The paladin, named for Charlemagne's pious champions, is inspired by legends of chivalry and piety, particularly those of the European Renaissance. A specific source seems to be the character of Ogier the Dane/Holger Danske as depicted in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and three Lions.

Ranger Largely inspired by the character of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. Notably, in 1st edition AD&D the Ranger class was exceptionally proficient with crystal balls, a trait derived from Aragorn's ancestral right to the palantíri. Later versions of the class diverged radically from its origins, reimagining the class as a Druidic-themed warrior with a mystical connection to nature and animal empathy abilities.

Rogue Although the daring rogue, thief or trickster character is a staple of human legends, the D&D rogue and his ancestors owe a special debt to Bilbo Baggins and Grey Mouser, Fritz Leiber's swashbuckling rogue.

Sorcerer Although the sorcerer was primarily introduced as a substitute spellcaster for those that did not like the wizard magic system, the legends of magic-users born with inborn magic can be traced back to stereotypes as Merlin (except that he had demon blood, rather than dragon blood).

Wizard Wizards memorize their spells, then forget them when cast in the fashion of magicians from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series of novels. [14]

Races Dwarves Dwarves come from Scandinavian and Teutonic mythology[15] with some inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, although modified in translation. Tolkien's dwarves were already less sorcerous and fey than their legendary Anglo-Saxon forebears. D&D dwarves derive their greed, stubbornness, and martial character essentially from the company of dwarves who hire Bilbo in The Hobbit to serve as an "expert treasure hunter."

Elves Elves in Dungeons & Dragons derive mainly from the works of Tolkien, with their long lives, affinity for wild places, ancient magic, grace, benevolence, dreamless sleep, and humanoid appearance. Like Tolkien's elves, the Second Edition of Dungeons & Dragons had elves who did not die of old age, instead they migrated to another land, similar to the way Tolkien's elves all eventually felt the urge for the Undying Lands.[16] Gary Gygax claims D&D elves draw very little from Tolkien. [17] Elves in D&D are immune to paralysis as a holdover from a game balance adjustment in Chainmail.[18]

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Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Gnomes Gnomes come from all kinds of mythology. They were traditionally a small and plump race of jolly men who had beards and pointed caps. The early editions of D&D reflected this stereotype, but later versions began using a variant of gnome that was slightly taller and thinner, with slanted eyes and a talent for machinery.

Halflings In earlier editions of D&D, halflings are strongly inspired by Tolkien's hobbits (even referred to by that word frequently), being diminutive, chubby, furry-footed home-bodies with a penchant for dwelling in hollowed out hillsides and a racial talent for burglary.[19] TSR stopped using the word "Hobbit" after the threat of a lawsuit from holders of Tolkien's intellectual rights. They were ever after referred to as Halflings (a word Tolkien also used for hobbits, but which is not trademarked) though they remained otherwise as described before. Upon the release of the third edition of D&D, Halflings were significantly reimagined, becoming sleek tricksters incorporated some elements of the Dragonlance series' kender and colorful stereotypes of Gypsies.

Half-Orcs Half-orcs are loosely based on Tolkien's works which described a cross-breed race of Men that had orcish blood.

Half-Elves Although half-elves in D&D are a large group, in classic mythology and in Tolkien there were only a small group of them.

Creatures Beholder The Beholder was conceived of by Terry Kuntz, the brother of early D&D designer Robert J. Kuntz.[20] The Beholder's xenophobia towards other subraces of Beholders was added after Jim Holloway submitted multiple designs for the Beholder's spelljamming ship and Jeff Grubb decided to keep them all and used xenophobia to explain the differences in design style.[21]

Centaur The centaur comes from Greek mythology.

Chimera The chimera comes from Greek mythology. The original could spit or glance with lightning or poison. The D&D version, having a dragon head, could breathe fire. The third edition version could have the head of any chromatic dragon; a blue dragon chimera would spit lightning, like a classic chimera.

Djinn The djinn comes from Arabic folklore. In D&D it is a type of genie.

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Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Dryad A dryad is a demigod in Greek myth, a type of goddess or nymph associated with nature.

Efreet The efreet, a type of genie in D&D, comes from Arabic folklore. They live in a City of Brass.

Ettin An ettin is a species of giant in English and Irish folklore.

Golem The word golem comes from Jewish folklore, and refers to a man of clay, named Joseph, created by a community as a protector.

Hobgoblin In legend, a hobgoblin is a type of sprite or brownie. In D&D, it is a larger, particularly violent variety of goblin. Tolkien had used the term 'hobgoblin' for a large sort of goblin in The Hobbit, but later realized that in folklore hobgoblins were actually the smaller sort.

Medusa The medusa is named after a creature in Greek mythology with the same appearance and powers.

Mind Flayer Mind flayers are original to D&D. They were inspired by the cover of Brian Lumley's novel The Burrowers Beneath. [22]

Minotaur The minotaur appears as a unique creature in Greek mythology.

Nymph Nymphs come from Greek myth, in which they exhibit their blinding beauty.

Orc Orcs come from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings[23] where they are described as bestial, brutal, and evil humanoids. The term orc, before Tolkien, meant a monster, possibly an ogre, but usually referred to a type of sea monster.

Simurgh The simurgh is a creature of Persian mythology.

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Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Tarrasque The Tarasque (note different spelling) was a legendary monster in the French region of Tarascon. According to tradition, the monster was tamed by St. Martha.

Treant Treants are based on Ents from Tolkien's work.[24] They were renamed after the same lawsuit from the Tolkien estate that prompted the switch from "hobbit" to "halfling", among other changes.

Troll Trolls come from Northern European folklore. The D&D version was inspired by a regenerating troll that appear in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions.[25]

Vampire Although vampires appear in ancient Greek and medieval myth, D&D vampires owe their ancestry to Hollywood renditions of Dracula. Silver is a weakness of cinematic vampires.

Wight The wight is a deadly undead creature inspired by the barrow-wights in The Lord of the Rings.

Wyvern The wyvern appears as a heraldic figure.

Magic Items Ioun Stones Ioun stones come from the Dying Earth tales of Jack Vance, with little alteration.[26]

Miscellaneous Alignment D&D alignment draws from several sources. The Law-Chaos axis comes from the stories of Michael Moorcock, particularly his Eternal Champion stories, and is echoed in other sources. Alternatively the Law-Chaos axis may be derived from the novel Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson. AD&D added the Good-Evil axis, emulating Christian dualistic ideas .

Mithral A lightweight, shiny metal inspired by Tolkien's mithril.

25

Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons

Prismatic Spray The prismatic spray comes from Vance's "Mazirian the Magician", which features the Excellent Prismatic Spray.

Cursed weapons Character in D&D that acquire cursed weapons don't want to be rid of them. This was drawn from the "One Ring" in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novel and Stormbringer from Michael Moorcock's novels of Elric. [27]

References • Arneson, Dave (June/July 1979). "My Life and Role Playing". Different Worlds #3 (Chaosium): 6–9. • Birnbaum, Jon (July 20, 2004). "Gary Gygax Interview" [138]. Game Banshee. Retrieved March 1, 2007. Archived copy of the article, taken 2009-07-13: page 1 [139], page 2 [140] • Gygax, Gary (March 1985). "On the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D games". The Dragon (95): pp. 12–13 • Noonan, David; David Noonan (2007-10-09). "Birth of a Rule" [28]. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original [29] on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-10-09.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Arneson; "My Life and Role Playing" in Different Worlds #3 Birnbaum 2004 Kushner; Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax Mead, Lawrence; Malcomson, Ian (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [5] Wizards of the Coast; The History of TSR [6] Kuntz, Rob (April 1978). "Tolkien in Dungeons & Dragons". The Dragon #13 (TSR Hobbies, Inc.) II (7): 8. [7] (Gygax 1985) [8] According to the original Dungeon Masters Guide Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading the first seven listed here are the "most immediate influences." Gygax, Gary (1979). Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR, Inc.. p. 224. ISBN 0-935696-02-4. [9] DeVarque, Aardy R.. "Literary Sources of D&D" (http:/ / www. geocities. com/ rgfdfaq/ sources. html). . Retrieved 2007-02-21. [10] "A careful examination of the games will quickly reveal that the major influences are Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, A. Merritt, and H. P. Lovecraft. Only slightly lesser influence came from Roger Zelazny, E. R. Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Philip Jose Farmer, and many others." (Gygax 1985) [11] "The seeming parallels and inspirations are actually the results of a studied effort to capitalize on the then-current "craze" for Tolkien's literature. Frankly, to attract those readers - and often at the urging of persons who were playing prototypical forms of D&D games - I used certain names and attributes in a superficial manner, merely to get their attention!" (Gygax 1985) [12] Gygax, Gary (July 1982). "A couple of fantastic flops". Dragon #63 (TSR Hobbies, Inc.) Viii (1): 72. [13] "The AD&D game models its cleric after the medieval fighter-cleric, à la Templar or Hospitlar." Lakofka, Lenard (1982-12). "Leomund's Tiny Hunt: The cloistered cleric". Dragon (TSR, Inc) VII:7 (68): pp. 30 [14] "The four cardinal types of magic are ... the relatively short spoken spell (as in Finnish mythology or as found in the superb fantasy of Jack Vance).... The basic assumption, then, was that D & D magic worked on a 'Vancian' system and if used correctly would be a highly powerful and effective force." Gygax, Gary (April 1976). "The Dungeons and Dragons Magic System". The Strategic Review (TSR Hobbies, Inc.) II (2): 3. [15] "Dwarves, on the other hand, are well known in Teutonic and Scandinavian myths; here, the Professor and I build upon the same foundation." (Gygax 1985) [16] "Upon attaining this age, an elf does not die. Rather he feels compelled to migrate to some mysterious, other land, departing the world of men." Cook, David (1989) [1989]. "Player Character Races". in Mike Breault. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: 2nd Edition: Player's Handbook. TSR, Inc.. p. 24. ISBN 0-88038-716-5. [17] "Tolkien had them taller, more intelligent, more beautiful, and older than humans; in fact, he made them quite similar to the fair-folk, the fairies. The elves of the AD&D game system borrow two names (gray and wood) from the Professor's writings, and that is nearly all. They are shorter than humans, and not generally as powerful." (Gygax 1985) [18] "Ever wonder why elves are immune to paralysis? As far as we can figure out, that immunity came from a game-balance issue in the original Chainmail rules, which mostly covered medieval warfare (with a fantasy supplement that spawned the game we all play today). Masses of low-cost undead troops were beating up high-cost elf troops, so the 'elves are immune to paralysis'

26

Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons emerged as a balancing factor." (Noonan 2007, "Birth of a Rule) [19] Though some sources claim that "'Hobbit' had some precendent as a folkword borrowed from legends, Tolkien personified and developed these diminutive stalwarts extensively. They, and the name, are virtually unique to his works, and the halflings of both game systems draw substantial inspiration from them." (Gygax 1985) [20] http:/ / ridureyu. tripod. com/ ggygax. html [21] Grubb Street, Friday, April 18, 2008: Beholder (http:/ / grubbstreet. blogspot. com/ 2008/ 04/ beholder. html) - So when I asked for beholder ships, he (Jim Holloway) gave me a wide variety. And we decided to use ALL of them, and since they were radically different we decided that beholders were xenophobic and hated other beholders. And since various artists over the years made beholders look doughy, crab-like, tentacled, and a variety of other shapes, the idea of different species of beholders (all looking different) made sense. [22] "The mind flayer I made up out of whole cloth using my imagination, but inspired by the cover of Brian Lumley's novel in paperback edition, The Burrowers Beneath." Gygax (posting as "Col_Pladoh"), Gary (2005-02-01). "Gary Gygax Q&A: part VII" (http:/ / enworld. cyberstreet. com/ showpost. php?s=2747b9e3683e019185853480151270ce& p=1991676& postcount=126). . Retrieved 2007-02-27. [23] "'Orc' (from Orcus) is another term for an ogre or ogre-like creature. Being useful fodder for the ranks of bad guys, monsters similar to Tolkien's orcs are also in both games." (Gygax 1985) [24] "'Ent' is interesting; Tolkien took the name from an old Anglo-Saxon word for 'giant,' and his treatment of them as sentient trees is inspired. This sort of creature appears in both game systems." (Gygax 1985) [25] "Trolls, however, are not identified well by the Professor; these game monsters are taken from myth, influenced somewhat by Poul Anderson." (Gygax 1985) [26] "The idea and name for the ioun stone originally appeared in a series of books written by Jack Vance. Collectively, these works are referred to as the Dying Earth novels. They include: The Dying Earth, Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel’s Saga, and Rhialto the Marvelous." Hargenrader, Matthew P. (1991-10). "Bazaar of the Bizarre: Ioun stones: Where do you go if you want some more?". Dragon Magazine (TSR, Inc) (174): pp. 90 [27] "The salient feature of D&D's cursed weapons, that you don't want to get rid of them even after you know about the curse, comes straight from Tolkien's One Ring and Moorcock's

Stormbringer." (Noonan 2007 "Birth of a Rule") [28] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5STIwVMiT [29] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4ex/ 20071009a

TSR, Inc. Industry

Role-playing game publisher

Fate

acquired & discontinued

Successor

Wizards of the Coast

Founded

1983

Defunct

1997

Headquarters Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA Key people

Gary Gygax, Brian Blume, Lorraine Williams

Products

Dungeons & Dragons

TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company most famous for publishing the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The company was purchased in 1997 by Wizards of the Coast, which no longer uses the TSR name for its products.

27

TSR, Inc.

28

History Tactical Studies Rules

Industry

Role-playing game publisher

Fate

dissolved

Successor

TSR Hobbies, Inc.

Founded

1973

Defunct

1975

Headquarters Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA Key people

Gary Gygax, Don Kaye, Brian Blume

Products

Dungeons & Dragons

Tactical Studies Rules was formed in 1973 as a partnership between Gary Gygax and Don Kaye, who scraped together $2,400 for startup costs,[1] as a means to publish formally and sell the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, one of the first modern role-playing games. They first published Cavaliers and Roundheads, a miniature game, to start generating income for TSR. The partnership was subsequently joined by Brian Blume and (temporarily) by Dave Arneson. Blume was admitted to the partnership to fund publishing of D&D instead of waiting for Cavaliers and Roundheads to generate enough revenue.[2] In 1974, TSR (with Gygax's basement as a base of operations) ran off 1,000 copies of Dungeons & Dragons, selling it for $10 and the extra dice needed for another $3.50.[1] TSR published Blume's Panzer Warfare in 1975, a World War II based miniature wargaming set of rules for use with 1:285 scale micro armour. At its inception, TSR sold its products directly to customers, shipped to game shops and hobby stores, and wholesaled only to three distributors which were manufacturers of miniatures figurines.[3] In 1975, TSR picked up one or two regular distributors.[3] In 1976, TSR joined the Hobby Industry Association of America and began exhibiting at their annual trade show, and began to establish a regular network of distributors.[3] Tim Kask was hired in 1975 as TSR's first Publications Editor, and the company's first full-time employee.[4] When Don Kaye died of a heart attack in 1975, the Tactical Study Rules partnership was dissolved.[5]

TSR Hobbies, Inc.

TSR, Inc.

29

Industry

Role-playing game publisher

Fate

split up

Successor

TSR, Inc., TSR Ventures, TSR International and TSR Entertainment Corporation

Founded

1975

Defunct

1983

Headquarters Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA Key people

Gary Gygax, Brian Blume, Kevin Blume

Products

Dungeons & Dragons

Subsidiaries

Greenfield Needlewomen

Brian Blume and Gary Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company, TSR Hobbies, Inc.,[5] of which Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, had the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc. Empire of the Petal Throne became the first game product published under TSR Hobbies, followed by two supplements to the D&D game, Greyhawk and Blackmoor.[5] Also released in 1975 were the board game Dungeon! and the Wild West RPG Boot Hill.[5] TSR began hosting the Gen Con Game Fair in 1976, and featured the first-ever D&D open tournament that year.[5] [6] D&D supplements Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes were released in 1976, and the original D&D Basic Set was released in 1977.[5] Also in 1977 TSR Hobbies published the original Monster Manual, the first hardbound book ever published by a game company, and the following year the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game was released, with its first product being the Player's Handbook, followed by a series of six adventure modules that had previously only been used in tournaments.[5] Also in 1978, TSR Hobbies moved out of Gygax's home and into downtown Lake Geneva above the Dungeon Hobby Shop.[5] In 1979, the Dungeon Master's Guide was published, and radio ads featuring "Morley the Wizard" were broadcast.[5] Gygax granted exclusive rights to Games Workshop to distribute TSR products in the UK, after meeting with Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson.[3] Games Workshop printed some original material and also printed their own versions of various D&D and AD&D titles, in order to avoid high import costs.[3] When TSR could not reach an agreement with Games Workshop regarding a possible merger, TSR created a subsidiary operation in the UK.[3] To meet growing international demand, the company TSR, Ltd. was formed in England in 1980.[5] Gygax hired Don Turnbull to head up the operation, which would also extend into continental Europe during the 1980s.[3] TSR, UK. produced and the U and UK series of AD&D modules and B/X1 and X8 for basic D&D,[3] as well as the original Fiend Folio. TSR, UK also produced Imagine magazine for 31 issues.[3] The first campaign setting for the AD&D game, the World of Greyhawk, was introduced in 1980. The Top Secret espionage role-playing game was introduced in 1980; reportedly, a note written on TSR stationery about a fictitious assassination plot, as part of playtesting the new game, brought the FBI to TSR's offices. That same year, the Role Playing Game Association was formed to promote quality roleplaying and to unite gamers around the country.[5] In 1981, Inc. magazine listed TSR Hobbies as one of the hundred fastest-growing privately held companies in the US. That same year, TSR Hobbies moved offices again to a former medical supply building with an attached warehouse; in 1982, TSR Hobbies broke the 20-million mark in sales.[5] In 1982, TSR Hobbies decided to terminate the license to Grenadier Miniatures and started producing its own AD&D miniatures line, and then a line of toys, while licensing part of the AD&D toy line to LJN.[3] Also in 1982, TSR introduced two new roleplaying games, Gangbusters and Star Frontiers. Exclusive distribution of the D&D

TSR, Inc. game was established in 22 countries, with the game being translated first into French, followed by many other languages including Danish, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, and Swedish. In 1982, an Educational department was established to develop curriculum programs for reading, math, history, and problem solving, with the most successful program being the Endless Quest book series.[5] Ownership of Melvin Blume's shares were later transferred to Kevin Blume. With the board of directors consisting of Kevin and Brian Blume plus Gygax, Gygax was primarily a figurehead president & CEO of the corporation with Brian Blume as President of creative affairs and Kevin as President, operations effect in 1981. TSR Hobbies sought diversification, acquiring or starting several new business ventures; these include a needlecraft business, miniatures manufacturing, toy and gift ventures, and an Entertainment division to pursue motion picture and television opportunities.[5] The company also acquired the trademarks and copyrights of SPI and Amazing Stories magazine.[5] In 1983, the company was split into four companies, TSR, Inc. (primary successor), TSR International, TSR Ventures and TSR Entertainment, Inc.[2] Gygax left for Hollywood to found TSR Entertainment, Inc. (later Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corp.), which attempted to license D&D products to movie and television executives. His work would eventually lead to only a single license for what later became the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.[7] However, the series spawned more than 100 different licenses, and led its time slot for two years.[5] The Blumes were forced to leave the company after being accused of misusing corporate funds and accumulating large debts in the pursuit of acquisitions such as latchhook rug kits that were thought to be too broadly targeted.[8] :4 Within a year of the ascension of the Blumes, the company was forced to post a net loss of 1.5 million US dollars, resulting in layoffs for approximately 75% of the staff. Some of these staff members went on to form other prominent game companies such as Pacesetter Games, Mayfair Games and to work with Coleco's video game division. TSR, Inc., released the Dragonlance saga in 1984 after two years of development, making TSR the number one publisher of fantasy and science fiction novels in the USA.[5] Dragonlance consisted of an entirely new game world promoted both by a series of game supplements and a trilogy of novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. "The Dragons of Autumn Twilight", the first novel in the series, reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, encouraging TSR to a launch a long series of paperback novels based on the various official settings for D&D. In 1984, TSR signed a license to publish the Marvel Super Heroes game, the Adventures of Indiana Jones game, and the Conan game. In 1985, the Gen Con game fair moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, due to a need for additional space. The Oriental Adventures hardback for AD&D is released, becoming the biggest seller. TSR introduced the All My Children game, based on the ABC daytime drama, with more than 150,000 copies sold. In 1986, TSR introduced the Dungeon Adventures magazine, a bi-monthly magazine featuring only adventure scenarios for the D&D game.[5]

Williams Ownership Gygax, who at that time owned only approximately 30% of the stock, requested that the Board of Directors remove the Blumes as a way of restoring financial health to the company. In an act many saw as retaliation, the Blumes sold their stock to Lorraine Williams.[8] :5 Gygax tried to have the sale declared illegal; after that failed, Gygax sold his remaining stock to Williams and used the capital to form New Infinity Productions. Williams was a financial planner who saw the potential for transforming the debt-plagued company into a highly profitable one. However, she was disdainful of the gaming field, viewing herself as superior to gamers.[9] [10] Williams implemented an internal policy under which playing games was forbidden at the company. This resulted in many products being released without being playtested (some were playtested "on the sly") and a large number of products being released that were incompatible with the existing game system. TSR released the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in 1987. That same year, a small team of designers began work on the second edition of the AD&D game. In 1988, TSR released a Bullwinkle & Rocky roleplaying game, complete with a spinner and hand puppets. That same year, TSR released a wargame based on Tom Clancy's novel, The Hunt

30

TSR, Inc. for Red October, which became one of the biggest selling wargames of all time. The Gen Con Game Fair joins forces with its major competitor, Origins. In 1989, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition is released, with a new Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, the first three volumes of the new Monstrous Compendium, The Complete Fighter's Handbook, The Complete Thief's Handbook, and a new campaign setting, Spelljammer, all released in the same year. Also in 1989, the RPGA Network branched out into additional countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the U.K., Israel, and Australia.[5] Through Williams' direction, TSR solidified its expansion into other fields, such as magazines, paperback fiction, and comic books. Through her family, Williams personally held the rights to the Buck Rogers license and encouraged TSR to produce Buck Rogers games and novels. TSR would end up publishing a board game and a role-playing game, the latter based on the AD&D 2nd Edition rules.[8] In 1990, the Ravenloft setting was released, and Count Strahd von Zarovich soon became one of the most popular and enduring villains. The West Coast division of TSR was opened in order to develop various entertainment projects, including a series of science fiction, horror, and action/adventure comic books. In 1991, TSR released the Dark Sun campaign setting, as well as an introductory Dungeons & Dragons game aimed at beginners. TSR also released the first set of three annual sets of collector cards in 1991. In 1992, TSR released the Al-Qadim setting. TSR's first hardcover novel, Legacy by R. A. Salvatore was released in that year, and climbed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list within weeks. In 1992, the Gen Con Game Fair broke all previous attendance records - for any U.S. gaming convention - with more than 18,000 people in attendance. In 1993, the DragonStrike Entertainment product is released as a new approach to gaining new players, including a 30-minute video which explains the concepts of role-playing. 1994 saw the release of the Planescape campaign setting.[5] By the early 1990s, the profits from TSR's fiction department actually far surpassed that of their gaming publications. During the height of its success, TSR made an annual profit of over one million U.S. dollars, and maintained a staff of 400 employees. However, problems grew in the company's business practices. After the emergence of collectible card games, TSR released several new collectable game lines: Dragon Dice and Spellfire. Neither found great success in the market place. Their inventory control became virtually nonexistent, and their warehouse became packed full of unsellable product. At the same time, TSR began retaliating against fan fiction and other creative work derived from TSR intellectual property, which angered many long-time customers and fans. Other new entrants into the RPG genre introduced competing fantasy worlds, which fragmented the RPG community, further reducing TSR's already wilting consumer base. TSR itself introduced no fewer than six campaign settings over the 1990s (Al-Qadim, Birthright, Council of Wyrms, Dark Sun, Planescape and Ravenloft, in addition to the traditional five settings of Mystara, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk and Spelljammer), diluting its own fan base and creating competition between its expensive boxed campaign sets. Some campaign boxed sets (particularly Planescape) actually sold for less money than they cost to make. These and other factors, such as a disastrous year for its fiction lines in 1996 (over one million copies of tie-in books for various game lines were returned to TSR that year), led to TSR ending accumulating over $30 million in debt by 1996, and having to endure multiple rounds of layoffs.[10] Ryan Dancey, Vice President of Wizards of the Coast, believed that TSR failed because of "...a near total inability to listen to its customers, hear what they were saying, and make changes to make those customers happy."[11] With the decline of TSR, Wizards of the Coast, publishers of the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, became the largest role-playing game company. Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and its intellectual properties in 1997,[6] ending the company's slow fall from grace.[12] TSR employees were given the opportunity to transfer to Wizards of the Coast's offices in Washington; some accepted the offer. Corporate offices in the Lake Geneva office were closed. Over the next few years, various parts of the company were resold to other companies, while in 1999, Wizards of the Coast was itself purchased by Hasbro, Inc. In 2002 Gen Con was sold to Peter Adkison's Gen Con, LLC.[13] Also in 2002 TSR's magazines were transferred to Paizo Publishing.[14] The TSR brand name continued for several years, then was retired. Soon after, TSR trademarks were allowed to expire.

31

TSR, Inc.

32

Logos

July 1975–December 1978. The creature depicted is a lizardman. This particular image first appeared on the inside front cover the 1975 Greyhawk supplement book authored by Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz.

December 1978–1980

1982–1991 This logo was frequently recolored to match the needs of a particular product, sometimes with different colors for the inside and outside.

1992–1999 Received U.S. trademark registration number 1980554 on June 18, 1996. Trademark canceled on March 22, 2003.

Products TSR's main products were role-playing games, the most successful of which was Dungeons & Dragons. However, they also produced other games like card, board and dice games, and published both magazines and books.

Role-playing games • Alternity (1998) • Amazing Engine (1993) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Boot Hill (1975) Buck Rogers XXVC Conan the Barbarian DragonLance: Fifth Age (Saga System) (1996) Dragonstrike (board game and VHS tutorial) (1993) Dungeons & Dragons (1974) Empire of the Petal Throne (1975) Gamma World (1978) Gangbusters (1982) Indiana Jones Marvel Super Heroes Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (Saga System) (1998) Metamorphosis Alpha (1976) Star Frontiers (1982) Top Secret (1980) and Top Secret/S.I.

TSR, Inc.

Wargames • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

A Gleam of Bayonets (on Antietam) Battlesystem Cavaliers and Roundheads (1973) Chainmail (1975) Classic Warfare (1975) Divine Right (1979) Don't Give Up The Ship! (1975) Fight in the Skies (1975) (later renamed Dawn Patrol) Gammarauders Little Big Horn (1976)[2] Panzer Warfare (1975) Sniper! (1986) Star Probe (1975) Tractics (1975) Tricolor (1975) Warriors of Mars (1974)

• Wellington's Victory • William the Conqueror (1976) • Cordite & Steel (1977)

Other games • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Attack Force (microgame) The Awful Green Things From Outer Space (board game) Blood Wars (collectible card game) Buck Rogers - Battle for the 25th Century (board game) Chase (board game) Dragonlance (board game) Dragon Strike (board game) Dragon Dice (collectible dice game) Dungeon! (1975) Elixir (board game) Endless Quest gamebooks Escape From New York (1981) (board game) "Fantasy Forest" (1980) (board game) 4th Dimension (board game) The Great Khan Game (card game) Icebergs (microgame) Kage (board game) Maxi Bour$e (board game) Party Zone: Spy Ring Scenario (partygame) Remember the Alamo (microgame) Revolt on Antares (microgame) Saga (microgame)

• Spellfire (collectible card game) • Snit's Revenge (boardgame) • Steppe (board game)

33

TSR, Inc. • They've Invaded Pleasantville (microgame) • Vampyre (microgame) • Viking Gods (microgame)

Magazines • • • •

Amazing Stories Dragon Dungeon Adventures Imagine

Comics In the 1990s TSR published a number of comic book series, some of them based on their role playing games. • • • • •

13:Assassin Agent 13: The Midnight Avenger Birthright: The Serpents Eye Buck Rogers Comic Module Dragonlance Fifth Age

• • • • • • • •

Dragonlance Saga Fineous Fingers Collection Forgotten Realms The Grand Tour Intruder Comics Module Labyrinth of Madness R.I.P. Comics Module Snarfquest Collection Warhawks Comics Module

Fiction In 1984, TSR started publishing novels based on their games. Most D&D campaign settings had their own novel line, the most successful of which were the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms lines with dozens of novels released in each. TSR also published the 1995 novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future by Martin Caidin, a standalone reimagining of the Buck Rogers universe and unrelated to TSR's Buck Rogers XXVC game. TSR published quite a number of fantasy and science fiction novels unconnected with their gaming products, such as L. Dean James' "Red Kings of Wynnamyr" novels, Sorcerer's Stone (1991) and Kingslayer (1992); Mary H. Herbert's five "Gabria" novels (Valorian, Dark Horse, Lightning's Daughter, City of the Sorcerers and Winged Magic); and also humorous fantasy fiction including Roy V. Young's "Count Yor" novels Captains Outrageous (1994) and Yor's Revenge(1995). However such projects never represented more than a fraction of the company's fiction output, which retained a strong emphasis on game-derived works.

Criticism After its initial success faded, the company turned to legal defenses of what it regarded as its intellectual property. In addition, there were several legal cases brought regarding who had invented what within the company and the division of royalties, including several lawsuits against Gygax.[15] These actions reached their nadir when the company threatened to sue individuals supplying game material on Internet sites. In the mid-1990s, this led to frequent use of the nickname "T$R" in discussions on RPG-related Internet mailing lists and Usenet, as the company

34

TSR, Inc. was widely perceived as attacking its customers. Increasing product proliferation did not help matters; many of the product lines overlapped and were separated by what seemed like minor points (even the classic troika of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance suffered in this regard). The company was the subject of an urban myth stating that it tried to trademark the term "Nazi". This was based on a supplement for the Indiana Jones RPG in which some figures were marked with "NaziTM". This notation was in compliance with the list of trademarked character names supplied by Lucasfilm's legal department.[16] Later references to the error would forget its origin and slowly morph into stories of TSR's trying to register such a trademark, possibly aided by TSR's own reputation late in its existence as a "trademark Nazi" company.

See also • Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association

External links • TSR history to 1999 [204] • Publication list on Pen & Paper [17] • Gamespy interview with Gary Gygax [18] on the history of TSR (among other things)

References [1] Kushner, David. "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. wired. com/ gaming/ virtualworlds/ news/ 2008/ 03/ ff_gygax). Wired.com. . Retrieved 2008-10-16. [2] Sacco, Ciro Alessandro (2 2007). "An Interview with Gary Gygax, Part I" (http:/ / www. dragonsfoot. org/ files/ pdf/ ODD09. pdf) (PDF). OD&Dities issue 9. Richard Tongue. pp. 7. . Retrieved 2007-11-09. [3] Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=37). thekyngdoms.com. . Retrieved 2008-10-24. [4] Kask, Tim. "GROGNARDIA: Interview: Tim Kask (Part I)" (http:/ / grognardia. blogspot. com/ 2008/ 09/ interview-tim-kask-part-i. html). Grognardia.blogspot.com. . Retrieved 2008-10-19. [5] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [6] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [7] Rausch, Allen (2004-08-16). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part 2" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538820p1. html). GameSpy. IGN. . Retrieved 2006-07-05. [8] Rausch, Allen (16 August 2004). "Magic & Memories: The Complete History of Dungeons & Dragons - Part II" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 539/ 539197p1. html). GameSpy. IGN. . Retrieved 2008-12-20. [9] "gygaxfaq: What Happened to Gygax - TSR?" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 19990128161605/ http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What Happened to Gygax - TSR?). gygax.com. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What Happened to Gygax - TSR?) on 1999-01-28. . Retrieved 2006-07-04. [10] "Magic & Memories: The Complete History of Dungeons & Dragons - Part III: Mazes & Monsters" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 539/ 539628p1. html). Gamespy. 2004-08-17. pp. 1. . Retrieved 2006-07-04. [11] Dancey, Ryan. "Archived Record" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20040530094717/ http:/ / atlasofadventure. com/ Archive/ TSR1997Buyout. asp). Archived from the original (http:/ / atlasofadventure. com/ Archive/ TSR1997Buyout. asp) on 2004-05-30. . Retrieved 2008-03-29. [12] Tidwell, Ken (1997-04-10). "Wizards of the Coast to acquire TSR" (http:/ / www. gamecabinet. com/ news/ TSRWotC. html). http:/ / www. gamecabinet. com. The Game Cabinet. . Retrieved 2006-09-14. [13] "Biography, Peter D. Adkison" (http:/ / www. gencon. com/ 2006/ indy/ press/ peter. aspx). Gen Con LLC. . Retrieved 2006-07-04. [14] Wizards of the Coast (2002-07-08). "Wizards of the Coast Signs Exclusive Publishing Agreement With Paizo Publishing, LLC To Produce Top Hobby Industry Magazines" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=company/ pr/ 20020708b). Press release. . Retrieved 2008-12-20. [15] La Farge, Paul (September 2006). "Destroy All Monsters" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. believermag. com/ issues/ 200609/ ?read=article_lafarge& date=2008-10-04). The Believer Magazine. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. believermag.

35

TSR, Inc. com/ issues/ 200609/ ?read=article_lafarge) on 2008-10-04. . [16] Laws, Robin D. (2007-08). 40 Years of Gen Con. Atlas Games. pp. 139. ISBN 1-58978-097-3. "MATT FORBECK: ... the last copy of the Indiana Jones roleplaying games. ... It actually has one of the legendary counters in it that reads 'NaziTM.' Which apparently was not TSR's idea, but Lucasfilm insisted that everything that appeared in the game have a "TM" next to it." [17] http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showpublisher& publisherid=3 [18] http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538817p1. html

36

Dungeons & Dragons (1974)

37

Dungeons & Dragons (1974) Dungeons & Dragons

The original Dungeons & Dragons set Author

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

TSR, Inc.

Publication date 1974 Media type

Boxed set

The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974, and initially comprised the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation was TSR 2002. This small box set contained three booklets, which included Volume 1: Men & Magic, Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure, and Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Under the "Dungeons & Dragons" heading on the cover reads the following inscription: Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures. This set featured only a handful of the elements for which the game is known today: just three character classes (fighting-man, magic-user and cleric); four races (human, dwarf, elf, hobbit); only three alignments (lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The rules assumed that players owned and played the miniatures wargame Chainmail and used its measurement and combat systems. An optional combat system was included within the rules that later developed into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. In addition, the rules presumed ownership of Outdoor Survival, an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration and adventure. The "Monsters & Treasure" booklet contained some of the first depictions of the game's most iconic monsters, many of which were adapted from mythology, and various literary works. Illustrations were provided by Arneson himself, as well as Keenan Powell, Greg Bell, C. Corey, T. Keogh, and David C. Sutherland III.[1] This first set went through many printings[2] and was supplemented with several official additions, including Greyhawk and Blackmoor in 1975, and Eldritch Wizardry, Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes, and Swords & Spells in 1976. Gary Gygax won the Strategists Club's "Outstanding Designer & Writer" for the creation of D&D.[3]

Dungeons & Dragons (1974)

Awards • • • • • • •

Origins Awards (All-Time Best Role-Playing Rules, 1977) Origins Awards (Greatest Contribution to the Hobby 1967-77, 1977) Origins Awards (Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame, 1977) Strategists' Club Award (Best New Game, 1974) Pen & Paper (RPG Hall of Fame, 2002) Scrye Player's Choice (All-Time Favorite Role-Playing Game, 2006) Games Magazine (Hall of Fame, 1984)

External links • http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12683.phtml • http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10256.phtml • http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10298.phtml

References [1] "Dungeons & Dragons (1974)" (http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showbook& bookid=2469). Pen & Paper RPG Database. . Retrieved 2009-01-17. [2] "Original D&D Set" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ original. html). The Acaeum. . Retrieved 2009-01-17. [3] "Dungeons & Dragons 3-volume set" (http:/ / index. rpg. net/ display-entry. phtml?mainid=3000). RPGnet. . Retrieved 2008-10-20.

38

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set

39

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set rulebook Author

J. Eric Holmes, based upon the original work of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

TSR, Inc.

Publication date 1977 Media type

Boxed set

The original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set boxed set was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1977,[1] and initially comprised a separate edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, apart from the first edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game initially published in the same year. Its product designation was TSR 1001. This box set contained a 48-page rules book (with a light blue cover and artwork by David C. Sutherland III), along with a set of polyhedral dice. (For a period in 1979, TSR experienced a dice shortage. Basic sets published during this time frame instead came with two sheets of numbered cutout cardstock chits that functioned in lieu of dice, along with a coupon for ordering dice from TSR.)[2] The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook was sold either separately or in a boxed set including geomorphs, monsters and treasure assortments and a set of polyhedral dice, forming a complete basic game-system.[3] The rulebook also included a brief sample dungeon (complete with a full-page map), although starting with the fourth printing in 1978, the two booklets of maps, encounter tables, and treasure lists were replaced with the module B1: In Search of the Unknown[4] ; printings 6-11 (1979-1982) instead featured the module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands.[4] The rulebook opens with a compelling description of play:



Each player creates a character or characters who may be dwarves, elves, halflings or human fighting men, magic-users, pious clerics or wily thieves. The characters are then plunged into an adventure in a series of dungeons, tunnels, secret rooms and caverns run by another player: the referee, often called the Dungeon Master. The dungeons are filled with fearsome monsters, fabulous treasure, and frightful perils. As the players engage in game after game their characters grow in power and ability: the magic users learn more magic spells, the thieves increase in cunning and ability, the fighting men, halflings, elves and dwarves, fight with more deadly accuracy and are harder to kill. Soon the adventurers are daring to go deeper and deeper into the dungeons on each game, battling more terrible monsters, and, of course, recovering bigger and more fabulous treasure! The game is limited only by the inventiveness and imagination of the players, and, if a group is playing together, the characters can move from dungeon to dungeon within the same magical universe if game referees are approximately the same in [5] their handling of play.



TSR hired outside writer J. Eric Holmes to produce the Basic Set, an introductory version of the Dungeons & Dragons game. The Basic Set collected together, organized, and cleaned up the presentation of the essential rules from the original 1974 Dungeons & Dragons boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, as well as the Greyhawk

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set supplement, into a single booklet. This booklet explained the game's concepts and method of play in terms that made it accessible to new players ages 12 and above not familiar with tabletop miniatures wargaming. Unusual features of the original basic game included an alignment system of five alignments as opposed to the 3 or 9 alignments of the other versions. The Basic Set was packaged in a larger, more visually attractive box to allow the game to be stocked on common retail shelves, and targeted to toy stores and the general public. The original Basic Set was notable in that focused on only the first three levels of play, and was intended as a bridge between the original D&D and the AD&D rules rather than a simple introductory version of the game. Although this Basic Set was not compatible with AD&D, players were expected to continue play beyond third level by moving to the AD&D version,[6] which at the time was still forthcoming from Gary Gygax and TSR. Players who exhausted the possibilities of the basic game were directed in that set to switch to the advanced game, even though the basic game included many rules and concepts which contradicted comparable ones in the advanced game. Holmes, the editor of the basic game, preferred a lighter tone with more room for personal improvisation, while Gygax, who wrote the advanced game, wanted an expansive game with rulings on any conceivable situation which might come up during play, a document which could be used to arbitrate disputes at tournaments.[4] This Basic Set was very popular and allowed many to discover and experience the D&D game for the first time.

1981 revision After the release of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game, the Basic Set saw a major revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay. This version of the set included a larger 64-page rule book, the module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, 6 polyhedronal dice, and a marking crayon. The cover of the set included the tagline "Fantasy Adventure Game" under the Dungeons & Dragons logo. The game was not brought in line with AD&D but instead was made even more different, and thus the basic Dungeons & Dragons game became a separate and distinct product from TSR’s flagship game AD&D. This game was promoted as a continuation of the tone of original D&D whereas AD&D was an advancement of the mechanics.[7] Although simpler overall than the ‘Advanced’ game, it included rules for some situations not covered in AD&D. With the revision of the Basic Set, discrete sets of increasing power levels began to be introduced as expansions for the basic game.[8] The Moldvay Basic Set was immediately followed by the accompanying release of an Expert Set edited by Dave Cook, supporting character levels 4 through 14.[9] The revised Basic (Moldvay) rules can be distinguished from the original (Holmes) ones by the color of the covers: The Holmes Basic booklet had a blueprint-style pale blue cover, while the Moldvay Basic and Cook Expert booklets had bright red and blue covers, respectively.[10]

1983 revision The Basic Set was revised once more in 1983 by Frank Mentzer, this time as Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules, which included a 64-page book for players and a 48-page book for Dungeon Masters, with 6 dice and a crayon. This revision was packaged in a distinctive red box and featured cover art by Larry Elmore. Between 1983 and 1985 this system was revised and expanded by Mentzer as a series of five boxed sets, including the Basic Rules (red cover), Expert Rules (blue),[11] Companion Rules (green, supporting levels 15 through 25),[12] Master Rules (black, supporting levels 26 through 36),[13] and Immortal Rules (gold, supporting Immortals - characters who had transcended levels).[14]

40

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set

41

References [1] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [2] "D&D Basic Set" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ basic. html). The Acaeum. . Retrieved 2009-04-16. [3] Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 10): 17. [4] Lawrence Schick (1991). Heroic Worlds. Prometheus Books. [5] Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (rulebook) 1977, 5 [6] Gygax & Arneson (1977) p. 6. states "...experience levels that high are not discussed in this book and the reader is referred to the more complete rules in ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS" [7] Gygax, Gary (June 1979). "D&D, AD&D and Gaming". The Dragon #26 (TSR) III (12): 29–30. ISSN 1062-2101. [8] Gygax, Gary (December 1978). "Dungeons & Dragons: What Is It and Where Is It Going?". The Dragon #21 (TSR) III (8): 29–30. ISSN 1062-2101. [9] Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by Dave Cook. Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set (TSR, 1981) [10] "D&D Clones!". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (24): 29. April/May 1981. [11] Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by Frank Mentzer. Dungeons & Dragons Set 2: Expert Rules (TSR, 1983) [12] Mentzer, Frank. Dungeons & Dragons Set 3: Companion Rules (TSR, 1984) [13] Gygax, Gary, Frank Mentzer. Dungeons & Dragons Set 4: Master Rules (TSR, 1985) [14] Mentzer, Frank. Dungeons & Dragons Set 5: Immortal Rules (TSR, 1986)

Reviews: Different Worlds #12 (1981), Different Worlds #34 (1984), Dragon #84 (1984)

External links • http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_850.html • http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_8045.html

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons Over the years, there have been a number of different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The current publisher of D&D, Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game. Some D&D fans, however, continue to play older versions of the game and some third-party companies continue to publish materials compatible with these older editions. Parallel versions of D&D throughout its history and inconsistent product naming practices by D&D's original publisher TSR can make it difficult to distinguish between the various editions of the game.

Time line Dungeons & Dragons Version History noting key rule publications YEAR

GAME

1974

Dungeons & Dragons (original white box edition with three booklets) Men & Magic • Monsters & Treasure • The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

1977

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition) Monster Manual (December)

1978

Players Handbook (June)

1979

Dungeon Master Guide (August) Core rulebooks complete

1981

Dungeons & Dragons (2nd version) Basic Set (blue box) (levels 1–3)

Dungeons & Dragons (3rd version) Basic Set (magenta box) Expert Set (light blue box) (levels 4–14)

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

1983

42

Core rulebooks reprinted with new orange-spined covers

Dungeons & Dragons (4th version) Basic Set (red box) Expert Set (blue box) Companion Set (levels 15–25)

1984

Master Set (levels 26–36)

1985

Unearthed Arcana (a fourth "core" rulebook)

Immortals Set (levels 36+)

1989

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monstrous Compendium Replaces Monster Manual

Dungeons & Dragons (5th version) Rules Cyclopedia (levels 1–36)

1991 1992 1993

Monstrous Manual Replaces Monstrous Compendium

1996

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition revised Player's Handbook Dungeon Masters Guide

Wrath of the Immortals (levels 36+)

2000

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (three Core rulebooks) Player's Handbook • Dungeon Master's Guide • Monster Manual

2003

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition revised (v3.5) Revised editions of the core rulebooks (compatible with 3.0 via errata)

2008

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (three Core rulebooks) Player's Handbook • Monster Manual • Dungeon Master's Guide

2009

Player's Handbook 2 • Monster Manual 2 • Dungeon Master's Guide 2

2010

Player's Handbook 3 • Monster Manual 3 • Dungeon Master's Guide 3

Edition and version history Dungeons & Dragons The original Dungeons & Dragons was published as a boxed set in 1974 and featured only a handful of the elements for which the game is known today: just three character classes (fighting-man, magic-user and cleric); four races (human, dwarf, elf, hobbit); only a few monsters; only three alignments (lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The rules assumed that players owned and played the miniatures wargame Chainmail and used its measurement and combat systems. An optional combat system was included within the rules that later developed into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. In addition, the rules presumed ownership of Outdoor Survival, an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration and adventure (an unusual requirement, since Tactical Studies Rules was never in any way affiliated with rival Avalon Hill until two and a half decades later, when Wizards of the Coast - the purchaser of TSR's assets and trademarks - merged with Hasbro, which then owned Avalon Hill). D&D was a radically new gaming concept at the time, but the rules provided no overview of the game so it was difficult, without prior knowledge of tabletop wargaming, to see how it The original Dungeons & Dragons set was all supposed to work. The release of the Greyhawk Supplement removed the game's dependency on the Chainmail rules,[1] and made it much easier for new, non-wargaming players to grasp the concepts of play. Ironically, the ambiguities and obscurities of the original rules helped D&D's success as individual groups had to develop their own rulings and ways of playing and thus gained a sense of ownership of

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

43

the game. It also inadvertently aided the growth of competing game publishers, since just about anyone who grasped the concepts behind the game could write smoother and easier to use rules systems and sell them to the growing D&D fanbase (Tunnels & Trolls being the first such).[2] Supplements such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes (the last predecessor of Deities and Demigods), published over the next two years, greatly expanded the rules, character classes, monsters and spells. For example, the original Greyhawk supplement introduced the thief class, and weapon damage varying by weapon (as opposed to character class). In addition, many changes were "officially" adopted into the game and published in the magazines The Strategic Review and its successor Dragon Magazine. During this era, there were also a number of unofficial supplements published, arguably in violation of TSR's copyright, which many players used alongside the TSR books. The most popular of these were the Arduin series. For the most part, TSR ignored these unofficial supplements, although a few of the innovations from the Arduin series eventually made their way into mainstream D&D play, including critical hits, and the linear alignment system (pre-Arduin D&D had only a law/chaos axis, not a good/evil axis). Until the brand unification of D&D and AD&D in 2000, all of the "versions" of original D&D were referred to as editions; the Rules Cyclopedia represented the fifth (and final) edition of Original Dungeons & Dragons.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons An updated version of D&D was released as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (often abbreviated to AD&D). This was published as a set of three rulebooks, compiled by Gary Gygax, between 1977 and 1979, with additional supplemental volumes coming out over the next ten years. The AD&D rules were much better organized than the original D&D, and also incorporated so many extensions, additions, and revisions of the original rules as to make a new game. The term "Advanced" does not imply a higher level of skill required to play, nor exactly a higher level of or better gameplay; only the rules themselves are a new and advanced game. In a sense this version name split off to be viewed separately from the basic version below. The three core rulebooks were the Monster Manual (1977), the Players Handbook (1978), and the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979); later supplements included Deities and Demigods, Fiend Folio (another book of monsters produced semi-autonomously in England), Monster Manual II, and Unearthed Arcana (which took most of its additional playing information from The Dragon magazine). This was followed by a fairly constant addition of more specific setting works and optional rule supplements.

The AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide (1979)

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons Differences from Dungeons & Dragons • The game rules were reorganized across three hardcover rulebooks (the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual) rather than one boxed set (of three books, Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures), and a series of supplemental booklets. • Supplemental rules cut included hit locations. • The Chainmail-based combat system was completely abandoned. • Many details in class abilities were altered and clarified. • Character classes (Bard, Illusionist and Ranger) that had only appeared in magazine publication were added to the game. • Alignment was broken down into two polarities, "ethics" being Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic, and "morals" being Evil, Good, or Neutral, so there were now nine alignments: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil. • Character classes from Original Dungeons & Dragons supplemental material (Paladin, Thief, Assassin, Monk and Druid) are added in the core rules.[3] • Fighting Men were renamed Fighters. • Redesigned the differences between race and class. In the original Dungeons & Dragons, Elf, Dwarf, and Hobbit are considered classes, wherein Advanced Dungeons & Dragons the players select races and classes independently.

Dungeons & Dragons, or the Basic Set and its sequels While AD&D was still in the works, TSR was approached by an outside writer and D&D enthusiast, John Eric Holmes, who offered to re-edit and rewrite the original rules into an introductory version of D&D.[4] Although TSR was focused on AD&D at the time, the project was seen as a profitable enterprise and a way to direct new players to anticipate the release of the AD&D game. Sold with dice and a module as the Basic Set, the first edition of Basic D&D, published in 1977, collected together and organized the rules from the original D&D boxed set and Greyhawk supplement into a single booklet, which covered only character levels 1-3. The booklet featured a blue cover with artwork by David C. Sutherland III. The "blue booklet" explained the game's concepts and method of play in terms that made it accessible to new players not familiar with tabletop miniatures wargaming. The original Basic Set was notable in that it was intended as a bridge between the original D&D and the AD&D rules rather than a simple introductory version of the game. Unusual features of the original basic game included an alignment system of five alignments as opposed to the 3 or 9 alignments of the other versions. This Basic Set was very popular and allowed many to discover and experience the D&D game for the first time. Although this Basic Set was not compatible with AD&D, players were expected to continue play beyond third level by moving to the AD&D version;[5] evidently the radical changes AD&D would make to the rules were not yet appreciated when the original Basic Set was produced. Once AD&D had been released, the Basic Set saw a major revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay, which was immediately followed by the release of an Expert Set (supporting levels 4 through 14) to accompany the Basic Set. With this revision, the Basic rules became their own game, distinct both from original D&D and from AD&D. The revised Basic rules can be distinguished from the original ones by cover colors: the Basic booklet had a red cover, and the Expert booklet a blue one.[6] Between 1983 and 1985 this system was revised and expanded by Frank Mentzer as a series of five boxed sets, including the Basic Rules (red cover), Expert Rules (blue), Companion Rules (green, supporting levels 15 through 25), Master Rules (black, supporting levels 26 through 36), and Immortal Rules (gold, supporting Immortals characters who had transcended levels). This version was compiled and slightly revised in 1991 as the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, a hardback book which included all the sets except Immortal Rules which was also revised and renamed Wrath of the Immortals. While the Cyclopedia included all information required to begin the game there were also several editions of an introductory

44

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

45

boxed set, including the Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991), the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994) and the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (1999). Though often seen as simpler than Advanced Dungeon & Dragons, with the collection of all five boxed sets Dungeons & Dragons players had access to rules for everything from interdimensional and interstellar travel to the cost of hiring an animal trainer, including areas such as domain rulership which AD&D did not cover. It is widely suspected in some circles that the Basic set was originally created for legal reasons, to give backing to the claim that Dave Arneson was not entitled to credit or royalty rights for the AD&D game. (See the Controversy and Notoriety section in the main article.)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition In 1987, a small team of designers began work on the second edition of the AD&D game, beginning the most massive coordinated task ever undertaken by TSR to date, which would take nearly two years to complete.[7] In 1989, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition was published, featuring new rules and characters.[8] By the end of its first decade, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had expanded to several rulebooks, including three monster manuals, and two books governing character skills in wilderness and underground settings. Initially, the second edition would consolidate the game, with three essential books to govern Dungeon Masters and players alike. Periodically, TSR published optional rulebooks for character classes and races to enhance game play. The combat system was changed. The minimum number required to hit a target used a mathematical formula in which the defender's AC (armor class) is subtracted from the attacker's THAC0 (to hit armor The AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook. The class zero) instead of 1st edition's attack matrix tables. Distances were covers of this series of core rulebooks featured based around real-life units (feet) rather than miniatures-board ones reproductions of paintings that spanned the entire (inches). Demi-human races were given higher level maximums to cover. increase their long-term playability, though they were still restricted in terms of character class flexibility. Critical hits were offered as optional rules. Moreover, the release of AD&D2 corresponded with a policy change at TSR. An effort was made to remove aspects of the game which had attracted negative publicity, most notably the removal of all mention of demons and devils (although equivalent monsters were later added, now renamed tanar'ri and baatezu respectively). Moving away from the moral ambiguity of the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the TSR staff eliminated character classes and races like the assassin and the half-orc, and stressed heroic roleplaying and player teamwork. The target age of the game was also lowered, with most 2nd edition products being aimed primarily at teenagers. The Second Edition art and marketing were also modified to appeal more to female players. The game was once again published as three core rulebooks which incorporated the expansions and revisions which had been published in various supplements over the previous decade. However, the Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder in which every monster was given a full page of information, the justification being that packs of new monsters (often setting specific) could be purchased and added to the binder without the expense or inconvenience of a separate book. However, this idea was eventually dropped and the Compendium was replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993. The concept behind the loose-leaf binder was it would allow updating the book. Originally this was considered for all the core rulebooks, based on the concept that had been used by Avalon Hill for Advanced Squad Leader. While

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

46

eventually adopted only for the Monstrous Manual, it was replaced because of the issues of wear and difficulties in keeping alphabetic order when many pages had been printed with more than one monster. Besides the formatting, the major change in the contents of the Monstrous Compendium was greatly increasing the power of dragons. This was done to counter the perception of the relative weakness of the game's "name" monster. Critics of TSR have suggested that the second edition was produced mainly to have a set of core rulebooks to sell which did not list Gary Gygax as the primary author, and thus deprive Gygax of royalties; certainly, few major changes to the rules were made, aside from the addition of nonweapon proficiencies (which were introduced in various 1st Edition supplements) and the division of magic spells by group into Schools (for mages) and Spheres (for clerics) of magic. Gygax himself had already planned a second edition for the game, which would also have been an update of the rules, incorporating the material from Unearthed Arcana, Oriental Adventures, and numerous new innovations from Dragon Magazine in the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide and would have consolidated the Monster Manual, Monster Manual II and Fiend Folio into one volume.[9] In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as "optional core rulebooks". Although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition, this revision is seen by some fans as a distinct edition of the game and is sometimes referred to as AD&D 2.5.

1995 revision of the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master Guide. The covers of the revised core rulebooks featured black borders around the illustration.

In 1997, TSR considered filing for bankruptcy but was purchased by former competitor Wizards of the Coast. Differences from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons • Half-orcs were removed from the Player's Handbook. • Character classes were organized into four groups: Warrior (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger), Wizard (Mage, Specialist Wizard), Priest (Cleric, Druid), and Rogue (Thief, Bard). • Assassins and Monks were removed from the game as character classes. • "Magic-users" were renamed "mages". • Illusionists were made into a subtype of the Wizard class, along with new classes specializing in the other seven schools of magic (which were first introduced in Dragonlance Adventures). • Bards were made a normal character class, rather than the multiple-classed character that they had been, although they still possessed elements of fighters, thieves, and mages. • Rangers were changed dramatically, both thematically and mechanically, from a heavily armored, commando-style survivalist and "giant-class" monster hunter, to a much more nature oriented, lightly armored, two-weapon-wielding, Druid influenced nature warrior. • Proficiencies were officially supported in the Player's Handbook and many supplements, rather than being the optional add-on. • Attack matrices were exchanged for "THAC0" (To Hit Armor Class 0) and the table printed only once in the Dungeon Master's Guide was reprinted in the second edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. • References to "segments" (individual units of time representing one phase of initiative, or 6 seconds of game-time [simulated time]) were removed from the game; instead, actions were given an "Initiative Modifier". "Melee rounds" were unchanged, representing one minute of game-time, with a "turn" representing ten rounds (ten minutes). An optional alternative where one "melee round" represents 12–15 seconds of "game-time" was presented in the "Player's Option: Combat & Tactics" book, first of the so-called 2.5 Edition.

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons • Other changes to combat including the function of weapon speed, initiative, and surprise rules. • Priest and Druid spells were organized into themed "spheres" that were similar to the wizard spell schools that had been introduced in Dragonlance Adventures, with access to spheres being determined by the priest's class and deity. • Descriptions of artifacts (unique magic items) were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide. • Many utilities, including tables for random generation of dungeons, were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide. • Exchange rates for the low-valued coins were doubled; it now took only 100 copper pieces or 10 silver pieces to make one gold piece. • The hardcover Monster Manual was initially replaced by the looseleaf binder-format Monstrous Compendium; the Monstrous Compendium would eventually be replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual. • Fiendish and angelic creatures (demons, devils, daemons, devas, solars, etc.) were removed from the game, as were spells that allowed such creatures to be summoned or controlled. These creatures would later be renamed and modified in the Monstrous Compendium supplement on the Outer Planes. • Psionics were no longer included in the Player's Handbook, though they later appeared in their own supplement. • Maximum level was standardized at 20 rather than varying by class. • Magic resistance was changed so that a mage above 11th level would not impose a 5% penalty per mage level above 11th on an unwilling subject the mage was casting a spell on.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition A major revision of the AD&D rules was released in 2000. As the Basic game had been discontinued some years earlier, and the more straightforward title was more marketable, the word "Advanced" was dropped and the new edition was called just Dungeons & Dragons, but was still officially referred to as 3rd edition (or 3E for short). It is the basis of a broader role-playing system designed around 20-sided dice, called the d20 system. The edition removed previous editions' restrictions on class and race combinations that were supposed to track the preferences of the race, and on the level advancement of non-human characters. Level advancement for all characters was greatly eased, allowing players to reasonably expect to reach high level in about one year of weekly play. Skills and the new system of feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage players to further customize their characters. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[10] The d20 system uses a more unified mechanic than earlier editions, resolving nearly all actions with the same type of die roll. The combat system was greatly expanded, adopting into the core system most of the optional movement and combat system of the 2nd Ed. "Players Option: Combat and Tactics" book. Combat was ideally suited for play as a skirmish-level miniatures wargame. The Wizard class was divided into Wizards and the new Sorcerer class, and in later books such as the Complete Arcane further classes such as Warmage were added. The Thief was renamed Rogue, a term that Second Edition had used to classify both the Thief and Bard classes. Third Edition also presented the concept of the Prestige Classes which characters can only enter at higher character levels upon meeting certain character-design prerequisites or fulfilling certain in-game goals. Expansions for the game added to the optional ruleset, including super high-level campaigns with the "Epic Level" campaign options, and psionics. The d20 system was presented under the Open Gaming License, which made it an open source system for which authors could write new games and game supplements without the need to develop a unique rules system and, more importantly, without the need for direct approval from Wizards of the Coast. This makes it easier to market D&D-compatible content under a broadly recognizable commercial license. Many other companies have produced content for the d20 system, such as White Wolf, Inc. (under the Sword & Sorcery Studios label), Alderac Entertainment Group, and Malhavoc Press.

47

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons Differences from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition • The game system converted to the d20 System, in which task resolution is normalized into a roll of a 20-sided die and adding or subtracting modifiers to beat a Difficulty Class (DC) for the check. • THAC0, which many gamers found confusing, was replaced with a simple attack bonus. Armor Class now goes up (instead of down) as defensive capabilities increase. • Ability scores follow a single table and give standardized bonuses. Ability scores are no longer capped at 25. • Saving throws are reduced from five categories (based on forms of attack) to three (based on type of defense): Fortitude (Constitution-based), Reflex (Dexterity-based), and Will (Wisdom-based), and also go up instead of down. • "Non-weapon proficiencies" were replaced by skills, and became a fundamental part of the game rather than an optional one, with class abilities such as thieving skills being translated directly into skills. All characters are given a pool of points to spend on a wide range of specific skills to further define a character. • Special abilities known as "feats" allow greater customization of characters. Fighters are no longer differentiated simply by weapons, roleplay and equipment selection. • Magic item creation is simplified, requiring a prerequisite feat, spells, and monetary and experience costs, replacing the obscure rules of earlier editions. • Barbarians, monks, and half-orcs return to the Player's Handbook as basic character types. • "Mage" renamed to "wizard," and "thief" to "rogue." • The sorcerer class was added to the game as an arcane caster that uses magic naturally, instead of through study. • Multi-classing and dual-classing as per previous editions was removed. In the new multiclassing system, multi-classing functioned similar to dual-classing had previously, except that a character could gain a level of any character class upon gaining a level instead of only gaining levels in the second class. Multi-classing was made available to all races, although easier for humans, and characters with multiple classes of differing levels would be penalized. • Prestige classes are added, representing special training or membership in an organization outside the generic scope of core classes. Entry into prestige classes requires characters to meet certain prerequisites. Assassins would make their return here, as well as blackguards (fallen paladins) and several others. • Any combination of race and class is now permitted, with the exception of some prestige classes. (Previously, characters of some fantasy races/species were not allowed to belong to some character classes.) • Priest spell spheres were removed from the game; each spellcasting class now had its own specific spell list (although wizard and sorcerer shared a list). Instead, clerics gain domains that allow them to use bonus spells and abilities based on their deity's area of influence, as well as the ability to swap out prepared spells for curative spells. • Class groups were removed. • "Priests of a specific mythos", also known as specialist priest classes, except druid, were eliminated, though some made their return in the form of prestige classes or through other options such as feats. • Initiative was changed to a cyclic system where the order of resolving actions is determined once per encounter and then repeated, and actions are resolved on the players turn. Previously the order was redetermined each round and many actions did not resolve on the players turn but at the end of the round. • Diagonal movement and range are simplified. Each square of diagonal distance is equivalent to 1.5 squares of orthogonal distance, rounded down. • The system for multiple attacks was changed so that, when making multiple attacks in the same round, later attacks are generally less accurate than earlier attacks.

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Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 In July 2003, a revised version of the 3rd edition D&D rules (termed version 3.5) was released that incorporated numerous rule changes, as well as expanding the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual. Differences from Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition This revision was intentionally a small one (hence the name change of only "half an edition"), small enough so that the basic rules are nearly identical and many monsters / items are compatible (or even unchanged) between those editions. In fact, some players, disliking some changes 3.5 made, use some 3e rules as house rules. Official errata for many of the most popular books are available for download as D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update Booklet.[11] • The ranger class receives more skill points and new class abilities, though fewer hit points, and is able to choose between being a dual wielding melee specialist (which all rangers had been forced into previously), or an archery specialist. • Druids can cast Summon Nature's Ally spells spontaneously, just like the cleric's spontaneous casting. Their abilities were also reworked and animal companions were improved.

Monster Manual, 3.5 edition. The core rulebooks of 3.5 edition, like 3rd edition, were designed to look like fantastic books of the sort that might be found in the game.

• New spells and numerous changes to existing spells, while some were removed from the updated Player's Handbook.[11] • New feats and numerous changes to existing feats. • Monsters gain feats and skills the same way as PCs, usually resulting in more skill points and feats for every monster. • The chapter on combat in the Player's Handbook was modified to increase focus on grid-based movement and combat.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition On August 15, 2007 Wizards of the Coast created a countdown page for a product called 4dventure, suspending all other Dungeons & Dragons articles on their site. IVC2 announced on August 16, 2007 that this was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. Unlike third edition, which had the core rulebooks released in monthly installments, the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide were all released in June 2008.[12] Slashdot.org reported anecdotal evidence of "anger" from some players and retailers due to the financial investment in the 3.5 edition and the relatively brief period of time that it had been in publication;[13] However, the fourth edition initial print run sold out so quickly due to preorders that Wizards of the Coast announced a second print run prior to the game's official release.[14] In December 2007, the book Wizards Presents: Races and Classes, the creation of 4th edition, was released. This was followed by a second book in January 2008 named Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters. Unlike previous editions with just 3 core rulebooks, 4th edition Core Rules includes multiple Player's Handbooks (PHB), Dungeon Master's Guides, and Monster Manuals that are being released yearly, with each new book becoming a part of the core. They will include core classes, races, monsters, powers, feats, paragon paths and epic destinies not present in the first PHB and Monster Manual.[15]

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons Differences from Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 Specific changes in moving to the 4th Edition include: • Changes in spells and other per-encounter resourcing, giving all classes a similar number of at-will, per-encounter and per-day power types. (This applies to all classes, in contrast to previous editions where each spell was cast on a daily basis while noncasters were more likely to receive combat and noncombat bonuses than any specific powers.) Some Fighter-class powers also receive bonuses for certain types of weapons. • The Warlock and Warlord were added to the first Player's Handbook, while the Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Sorcerer and Monk were not present in the first Player's Handbook. Of those five classes, the first four have been published in Player's Handbook 2 while the Monk class appears in Player's Handbook 3. • Characters at 11th level choose a "paragon path," a specialty often (but not always) based on their class, which defines some of their new powers through 20th level. At level 21, an "epic destiny" is chosen in a similar manner. In many respects, the paragon path and the epic destiny replace the prestige class system of 3.5. • Extending core rules to level 30 rather than level 20, bringing "Epic level" play back into the core rules (level 21+ play had last been explicitly written into core rules in the black-covered "Master" rule set of classic D&D). • The multiclassing system has been revised. Rather than splitting levels between multiple classes, characters properly belong to only one class but may choose feats to gain abilities from other classes. Hybrid characters combine selected features from two classes. Eleventh level characters with sufficient multiclass feats can use "paragon multiclassing" to gain additional powers from another class in lieu of picking a "paragon path." • Revision of saving throws and defense values. Fortitude, Reflex and Will are now static defense values which the attacker rolls against like Armor Class. "Saving throws" now refer to rolls made at the end of one's turn in order to end certain ongoing detrimental effects, saving throw rolls generally have no bonus and a DC of 10. • Standardized level-based bonus increases. Attack rolls, skill checks and defense values all get a bonus equal to 1/2 level, rounded down, rather than increasing at different rates depending on class or skill point investment. This bonus also applies to ability-score checks (such as Strength rolls). • Revision of the healing system. In addition to the healing powers available to some classes, each character has a number of daily healing surges based on their class and Constitution score. Spending a healing surge usually heals a character for 1/4 of a character's maximum hit points. Generally, characters can only spend one healing surge per encounter, however certain powers allow additional surges to be spent, and characters can spend any number of their healing surges while taking a 5 minute 'short rest' outside of combat. Finally, players recover full hit points after a (once daily) 6 hour 'extended rest'. • Elimination of skill points. Each skill is either trained (providing a fixed bonus on skill checks, and sometimes allowing more exotic uses for the skills) or untrained, but in either case all characters also receive a bonus to all skill rolls based on level. • Many non-combat spells (such as Knock, Raise Dead, Tenser's Floating Disc, and Water Breathing) have been replaced by rituals. All rituals have a financial cost in the form of material components, such as herbs and alchemical reagents. Item creation feats are also replaced by rituals. • Elves are split into three races (excluding Half-Elves) rather than numerous subraces. Eladrin are more civilized and magical, while regular "elves" are agile forest dwellers rather than city builders, and the evil subterranean Drow are largely unchanged. All three elven races are considered Fey. [16] Gnomes are also considered Fey. • The Dungeon Master's Guide officially supports leveling monsters down and up to allow for easier encounter design and flexibility. Many monsters have their mechanics redesigned to help differentiate them from others. Some monsters are designed to work well in group fights whereas others can be used as a solo monster versus the players' party.[17] [18] • Distances previously measured in feet are now measured in 5-foot squares. The move action 5 foot step, usually taken to avoid attacks of opportunity, was replaced with a type of movement called shifting. Shifting 1 square is a move action, but some powers can allow shifting a greater distance.

50

Editions of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeons & Dragons Essentials This product line will debut in September 2010 and will initially consist of ten products. It is intended as an introduction for new players. According to an article published on Critical Hits, the rules will be based on the Fourth Edition ruleset. [19] [20]

International editions The Dungeons & Dragons franchise was translated and published in many languages around the world. A particular challenge was the word dungeon, which in standard English means a single prison cell or oubliette originally located under a keep. Some languages directly translated this meaning, e.g. Spanish Calabozos y Dragones (Dungeons and Dragons) or Dragones y Mazmorras (Dragons and Dungeons). In gaming jargon, however, a dungeon is not a single holding cell but rather a network of underground passages or subterranea to be explored, such as a cave, ruins or catacombs. Some translations conveyed this meaning well, e.g. Chinese 龙与地下城 (Dragons and Underground Castles, or Dragons and Underground Cities). Some translations used a false friend of "dungeon", even if it changed the meaning of the title, such as the French Donjons et dragons (Keeps and Dragons). Other languages adopted a more liberal translation to keep the alliteration, e.g. Swedish Dunder och Drakar (Thunder and Dragons).[21] In Hebrew, the game was published as ‫( םינוקרדו םיכובמ‬Labyrinths and Dragons). In many languages, including Finnish, Italian and Portuguese, the English title was left untranslated. Additionally, some translations adopted the English word "dungeon" as a game term, leaving it untranslated in the text as well.

References • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Allston, Aaron (1992). Wrath of the Immortals. TSR. Cook, David (1989a). Dungeon Master's Guide. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 0-88038-729-7. Cook, David (1989b). Player's Handbook. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 0-88038-716-5. Cook, Monte; Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet (2000). Dungeon Master's Guide. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1551-X. Cook, Monte; Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet (2003) [2000]. Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5. revised by David Noonan, Rich Redman. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2889-1. Collins, Andy; David Noonan, James Wyatt (2003) (zipped PDF). Play More 3.5: Free D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update [22]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2007-03-12. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1974). Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set). TSR. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1977) [1974]. Dungeons & Dragons (Basic Set). edited by J. Eric Holmes. TSR. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1981) [1974]. Dungeons & Dragons (Basic Set). edited by Tom Moldvay. TSR. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1981b) [1974]. Dungeons & Dragons (Expert Set). edited by Dave Cook. TSR. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1983) [1974]. Dungeons & Dragons (Basic Rules Set 1). edited by Frank Mentzer. TSR. Gygax, Gary; Dave Arneson (1983b) [1974]. Dungeons & Dragons (Expert Rules Set 2). edited by Frank Mentzer. TSR. Gygax, Gary (1977). Monster Manual. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-00-8. Gygax, Gary (1978). Players Handbook. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 0-935696-01-6. Gygax, Gary (1979a). Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 0-935696-02-4. Gygax, Gary; Frank Mentzer (1985). Dungeons & Dragons (Set 4: Master Rules). TSR. Hahn, Joel A; Lawrence "DMGorgon" Mead, Ian Malcomson, Wizards of the Coast Staff (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" [23]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2007-04-03.

• Holmes, J. Erich (1981). Fantasy Role Playing Games. Hippocrene Books, Inc.. • Johnson, Harold; Steve Winter, Peter Adkison, Ed Stark, Peter Archer (2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. Softcover edition 2006 ISBN

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• • • • • • • • • •

0-7869-4078-6 Mentzer, Frank (1984). Dungeons & Dragons (Set 3: Companion Rules). TSR. Mentzer, Frank (1986). Dungeons & Dragons (Set 5: Immortal Rules). TSR. Schend, Steven E.; Jon Pickens, Dori Warty (Editors) (1991). Rules Cyclopedia. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 1-56076-085-0. Tweet, Jonathan; Monte Cook, Skip Williams (2000). Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1550-1. Tweet, Jonathan; Monte Cook, Skip Williams (2003) [2000]. Player's Handbook v.3.5. revised by Andy Collins. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2886-7. Ward, James M (1990). 'The Games Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck (And what we do about them).' Dragon, 154:9, February 1990. Williams, Skip; Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (2000). Monster Manual. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1552-8. Williams, Skip; Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (2003) [2000]. Monster Manual v.3.5. revised by Rich Baker, Skip Williams. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X. Williams, Skip (2000b) (zipped PDF). Conversion Manual [24]. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2007-03-12. Carter, Michele (2007). Races and Classes. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 9780786948017.

• "A Look Back at Player's Handbooks" [25]. D&D Alumni. Wizards of the Coast. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2007-04-16.

External links • "Dungeons & Dragons - history, versions, and revisions" [26]. Lyberty.com: eclectic content. 2003. Retrieved 2006-02-13. • "The Acaeum -- Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium" [27]. Acaeum.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02.

References [1] Pulsipher, Lewis (February/March 1981). "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons". White Dwarf (London, England: Games Workshop) (23): pp. 8–9 "Chainmail was needed to conduct combat...." "Greyhawk introduced a new combat system...." [2] Pulsipher, Lewis (August/September 1977). "Open Box: Tunnels and Trolls". White Dwarf (London, England: Games Workshop) (2). ISSN 0265-8712 [3] Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 10): 17. [4] J. Eric Holmes (1981) [5] Gygax & Arneson (1977) p. 6. states "...experience levels that high are not discussed in this book and the reader is referred to the more complete rules in ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS" [6] "D&D Clones!". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 24): 29. April/May 1981. [7] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [8] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [9] Gygax, Gary. "From the Sorceror's Scroll: The Future of the Game". Dragon Magazine, #103, November, 1985, p.8. [10] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [11] D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update Booklet (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dnd/ 20030718a) [12] http:/ / www. enworld. org/ showpost. php?s=b861f70f4f16a0a212ffd95c4aa5bbc5& p=3832899& postcount=26 http:/ / www. enworld. org/ showpost. php?s=b861f70f4f16a0a212ffd95c4aa5bbc5& p=3833168& postcount=32 http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dramp/ 20071019 [13] Zonk (2007-08-22). "Gen Con 2007 In A Nutshell" (http:/ / games. slashdot. org/ article. pl?sid=07/ 08/ 22/ 1847207). Slashdot.org. . Retrieved 2007-08-23. [14] ICv2 - D&D 4E Back to Press (http:/ / www. icv2. com/ articles/ news/ 12654. html) [15] "So, one of the things that I thought a lot about when I was first putting together the outline for this book... this is not the core Monster Manual.... So, there are some monsters that I very intentionally left out of this book so that when they appear in Monster Manual II, that will help communicate, "Hey, look, this is a core Monster Manual." You don't have frost giants if you don't have Monster Manual N". At the 1:57

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mark, or 1:38 of chapter 2. Dave Noonan, Mike Mearls, and James Wyatt " Episode 16: Monsters, Monsters, Monsters! (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4pod/ 20071005e16)" D&D Podcast, Wizards of the Coast, 2007-10-05. [16] Design & Development: Elves (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drdd/ 20070905a) [17] David Noonan's Blog - Page 2 - Wizards Community (http:/ / forums. gleemax. com/ showthread. php?p=13987891) [18] D&D Podcast: Episode 16 (October 2007) (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4pod/ 20071005e16) [19] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ Article. aspx?x=dnd/ dramp/ 2010July [20] http:/ / critical-hits. com/ 2010/ 01/ 29/ dd-xp-2010-dungeons-dragons-essentials/ [21] Dunder och Drakar on Swedish Wikipedia [22] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ files/ DnD35_update_booklet. zip [23] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ dnddefinitivefaq. asp [24] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ files/ conversionbook. zip [25] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ alumni/ 20060602a [26] http:/ / www. lyberty. com/ encyc/ articles/ d_and_d. html [27] http:/ / www. acaeum. com

Dungeons & Dragons controversies Dungeons & Dragons controversies concern the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), which has received significant attention in the media and in popular culture. Some of the game's coverage has been negative, especially during the game's early years in the early 1980s. Because the term D&D is sometimes used broadly to refer to all types of role-playing games, some of the controversies regarding D&D actually pertain to role-playing games in general, or to the literary genre of fantasy as a whole. Some of the controversies that have arisen concern the game itself and its alleged impact on those who play it, and others concern business issues at the game's original publisher, TSR, now owned by Wizards of the Coast.

Religious objections At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity for alleged promotion of such practices as Satanism, witchcraft, suicide, pornography and murder. In the 1980s especially, some religious groups accused the game of encouraging interest in sorcery and the veneration of Demons.[1] Throughout the history of roleplaying games, many of these criticisms have been aimed specifically at Dungeons & Dragons, but touch on the genre of fantasy roleplaying games as a whole.

In Dark Dungeons by Jack Chick, a girl gets involved in Wicca through the "occult training" she receives while playing D&D. Later she converts to Christianity and rejects the game, burning the materials and avoiding Hell; which it is explicitly stated will be the destination of all D&D players.

The concept of Dungeons & Dragons as Satanic was also linked to the concept of satanic ritual abuse (S.R.A.), in that both presumed (without the existence of) large, organized Satanic cults and societies. Sources such as the famous (and frequently satirized) Dark Dungeons[2] tract from Chick Publications portray D&D as a recruitment tool for these organizations.

Patricia Pulling Patricia Pulling was an anti-occult campaigner from Richmond, Virginia, and was the founder of Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD). This one-person advocacy group was dedicated to the elimination of Dungeons

Dungeons & Dragons controversies and Dragons and other such games between 1982, when her son Irving committed suicide, and her death in 1997. Her son played Dungeons & Dragons, and at first she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her son's high school principal, Robert A. Bracey III, holding him responsible for what she claimed was a Dungeons & Dragons curse placed upon her son shortly before his death. She also filed suit against TSR, Inc., the publishers of the game at that time. When her lawsuits were dismissed, she founded BADD and began publishing information circulating her belief that D&D encouraged Satanism, rape and suicide. BADD described D&D as "a fantasy role-playing game which uses Demonology, Wicca, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, child molestation, suicide, assassination, insanity, sexual perversion, sodomy, prostitution, Satanism, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, Sadomasochism, Desecration of Christianity, Summoning malevolent Spirits, Necromancy, Satanic divination and other strange immoral teachings."[1] All of her related suits lost in court.[1] Ms. Pulling was also the author of a book, The Devil's Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan? published by Vital Issues Press in August 1989 (ISBN 0-910311-59-5).

The Schnoebelen articles Bill Schnoebelen was a Wiccan Priest, Satanic Priest, and - eschewing those faiths - became a Christian who spent most of his time attempting to convert other people from these religions.[3] In 1989 he wrote an article, "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons"[4] , which was published by Chick Publications. He received a large volume of letters and emails on the subject in the years after that, and wrote a follow-up article in 2001, "Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons?"[5] These essays portray Dungeons & Dragons as a tool for New Age, Satanic groups to introduce concepts and behaviors that are seen as contrary to Christian teaching and morality in general. The first article, summarized D&D as "a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft [which] violates the commandment of I Ths. 5:22 'Abstain from all appearance of evil.'" It claimed that rituals described in the game were capable of conjuring malevolent Demons and producing other real-world effects. The article further accused the Dungeon Master's Guide of celebrating Adolf Hitler for his charisma. The second article focused on contrasting the Christian world-view and the fantasy worldview of Dungeons & Dragons, concluding, "being exposed to all these ideas of magic to the degree that the game requires cannot but help have a significant impact on the minds of the players."

The Hickman articles Tracy Hickman, a prolific author of Dungeons & Dragons materials and practicing Latter-Day Saint (Mormon), has written many articles about the ethics of Dungeons & Dragons from a Theistic point of view. His "Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D / Part 1: That Evil Game!"[6] details a number of concerns about the ethics surrounding Dungeons & Dragons, but also outlines a number of the hurdles in gamers and non-gamers communicating over these topics.

TSR's reaction The controversy led TSR to remove references to Demons, Devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D.[7] These references were replaced by references to tanar'ri and baatezu. Many of these exclusions were not returned to the game until the release of the 3rd Edition in 2000. And in fact, a few 3rd Edition products have addressed Demonology and Satan-worship far more explicitly than materials from previous editions; however, relations and interactions with these creatures are explicitly said to be evil. The more 'extreme' manuals, specifically the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds, bear a "For Mature Audiences Only" label.

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Dungeons & Dragons controversies

Psychological impact Dungeons & Dragons has also been plagued by rumors since the early 1980s of players having psychological problems related to the game. These include claims that players have difficulty separating fantasy and reality, even leading to schizophrenia and suicide.

Mazes and Monsters As the role-playing game hobby began to grow, it was connected to the story in 1979 of the disappearance of 16-year-old James Dallas Egbert III. Egbert had attempted suicide in the utility tunnels beneath the campus of Michigan State University, and after his unsuccessful attempt, hid out at a friend's house for approximately a month. A well-publicized search for Egbert began, and his parents hired private investigator William Dear to seek out their son. Dear knew nothing about Dungeons & Dragons at that time, but speculated to the press that Egbert had gotten lost in the steam tunnels during a live-action version of the game. The press largely reported the story as fact, which served as the kernel of a persistent rumor regarding such "steam tunnel incidents". Egbert's suicide attempts, including his successful suicide the following year (by self-inflicted gunshot) had no connection whatsoever to D&D, being brought on by his being depressed and under great stress.[8] Rona Jaffe published Mazes and Monsters in 1981, a thinly disguised fictionalization of the press exaggerations of the Egbert case. In an era when very few people understood role-playing games it seemed plausible to the public that a player might experience a psychotic episode and lose touch with reality during role-playing. The book saw adaptation into a made-for-television movie in 1982 starring Tom Hanks, and the publicity surrounding both the novel and film version served to heighten the public's unease regarding role-playing games. Dear later revealed the truth of the incident in his 1984 book The Dungeon Master, in which he repudiated the link between D&D and Egbert's disappearance. Dear acknowledged that Egbert's domineering father had more to do with his problems than his interest in role-playing games.[8] Neal Stephenson's fictional book satirizing university life, The Big U, published in 1984, includes a series of similar incidents in which a live-action fantasy role-player is killed in a steam-tunnel accident leading to another gamer becoming mentally unstable, and unable to distinguish reality from the game.

Hobgoblin Hobgoblin is a 1981 novel by horror and suspense writer John Coyne which also cashed in on the angst about the Egbert incident, and D&D and fantasy role-playing games in general. This thriller is about a young man, Scott Gardiner, who is traumatized by the sudden death of his father and by his mother's decision to take a job as caretaker of an isolated estate called Ballycastle. Ostracized by his peers at the local high school, Scott takes refuge in Hobgoblin, a role-playing game based on Ancient Celtic cults. As the novel progresses, Scott comes to identify more and more with his character, Brian Boru, frequently thinking of himself as Brian. In an attempt to improve relations with his schoolmates, Scott throws a Hobgoblin-themed costume party at Ballycastle. Tragedy strikes when the supposedly-dead former owner of Ballycastle—now hopelessly deranged—arrives at the party, killing several guests and Scott's mother. Scott—in his Brian Boru persona—kills the murderer using the weapons he carries as part of his costume.

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Dungeons & Dragons controversies

Lieth Von Stein In 1988, a murder case in Washington, North Carolina involving NCSU students brought Dungeons & Dragons more unfavorable publicity. Chris Pritchard allegedly masterminded the murder of his stepfather, Lieth Von Stein, for his $2 million fortune. Both von Stein and his wife, Bonnie, were bludgeoned and stabbed by masked assailants in their bedroom, leaving the husband mortally wounded and the wife injured. Chris Pritchard had a long history of mutual antagonism with his stepfather, and state investigators learned over the course of a year that Pritchard had developed some unhealthy associations at NCSU. Pritchard had a known history for alcohol and drug use. But the NC state authorities also seized on his role-playing group after a 'game map' depicting the von Stein house turned up as physical evidence. Pritchard's friends Gerald Neal Henderson and James "Moog" Upchurch III were implicated in a plot to help Pritchard kill his stepfather. All three young men went to state prison in 1990. Henderson and Pritchard have since been paroled. Upchurch's death sentence was commuted to life in 1992; he is serving his term. True crime authors Joe McGinniss and Jerry Bledsoe played up the role-playing angle. Much attention was given to Upchurch's influence and power as Dungeon Master. Bledsoe's book, Blood Games, was made into a TV movie, Honor Thy Mother, in 1992. That same year, McGinniss' book was adapted into a two part TV miniseries, Cruel Doubt. The latter film featured real role-playing game materials, doctored to imply they had caused the murders.[9]

Israeli army The Israeli army has an official policy that frowns on the playing of D&D by Israeli soldiers. Their position is that game play makes players "detached from reality and susceptible to influence”, automatically lowering their security clearance. Due to these pressures, most soldiers who play D&D hide this fact.[10]

Clinical research The American Association of Suicidology, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Health & Welfare (Canada) all concluded that there is no causal link between fantasy gaming and suicide.[11] In 1990, the writer Michael Stackpole authored The Pulling Report, a review highly critical of Patricia Pulling's and BADD's methods of data collection, analysis and reporting.[12] Even outside of the context of BADD, researchers have investigated the emotional impact of Dungeons & Dragons since the 1980s. A number of studies have shown that depression and suicidal tendencies are not typically associated with role players,[13] feelings of alienation are not associated with the mainstream player (though those who are deeply, and often financially, committed to the game do tend to have these feelings),[14] and according to one study there is "no significant correlation between years of playing the game and emotional stability."[15] Patricia Pulling died of cancer in 1997; BADD, with Pulling as its sole remaining member, effectively ceased to exist at that time.

Promotes gang related activity In 2004, Wisconsin's Waupun prison instituted a ban on playing Dungeons & Dragons, arguing that it promoted gang-related activity. The policy went into effect based upon an anonymous letter from an inmate stating that the four prisoners that played the game were forming a "gang". When the ban went into effect, the prison confiscated all Dungeons & Dragons-related materials. Inmate Kevin T. Singer, a dedicated player of the game, who is sentenced to a life term for first-degree intentional homicide, sought to overturn the ban saying it violated his first amendment rights. However, on January 25, 2010 the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban as a "reasonable policy".[16]

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Dungeons & Dragons controversies

Business disputes at TSR The game's commercial success led to lawsuits initiated in 1979 regarding distribution of royalties between D&D co-creators Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. Specifically at issue were the royalties for AD&D, a product for which TSR did not acknowledge Arneson's intellectual property claims. Those suits were settled out of court by 1981.[17] [18]

Gygax himself became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR and disputes related to the company’s deteriorating financial situation in the early 1980s. The disagreements culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.[19]

Licensing and trademark violations Early in the game's history, TSR summarily revoked the license to create AD&D-compatible items it had previously granted to the publishing company Judges Guild. TSR's action was a primary cause of the smaller publisher's decision to cease operations in the early 1980s. Grimoire Games, which published David A. Hargrave's multi-volume Arduin series, had no such license. When presented with a cease and desist order regarding the use of TSR's trademarks, Grimoire was forced to rely on white-out and typing correction tape to mask its use of AD&D references in subsequent printings of the Arduin series. TSR itself ran afoul of intellectual property law with respect to the Cthulhu Mythos and Melnibonéan Mythos it had included in early versions of the Deities & Demigods manual. These problems were ultimately resolved by excising the material from later editions of the book.[20] Similarly, references in early TSR publications to certain creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical Middle-earth were also removed or altered due to intellectual property concerns.[21] For example, TSR replaced all references to the race of Hobbits in D&D with their alternate name, Halflings - which was also coined by Tolkien but judged by TSR to be non-infringing.

See also • History of role-playing games • Moral panic

External links • "Studies About Fantasy Role-Playing Games" [215]. RPGStudies.net. 1994. • "Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games" [22]. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2002. • "The Escapist - a gaming advocacy website" [23]. theescapist.com. 2007.

References [1] Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic (http:/ / www. usask. ca/ relst/ jrpc/ art9-roleplaying-print. html) in Journal of Religion and Popular Culture [2] Chick, Jack T. (1984). "Dark Dungeons" (http:/ / www. chick. com/ reading/ tracts/ 0046/ 0046_01. asp). Jack T. Chick LLC. . [3] "About William Schnoebelen" (http:/ / www. chick. com/ information/ authors/ schnoebelen. asp). Chick Publications. . [4] Schnoebelen, William (1984). "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons" (http:/ / www. chick. com/ articles/ dnd. asp). Chick Publications. . [5] Schnoebelen, William (2001?). "Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons?" (http:/ / www. chick. com/ articles/ frpg. asp). Chick Publications. . [6] Hickman, Tracy (1988). "Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D / Part 1: That Evil Game!" (http:/ / www. trhickman. com/ Intel/ Essays/ Ethic1. html). . [7] Ward, James M (1990). 'The Games Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck (And what we do about them).' Dragon, 154:9, Feb 1990. [8] Dear, William C. Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, Houghton Mifflin, 1984

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Dungeons & Dragons controversies [9] Cruel Doubt (http:/ / www. theescapist. com/ faq_encyclopedia. htm#cruel) on The Escapist's FAQ [10] Greenberg, Hanan. "Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons" (http:/ / www. ynetnews. com/ articles/ 0,7340,L-3052074,00. html). ynetnews.com. . Retrieved 2007-02-01. [11] QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT ROLE-PLAYING GAMES (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ realm/ critique/ gama. html), Loren K. Wiseman and Michael A. Stackpole, ©1991 by Game Manufacturers Association [12] The Pulling Report by Michael A. Stackpole (http:/ / www. rpgstudies. net/ stackpole/ pulling_report. html) [13] Carter, R and Lester, D (1998). "Personalities of players of Dungeons and Dragons" (http:/ / www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ entrez/ query. fcgi?cmd=Retrieve& db=PubMed& list_uids=2385713& dopt=Abstract). PubMed. . [14] DeRenard, LA and Kline, LM (1990). "Alienation and the game dungeons and dragons" (http:/ / www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ entrez/ query. fcgi?cmd=Retrieve& db=PubMed& list_uids=2385713& dopt=Abstract). PubMed. . [15] Simon, Armando (1987). Emotional Stability Pertaining to the Game of Dungeons & Dragons (http:/ / eric. ed. gov/ ERICWebPortal/ Home. portal?_nfpb=true& _pageLabel=RecordDetails& ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ364547& ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno& objectId=0900000b8005f3fb). Psychology in the Schools. pp. 329–32. . [16] Bauer, Scott (January 25, 2010). "Game over: Wisconsin inmate loses legal fight to play Dungeons & Dragons behind bars" (http:/ / www. chicagotribune. com/ news/ nationworld/ sns-ap-us-odd-dungeons-and-dragons-inmate,0,6644834. story?obref=obnetwork). Chicago Tribune (Tribune Co.). . Retrieved 2010-01-28. [17] "Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. judgesguild. net/ guildhall/ pegasus/ pegasus_01/ interview. shtml). Pegasus (Judges Guild) (1). Apr/May 1981. . Retrieved 2007-02-23. [18] Rausch, Allen (2004-08-19). "Dave Arneson Interview" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 540/ 540395p1. html). GameSpy. . Retrieved 2007-02-23. [19] Gygax, Gary. "Gygax FAQ" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 19990128161605/ http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What Happened to Gygax - TSR?). gygax.com. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. gygax. com/ gygaxfaq. html#What Happened to Gygax - TSR?) on 1999-01-28. . Retrieved 2006-07-04. [20] "The Acaeum page on Deities & Demigods" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ deities. html). . Retrieved 2007-02-21. shows contents of different printings. [21] Copyright conflicts with the Tolkien Estate lead to removal of references to Hobbits, Ents and others, shown on "The Acaeum page on Original D&D Set" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ original. html). . Retrieved 2007-02-21. [22] http:/ / www. religioustolerance. org/ d_a_d. htm [23] http:/ / www. theescapist. com/

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59

The WotC Years d20 System The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.[1] The system is named after the 20-sided dice which are central to the core mechanics of many actions in the game. Much of the d20 System was released as the System Reference Document (SRD) under the Open Game License (OGL) as Open Game Content (OGC), which allows commercial and non-commercial publishers to release modifications or supplements to the system without paying for the use of the system's associated intellectual property, which is owned by Wizards of the Coast.[1] The original impetus for the open licensing of the d20 System was the economics of producing roleplaying games. Game supplements suffered far more diminished sales over time than the core books required to play the game. Ryan Dancey, Dungeons and Dragons' brand manager at the time, directed the effort of licensing the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons through the 'd20 System Trademark', allowing other companies to support the d20 System under a common brand identity. This is distinct from the Open Game License, which simply allows any party to produce works composed or derivative of designated Open Game Content. Theoretically this would spread the cost of supplementing the game and would increase sales of the core books, which could only be published by Wizards of the Coast under the Dungeons and Dragons and d20 System trademarks. (To this end, the SRD does not include rules for character creation and advancement.) The marketing theory behind the d20 System and its associated licenses is network externalities; support for the core rules would become an external expense rather than one incurred by Wizards of the Coast, but would promote the sales of the company's core rulebooks.

Mechanics Mechanically speaking, the d20 System is a derivative of the third edition D&D game system; d20 also shares mechanical aspects with other game systems including the SPECIAL Dice used in the d20 system. system used in the computer role-playing game Fallout, the most obvious being the "feats" gained every three character levels in most games (note that this is an extension of the d20 mechanics and, while implemented by most companies, can be dropped). The three primary designers behind the d20 System were Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skip Williams; many others contributed, most notably Richard Baker and Wizards of the Coast then-president Peter Adkison. Many give Tweet the bulk of the credit for the basic resolution mechanic, citing similarities to the system behind his game Ars Magica. Tweet, however, stated "The other designers already had a core mechanic similar to the current one when I joined the design team".[2] To resolve an action in the d20 System, a player rolls a 20-sided die and adds modifiers based on the natural aptitude of the character (defined by six abilities, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) and how skilled the character is in various fields (such as in combat), as well as other, situational modifiers.[3] If the result is greater than or equal to a target number (called a Difficulty Class or DC) then the action succeeds. This is

d20 System called the Core Mechanic and many people find it to be superior to the mechanics used by earlier editions of D&D, such as the first-edition hit tables or the second-edition AD&D "THAC0" and saving throw mechanics, which take more time to learn, and were generally considered more complex. This system is also consistently used for all action resolution in the d20 System: in prior games in the D&D family, the rules for different actions varied considerably in which dice were used and even whether high numbers or low numbers were preferable. The d20 System is not presented as a universal system in any of its publications or free distributions, unlike games like GURPS. Rather, the core system has been presented in a variety of formats that have been adapted by various publishers (both Wizards of the Coast and third-party) to specific settings and genres, much like the Basic Role-Playing system common to early games by veteran RPG publisher Chaosium. The rules for the d20 System are defined in the SRD (currently version 3.5), which may be copied freely or even sold.[4] Designed for fantasy-genre games in (usually) a pseudo-medieval setting, the SRD is drawn from the Dungeons & Dragons books Player's Handbook v3.5, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5, Monster Manual v3.5, Deities and Demigods v3.0, and Epic Level Handbook. Information from these books not in the SRD include detailed descriptions, flavor-text, and material Wizards of the Coast considers Product Identity (such as references to the Greyhawk campaign setting and information on mind flayers). d20 Modern has its own SRD, called the Modern System Reference Document (MSRD). The MSRD includes material from the d20 Modern roleplaying game, Urban Arcana Campaign Setting, the d20 Menace Manual, and d20 Future; this can cover a wide variety of genres, but is intended for a modern-day, or in the case of the last of these a futuristic, setting.

Trademark license Because Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular role playing game in the world,[5] [6] many third party publishers produce products designed to be compatible with that game and its cousin, d20 Modern. Wizards of the Coast provides a separate license allowing publishers to use some of its trademarked terms and a distinctive logo to help consumers identify these products. This is known as the d20 System Trademark License. The d20 System Trademark License (D20STL) requires publishers to exclude character creation and advancement rules, apply certain notices and adhere to an acceptable content policy. Games that only use the OGL are not bound by these restrictions, and several have included character creation and advancement rules, allowing them to be used as standalone products. D20STL products require a core book from Wizards of the Coast and must clearly state this. As the D20STL has changed, some companies have chosen to use the OGL by itself. All D20STL products must also use the OGL to make use of d20 System open content, but publishers may use the OGL without using the D20STL. For a long time d20 System products using one or both licenses took a significant market share of the roleplaying games industry. They have especially promoted the rise of electronic publishing, since small companies can tap the huge market potential of Dungeons and Dragons at no cost to themselves. d20 System product sales, as with the rest of the industry, are currently in flux.

Criticisms Unlike the OGL, the d20 System Trademark License (D20STL) is revocable and is controlled by WotC. For critics this raises questions over the control that Wizards can exert over the open gaming movement, which is widely considered to be synonymous with the d20 System. WotC has the ability to alter the d20 System Trademark License at will and gives a short, 30 day "cure period" to rectify any issues with the license before termination. These changes apply retroactively to all material published under the d20 System Trademark License. When gaming company The Valar Project, under former WotC brand manager Anthony Valtera, attempted to publish the d20 Book of Erotic Fantasy (BoEF), which contained human sexuality, WotC altered the d20 System Trademark License in advance of publication of BoEF by adding a "quality standards" provision that required

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d20 System publishers comply with "community standards of decency." This subsequently prevented the book's publication under the D20STL.[7] WotC said this was done to protect its d20 System trademark, but critics claimed that it was censorship. The Book of Erotic Fantasy was subsequently published without the d20 System trademark under the OGL. Other books subsequently published under similar circumstances include Skirmisher Publishing LLC's Nuisances which also includes on its cover the disclaimer "Warning: Intended For Mature Readers Only." The same round of changes to the license also limited the size at which the text "Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast" (which is required to appear on the front or back cover of most fantasy d20 System products) could be printed, and prohibited making part of it larger than the rest. This was perceived as being aimed at the same Valar book; early mockups of the cover had the words "Dungeons & Dragons" in the above text printed much larger and in a different font from the rest, right at the top of the front cover. This could have made the book appear to be an official Dungeons & Dragons publication to a casual or uninformed observer. The published version does not have the offending text on the cover. Criticism is also levied at the conditions for termination of the d20 System Trademark License through a breach of its terms. The license requires that, upon breach of the terms of the D20STL which includes any subsequent modifications of the license after publication of a work using the d20 System trademark, all inventory and marketing material must be destroyed. Adhering to the breach conditions is an onerous task for smaller game companies. The mere threat of this condition being imposed was a huge blow to the now defunct d20 System publisher Fast Forward Entertainment, which had released several books that used non-open WotC content due to company president James Ward's misunderstanding of the license. Other criticism is based around the part of the d20 System Trademark License which defines "Open Game Content" to include game mechanics and purports to license it. It is widely believed that game mechanics are uncopyrightable in the USA, and according to a circular on the US Copyright Office's website,[8] "Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles." One result of this has been the abandonment of the d20 System License by some publishers in favor of a simple "OGL" designation. Mongoose Publishing's licensed games based on the Conan the Barbarian property and the Robert A. Heinlein novel Starship Troopers, for example, use systems that function nearly identically to d20 but do not carry the d20 logo. At least one company, Technomancer Press, has begun publishing d20 System-compatible material, but not under the d20 System License or OGL. Their use of the Dungeons and Dragons trademark and d20 System material is explicitly forbidden by the Open Gaming License, and this is deliberate (as is stated on their web site).[9]

History Shortly after the publication of the D20STL and OGL, d20 System publications began to proliferate. Many new companies were started exclusively to publish d20 System content. This was a profitable niche for some established companies, revitalized others, and inspired the creation of new d20 System-only RPG production houses. Sales of roleplaying games had already been in decline, and the popularity of the d20 System motivated companies to refocus on those products at the expense of their own games. Some companies (notably Alderac Entertainment Group, with 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings) experimented with d20 System versions of existing creative properties. The d20 System jump-started the fledgling PDF roleplaying publishing industry. Since many of the d20 System publishers were small, amateur companies started by fans, publishing as PDF offered a cheap and easy way of getting published, without the minimum returns required by professional ventures. Some of these companies became profitable and even broke through into offset print (as opposed to print on demand) runs. While various manifestations of the d20 System still compose the single largest marketshare in roleplaying games, various sources (including Kenneth Hite and Game Trade Magazine) report an overall decline in RPG sales. Some

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d20 System attribute this decline, at least partially, to declining d20 System game sales. An overcrowded market is also put forward as a reason, since the proliferation of d20 System supplements divides the budgets of retailers, distributors and hobbyists.

External links • d20 publishers and products [10] • Official website of the d20 System and the Open Gaming License [11] • THE (UNAUTHORIZED UNOFFICIAL) OPEN GAMING LICENSE OGL D20 FAQ - Comprehensive, Unbiased D20 History (1/1/2009) [12] • Open Gaming Foundation [13] • The Hypertext d20 SRD [14] – v3.5 d20 System Reference Document • D20 System [15] at the Open Directory Project • d20 Resources [16] - HTML reference documentation for d20 Open Content. • D20 System Game [17] • D20 Gaming [18]

References [1] The d20 System Concept: Frequently Asked Questions (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=d20/ srdfaq/ 20040123a) [2] Dungeons, Dragons, and d20 - An Interview with Jonathan Tweet by Therese Littleton, Amazon.com (http:/ / www. amazon. com/ exec/ obidos/ tg/ feature/ -/ 99666/ ) [3] System Resource Document - The Basics And Ability Scores (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ d20/ files/ v35/ Basics. rtf) [4] System Reference Document - Frequently Asked Questions (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=d20/ srdfaq/ 20040123c) [5] Waters, Darren (2004-04-26). "What happened to Dungeons and Dragons?" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ magazine/ 3655627. stm). BBC News Online (BBC). . Retrieved 2009-06-02. [6] Svensson, Peter (2008-07-21). "Dungeons & Dragons reborn" (http:/ / www. buffalonews. com/ 185/ story/ 396318. html). Associated Press (Associated Newspapers). . Retrieved 2009-06-02. [7] Book of Erotic Fantasy Loses D20 license (http:/ / www. gamingreport. com/ article. php?sid=10243& mode=thread) [8] US Copyright Office (http:/ / www. copyright. gov/ fls/ fl108. html) [9] Technomancer Press (http:/ / www. technomancer-press. com) [10] http:/ / home. flash. net/ ~brenfrow/ d20/ d20. htm [11] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ D20/ [12] http:/ / www. earth1066. com/ D20FAQ. htm [13] http:/ / www. opengamingfoundation. org/ [14] http:/ / www. d20srd. org [15] http:/ / www. dmoz. org/ Games/ Roleplaying/ Genres/ Universal/ d20_System/ [16] http:/ / www. d20resources. com [17] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dnd/ 20040517a [18] http:/ / www. d20wiki. com/ d20-gaming/

62

Wizards of the Coast

63

Wizards of the Coast

Type

Subsidiary

Industry

Collectible card games, RPGs & other assorted media

Founded

1990

Founder(s)

Peter Adkison

Headquarters Renton, Washington, USA Products

Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Pokémon Trading Card Game

Parent

Hasbro

Website

wizards.com

[1]

Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington.[2] Today, Wizards publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999.

History Wizards of the Coast was founded by Peter Adkison in 1990 just outside Seattle, Washington, and its headquarters is still in nearby Renton.[3] Originally the company only published role-playing games such as the third edition of Talislanta and its own The Primal Order. The 1992 release of The Primal Order, a supplement designed for use with any game system,[4] brought legal trouble with Palladium Books suing for references to Palladium's game and system.[5] The suit was settled in 1993 by Wizards paying an undisclosed sum to Palladium and agreeing not to mention Palladium's products again.[6] In 1990, Richard Garfield approached Wizards of the Coast with the idea for a new board game called RoboRally, but was turned down because the game would have been too expensive for Wizards of the Coast to produce.[7] Instead, Adkison asked Garfield if he could invent a game that was both portable and quick-playing, to which Garfield agreed.[7] Adkison set up a new corporation, Garfield Games, to develop Richard Garfield's collectible card game concept, originally called Manaclash, into Magic: The Gathering. This kept the game sheltered from the legal battle with Palladium, and Garfield Games then licensed the production and sale rights to Wizards until the court case was settled, at which point the shell company was shut down. Wizards debuted Magic in July 1993 at the Origins Game Fair in Dallas.[5] The game proved extremely popular at Gen Con in August 1993, selling out of its supply of 2.5 million cards, which had been scheduled to last until the end of the year.[7] The success of Magic generated revenue

Wizards of the Coast that carried the company out from the handful of employees in 1993 working out of Peter's original basement headquarters into 250 employees in its own offices in 1995.[6] In 1994, Magic won both the Mensa Top Five mind games award[8] and the Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board game of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board game of 1993.[9] In 1994, Wizards began an association with The Beanstalk Group, a brand licensing agency and consultancy, to license the Magic brand.[10] After the success of Magic, Wizards published RoboRally in 1994, and it soon won the 1994 Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game.[11] Wizards also expanded its role-playing game line by buying SLA Industries from Nightfall Games and Ars Magica from White Wolf, Inc. in 1994.[6] In 1995, Wizards published another card game by Richard Garfield, The Great Dalmuti, which won the 1995 Best New Mind Game award from Mensa.[11] In August 1995, Wizards released Everway and then four months later closed its roleplaying game product line. Peter Adkison explained that the company was doing a disservice to the games with lack of support and had lost money on all of Wizards' roleplaying game products.[10] Also in 1995, Wizards' annual sales passed US$65 million.[12]

Acquisition of TSR and Pokémon Wizards announced the purchase of TSR, the cash-strapped makers of Dungeons & Dragons on April 10, 1997.[6] Wizards acquired TSR and Five Rings Publishing Group for $25 million.[13] Many of the creative and professional staff of TSR relocated from Wisconsin to the Renton area. Wizards used TSR as a brand name for a while, then retired it, allowing the TSR trademarks to expire. Between 1997 and 1999, the company spun off several well-loved but poorly-selling campaign settings (including Planescape, Dark Sun and Spelljammer) to fan groups, focusing business primarily on the more profitable Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms lines.[14] In Summer 1997, Wizards revisited the concept of a 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, having first discussed it soon after the purchase of TSR.[15] In 2004, Adkison looked back on the decision; "Obviously, we [Wizards] had a strong economic incentive for publishing a new edition; sales for any product line tend to spike when a new edition Peter Adkison, founder of Wizards of the Coast, comes out, assuming the new edition is an improvement over the first. at Gen Con Indy 2007 And given the change in ownership we thought this would be an excellent opportunity for WotC to 'put its stamp on D&D.'"[15] He later "Set [the] overall design direction for the new editon [sic] of D&D."[16] Wizards released the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons in 2000, as well as the d20 System. With these releases came the Open Game License, which allowed other companies to make use of those systems.[6] The new edition of the D&D game won the 2000 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game.[11] In 2002, Wizards sponsored a design contest which allowed designers to submit their campaign worlds to Wizards, to produce an entirely original campaign world; Wizards selected "Eberron", submitted by Keith Baker, and its first hardcover book was released in June 2004. In 2003 Wizards released version 3.5 of Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 system.[6] Wizards helped to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the D&D game at Gen Con Indy 2004.[17] On August 2, 1997, Wizards of the Coast was granted U.S. Patent 5662332 [18] on collectible card games.[6] In January 1999, Wizards of the Coast began publishing the highly successful Pokémon Trading Card Game.[10] The game proved to be very popular, selling nearly 400,000 copies in less than six weeks, and selling 10 times better than Wizards' initial projections.[19] There was such a high demand for Pokémon cards that some sports card series were discontinued in 1999 because so many printers were producing Pokémon cards.[7] The game won the 1999 National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval.[11]

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Wizards of the Coast Within a year, Wizards had sold millions of copies of the Pokémon game, and the company released a new set that included an instructional CD-ROM.[20] Wizards continued to publish the game until 2003. One of Nintendo's affiliates, Pokémon USA, had begun producing a new edition for the game before the last of its agreements with Wizards expired September 30, and Wizards filed suit against Nintendo the following day, October 1, 2003.[21] [22] The two companies resolved their differences in December 2003 without going to court.[23]

Changing times Seeing the continued success of Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering,[7] the game and toy giant Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast in September 1999, for about US$325 million.[24] [25] Hasbro had expressed interest in purchasing Wizards of the Coast as early as 1994, and had been further impressed after the success of its Pokémon game.[6] Avalon Hill was made a division of Wizards of the Coast,[26] in late 1999; the company had been purchased by Hasbro in the summer of 1998. Vince Caluori became President of Wizards of the Coast in November 1999.[27] As of January 1, 2001, Peter Adkison resigned from Wizards.[6] Chuck Huebner became President and CEO of Wizards of the Coast in June 2002, and Loren Greenwood succeeded Huebner in these positions in April 2004. Greg Leeds succeeded Loren Greenwood as President and CEO of Wizards of the Coast in March 2008.[28] As of 2008, the company employs over 300 people.[3] In November 1999, Wizards announced that Gen Con would leave Milwaukee after the 2002 convention.[29] Hasbro sold Origins to GAMA,[6] and in May 2002 sold Gen Con to Peter Adkison.[30] Wizards also outsourced its magazines by licensing Dungeon, Dragon, Polyhedron, and Amazing Stories to Paizo Publishing.[6] [31] Wizards released the Dungeons & Dragons miniatures collectible pre-painted plastic miniatures games in 2003, and added a licensed Star Wars line in 2004, and through its Avalon Hill brand an Axis & Allies World War II miniatures game in 2005. Wizards of the Coast's book publishing division has produced hundreds of titles that have sold millions of copies in over 16 languages.[3] Wizards of the Coast also started a chain of retail gaming stores after the company's great success in 1999 with Pokémon,[7] run under the names "Game Keeper" and "Wizards of the Coast",[32] including the company's flagship gaming center on the Ave in Seattle for several years, and its retail stores, which were mostly in shopping malls in the US. The gaming center was closed by March 2001[5] and eventually Wizards announced in December 2003 that it would close all of its stores[32] in order to concentrate on game design. The stores were closed in the spring of 2004.[6]

Recent years In early 2006, Wizards of the Coast filed a lawsuit against Daron Rutter, then administrator of the MTGSalvation website (on which he is known as "Rancored Elf").[33] The charges stemmed from Rutter publicly posting confidential prototypes for upcoming Magic: The Gathering card sets to the MTGSalvation forums,[33] ten months before the cards were to be released.[34] Mark Rosewater explained the outcome: "I can say that we [Wizards of the Coast] settled the lawsuit with Rancored Elf out of court to both parties' satisfaction."[34] Paizo Publishing's license to produce Dragon and Dungeon magazines, which Paizo had been publishing since it spun off from Wizards of the Coast's periodicals department in 2002, expired in September 2007. Wizards then moved the magazines to an online model.[35] [36] On June 6, 2008, Wizards released the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with the retail availability of a new set of core rulebooks. Wizards began introducing 4th Edition online content in Dragon and Dungeon magazines. 4th Edition is designed to offer more streamlined game play, while the new rules framework intended to reduce the preparation time needed to run a game and make the game more accessible to new players.[37] April 6, 2009, Wizards of the Coast suspended all sales of its products for the Dungeons & Dragons games in PDF format from places such as ONEBOOKSHELF.com and its subsidiaries RPGNow.com and DRIVETHRURPG.com.

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Wizards of the Coast This coincides with a lawsuit brought against eight people[38] in an attempt to prevent future piracy of their books, and includes the recent 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons products that were made available through these places as well as all older editions PDFs of the game.

Games and products In addition to Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and Pokémon, Wizards has produced numerous other games, including board, card, miniature, and role-playing games. They also publish novels based on games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering and Legend of the Five Rings.

External links • Wizards of the Coast [39] Geographical coordinates: 47°27′52″N 122°13′18″W

References [1] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ [2] " Contact Us (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ Company/ Contact. aspx)." Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on May 2, 2010. [3] About Wizards (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ ). Wizards of the Coast (2008). Retrieved on November 3, 2008. [4] Fannon, Sean Patrick (1999). The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible (2nd ed.). Obsidian Studios. pp. 151, 154. ISBN 0-9674429-0-7. [5] Tynes, John (March 23, 2001). "Death to the Minotaur: Part 1" (http:/ / archive. salon. com/ tech/ feature/ 2001/ 03/ 23/ wizards/ print. html). Salon Media Group. . Retrieved September 1, 2006. [6] Appelcline, Shannon (August 3, 2006). "Wizards of the Coast: 1990–Present" (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ columns/ briefhistory/ briefhistory1. phtml). A Brief History of Game. RPGnet. . Retrieved September 1, 2006. [7] Tinsman, Brian (2003). The Game Inventor's Guidebook. Krause Publications. pp. 11–12, 18, 63, 76. ISBN 0-87349-552-7. [8] "American Mensa mind games past winners" (http:/ / mindgames. us. mensa. org/ manufacturer/ past_winners. php). Mind Games. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [9] "Origins Award Winners (1993)" (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 1993/ list-of-winners). Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. . Retrieved November 1, 2007. [10] Tynes, John (March 23, 2001). "Death to the Minotaur: Part 2" (http:/ / archive. salon. com/ tech/ feature/ 2001/ 03/ 26/ wizards_part2/ index. html). Salon Media Group. . Retrieved September 1, 2006. [11] "Awards" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Awards/ ). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved November 8, 2008. [12] Salomone, Rosemary C. (2002). Visions of Schooling: Conscience, Community, and Common Education. Yale University Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780300093506. [13] Varney, Allen (May 3, 2006). "The Year in Gaming" (http:/ / www. austinchronicle. com/ issues/ vol17/ issue18/ screens. gaming. html). The Austin Chronicle. . Retrieved June 3, 2007. [14] "Magic & Memories: The Complete History of Dungeons & Dragons - Part IV" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 539/ 539972p1. html). GameSpy. August 18, 2004. . Retrieved November 8, 2008. [15] Johnson, Harold; et al. (2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. [16] Holzmeier, Robert. "Peter Adkison’s Ilboria Campaign" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ article. asp?x=dnd/ cg/ cg20010525a). Celebrity Game Table. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved January 3, 2008. [17] "Celebrate At Gen Con Indy As Dungeons & Dragons Turns 30" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Press/ ?doc=20040524a). Wizards of the Coast. May 24, 2004. . Retrieved November 8, 2008. [18] http:/ / www. google. com/ patents?vid=5662332 [19] "Pokemon Trading Card Game a Monster Success; Stores Selling Out of Product within Hours of Restocking on Shelves" (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m0EIN/ is_1999_Feb_3/ ai_53696127). Business Services Industry. February 3, 1999. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [20] "Pokemon Trading Card Game Phenomenon Celebrates One-year Anniversary With Release of Base Set 2; Base Set 2 Makes Learning the Game Easier with Instructional CD-ROM" (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m0EIN/ is_2000_March_8/ ai_60004920). Business Services Industry. March 8, 2000. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [21] Engleman, Eric (October 10, 2003). "A suit of cards: Wizards of the Coast sues Nintendo over Pokemon game" (http:/ / www. bizjournals. com/ seattle/ stories/ 2003/ 10/ 13/ story2. html). Puget Sound Business Journal. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [22] Cook, John (11 October 2003). It's Wizards vs. Pokemon as ex-partners square off (http:/ / seattlepi. nwsource. com/ business/ 143467_pokemon11. html). Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved on January 3, 2009

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Wizards of the Coast [23] "Pokemon USA, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Resolve Dispute" (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m0EIN/ is_/ ai_111705013). Business Services Industry. December 29, 2003. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [24] "Hasbro last Thursday announced its intention to buy Wizards of the Coast, which sells Pokémon trading cards, for about $325 million. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of this month." "Hasbro Buys Pokémon Cards" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m0FVE/ is_18_4/ ai_55766122& date=2008-06-13). Phillips Publishing International. September 15, 1999. Archived from the original (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m0FVE/ is_18_4/ ai_55766122) on June 13, 2008. . Retrieved June 13, 2008. [25] "Hasbro to Acquire Wizards of the Coast" (http:/ / boardgames. about. com/ library/ news/ bl990911. htm). About.com. September 11, 1999. . Retrieved January 4, 2008. [26] "Avalon Hill Welcomes Back Richard Garfield; Rocketville Set to Blast-Off on March 10" (http:/ / www. hasbro. com/ media/ default. cfm?page=release& release=423). February 7, 2006. . Retrieved January 4, 2008. [27] "Vince Caluori promoted to president of WoTC" (http:/ / www. sfwa. org/ News/ caluori. htm). Fantasy and Science Fiction News. November 17, 1999. . Retrieved November 3, 2008. [28] "Greg Leeds Joins as New Head of Wizards of the Coast" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Press/ ?doc=20080313). Wizards of the Coast. March 13, 2008. . Retrieved November 3, 2008. [29] Miller II, Stanley A. (August 3, 2002). "Gen gone: Next year, gamers will be draggin' their tales to Indiana prairie" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070809193643/ http:/ / www. jsonline. com/ story/ index. aspx?id=63415). Journal Sentinel. . Retrieved December 17, 2008. [30] Bub, Andrew S. (July 26, 2003). "Interview with Peter Adkison" (http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ july03/ gencon2003/ adkison/ ). GameSpy. . Retrieved June 21, 2007. Archive page 1 (August 25, 2008) (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ july03/ gencon2003/ adkison/ & date=2008-08-25) Archive page 2 (August 25, 2008) (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ july03/ gencon2003/ adkison/ index2. shtml& date=2008-08-25) [31] Wizards of the Coast (July 8, 2002). "Wizards of the Coast Signs Exclusive Publishing Agreement With Paizo Publishing, LLC To Produce Top Hobby Industry Magazines" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Misc/ Index. aspx?doc=pr_20020708b). Press release. . Retrieved January 4, 2008. [32] "Hasbro Inc.". Standard & Poor's 500 Guide: 2006 Edition. Standard & Poor's. 2005. ISBN 9780071468237. [33] "Wizards Of The Coast Takes Legal Action" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Misc/ Index. aspx?doc=pr_20060119a). Wizards of the Coast. January 19, 2006. . Retrieved September 2, 2006. [34] Rosewater, Mark (19 June 2006). "Law & Order" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ magic/ Magazine/ Article. aspx?x=mtgcom/ daily/ mr233). Magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 31 December 2008. [35] "Paizo Publishing to Cease Publication of Dragon and Dungeon" (http:/ / paizo. com/ cgi-bin/ WebObjects/ Store. woa/ 23/ wa/ browse?path=paizo/ news/ v5748eaic9kh0& wosid=1AIO0gcKkNHbmSRwSHYOQM). Paizo Publishing. April 19, 2007. . Retrieved December 27, 2008. [36] Magazine Publishers of America (2003). "Defunct or Suspended Magazines 2007" (http:/ / www. magazine. org/ research/ finance_and_operations/ finance_operations_trends_and_magazine_handbook/ 20924. aspx). MPA Website:The Definitive Source of the Magazine Industry. Magazine Publishers of America. . Retrieved 2008-02-05. [37] "Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Rulebooks Now Available" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Press/ ?doc=20080606). Wizards of the Coast. June 6, 2008. . Retrieved November 8, 2008. [38] "Wizards of the Coast sues eight for copyright infringement" (http:/ / ww2. wizards. com/ Company/ Press/ ?doc=20090406). Wizards of the Coast. . [39] http:/ / www. wizards. com

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Open Game License

Open Game License The Open Game License (or OGL) is an open content license designed for role-playing games. It was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to license their Dungeons & Dragons game as the System Reference Document, or SRD, in a move spear-headed by Ryan Dancey.[1] It is commonly used with the d20 license to allow individuals, amateur and professional companies and groups to publish the SRD and derivative works under the d20 System trademark. It has also been used to license content unrelated to the d20 System and/or the SRD.[2] Those individuals, groups and publishing companies that license their works under the OGL are sometimes collectively referred to as the "open gaming movement". [3]

Terms The OGL describes two forms of content: Open Game Content (or OGC) and Product identity (or PI) - that is content covered by normal copyright, commonly referred to as "closed content". The OGL permits the inclusion of both OGC and PI within a single work. Publishers are required to "clearly indicate" those parts of a work that are OGC. The OGL defines the concept of PI as: ...product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark... PI must be clearly defined by the publisher and, by using the OGL, licensees are prevented from distributing, copying or modifying PI and claiming "compatibility or co-adaptability" with PI trademarks unless permission is acquired through a separate license or agreement with the holders of the PI. Finally, the OGL requires attribution be maintained by the copying of all copyright notices from OGC a licensee is copying, modifying or distributing. Unlike other open source licenses, this requires that the license notice itself must be altered by adding all copyright notices to the Section 15 part of the license.

4th edition Game System License Wizards of the Coast announced that as of June 2008, a new royalty-free license called the Game System License (GSL) is available for third-party developers to publish products compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. A second similar GSL allows for products compatible with the d20 System using 4th edition rules. The GSL will have an associated System Reference Document available for referencing allowable content.[4] The GSL is incompatible with the previous OGL. The GSL directly prohibits material to be published both under the GSL (compatible with 4th Edition) as well as the OGL (compatible with 3rd Edition and Edition 3.5). Many publishers suggest this restriction represents a direct attack on the OGL which Wizards of the Coast is legally unable to revoke. The restriction has fostered some negative feelings within the adventure gaming community and has resulted in many publishers which previously supported the D20 game system to reject 4th Edition entirely, and continue to publish material for 3.5, under the OGL. Unlike the OGL, the GSL prohibits publishers from directly reproducing content from the Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and other copyrighted publications, and instead only allows referencing of content. This requires that players purchase a copy of such material in order to work with GSL based publications

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Open Game License from any third parties. New classes, skills, etc. can still be added onto the existing rules, but the original rules cannot be modified, including character creation, XP deliverance, etc.. Furthermore, the GSL explicitly applies only to book, e-book, and magazine publications and not computer software or other media. On August 11, 2008, Wizards of the Coast announced plans to revise both the GSL and the SRD associated with it[5] . On March 2, 2009 the GSL was updated.

See also • List of OGL Publishers

External links • Full text of Open Gaming License version 1.0a [6] • THE (UNAUTHORIZED UNOFFICIAL) OPEN GAMING LICENSE OGL D20 FAQ - Comprehensive, Unbiased OGL History [12] • Wizards of the Coast: The d20 System and the Open Gaming License [201] • Open Game Definitions: Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.0 -- January 26, 2004 [7] • Open Gaming Foundation [13]

References [1] Dancey, Ryan (2002-02-28). "The Most Dangerous Column in Gaming" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ article. asp?x=dnd/ md/ md20020228e) (Interview). Interview with Ryan Dancey. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2008-02-26. [2] Cook, Monte. "The Open Game License as I See It" (http:/ / www. montecook. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?mc_los_154). . Retrieved 2007-03-15. [3] Wizards of the Coast (2004-01-26). "The Open Gaming Foundation: Frequently Asked Questions" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=d20/ oglfaq/ 20040123e). . Retrieved 2008-02-26. [4] "D&D 4th Edition Game System License" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4news/ 20080417a). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2008-07-15. [5] News: WotC to Revise D&D 4th Edition GSL and SRD (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4news/ 20080811). [6] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ d20/ files/ OGLv1. 0a. rtf [7] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=d20/ oglfaq/ 20040123d

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About The Game Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics In the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, game mechanics and die rolls determine much of what happens. These include: • • • • • •

Ability scores, the most basic statistics of a character, which influence all other statistics Psionic ability, a superhuman ability stat that rarely, if ever, occurs by chance in some gifted characters Extraordinary senses, what innately superior perceptions a (typically non-human) character might possess Armor class, how well-protected a character is against physical attack Hit points, how much punishment a character can take before going unconscious or dying Saving throws, a character's defenses against nonphysical or area attacks (like poisons, fireballs, and enchantments)

• Attack rolls and attacks, how effectively a character can score hits against, and inflict damage to, another character • Skills, how competent a character is in various areas of expertise • Feats, what special advantages a character has through natural aptitude or training

Ability scores All player characters have six basic statistics:[1] • Strength (STR): Strength is a measure of muscle, endurance and stamina combined. Strength affects the ability of characters to lift and carry weights, melee attack rolls, damage rolls (for both melee and ranged weapons,) the Jump, Climb, and Swim skills, several combat actions, and general checks involving moving or breaking stubborn objects. • Dexterity (DEX): Dexterity encompasses a number of physical attributes including hand-eye coordination, agility, reflexes, fine motor skills, balance and speed of movement; a high dexterity score indicates superiority in all these attributes. Dexterity affects characters with regard to initiative in combat, ranged attack rolls, Armor Class, Reflex saves, and the Balance, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Tumble, and Use Rope skills. It also affects the number of additional attacks of opportunity granted by the Combat Reflexes feat. Dexterity is the ability most influenced by outside influences (such as armor). • Constitution (CON): Constitution is a term which encompasses the character's physique, toughness, health and resistance to disease and poison. The higher a character's Constitution, the more hit points that character will have. Constitution also is important for Fortitude saves, the Concentration skill, and fatigue-based general checks. Constitution also determines the duration of a barbarian's rage. Unlike the other ability scores, which render the character unconscious or immobile when they hit 0, having 0 Constitution is fatal. • Intelligence (INT): Intelligence is similar to IQ, but also includes mnemonic ability, reasoning and learning ability outside those measured by the written word. Intelligence dictates the number of languages a character can learn, and it influences the number of spells a preparation-based arcane spellcaster (like a Wizard) may cast per day, and the effectiveness of said spells. It also affects how many skill points a character gains per level, the Appraise, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Forgery, Knowledge, Search, and Spellcraft skills, and bardic knowledge checks. • Wisdom (WIS): Wisdom is a composite term for the characters enlightenment, judgement, wile, willpower and intuitiveness. Wisdom influences the number of spells a divine spellcaster (like clerics, druids, paladins, and

Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics

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rangers) can cast per day, and the effectiveness of said spells. It also affects Will saving throws, the Heal, Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival skills, the effectiveness of the Stunning Fist feat, and a monk's quivering palm attack. • Charisma (CHA): Charisma is the measure of the character's combined physical attractiveness, persuasiveness, and personal magnetism. A generally non-beautiful character can have a very high charisma due to strong measures of the other two aspects of charisma. Charisma influences how many spells spontaneous arcane spellcasters (like sorcerers and bards) can cast per day, and the effectiveness of said spells. It also affects Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Perform, and Use Magic Device checks, how often and how effectively clerics and paladins can turn undead, the wild empathy of druids and rangers, and a paladin's lay on hands ability. An ability score is a natural number, with a value of 10 or 11 representing average human ability. Additional: • Comeliness (COM): In the original version of AD&D Comeliness was introduced as a 7th Ability Score/Stat in the supplemental rulebook Unearthed Arcana to differentiate between physical attractiveness and Charisma. Comeliness has not appeared as an officially supported ability score since, although the second edition rules Player's Option: Skills & Powers introduced a subability score named "Appearance."

3.0 and 3.5 editions Each score has a modifier (mod), where

, rounded down (drop fractions). So,

for example, an ability score of eight would result in a modifier of −1 ( of 17 gives you a modifier of +3 (

), while an ability score

). This modifier is added to the appropriate dice rolls. For

example, the strength mod would be added to the damage dealt by a sword, the dexterity mod to Armor Class (see below) as the character's ability to dodge attacks, and the charisma mod to an attempt to smooth-talk a merchant. There are creatures that lack certain ability scores (undead, for example, have no constitution). These are called nonabilities and affect how that creature is treated by certain spells and effects. The aforementioned undead, for example, are immune to almost anything that requires a Fortitude save, unless it can also affect objects. This is not the same as having a score of zero (which causes death, paralysis or unconsciousness depending on the ability in question).

Determining ability scores There are several methods of determining a character’s initial ability scores during character creation: • Rolling dice (3d6): This is the standard method for some pre-3.0 editions. For each ability score, the player rolls 3d6, and adds the values, resulting in scores ranging from three to eighteen, averaging between 10 and 11. • Rolling dice (4d6k3): This is the standard method for 3.0 and 3.5 editions.[2] For each ability score, the player rolls 4d6, and adds the three highest values, resulting in scores ranging from three to eighteen, skewed towards higher numbers, averaging 12.2446, though the most probable result is 13.[3] • Predetermined array of scores: Less random, but inflexible. • Point buy: In the point buy system, a player has a certain number of points to spend on their ability scores. The more powerful the characters are intended to be, the more points will be available to the players. (Characters are usually more powerful for a more difficult game.) Possible ability scores range from eight to eighteen, and each score has a certain point cost affixed to it, where higher scores tend to cost more points per level than lower ones. This method is used in Dungeons & Dragons Online (and other computerized D&D-based games, such as Neverwinter Nights) to avoid imbalanced characters getting an unfair advantage over other players.

Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics

Extraordinary senses • Blindsight and blindsense: These abilities represent acute nonvisual senses, such as echolocation or an acute sense of hearing or smell. Blindsight, introduced in the 3rd edition Monster Manual, allows a creature to discern the shape of its surroundings and locate and identify creatures, negating all visibility-related combat penalties. In the 3.5 edition, blindsight is generally only possessed by creatures which lack a visual sense, such as oozes, although there are some exceptions, such as whales. Blindsense, a variant of blindsight introduced in the 3.5 edition Monster Manual, is more limited: it allows a creature to discern the rough locations of other creatures, but does not negate the other effects of concealment or poor visibility. When a creature possesses blindsight or blindsense, the specific senses represented by the ability are generally specified. No races from the Player's Handbook possess blindsight or blindsense. • Darkvision: This refers to the ability of a creature to see in the dark. It allows the creature to discern shapes (as in normal, daylight vision) but only in shades of grey. Darkvision was introduced in the 3.0 edition of the game to replace both Ultravision and Infravision, which had become seen by some designers of the game as too logically inconsistent to continue using as-is.[4] • Infravision: One of the predecessors of Darkvision, in all the early editions (Original, Basic, and Advanced, in all editions thereof) of the game, which was loosely based on the premise of the infrared spectrum. It allowed some races to see in darkness by discerning the heat signatures left behind by other creatures. However, under the game rules description it was described as seeing in total darkness just as one would outdoors on a clear night under a bright full moon. This attribute was present in many demi-human races that lived above ground - such as the Elves (non Drow).[5] • Low-light vision: Introduced in the 3rd edition Player's Handbook, low-light vision allows a character to see better in poor lighting conditions. • Tremorsense: Introduced in the 3rd edition Monster Manual, creatures with tremorsense have an acute ability to sense vibrations, allowing them to locate other creatures in contact with the ground or in the water. No PHB races possess tremorsense. • Ultravision: Another predecessor of Darkvision, in the Advanced editions of the game, loosely based on the premise of the ultraviolet spectrum, was essentially identical to Darkvision in all but name. This attribute was usually only reserved for those races that lived exclusively in the dark or underground, such as the Drow (Dark Elves).

Combat Armor class Armor Class (AC) is a rating used to determine how difficult it is to damage a creature/character. It is based on several factors such as a creature's natural aversion to physical injury, magical enhancements, and any protective garments worn. The base stat of Dexterity grants bonuses to AC. • In some editions of the game prior to 3.0, Armor Class ranges from -10 to 10. Having an AC of 10 was the weakest, and a -10 being the strongest possible written AC.[6] • In 3.0, 3.5, and 4th editions, Armor Class instead starts at 10 and increases. Extremely non-dextrous or non-moving creatures may suffer penalties that lower their Armor Class below 10.

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Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics Defenses Starting with 4th edition, there are three Defenses that function similarly to Armor Class. Fortitude is based on Strength or Constitution; it represents a character's endurance to pain. Reflex is based on Dexterity or Intelligence and can be modified by a shield; it represents a character's ability to dodge. Will is based on Wisdom or Charisma; it represents a character's strength of mind and resistance to mental attack. These defenses are typically lower than AC, so an attack against Fortitude is usually better than an attack against AC.

Hit points Hit points (HP) are a measure of a character's vitality or health; they are determined by the character's class (certain occupations breed hardier people) or race, and Constitution score. Hit points are reduced whenever a character takes damage. In the original D&D game, as well as first edition AD&D, a character died when his/her hit point total reached 0. In second edition, an optional rule was introduced in which a character died when his/her hit points reached -10, with beings falling unconscious at 0 HP, and living creatures reduced to negative HPs continue to lose additional HPs due to bleeding, etc. unless they are stabilized by chance or healing (natural or magical); in third edition, this rule became part of the core rules. In fourth Edition, death occurs when a character's Hit Point value is reduced to the character's Bloodied value expressed as a negative number. For example, if a character has Hit Points of 52 (and therefore a Bloodied value of 26), this character is unconscious and dying at 0 hit points and death occurs when his/her hit points reach -26.

Saving throws Certain situations give characters the chance to avoid special types of danger or attacks. These chances are called saving throws or saves. A saving throw is made when a character would come to harm from extraordinary means such as poisons and magical compulsions in nature. Pre-d20 system In the pre-d20 System editions of D&D, there are five categories of saving throws: • • • • •

Paralysis, Poison, or Death Magic Petrification or Polymorph Rods, Staves, Wands (magical devices) Spells Breath Weapons (such as with dragons or gorgons)

3rd edition There are three kinds of Saving Throws: • Fortitude: A Fortitude save represents physical toughness, incorporating stamina, ruggedness, physique, bulk, metabolism, resistance, immunity, and other similar physical qualities. Fortitude saves involve a character's resistance to an effect that directly attacks his health, stamina, or soul. This includes resisting poison, shrugging off the worst of a flesh to stone spell, and ignoring the horrible stench that surrounds a ghast. Typically, Fortitude saves are the sort of thing that a "tough guy" would be good at. Fortitude saves are affected by the Constitution base stat. • Reflex: A Reflex save represents physical (and sometimes mental) agility, incorporating quickness, nimbleness, hand-eye coordination, overall coordination, speed, and reaction time. Reflex saves involve a character's ability to move out of the way of an incoming object or spell effect as well as his ability to leave an area in a short amount of time. This includes the character's ability to dodge falling rocks and his ability to escape the worst of a Fireball spell. Typically, Reflex saves are the sort of thing that an agile person would be good at. Reflex saves are affected

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Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics by the Dexterity base stat. • Will: A Will save represents inner strength, incorporating willpower, mental stability, the power of the mind, levelheadedness, determination, self-confidence, the superego, and resistance to temptation. Will saves involve a character's mental resistance to mental dominance, confusion, stress, and insanity. This includes the character's ability to resist a charm person spell, see through an illusion, and to resist supernatural fear. Typically, Will saves are the sort of thing that a confident or determined person would be good at. Will saves are affected by the Wisdom base stat. 4th edition In 4th edition there is only one type of saving throw. The Difficulty Class (DC) for every saving throw is 10, although a few abilities and powers give you bonuses to your saving throws. Saving throws are usually rolled after you have already been affected by an attack (by hitting your AC or your Fortitude, Reflex, or Will defense, defenses which the 3rd edition saves had been converted into), rolled each round to give you a chance to shake off the effect. They are meant partly to simplify record-keeping for effects that last more than one round but less than the encounter.

Attacking When a character makes an attack a 20-sided die is rolled to determine success/failure. The result could be adjusted based on any number of possible modifiers the character or its intended target have. The number added to the die roll is actually several different modifiers combined, coming from different places. These modifiers include the character's proficiency with the specific weapon and weapons in general, the quality of the weapon (masterwork craftsmanship or magical enhancements), the modifier of the ability associated with the weapon (strength for melee, or close-quarters, weapons, and dexterity for ranged weapons), magical effects improving/hampering the character's ability to attack, and any special experience the character has fighting a certain foe. • In the 1st edition of the game, the final result is compared to a table along with the target's Armor class to see if the attack hits. Every general class type had its own matrix-style table, while "monsters" or "creatures" per se used the same as the generic fighter character type. • In the 2nd edition of the game, if the final result equals or exceeds the attacker's THAC0 (the pre-recorded number the character needs To Hit Armor Class 0"), the attacker has successfully hit a target with armor class 0. If the target has an armor class different from zero (which is far more likely than not), the target's Armor Class is subtracted from the attacker's THAC0, and that number is what the attacker's roll must equal or exceed to see if the attack hits. • In 3.0 and 3.5 editions, the attack hits simply if the final result is equal to or greater than the target's Armor Class.[7] • In 4th edition, attack abilities can be based on any one of the ability scores, not just dexterity and strength, and usually determined by class, and can target any one of the defenses mentioned above. As with 3rd and 3.5 edition, the attack hits if the number rolled equals or exceeds the targeted defense.

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Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics

Actions The combat mechanic is turn-based and operates in rounds. A round is a discrete time interval (approximately 6 seconds, game-time in later editions, and approximately 1 minute in earlier editions) in which all involved parties act in the combat. The order in which parties involved in the combat act is determined by Initiative. • In pre-3.0 editions of the game, characters are allowed to move their speed and attack every round, or perform a reasonable combination of other actions. • In 3.0 and 3.5 editions, what a character can and cannot do in a given round is more codified; a character may perform one standard and one move action, two move actions or one full-round action in a round, along with any number of free actions, and a single swift or immediate action. Unlike other types of actions, immediate actions may also be taken during someone else's turn, though that counts as using the immediate action slot for the character's following turn. • In 4th edition, a character is allotted one standard action, one move action, one minor action, and any number of free actions to be performed during his or her turn. Each action can be downgraded, such as replacing a standard action with a move action or a move action with a minor action, with results similar to 3.5's possible combinations of actions. In addition, a character may take one opportunity action during each other character's turn, and one immediate action during any round, defined as the time between the end of the character's turn and the beginning of his next turn. Immediate and opportunity actions each have a defined trigger that allows their use, based on other characters' actions, and are categorized as reactions that are resolved after the trigger or as interrupts that are resolved before or in place of the triggering event. Neither immediate nor opportunity actions may be taken during the character's turn.

Skills Dungeons and Dragons, starting with the 2nd Edition of the game and continuing to the current 4th Edition, has many skills that characters may train in. In the 2nd Edition these were broken down into Weapon and Non-Weapon Proficiencies. In the 3rd they are all simply referred to as "Skills", not to be confused with "Feats", below. Characters gain skill points for buying skill ranks based on class, level, and intelligence. Some skills can only be taken by certain classes, such as Read Lips or Animal Empathy. These skills are called exclusive skills. Others can be used even if the character has no ranks in that skill (i.e., is not trained in that skill). A skill check is always a d20 roll, with bonuses from the number of skill ranks, the skill's key ability, and any miscellaneous modifiers (from spells or racial abilities, for instance). Sometimes, a skill check may be aided by favorable circumstances (such as you brandishing a weapon while using Intimidate) or hampered by unfavorable circumstances (such as using improvised tools to pick a lock). An example of a skill is Search, which is Intelligence-based; an example of a miscellaneous modifier which could be applied to search is the +5 competence bonus for a character wearing the "Goggles of Minute Seeing". Other skills include Diplomacy (CHA), Escape Artist (DEX), Swim (STR), various Knowledge skills (like Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (Local)) (INT), Spot (WIS), and Concentration (CON). A "check" is successful when the roll is higher than or equal to the Difficulty Class (DC) of the task. Usually, the Dungeon Master sets the DC. Sometimes the DC is set by the result of something else's check, this is an "opposed check". An example of an opposed check is spot against hide: the character is trying to see something else that is hidden/trying not to be seen. From 3.5 to 4th edition, the list of skills was drastically reduced. This usually resulted in each skill covering a broader range of activities, though some skills were removed entirely, such as Profession and Craft. The skill rank system was also removed, each skill being instead trained or untrained, with a constant bonus given to any trained skill along with a bonus based on the character's level. A character begins with a number of trained skills based on and chosen according to his class. The character gains new skill training only through spending a feat for that

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Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics purpose, though these may be chosen regardless of class.

Feats Feats were introduced in 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons. They are similar to the proficiencies of 2nd edition, giving characters more depth in a structured way for the game. A feat is an advantage, often some special option for the character (such as a special combat maneuver) or some modification to game options and the mechanics involved. Feats can be contrasted with skills, which were also introduced in the same edition, in that using a feat does not usually require the particular success/fail roll that skills do. Instead of possessing a certain rank at a skill, a character either possesses a feat or does not. There are many different types of feats. Some are magical; such as "Silent Spell"[8] which allows a spellcaster to cast a spell without speaking words. Others are combat-related, such as "Weapon Focus" which gives a bonus to attack rolls when a character is using a certain weapon (such as a longsword). Another example is "Leadership", which allows the character to attract henchmen and followers. Many feats, especially the most powerful ones, require certain prerequisites (such as related feats or minimum ability scores) in order to select that feat[8] . Some feats provide continual effects, while others, typically ones that have some cost to use or can be used to a variable degree[9] , must be declared before use[10] . Feat types: Ambush, Bardic, Ceremony, Combat Form, Divine, Domain, Epic, Exalted, General, Heritage, Item Creation, Luck, Metamagic, Metapsionic, Psionic, Reserve, Tactical, Vile, Wild The 4th Edition feat system is similar to the system in 3.5, with each feat having any number of prerequisites and some beneficial effect. Feats are also categorized by type, though "general" feats lack a category. "Class" and "Racial" feats require the character to be the indicated class or race. The "Heroic", "Paragon", and "Epic" descriptors indicate that the character must be in that tier or higher in order to choose the feat. "Divinity" feats grant a character with the "Channel Divinity" power an additional, alternative use for that power. Feat types: Class, Divinity, Multiclass, Racial, Heroic, Paragon, Epic

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons. Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 0710094663. Dungeon Master's Guide, p. 169. Sullivan, Kevin. "D&D Statistics" (http:/ / sullivan. pgh. pa. us/ ~ksulliva/ ralph/ dnd-stats. html). . Sean K. Reynolds: Rant: Infravision and Why It Should Be Destroyed (http:/ / www. seankreynolds. com/ rpgfiles/ rants/ infravision. html). Roger E. Moore: Infravision & Your Fantasy Hero (http:/ / www. mind. org/ dragon/ eric/ infra. html). Livingstone (1982:77). Tweet, Jonathan (2003-07), Player's Handbook, Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast, pp. 134, "Attack Roll", "If your result equals or beats the target's Armor Class, you hit...." [8] Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast, July 1, 2003. See "Feats". [9] Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast, July 1, 2003. See "Expertise" and "Power Attack" as feats that can be used to variable degrees. [10] Player's Handbook. Wizards of the Coast, July 1, 2003. See "Dodge" in the section on "Feats", for an example of a feat that has to be declared.

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Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

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Character class (Dungeons & Dragons) Character class is a fundamental part of the identity and nature of characters in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. A character's capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses are largely defined by his or her chosen class; choosing a class is one of the first steps a player takes in order to create a Dungeons & Dragons player character.[1] A well-rounded party of characters requires a variety of abilities offered by the diverse classes in the game. Dungeons & Dragons classes have generally been defined in the Player's Handbook, one of the three core rulebooks; a variety of alternate classes have also been defined in supplemental sourcebooks. Dungeons & Dragons was the first game to introduce the usage of character classes to role-playing. Many other role-playing games have since used the idea as well.

Overview A character's class affects a character's skills and abilities directly. For instance, a fighter is likely to have large amounts of hit points and possess great skill at attacking an opponent directly in physical combat, while a wizard would be physically frail yet have a selection of powerful magic spells with which to aid the party. As a character gains experience points, they are likely to increase the "level" of their class. Each increase grants the bonuses of the next level, strengthening the character. Throughout the editions of Dungeons & Dragons, an increase in level has generally brought about increased hit points, more skills / proficiencies, a bonus to the accuracy of physical strikes, more magical spells for spellcasters, and better "saving throw" bonuses at resisting hostile magical effects. In addition, each level grants special abilities specific to the class; for example, a Paladin gains the ability to "Turn" (Repel) undead at a certain level.

Early editions In the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, there were only three classes: the Cleric, the Fighting man, and the Magic-User. The first supplement, Greyhawk, added the Thief class, as well as the Paladin, a fighter subclass. These four fantasy gaming archetypes represent four major tactical roles in play: the Fighter offers direct combat strength and durability; the Thief offers cunning and stealth; the Cleric provides support in both combat and magic; and the Magic-User has a variety of wondrous abilities. In many ways, other classes are thought of as alternatives that refine or combine these functions. Dwarves and Halflings were restricted to the Fighting Man class, and Elves were restricted to the Fighting Man and Magic-User classes, all three races had limited level advancement.

1st edition [2]

Player's handbook classes Base class

Sub-classes

Bard

n/a

Cleric

Druid

Monk

n/a

Thief

Assassin

Fighter

Paladin, Ranger

Magic-User

Illusionist

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

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Advanced Dungons & Dragons loosened the restrictions on race and class combinations, although non-human races often had restricted choices among classes and maximum levels they could reach in a class. The five standard base classes, five sub-classes in the Player's Handbook are listed in the table to the right. The Player's Handbook also introduced the Bard as a sixth base class; however, its usage in 1st edition was more akin to what would be called a prestige class in later editions, as it was not a legal choice for a starting character. Instead, a character had to start as a Fighter, change classes to a Thief, and finally switch classes once more to become a Bard. In the 1st edition of Dungeons & Dragons, a character's ability scores directly tied into what class choices were legal for them. For instance, a character wishing to be a Fighter required at least 9 Strength; the more discriminating Monk required 15 Strength, 15 Wisdom, 15 Dexterity, and 11 Constitution.[3] Additionally, certain unusually high or low ability scores could proscribe class choice further; "too high" an Intelligence could disallow being a Fighter, while a Charisma of 5 or less would require the character to become an Assassin. High ability scores in statistics considered pertinent to the class would grant an experience bonus. The Player's Handbook brought about other changes in the game and its character classes.[4] Fighters, clerics and thieves have improved hit-dice (D10, D8 and D6 respectively) over the previous edition. The effects of a character's strength score on hit probability, damage, weight allowed, and open doors rolls were changed. High intelligence conferred an increased chance for both spell knowledge and ability to learn languages. The wisdom score now gave clerics a spell bonus, while low wisdom gave a chance of spell failure. New charts delineated the effects of constitution, dexterity and charisma. Each of the five main character classes and five sub-classes had its own experience table; for most classes it was now harder to gain promotion above third or fourth levels. Multi-classed characters were also introduced.[4] "Basic" Dungeons & Dragons classes Human classes

Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Magic User, Mystic, Thief

Demi-human classes Dwarf, Elf, Halfling

"Basic" Dungeons & Dragons combined the idea of race and class; non-human races did not have classes. Hence, a character might be a (human) Cleric or else simply an "Elf" or "Dwarf". The Basic set presented four human classes: Cleric, Fighter, Magic User and Thief, and three demi-human classes: Dwarf, Elf and Halfling. The Rules Cyclopedia introduced two optional classes: the Druid and the Mystic.

2nd edition Group

Class

Warrior Fighter Paladin Ranger Wizard Mage Specialist wizard Priest

Cleric Druid Priest of specific mythos

Rogue

Thief Bard

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

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The 2nd edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons attempted to streamline what had become an increasing hodgepodge of rules that only applied in specific cases in 1st edition. As such, it sought to simplify the rules and straighten out contradictions. Character classes were divided into four groups or "metaclasses" (see also "Roles" in 4th Edition): Warrior, Wizard, Priest, and Rogue. Each of these groups had a "base" class which only required at least a 9 in the "prime requisite" statistic in Fighter, Mage, Cleric, and Thief; these were intended to be playable in any setting. The Player's Handbook went on to say that "all of the other classes are optional."[5] Each group of classes had the same Hit dice (determining hit point growth), THAC0 progression, and saving throw table.[5] 2nd edition maintained minimums in certain statistics to qualify for some classes, but removed many of the other restrictions such as one extremely low statistic forcing a character into a specific class. The Illusionist and Druid character classes were redesigned to work as variant classes in this new framework. Rather than specific spell lists for each class, 2nd edition had two unified lists: one for wizard spells and another for priest spells. These lists were then further subdivided by school of magic and sphere of influence. Classes still had distinct spells; in order to accomplish this, different classes had access to different spheres of magic. Thus the Illusionist class from 1st edition became a type of specialist wizard; specialists gained the ability to cast extra spells of their chosen school of magic in exchange for the inability to cast spells of "opposed" schools. A Transmuter, for example, would gain extra spells per day in the school of Alteration, but would be denied access to the schools of Abjuration and Necromancy. A similar distinction was made for priests. 2nd edition introduced priests of a specific mythology who would gain their own specific abilities, restrictions, and sphere of influence selection. The druid was provided as an example; the specification of other specialty priests was left to dungeon masters and setting books. As an example, a specialty priest of Tempus, the god of war in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, can incite a berserker rage in allies and lacks the "only blunt weapons" restriction of normal clerics. The selection of spheres of influence worked similarly to the allowed and forbidden schools of magic. The Bard class, previously attainable only after switching from Fighter, to Thief, and lastly to Bard, was changed to be a normal class that could be chosen at character creation. The Assassin and Monk classes were removed from 2nd edition (though the concept of a bare-handed fighter or a killer for hire certainly remained legal, just not as a class). The Dungeon Master's Guide clarified the rationale behind the decision in a section on creating new character classes: What is a Viking but a fighter with a certain outlook on life and warfare? A witch is really nothing but a female wizard. A vampire hunter is only a title assumed by a character of any class who is dedicated to the destruction and elimination of those loathsome creatures. The same is true of assassins. Killing for profit requires no special powers, only a specific reprehensible outlook. Choosing the title does not imply any special powers or abilities. The character just uses his current skills to fulfill a specific, personal set of goals. —Dungeon Master's Guide, 2nd edition

3rd edition The 3rd edition abolished the practice of grouping classes directly, allowing hit dice, attack bonus, and saving throws to vary for each particular class again. 3rd edition also saw the return of the Monk as a base class, the creation of the new Sorcerer class, and the inclusion of Barbarian as a base Player's Handbook class, previously described in 1st edition's Unearthed Arcana rules and as an optional kit in 2nd edition. Statistical requirements on classes and experience bonuses were abolished, though a low score in an important statistic to a class would still adversely affect a character in it. The eleven base classes presented in the 3rd edition Player's Handbook are: • • • •

Barbarian (Bbn) Bard (Brd) Cleric (Clr) Druid (Drd)

• • • •

Fighter (Ftr) • Monk (Mnk) • Paladin (Pal) • Ranger (Rgr)

Rogue (Rog) Sorcerer (Sor) Wizard (Wiz)

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

80

Some of these classes were tweaked for balance in the 3.5 revision of the game. 3rd edition allows for a much more fluid idea of multi-classing than earlier editions, as one unified experience point to level table was made. Rather than earlier editions' rules on splitting experience, characters can simply choose which class they wish to take a new level in and add the appropriate bonus from the class. Prestige classes are also introduced in 3rd edition's Dungeon Master's Guide, new classes only available at higher level and after meeting several prerequisites. In addition to the eleven classes presented in the PHB, various alternate base classes were presented in supplements, and the Dungeon Master's Guide presented five weaker classes designed for NPCs.

4th edition Player's Handbook Classes Class

Power Source

Role

Cleric

Divine

Leader

Fighter

Martial

Defender

Paladin

Divine

Defender

Ranger

Martial

Striker

Rogue

Martial

Striker

Warlock Arcane

Striker

Warlord Martial

Leader

Wizard

Controller

Arcane

Player's Handbook 2 Classes Class

Avenger

Power Source

Role

Divine

Striker

Barbarian Primal

Striker

Bard

Arcane

Leader

Druid

Primal

Controller

Invoker

Divine

Controller

Shaman

Primal

Leader

Sorcerer

Arcane

Striker

Warden

Primal

Defender

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

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Player's Handbook 3 Classes Class

Ardent

Power Source Psionic

Role

Leader

Battlemind Psionic

Defender

Monk

Psionic

Striker

Psion

Psionic

Controller

Runepriest Divine

Leader

Seeker

Controller

Primal

Eberron Player's Guide Class Class

Power Source

Artificer Arcane

Role

Leader

Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Class Class

Power Source

Swordmage

Arcane

Role

Defender

Dragon magazine Class Class

Power Source

Assassin Shadow

Role

Striker

4th Edition heavily retooled the class system, discarding varying base attack and save bonuses in favor of a more unified set of mechanics for characters. Rather than varying notably in passive elements, classes are differentiated primarily by what active-use class features and powers they give, all of which follow the same per-level assignments. At the same time, this unified mechanic helps reduce some of the perceived imbalance between spellcasters and non-spellcasters in 3rd edition. 4th Edition's Player's Handbook differs from that of 3rd Edition by excluding the Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Monk and Sorcerer (though these classes returned in the second and third Player's Handbooks) in favor of the new Warlock and Warlord classes. With eight character classes in the first Player's Handbook, eight in the Player's Handbook 2, six in the Player's Handbook 3, and one in each of the Eberron and Forgotten Realms Player's Guides (see tables), twenty-four classes have been released (an additional class, the Assassin, appears in Dragon magazine and is considered an official release, though as of March 2010, neither it nor its shadow power source are further supported in any other product). Each class has one power source and one primary role. Some classes also have one or two secondary roles.[6] [7] The power sources used by the Player's Handbook classes are arcane, divine and martial. Arcane classes gain magical energy from the cosmos, divine classes receive their power from the gods, and martial classes draw power from training and willpower.[8] The Player's Handbook 2 expands the divine and arcane power sources and introduces the primal power source, which draws power from the spirits of the natural world and features transformation as a theme (for example, druids can take animal form while barbarians can infuse themselves with bestial spirits). The Player's Handbook 3, in addition to adding new divine and primal classes, introduces the psionic

Character class (Dungeons & Dragons) power source, which draws power from the mind. Two other power sources have been announced: elemental and shadow. The four roles are as follows: Controller Controllers focus on affecting multiple targets at once, either damaging or debuffing them, or altering the battlefield's terrain. Some classes, such as Wizards and Invokers, are focused towards ranged combat, while Druids can specialize in ranged or melee combat. As of March 2010, no published Controller class is focused primarily towards melee combat. Defender

Defenders focus on blocking attacking enemies and focusing their attacks on themselves. As of March 2010, all published Defender classes are focused on melee combat, however some classes such as Swordmages also have ranged combat capabilities.

Leader

Leaders are focused on buffing and healing allies. Some Leader classes and builds are focused towards either melee or ranged combat, however the role as a whole is not.

Striker

Strikers are focused on mobility, dealing heavy damage to single targets and avoiding attacks. Some Striker classes and builds are focused towards either melee or ranged combat, however the role as a whole is not.

After choosing a class, players select from a list of powers dictated by their chosen class, or from that of any class into which they choose to multiclass. Powers can include spells, but, unlike in previous editions, offer an equal number of options specifically for non-spell-using classes, such as powerful weapon blows or moments of evasiveness. Most powers are divided into attack and utility powers, and into Daily, Encounter and At-Will powers. A typical starting character has two At-Will attack powers, one Encounter attack power, one Daily attack power and no utility powers, while a typical high-level character has two At-Will attack powers, four Encounter attack powers (three class powers and one paragon path power), four Daily powers (three class powers and one paragon path power) and seven utility powers (five class powers, one paragon path power and one epic destiny power). Unlike attack powers, at-will, encounter and daily utility powers share the same slots.[9] Daily

Each Daily power can only be used once a day; regaining use of the power typically involves a night of sleep. These are the strongest of the powers because they often have a number of secondary effects or have some effect even on a miss, in addition to inflicting more damage than an Encounter power of similar level.

Encounter Each Encounter power can be used once between each short rest. As this rest interval only requires a few minutes, Encounter powers recharge fairly often. However, any time characters proceed directly from one fight to the next, these powers don't recharge. At-Will

These are the bread-and-butter powers. Characters can use any of them repeatedly as often as they want. However, they are less powerful than either Encounter or Daily powers.

There are instances where characters are unable to use any power, such as when making opportunity attacks. In such cases, the character will have to resort to a "basic attack" in combat, which deals damage without any extra effects. This is comparable to a normal attack of 3rd edition that isn't modified by any feat or enhanced by any spell. The optional prestige classes from earlier editions have instead been replaced by paragon paths and epic destinies, two types of class choices altering the final abilities of the character.

Alternate base classes While the main character classes available have been fairly stable since the 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a variety of alternate base classes have been offered in supplemental books. The release of Unearthed Arcana in 1985, for instance, introduced the new (at the time) base class of Barbarian and reworked Paladins to be a type of the new base class Cavalier; Oriental Adventures also introduced a number of alternate classes more appropriate for an Eastern setting. 2nd edition added several completely new base classes; in addition, supplemental handbooks offered a variety of "kits" to customize each base class, and the Dungeon Master's Guide offered a guide of suggestions on how to balance custom new classes created by individual players. 3rd edition introduced five NPC classes not intended for player use in its Dungeon Master's Guide.

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Character class (Dungeons & Dragons) Non-core base classes are considered optional and do not always exist in all settings. For example, the alternate Samurai class introduced in the Oriental Adventures book may not make sense in a game set in a standard European-style realm. Similarly, classes associated with psionics such as the Psychic Warrior don't apply to worlds without psionics. Besides Wizards of the Coast, other companies have published material including new base classes.

Multi-classing Most editions of Dungeons & Dragons have allowed for the possibility to either advance in more than one class simultaneously, alternate taking levels in more than one class, or branching out in a second (third etc.) class at a specific point defined by the first class. This concept is called multi-classing here, but went under various names in the different editions. In 1st and 2nd editions, changing a character's class was difficult. Only humans could do it, and they had to meet some rather steep requirements to do so. This was called "dual-classing". Non-humans, on the other hand, could "multi-class" where they effectively learned two (or rarely even three) classes at the same time at the cost of a slower character level progression. 3rd Edition allowed players to mix and match levels from any number of classes, though certain combinations were more effective than others. In addition, prestige classes added yet more options for multi-classing. This edition offers the most freedom regarding multi-classing. There are, however, penalties to the rate of experience point gained if classes are added haphazardly. The 3rd edition version of Unearthed Arcana includes rules for gestalt characters which combine the advantages of two classes. 4th Edition allows characters to take a Feat that gives a character access to specific facets of another class. The class-specific multiclass feats are also prerequisites for the power-swap feats, each of which allows the character to swap out a daily, encounter, or utility power from their first class for one from their second class. Also, at 11th level, characters with a multiclass and feat and all of the power-swap feats is eligible for paragon multiclassing, which allows a character to gain additional powers from their second class in lieu of taking a Paragon Path. Some classes are only available through multiclassing, the first such class was Spellscarred, introduced in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide[10] . In 4th edition, each character can only multiclass into a single class, unless otherwise stated by their primary class (such as the Bard). The Player's Handbook III introduced "hybrid" classes, a deeper form of multiclassing in which elements of two classes are combined each level.

Prestige classes Prestige classes expand upon the form of multiclassing introduced in 3rd edition. They are classes inaccessible at 1st level, specifically meant to be multi-classed into from the base classes. To attain a specific prestige class, a character must first meet a number of prerequisites, such as a number of levels in a specific class or certain feats. Prestige classes offer a focus on different abilities that may be difficult to attain otherwise; for example, the 3rd edition version of the Assassin prestige class grants minor magical powers, more sneak attack damage, and better usage of poison. While not calling them prestige classes, some 1st edition classes had a similar idea, such as the version of the Bard described in the Player's Handbook or the Thief-Acrobat described in Unearthed Arcana. Characters who met prerequisites and had progressed to a certain level could change into the new class.

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Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)

Paragon paths and epic destinies Paragon paths and epic destinies are methods of character customization (similar to prestige classes) introduced in 4th edition. Each character may choose a paragon path upon reaching the paragon tier at level 11 and an epic destiny upon reaching the epic tier at level 21. Paragon paths are often (though not always) class-specific, and some have additional prerequisites. Other paragon paths are restricted to members of a certain race or are associated with a nation or faction in a campaign setting. Paragon paths generally expand on a character's existing abilities. For example, fighter paragon paths improve a characters toughness, resilience, or damage with melee weapons. Epic destinies generally have looser prerequisites than paragon paths; many are available to multiple classes, and some, such as Demigod and Eternal Seeker, have 21st level as their only prerequisite. Each epic destiny includes at least one way in which a character can establish a legacy and at least one way in which a character can retire. Most epic destinies provide fewer benefits than paragon paths, but the benefits that they provide are far more powerful. A common feature of an epic destiny is to allow characters to (usually once per day) return to life or otherwise continue to function after dying. Unlike prestige classes, a character may only take a single paragon path and a single epic destiny, and path and destiny advancement is in addition to class advancement rather than being in lieu of it.[11] [12]

External links • System Reference Document: OGL information on D&D classes [13] (for 3rd Edition)) • Dungeons & Dragons wiki [14] • Another Dungeons & Dragons wiki [15]

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Fine, Gary Alan (2002). Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. University of Chicago Press. pp. 16–18. ISBN 0226249441. Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 0710094663. D&D Alumni: A Look Back at Player's Handbooks (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ alumni/ 20060602a) Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (10): 17. Cook, David (1995). Player's Handbook (Revised Edition ed.). TSR. ISBN 0-7869-0329-5. Heinsoo, Rob; Mike Mearls, Jesse Decker, Robert J.c Schwalb (October 2008). "Playtest: The Barbarian" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ files/ 368_Barbarian. pdf) (PDF). Dragon Magazine. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2008-10-06. [7] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4news/ 20081215 [8] "4th Edition Excerpts: Powers" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4ex/ 20080425a). Wizards of the Coast. . [9] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4ex/ 20080416a [10] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4pr/ 20080703a [11] 4th Edition Excerpts: Paragon Paths (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4ex/ 20080423a) [12] 4th Edition Excerpts: Epic Destinies (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4ex/ 20080512a) [13] http:/ / www. d20srd. org/ indexes/ classes. htm [14] http:/ / www. dandwiki. com/ wiki/ Main_Page [15] http:/ / dungeons. wikia. com/ wiki/ Main_Page

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THAC0

THAC0 In some role-playing games, Armor Class (abbreviated AC) is a derived statistic which indicates how difficult it is to hit a character with an attack. In earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons, a lower Armor Class indicated that a creature was more difficult to hit. An unarmored human had an Armor Class of 10, and armor lowered a character's armor class. Powerful creatures would usually have an Armor Class lower than 0. In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a character or monster's ability to strike successfully was measured by its THAC0, meaning the minimum roll needed on a 20-sided die "To Hit Armor Class 0." The die roll needed to hit other armor classes could be computed by subtracting the armor class from the THAC0. The lower one's THAC0, the more likely a hit would be successful. This system replaced combat tables in the 2nd edition of AD&D, but was officially abandoned in the 3rd edition of D&D (2000). In third edition D&D, the armor class system was effectively reversed. An unarmored human still had an Armor Class of 10, but wearing additional armor and/or wielding a shield would instead increase Armor Class. Thus, a creature with an Armor Class of 0 in second edition would have an equivalent armor class of 20 in third edition, and vice versa. This system persists into the current fourth edition rules. A wide range of factors affected Armor Class in both systems, including a character's physical dexterity, use of various combat techniques (such as forms of parrying), and the quality and material composition of the worn armor. The concepts of armor class and hit points originated in a set of American Civil War naval rules. Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson adopted the concepts in miniatures games that he ran shortly before the first edition of D&D was written.[1] Numerous Dungeons & Dragons-derived role playing and computer games use the Armor Class system or a variation thereof. Many games with unrelated systems use the term to represent a character's ability to avoid damage or reduce damage taken.

External links • D&D Glossary [2] www.wizards.com

References [1] "Dave Arneson interview" (http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ august02/ gencon/ arneson). GameSpy.com. . Retrieved 2008-11-01. [2] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ glossary& term=Glossary_dnd_armorclass& alpha

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People Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax

Gygax at Gen Con Indy 2007 Born

July 27, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, United States

Died

March 4, 2008 (aged 69) Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA

Occupation Writer, game designer Nationality

United States

Period

1971–2008

Genres

Role-playing games, fantasy, wargames

Spouse(s)

Mary Jo Powell (m. 1958) Gail Carpenter (August 15, 1987-March 4, 2008)

Literature portal

Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008; last name pronounced English pronunciation: /ˈɡaɪɡæks/ [1] GYE-gaks) was an American writer and game designer, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games.[2]

Gary Gygax In the 1960s, Gygax created an organization of wargaming clubs and founded the Gen Con gaming convention. In 1971, he helped develop Chainmail, a miniatures wargame based on medieval warfare. He co-founded the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with childhood friend Don Kaye in 1973. The following year, he and Dave Arneson created Dungeons & Dragons, which expanded on his work on Chainmail and included elements of the fantasy stories he loved as a child. In the same year, he founded The Dragon, a magazine based around the new game. In 1977, Gygax began work on a more comprehensive version of the game, called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax designed numerous manuals for the game system, as well as several pre-packaged adventures called "modules" that gave a person running a D&D game (the "Dungeon Master") a rough script and ideas on how to run a particular gaming scenario. In 1983, he worked to license the D&D product line into the successful Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series. After leaving TSR in 1985 over issues with its new majority owner, Gygax continued to create role-playing game titles independently, beginning with the multi-genre Dangerous Journeys in 1992. He designed another gaming system called Lejendary Adventure, released in 1999. In 2005, Gygax was involved in the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, which was conceived as a hybrid between D&D's third edition and the original version of the game conceived by Gygax. Gygax was married twice and had six children. In 2004, he suffered two strokes, narrowly avoided a subsequent heart attack, and was then diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, from which he died in March 2008.

Early life and inspiration Gary Gygax was born in Chicago, within a few blocks of Wrigley Field[3] on July 27, 1938, the son of Swiss immigrant and Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Ernst Gygax.[4] [5] Gygax spent his early childhood in Chicago, but in 1946 after he was involved in a brawl with a large group of boys, his father decided to move the family to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin,[6] where Gary's mother's family had settled in the early 19th century.[7] [5] [8] During his childhood and teen years, he developed a love of games and an appreciation for fantasy and science fiction literature. When he was five, he played card games such as pinochle, and then chess.[9] [10] At the age of ten, he and his friends played the sort of games that eventually came to be called "live action role-playing games", with one of them acting as a referee.[11] His father introduced him to science fiction and fantasy through pulp novels.[5] [10] His interest in games, combined with an appreciation of history, eventually led Gygax to begin playing miniature war games in 1953, with his best friend Don Kaye.[10] As teenagers, Gygax and Kaye designed their own miniatures rules for toy soldiers, with a large collection of 54 mm and 70 mm figures, and used "ladyfingers" (small firecrackers) to simulate explosions.[12] Gygax dropped out of high school in his junior year, and worked at odd jobs for a while, but moved back to Chicago at age 19 to attend night classes in junior college.[8] He also took anthropology classes at University of Chicago.[4] [5] He made the college Dean's List, and at the urging of his professors, applied to the University of Chicago and was admitted. However, by this time he was married, and he decided to take a full-time job in insurance instead.[13] By December 1958, the game Gettysburg from the Avalon Hill company had particularly captured Gygax's attention.[14] It was also from Avalon Hill that he ordered the first blank hexagon mapping sheets that were available, which he then employed to design his own games.[15] Gygax became active in fandom and became involved in play-by-mail Diplomacy games, for which he designed his own variants.[12] Gygax learned about H. G. Wells' Little Wars book for play of military miniatures wargames, and Fletcher Pratt's Naval Wargame book; by 1965 he was active in the wargame hobby, and was writing many magazine articles on the subject.[11] Then Gygax looked for innovative ways to generate random numbers, and used not only common, six-sided dice, but dice of all five platonic solid shapes,[16] which he discovered in a school supply catalog.[8] In 1967, he and his family moved back to Lake Geneva.[4] Except for a short stay in Hollywood while he was the head of TSR's entertainment division, Lake Geneva would be his home for the rest of his life.

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Gary Gygax

Wargames During the 1960s, Gygax worked as an insurance underwriter for the Firemen's Fund[8] in Lake Geneva.[17] In 1966, Gygax co-founded the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) with Bill Speer and Scott Duncan.[14] [18] The IFW, which was created by combining several preexisting wargaming clubs, aimed to promote interest in role-playing games, especially those set in the medieval period, and provided a forum for international wargamers.[16] In 1967, Gygax organized a 20-person gaming meet in the basement of his home; this event would go on to be called "Gen Con 0."[16] In 1968, Gygax rented Lake Geneva's vine-covered Horticultural Hall for $50 to hold the first Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention for short.[8] Gen Con is now one of North America's largest annual hobby-game gatherings.[19] Gygax met Dave Arneson, the future co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, at the second Gen Con, in August 1969. [8] [20] I'm very fond of the Medieval period, the Dark Ages in particular. We started playing in the period because I had found appropriate miniatures. I started devising rules where what the plastic figure was wearing was what he had. If he had a shield and no armor, then he just has a shield. Shields and half-armor = half-armor rules; full-armor figure = full armor rules. I did rules for weapons as well.[21] Together with Don Kaye, Mike Reese, and Leon Tucker, Gygax created a military miniatures society, Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) in 1965,[12] with its first headquarters in Gygax's basement.[10] In 1969, Gygax founded the Castle & Crusade Society chapter of the IFW.[22] Gary left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman to make more time for pursuing his interest in game development.[5] [12] [23] In 1970, he began working as editor-in-chief at Guidon Games, a publisher of wargames,[11] for which he produced the board games Alexander the Great and Dunkirk in 1971. In 1968, Gygax and hobby-shop owner Jeff Perren wrote Chainmail, a miniatures wargame that simulated medieval-era tactical combat,[24] and it was published in 1971.[8] Gygax also collaborated with Dave Arneson on the naval wargame Don't Give Up the Ship!.[20] For the second edition of Chainmail, published in 1972, Gygax added a Fantasy Supplement to the rules. These included warriors who were monsters of non-human races, drawn from the works of Tolkien and other sources. He also included rules for individual heroic characters, including wizards. For the last he included ten spells that could be used to affect a battle, including lightning bolts, fireballs, and so forth. Dave Arneson adopted the modified rules for his fantasy Blackmoor campaign.[8] While visiting Lake Geneva in 1972, Arneson ran his fantasy game using the new rules and Gygax immediately saw the potential of role-playing games.[8] [25] Basing their work on Arneson's modified version of Chainmail for his Blackmoor campaign,[8] Gygax and Arneson collaborated on "The Fantasy Game", the role-playing game that later became Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).[1] [18] The rules for simulating magic were inspired by the works of fantasy author Jack Vance, and the system as a whole drew upon the work of authors like Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber. In 1973, Gygax quit his day job[17] and attempted to publish the game through Avalon Hill, who turned down his offer.[26]

TSR Gygax left Guidon Games in 1973 and, with Don Kaye as a partner, founded the publishing company Tactical Studies Rules (later known as TSR, Inc.) in October.[27] [26] The two men each invested $1000 in the venture—Kaye had borrowed $1000 on a life insurance policy—in order to finance the start-up of TSR.[12] However, this did not give them enough capital to publish the rules for Dungeons & Dragons and, worried that other companies would be able to publish similar projects first, the two convinced acquaintance Brian Blume to join TSR in 1974 as an equal one-third partner; this brought the financing that enabled them to publish Dungeons & Dragons.[18] Gygax worked on rules for more miniatures and tabletop battle games, including Cavaliers and Roundheads (English Civil War, with Jeff Perren), Classic Warfare (Ancient Period: 1500 BC to 500 AD), Tractics (WWII to c. 1965, with Mike Reese & Leon Tucker), and Warriors of Mars.[12]

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Gary Gygax Dungeons & Dragons was first released by TSR in January 1974 as a boxed set;[17] a hand-assembled print run of 1,000 copies, put together by hand in Gygax's home,[24] sold out in less than a year.[4] [5] In the same year, Gygax created the magazine The Strategic Review with himself as editor,[11] and then hired Tim Kask to assist in the transition of this magazine into the fantasy periodical The Dragon,[16] with Gygax as writer, columnist, and publisher (from 1978 to 1981).[28] Gygax wrote the supplements Greyhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, and Swords & Spells for the original D&D game. With Brian Blume he also designed the wild west-oriented role-playing game Boot Hill in 1975. The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, a variation of the original D&D geared towards younger players and edited by J. Eric Holmes,[24] was released in 1977. In 1975, Gygax and Kaye were only 36 years old, and Kaye had not made any specific provision in his will regarding his one-third share of the company. When he unexpectedly died of a heart attack in January 1975, his share of TSR passed to his wife, a woman whom Gygax characterized as "less than personable... After Don died she dumped all the Tactical Studies Rules materials off on my front porch. It would have been impossible to manage a business with her involved as a partner."[29] Neither Gygax nor Blume had the money to buy the shares owned by Kaye's wife, and Blume persuaded Gygax to allow his father, Melvin Blume, to buy the shares and take Kaye's place as an equal partner.[30] Later, Brian Blume persuaded Gygax to allow his brother, Kevin Blume, to purchase the shares from Melvin; this gave the Blume brothers a controlling interest at TSR, Inc.[30]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons In 1977, a new version of D&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), was first published. The Monster Manual, released later that year, became the first supplemental rule book of the new system, and many more followed.[18] The AD&D rules were not compatible with those of D&D, and as a result, D&D and AD&D became distinct product lines. Gygax wrote the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons hardcovers Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, Unearthed Arcana, and Oriental Adventures. Gygax also wrote or co-wrote numerous AD&D and basic D&D adventure modules, including The Keep on the Borderlands, Tomb of Horrors, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, The Temple of Elemental Evil, Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, Isle of the Ape, and all seven of the modules later combined into Queen of the Spiders. In 1980, Gygax's long-time campaign setting of Greyhawk was published in the form of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting folio, which was expanded in 1983 into the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting boxed set. Sales of the Dungeons & Dragons game reached $8.5 million in 1980.[4] Gygax also provided assistance on the Gamma World science fantasy role-playing game in 1981, and co-authored the Gamma World adventure Legion of Gold.

Leaving TSR In 1979, a Michigan State University student, James Dallas Egbert III, disappeared into the school's steam tunnels, allegedly while playing a live-action version of D&D. Negative mainstream media attention focused on Dungeons & Dragons as a result. In 1982, Patricia Pulling's son killed himself; blaming Dungeons & Dragons for his suicide, Pulling formed an organization named B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons) to attack the game and the company that produced it. Gygax defended the game on a segment of 60 Minutes,[5] which aired in 1985. When death threats started arriving at the TSR office, Gygax hired a bodyguard.[4] [8] In 1982, however, TSR's annual D&D sales increased to $16 million,[8] and in January 1983, The New York Times speculated that Dungeons & Dragons might become "the great game of the 1980s" in the same manner that Monopoly was emblematic of the Great Depression.[31] After TSR was split into separate companies in 1983, Gygax became the President and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TSR, Inc.,[32] and the President of TSR Entertainment, Inc.[12] As part of TSR Entertainment, Inc. (later Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corp.), Gygax went to Hollywood, where he became co-producer of the licensed Dungeons & Dragons animated television show for CBS.[33] The series led its time slot for two years.[1]

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Gary Gygax One of Gygax's creations during this time was Dragonchess, a three-dimensional fantasy chess variant, published in Dragon #100 (August 1985). It is played on three 8x12 boards stacked on top of each other - the top board represents the sky, the middle is the ground, and the bottom is the underworld. The pieces are characters and monsters inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons setting: King, Mage, Paladin, Cleric, Dragon, Griffin, Oliphant, Hero, Thief, Elemental, Basilisk, Unicorn, Dwarf, Sylph and Warrior. During his time in Hollywood, Gygax left the day-to-day operations of TSR to his fellow board members, Kevin and Brian Blume.[8] In 1984, he discovered that TSR had run into serious financial difficulties.[34] By the time he came back to Wisconsin in 1984, the company was $1.5 million in debt.[8] At this point, he hired Lorraine Williams to manage the company. He engineered the removal of Kevin Blume as CEO in 1984, but the Blume brothers subsequently sold their majority shares in the company to Lorraine Williams.[8] By this time, it was evident that Gygax and Williams had differing visions of the future of TSR, and Gygax took TSR to court in a bid to block the Blumes' sale of their shares to Williams, but lost. In October 1985, TSR's Board of Directors removed Gygax as the company's President and Chairman of the Board. He remained on the board as a Director and made no further contributions to the company's creative efforts.[35] Sales of Dungeons & Dragons reached $29 million by 1985,[4] but Gygax, seeing his future at TSR as untenable, left the company on December 31, 1985. I was pretty much boxed out of the running of the company because the two guys, who between them had a controlling interest, thought they could run the company better than I could. I was set up because I could manage. In 1982 nobody on the West Coast would deal with TSR, but they had me start a new corporation called "Dungeons and Dragons Entertainment." It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get to be recognized as someone who was for real and not just a civilian, shall we say, in entertainment. Eventually, though, we got the cartoon show going (on CBS) and I had a number of other projects in the works. While I was out there, though, I heard that the company was in severe financial difficulties and one of the guys, the one I was partnered with, was shopping it on the street in New York. I came back and discovered a number of gross mismanagements in all areas of the company. The bank was foreclosing and we were a million and a half in debt. We eventually got that straightened out, but I kind of got one of my partners kicked out of office. [Kevin Blume, who was removed as TSR CEO in 1984]. Then my partners, in retribution for that, sold his shares to someone else [Lorraine Williams]. I tried to block it in court, but in the ensuing legal struggle the judge ruled against me. I lost control of the company, and it was then at that point I just decided to sell out.[33] Before leaving TSR, Gygax had authored two novels for TSR's Greyhawk Adventures series featuring Gord the Rogue, Saga of Old City (the first Greyhawk novel)[24] and Artifact of Evil. By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg).[36] However, he lost the rights to all his other work, including the World of Greyhawk and the names of all the characters he had ever used in TSR material, such as Mordenkainen, Robilar, and Tenser. In October 1986, Gygax resigned all positions with TSR, Inc., and settled his disputes with TSR in December 1986.[35]

After TSR Immediately after leaving TSR, Gygax helped form the company New Infinities Productions, Inc.,[37] and became the Chair of its Board and head of the company's Creative Committee in October 1986; Frank Mentzer and Kim Mohan were Design Executives and with Gygax, formed the Creative Committee.[35] Gygax's first role-playing game work for New Infinities, with Mohan and Mentzer, was the science fiction-themed Cyborg Commando, published in 1987. Gygax's next project a was a new fantasy role-playing game spanning multiple genres called Dangerous Journeys.[2] (It was originally to have been called Dangerous Dimensions, but the name was changed to Dangerous Journeys in response to a threat of a lawsuit from TSR, Inc. that the DD abbreviation would be too similar to "D&D.")[38] Gygax authored all of the products for Dangerous Journeys, including Mythus, Mythus Magick, and Mythus Bestiary. When the product was released by Game Designers'

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Gary Gygax Workshop,[39] [5] TSR immediately sued for copyright infringement. The suit was eventually settled out of court, with TSR buying the complete rights to the Dangerous Journeys system from New Infinities and then permanently shelving the entire project.[40] From 1986–1988, Gygax continued to write a few more Gord the Rogue novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: Sea of Death (1987), City of Hawks (1987), and Come Endless Darkness (1988). However, by 1988, Gygax was not happy with the new direction in which TSR was taking "his" world of Greyhawk. In a literary declaration that his old world was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.[41] During this time, Gygax also worked with Flint Dille on the Sagard the Barbarian Books,[5] as well as Role-Playing Mastery and its sequel, Master of the Game. Gygax also wrote a number of published short stories. In the 1990s, Gygax wrote three more novels, released under publisher Penguin/Roc, and later reprinted by Paizo Publishing: The Anubis Murders, The Samarkand Solution, and Death in Delhi. Paizo Publishing also printed Infernal Sorceress, Gygax's "lost" novel. During 1994, he was the primary author for six issues of the entire 64-page Mythic Masters (Trigee) magazine. In 1995, he began work on a new computer game, but by 1999 it had morphed into book form, and was published as a new role-playing system, Lejendary Adventure.[5] [16] Gygax also worked on a number of releases with the d20 System under the Open Game License. These included the generic adventure module A Challenge of Arms; The Weyland Smith & Company Giant Fun Catalog, a book of "joke" magic items; and The Slayer's Guide to Dragons sourcebooks. From 2002 to 2006, Gygax worked on the Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds series from Troll Lord Games as the principle author of volumes I-III and as the editor of volumes IV-VII. Gygax lent his voice to cartoons and video games in his later life, including providing the voice for his cartoon self in the episode "Anthology of Interest I" of the TV show Futurama which aired in 2000.[4] [42] Gygax also performed voiceover narration as a guest Dungeon Master, in the Delera's Tomb quest series, in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach.[43] In 2003, Gygax announced that he was working with Rob Kuntz to publish the original and previously unpublished details of Castle Greyhawk and the city of Greyhawk in 6 volumes, although the project would use the rules for Castles and Crusades rather than D&D.[44] Since Wizards of the Coast, which had bought TSR in 1997, still owned the rights to the name "Greyhawk", Gygax changed the name of Castle Greyhawk to "Castle Zagyg"—a reverse homophone of his own name. Gygax also changed the name of the nearby city to "Yggsburgh", a play on his initials E.G.G. This project proved to be much more work than Gygax and Kuntz had envisioned. By the time Gygax and Kuntz had stopped working on their original home campaign, the castle dungeons had encompassed 50 levels of cunningly complex passages and thousands of rooms and traps. This, plus plans for the city of Yggsburgh and encounter areas outside the castle and city, would clearly be too much to fit into the proposed 6 volumes. Gygax decided he would compress the castle dungeons into 13 levels, the size of his original Castle Greyhawk in 1973,[45] by amalgamating the best of what could be gleaned from binders and boxes of old notes.[46] However, neither Gygax nor Kuntz had kept careful or comprehensive plans. Because they had often made up details of play sessions on the spot,[47] they usually just scribbled a quick map as they played, with cursory notes about monsters, treasures and traps.[48] These sketchy maps contained just enough detail so that the two could ensure their independent work would dovetail. All of these old notes had to be deciphered, 25-year-old memories dredged up as to what had happened in each room, and a decision made whether to keep or discard each new piece.[49] Recreating the city too, would be a challenge; although Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, all of his previously published work on the city was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of the city from scratch while still maintaining the "look and feel" of his original.[50] Even this slow and laborious process came to a complete halt in April 2004 when Gygax suffered a serious stroke. Although he returned to his keyboard after a seven-month convalescence, his output was reduced from 14-hour work days to only one or two hours per day.[51] Kuntz had to withdraw due to other projects, although he continued to

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work on an adventure module that would be published at the same time as the first book. Under these circumstances, work on the Castle Zagyg project continued even more slowly,[52] although Jeffrey Talanian stepped in to help Gygax. Finally in 2005, Troll Lord Games published Volume I, Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh. This 256-page hardcover book contained details of Gygax's original city, its personalities and politics, as well as over 30 encounters outside the city. Later that year, Troll Lord Games also published Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau, the adventure module written for the Yggsburgh setting by Rob Kuntz. Book catalogs published in 2005 indicated several more volumes in the series would follow shortly, but it wasn't until 2008 that the second volume, Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works, appeared. The Upper Works described details of the castle above ground, acting as a teaser for the volumes concerning the actual dungeons that would follow. However, Gygax died in March 2008 before any further books were published. After his death, Gygax Games, under the control of Gary's widow Gail, took over the project, but to date no more volumes of the Castle Zagyg project have been published.

Personal life From an early age, Gygax hunted and was a target-shooter with both bow and gun.[53] He was also an avid gun collector, and at various times owned a variety of rifles, shotguns and handguns.[54] Gygax married his first wife, Mary Jo Gygax, in 1958. By 1961 they had two children[8] who would later assist with play-testing Dungeons & Dragons.[8] Three more children were to follow before the marriage ended in divorce in the early 1980s.[8] On August 15, 1987, the same day as his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, he married his second wife, Gail Carpenter,[15] and together they had his sixth and last child. By 2005, Gygax had seven grandchildren. Gygax went into semi-retirement after suffering strokes on April 1 and May 4, 2004,[2] and almost suffered a heart attack after receiving incorrect medication[11] to prevent further strokes. He had been a lifelong cigarette smoker, but switched to cigars after his strokes.[15] In late 2005, he was diagnosed with an inoperable abdominal aortic aneurysm.[16] Despite his reduced workload, Gygax continued to be active in the gaming community and regularly contributed to discussion forums on gaming websites such as Dragonsfoot and EN World. Gygax died the morning of March 4, 2008, at his home in Lake Geneva at age 69.[5] [55] I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.





[56]

— Gary Gygax

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Awards and honors As the "father of role-playing games", Gygax received several awards and honors related to gaming • He was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Origins Award Hall of Fame 1980.[57] • Sync Magazine named Gygax #1 on the list of "The 50 Biggest Nerds of All Time".[58] • SFX Magazine listed him as #37 on the list of the "50 Greatest SF Pioneers".[59] • In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Gygax as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons "in the realm of adventure gaming."[60] • Gygax was tied with J. R. R. Tolkien for #18 on GameSpy's 30 Most Influential People in Gaming.[61]

A plaque dedicated to Gary Gygax at Gen Con 2008 reading: The first DM, He taught us to roll the dice. He opened the door to new worlds. His work shaped our industry. He brought us Gen Con, For this we thank him. In fond memory of Gary Gygax and in celebration of his spirit and accomplishments.

• Numerous names in Dungeons & Dragons, such as Zagyg, Ring of Gaxx, and Gryrax, are anagrams or alterations of Gygax's name.[62] • A strain of bacteria was named in honor of Gygax, "Arthronema gygaxiana sp nov UTCC393".[63] • Blizzard Entertainment dedicated the 2.4.0 patch of World of Warcraft, "Fury of the Sunwell", to Gygax.[64] • Electronic Arts dedicated Publish 51 in Ultima Online to Gygax. This included a new room in the dungeon Doom containing a special encounter and unique decorations.[65] • Turbine, Inc. included two tributes in the Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach Module 7, released June 3, 2008:[66] • A new area in Delera's Graveyard containing a memorial marker and text, and a new unique item, Voice of the Master, that improves the wearer's experience awards.[67] • Stephen Colbert, an avid D&D gamer in his youth,[24] dedicated the last part of the March 5, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report to Gygax.[68] • Gygax was commemorated in a number of webcomics, including xkcd's comic #393 "Ultimate Game,"[69] Penny Arcade's "Bordering On The Semi-Tasteful,"[70] Dork Tower's "Thanks for the Worldbuilding Rules,"[71] Order of the Stick #536, "A Brief Tribute" [72] , UserFriendly's cartoon for March 9, 2008[73] GU Comics' "The Journey's End"[74] , and the Unspeakable Vault (of Doom).[75] • The 2008 film Futurama: Bender's Game, contained a post-closing credits title card paying tribute to Gygax, and a clip of him from the episode "Anthology of Interest" saying, "Anyone want to play Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years?" Many people involved in the show, including David X. Cohen, were D&D fans and played the game during production of the show.[76] Gary Gygax also lent his voice to his 8-bit self on Code Monkeys.[77] • All three Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition core rulebooks are also "dedicated to the memory of E. Gary Gygax."[78] [79] [80] • Gygax and his love of gaming are celebrated at GaryCon, a Lake Geneva gaming convention hosted annually by family members and fans, as a tribute.[81] Members of Gygax's family have been raising funds to construct a memorial in his honor. As of January 2010, plans are to secure a location in Library Park on the lakefront in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.[82]

Gary Gygax

External links • • • •

An Interview with Gary Gygax [83]" by Christopher Smith on the Lejendary Adventure website. Scott Lynch (May 1, 2001). "Interview with Gary Gygax" [84]. RPGnet. Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview [85] on BoingBoing Gadgets Gary Gygax [86] at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

References [1] (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) Mead, Lawrence; Malcomson, Ian (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on October 3, 2008. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [2] Rausch, Allen (2004). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part I (page 1)" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5bJGH9dTI). GameSpy. Archived from the original (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538817p1. html) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved January 3, 2005. [3] Gygax: "I was born in Chicago about four blocks from Wrigley Field." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 19)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-19. html). EN World. 2002-09-17. . Retrieved 2010-05-10. [4] "Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. timesonline. co. uk/ tol/ comment/ obituaries/ article3491541. ece). The Times (London). March 6, 2008. . Retrieved October 7, 2008. [5] Sullivan, Patricia (March 5, 2008). "E. Gary Gygax; Co-Creator Of Dungeons & Dragons" (http:/ / www. washingtonpost. com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2008/ 03/ 04/ AR2008030402784_pf. html). Washington Post. . Retrieved October 17, 2008. [6] Gygax: "We got into a serious fracas with a big gang of boys from further north, there were at least 30 of them to our dozen, but that's a whole different story, and the main reason my father decided to move from Chicago." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 59)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-59. html). EN World. 2005-07-05. . Retrieved 2010-05-10. [7] Gygax: "My maternal family has been in Lake Geneva since circa 1836." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 19)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-19. html). EN World. 2002-09-17. . Retrieved 2010-05-10. [8] Kushner, David. "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. wired. com/ gaming/ virtualworlds/ news/ 2008/ 03/ ff_gygax). Wired. . Retrieved October 16, 2008. [9] Barmak, Sarah (November 8, 2008). "Gary Gygax, King Nerd" (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=1591025371& sid=1& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD). Toronto Star. p. ID.2. ISSN 03190781. . Retrieved December 20, 2008. (Registration required) [10] "Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. economist. com/ obituary/ displaystory. cfm?story_id=10838120& CFID=17643695& CFTOKEN=eb6b0a6fe805fcd3-C484BEF6-B27C-BB00-0127F658915D58E3). The Economist. March 13, 2008. . Retrieved October 7, 2008. [11] Gygax, Gary (2005). Long Biography of E(rnest) Gary Gygax (revision 6-05) [12] "TSR Profiles". Dragon (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.) (#103): 56. November 1985. [13] Gygax: "I never finished high school, attended junior college in Chicago, picked up a fair number of English and anthropology-sociology credits amongst various other classes. As I was on the Dean's list and had professors pushing me, I was admitted to the U. of Chicago, but I took a job in insurance instead." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-4. html). EN World. 2004-02-16. . Retrieved 2010-05-10. [14] Fannon, Sean Patrick (1999). The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible (2nd ed.) Obsidian Studios. ISBN 0-9674429-0-7. [15] "Obituary of Gary Gygax; Godfather of Role-Playing Games and Co-Creator of Dungeons & Dragons" (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=1441328491& sid=2& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD). The Daily Telegraph. March 6, 2008. p. 25. . Retrieved December 20, 2008. (Registration required [16] Parker, Laura (March 7, 2008). "Gary Gygax: Founding father of fantasy computer games and co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ technology/ 2008/ mar/ 07/ games?gusrc=rss& feed=technology). The Guardian. . Retrieved October 7, 2008. [17] Tinsman, Brian (2002). The Game Inventor's Guidebook. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-552-7. [18] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved August 20, 2005. [19] Miller II, Stanley A. (August 3, 2002). "Gen gone: Next year, gamers will be draggin' their tales to Indiana prairie" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070809193643/ http:/ / www. jsonline. com/ story/ index. aspx?id=63415). Journal Sentinel. . Retrieved December 17, 2008. [20] King, Brad; Borland, John (2003). Dungeons & Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Chic to Geek. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-222888-1. [21] Rausch, Allen. "Gary Gygax Interview - Part I (page 2)" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538817p2. html& date=2008-10-04). GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538817p2. html) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved January 3, 2005. [22] "Welcome to the Castles & Crusades Society" (http:/ / www. cncsociety. org/ ). Castles & Crusades Society. . Retrieved December 19, 2008. [23] Staff (March 5, 2008). "Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies at 69; mapped out role-playing game in 1974" (http:/ / www. iht. com/ articles/ ap/ 2008/ 03/ 05/ america/ Obit-Gygax. php). International Herald Tribune. . Retrieved October 12, 2008.

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Gary Gygax [24] Winter, Steve; et al. (October 2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. [25] Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5. [26] Hoffmann, Frank W.; Bailey, William G. (1991). Sports & Recreation Fads. Haworth Press. p. 109. ISBN 1560240563. [27] Kask, Tim (December 1975). "In the Cauldron". The Strategic Review (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.) (#5): 2, 8. [28] The Dragon (TSR Hobbies) II (13–24, 26–48). April 1978 – April 1981. [29] "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-2. html). EN World. 2003-07-23. . Retrieved 2010-03-23. [30] "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=37). . Retrieved 2010-03-23. [31] "Topics; Updates; Playing Games; [Editorial (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=949078371& sid=4& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD)"]. The New York Times. January 19, 1983. p. A.22. ISSN 03624331. . Retrieved December 19, 2008. (Registration required) [32] "Ask The Globe" (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=664049631& sid=4& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD). The Boston Globe. October 5, 1983. ISSN 07431791. . Retrieved December 19, 2008. (Registration required) [33] Rausch, Allen (August 16, 2004). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part 2 (page 1)" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5bJG7F1Yq). GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538820p1. html) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [34] Gygax: "I was alerted to a problem: Kevin Blume was shopping TSR on the street in New York City. I flew back from the West Coast, and discovered the corporation was in debt to the bank the tune of circa $1.5 million." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 28)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-28. html). EN World. 2007-01-21. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [35] Gygax, Gary 1987. "From the Sorcerer's Scroll", Dragon 122:40 (Jun 1987) [36] Gygax: "Anagrams of my name are exclusively my property according to my settlement agreement with TSR, so that is how I can use Zagyg, or Zagig, as well as Yrag." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 91)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-91. html). EN World. 2005-10-20. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [37] Cobb, Nathan (April 19, 1987). "It's Only a Fad" (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=59486982& sid=4& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD). The Boston Globe. p. 77. ISSN 07431791. . Retrieved December 19, 2008. (Registration required) [38] Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=37). thekyngdoms.com. . Retrieved 2008-10-24. [39] Williams, Drew (October 9, 1992). "Dungeons and Dragons Creator Has New Game to Stretch Imagination" (http:/ / proquest. umi. com/ pqdweb?did=83997702& sid=4& Fmt=3& clientId=20886& RQT=309& VName=PQD). Pantagraph. p. C6. . Retrieved December 19, 2008. (Registration required) [40] Gygax: "When the new [fantasy roleplaying game] was introduced at the GTS, a lawsuit was filed by TSR, they claiming it violated the copyright of AD&D. Quite a stretch that, but only a judge intimately familiar with RPGs would know that and dismiss it. So what followed was a long period of discovery and depositions that ran up a huge lawyers' bill--far more on the TSR end than on ours, four to one is likely. Eventually the suit was settled. TSR paid us a very large sum and they got all the rights to the DJ system and Mythus. I suggested to TSR (Lorraine Williams) that the next time I wrote a new RPG they just offer me $1 million for the rights to it, thus saving at least that much money." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-4. html). EN World. 2004-01-04. . Retrieved 2010-05-12. [41] Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-2. html). EN World. 2004-11-19. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [42] "Anthology of Interest I". Writers: Rogers, Eric; Keeler, Ken; Cohen, David X. Directors: Loudon, Chris; Moore, Rich. Futurama. 21 May 2000. No. 29, season 2. [43] "Dungeons & Dragons Creators Lend Their Voices to Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach; Legends Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson Sign On For Turbine's Highly Anticipated OG" (http:/ / www. businesswire. com/ portal/ site/ google/ ?ndmViewId=news_view& newsId=20060118005745& newsLang=en). Business Wire. January 18, 2006. . Retrieved December 17, 2008. [44] Gygax: "I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus side adjuncts, and the 'New Greyhawk Castle' that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new levels too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding... I hope." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81. html). EN World. 2005-12-15. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [45] Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Gary Gygax [46] Gygax: "...the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use. What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [47] Gygax: "I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)". EN World. 2005-12-15. [48] Gygax: "As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest.""Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)". EN World. 2003-11-02. [49] Gygax: "What our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [50] Gygax: "Yggsburgh was a pain in the rump to write because I wanted to include as much detail as possible for the GM interested in using it as a campaign base. So there are sections on history, costume, monetray system and economy of the area, and complete descriptions of the town, its main locations, and the outstanding geographical areas all with encounters or suggestions for same." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [51] Gygax: "the problem is that I tire out after about an hour." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [52] Gygax: "Rob has finished his add on module, but i have not been up to doing the work needed to create the upper works of the castle proper, let alone the dungeon levels below them When my oldest friend died in late November, it was quite a setback for me. Anyway, I am feeling a good deal better if late, and I will attempt real creative work as soon as I feel up to it--likely March." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [53] Gygax: "I got my first BB pistol when I was about 10, a Daisy BB gun when I was 11, and my first .22 rifle, a single-shot, bolt action Winchester for my 12th birthday--thanks to my grandfather, for mother was not keen on that. I loved plinking and hunting, and how badly I wanted a .25 lever action carbine I used to gaze at in the local Gamble's store is difficult to express in words. Never did get it. I did get a fine lemonwood bow made by Bear Archery, though. It had only a 38-pound pull, so my range was only about 120 yards with a hunting arrow." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [54] Gygax: "Yes I own a number of handguns and shoulder weapons... over the next few years I did add several more .22 rifles, a bolt-action, three shot Mossberg 16 gauge shotgun, a old single-barreled 12 gauge, and a .32 pistol. The rifles were used for squirrel, rabbit, and varmint hunting, the shotguns for pheasants, ducks, and geese, and the revolver for target shooting. In later years I got rid of the old weapons, added a 7.62 Argentine Mauser, a 30-30 carbine, and various other rifles, shotguns, and quite a few handguns. Years later, when I used to get death threats because of D&D I always had a .357, 9 mm, or .45 caliber pistol handy. If those were too conspicuous, a little .32, .25, or .22 derringer from Defender Arms was around. Sure glad I didn't need to use them...." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [55] "Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies at 69" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wkbt. com/ Global/ story. asp?S=7963395& date=2008-10-04). WKBT-La Crosse, Wisconsin. March 4, 2008. Archived from the original (http:/ / wkbt. com/ Global/ story. asp?S=7963395) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved March 4, 2008. [56] Rausch, Allen (August 16, 2004). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part 2 (page 3)" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5bJGTIlIm). GameSpy. IGN Entertainment, Inc.. Archived from the original (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 538/ 538820p3. html) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [57] "Hall of Fame" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ aagad/ awards/ hall-of-fame& date=2008-03-29). Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts &Design. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ aagad/ awards/ hall-of-fame) on March 29, 2008. . Retrieved March 29, 2008. [58] "The 50 Biggest Nerds of All Time". Sync. December 2004-January 2005. "Number 1: Gary Gygax: Cocreator of Dungeons & Dragons and father of role-playing games. ... Between 1977 and 1979, Gygax released Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for advanced dorks, taking the cult phenomenon to new heights whilst giving himself a +5 salary of lordly might.". [59] "50 Greatest SF Pioneers". SFX (128). March 2005. [60] Haring, Scott D. (December 24, 1999). "Second Sight: The Millennium's Best "Other" Game and The Millennium's Most Influential Person" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ login/ article. html?id=1306). Pyramid (online) (Steve Jackson Games). . Retrieved February 15, 2008. [61] "GameSpy's 30 Most Influential People in Gaming" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ march02/ top30/ & date=2008-10-04). GameSpy. IGN. March 2002. Archived from the original (http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ march02/ top30/ ) on October 4, 2008. . [62] The staff of Dragon and Dungeon magazines (September 2007). "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D". Dragon 32 (4): 23–35. [63] "Molecular and Morphological Characterization of Ten Polar and Near-Polar Strains within the Oscillatoriales (Cyanobacteria)", by Dale A. Casamatta, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Morgan L. Vis, and Sharon T. Broadwater, Journal of Phycology, 2005

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Gary Gygax [64] "World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.4.0" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. worldofwarcraft. com/ patchnotes/ & date=2008-03-26). Blizzard Entertainment. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. worldofwarcraft. com/ patchnotes/ ) on March 26, 2008. . Retrieved March 26, 2008. [65] "In Remembrance: Gary Gygax (1938 - 2008)" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. uoherald. com/ news/ news. php?newsid=337& date=2008-04-07). Electronic Arts. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. uoherald. com/ news/ news. php?newsid=337) on April 6, 2008. . Retrieved March 30, 2008. [66] Zenke, Michael (May 28, 2008). "DDO Q&A: Mod 7, the Monk and more" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. massively. com/ 2008/ 05/ 28/ turbine-slates-ddo-module-7-for-release-on-june-3rd/ & date=2008-10-31). Massively. Weblogs. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. massively. com/ 2008/ 05/ 28/ turbine-slates-ddo-module-7-for-release-on-june-3rd/ ) on October 31, 2008. . Retrieved October 30, 2008. [67] Lees, Jennie (March 15, 2008). "DDO Q&A: Mod 7, the Monk and more" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. massively. com/ 2008/ 03/ 15/ ddo-qanda-mod-7-the-monk-and-more/ & date=2008-10-31). Massively. Weblogs. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. massively. com/ 2008/ 03/ 15/ ddo-qanda-mod-7-the-monk-and-more/ ) on October 31, 2008. . Retrieved October 30, 2008. [68] "RIP Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. colbertnation. com/ the-colbert-report-videos/ 156302/ march-05-2008/ r-i-p--gary-gygax), The Colbert Report, March 5, 2008 [69] Munroe, Randall. "Ultimate Game" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. xkcd. com/ 393/ & date=2008-10-04). xkcd. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. xkcd. com/ 393/ ) on October 4, 2008. . [70] "Bordering On The Semi-Tasteful" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. penny-arcade. com/ comic/ 2008/ 3/ 3/ & date=2008-10-04). Penny Arcade. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. penny-arcade. com/ comic/ 2008/ 3/ 5/ ) on October 4, 2008. . [71] Kovalic, John (March 5, 2008). "Thanks for the Worldbuilding Rules" (http:/ / www. dorktower. com/ 2008/ 03/ 05/ ?catid=6). Dork Tower (Dork Storm Press). . backup link (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. dorktower. com/ 2008/ 03/ 05/ ?catid=6& date=2008-10-04) [72] Burlew, Rich. "The Order of the Stick #536" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. giantitp. com/ comics/ oots0536. html& date=2008-10-04). Giantitp. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. giantitp. com/ comics/ oots0536. html) on October 4, 2008. . [73] Frazer, J.D. "Illiad" (March 9, 2008). "I guess the gazebo finally got him" (http:/ / ars. userfriendly. org/ cartoons/ ?id=20080309& mode=classic). UserFriendly. . [74] Hearn, Woody (March 5, 2008). "The Journey's End" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. gucomics. com/ comic/ ?cdate=20080305& date=2008-10-04). GUComics. Archived from the original (http:/ / gucomics. com/ comic/ ?cdate=20080305) on October 4, 2008. . [75] http:/ / www. goominet. com/ unspeakable-vault/ vault/ 250/ [76] DVD Audio Commentary on various episodes throughout the series [77] http:/ / blog. wired. com/ underwire/ 2008/ 03/ report-gary-gyg. html [78] Heinsoo, Rob; Collins, Andy; Wyatt, James (June 2008). Player's Handbook (4th ed.). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4867-3. [79] Wyatt, James (June 2008). Dungeon Master's Guide (4th ed.). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4880-2. [80] Mearls, Mike; Schubert, Stephen; Wyatt, James (June 2008). Monster Manual (4th ed.). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4852-9. [81] Gary Gon home page (http:/ / www. garycon. com/ ) [82] Gygax Memorial Fund website (http:/ / gygaxmemorialfund. com/ ) [83] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080513184644/ http:/ / www. lejendary. com/ la/ template. php?page=garygygax& style=blaze [84] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ columns/ lynch01may01. html [85] http:/ / gadgets. boingboing. net/ 2008/ 03/ 04/ dungeons-dragons-cre. html [86] http:/ / www. isfdb. org/ cgi-bin/ ea. cgi?Gary_Gygax

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Dave Arneson

98

Dave Arneson Dave Arneson

Born

David Lance Arneson October 1, 1947 Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States

Died

April 7, 2009 (aged 61) St. Paul, Minnesota

Occupation Game designer Nationality

United States

Genres

Role-playing games

Spouse(s)

Frankie Ann Morneau (1984 - April 7, 2009)

David Lance "Dave" Arneson (October 1, 1947[1]  – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax in the early 1970s.[2] Arneson's early work was fundamental to the development of the genre, developing the concept of the RPG using devices now considered to be archetypical, such as adventuring in "dungeons", using a neutral judge, and having conversations with imaginary characters to develop the storyline.[3] Arneson discovered wargaming as a teenager in the 1960s, and began combining these games with the concept of roleplaying. He was a University of Minnesota student when he met Gygax at the Gen Con gaming convention in the late 1960s. In 1970, Arneson created the game and fictional world that became Blackmoor, writing his own rules and basing the setting on medieval fantasy elements. Arneson brought the game to show Gygax the following year, and the pair co-developed a set of rules that became Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Gygax subsequently incorporated TSR to publish the game in 1974, and Arneson worked briefly for the company. Arneson left TSR in 1976, and filed suit in 1979 to retain credits and royalties on the game. He continued to work as an independent game designer, briefly worked for TSR again in the 1980s, and continued to play games for his entire life. Arneson also did some work in computer gaming, and taught computer game design and game rules design at Full Sail University from the 1990s until shortly before his death in 2009.

Dave Arneson

Experience with miniature wargaming Arneson's role-playing game design work grew from his interest in wargames when his parents bought him the board wargame Gettysburg by Avalon Hill in the early 1960s. After Arneson taught his friends how to play, the group began to design their own games,[4] with Arneson especially fond of naval wargames, and trying out new ways to play games.[5] Exposure to role-playing as a tool also influenced his later game designs. In college history classes he role-played historical events, and preferred deviating from the recorded history in a manner similar to "what if" scenarios recreated in wargames.[6] In the late 1960s[4] Arneson joined the Midwest Military Simulation Association, which was a group of miniature wargamers and military figurine collectors in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that included among its ranks future game designer David Wesely. Wesely asserts that it was during the Braunstein games he created and refereed, and in which other MMSA members participated, that Arneson helped develop the foundations of modern role-playing games on a 1:1 scale basis by focusing on non-combat objectives; a step away from wargaming towards the more individual play and varied challenges of later RPGs.[7] [8] In 1969, Arneson was a history student at the University of Minnesota and working part time as a security guard.[9] He attended the second (formal) Gen Con gaming convention in August 1969 (at which time wargaming was still the primary focus) and it was at this event that he met Gary Gygax[10] [11] who had founded the Castle & Crusade Society within the International Federation of Wargamers in the 1960s at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, not far from Arneson's home in Minnesota.[4] [9] Arneson and Gygax also shared an interest in sailing ship games and they co-authored the Don't Give Up The Ship! naval battle rules, serialized from June 1971 and later published as a single volume in 1972 by Guidon Games with a revised edition by TSR, Inc. in 1975.[9] [12]

Blackmoor In the summer of 1970, Arneson began to create a game that involved medieval miniatures exploring the dungeons of a castle inhabited by fantastic monsters.[13] [14] [15] Originally Arneson played his own mix of rules using rock, paper, scissors to resolve combat, but later adapted elements from his naval wargame rules which had an armor class system like that later used in D&D. The armor class system also appeared in the Chainmail rules, written by Gygax and Jeff Perren. However, also finding those lacking, Arneson wrote modified rules, applying those to his role-playing game scenarios.[4] [6] [9] “I had spent the previous two days watching about five monster movies on channel 5’s ‘Creature Feature’ weekend, reading several Conan books (I cannot recall which ones, but I always thought they were all pretty much the same), and stuffing myself with popcorn, doodling on a piece of graph paper. At the time, I was quite tired of my Nappy (Napoleonic) campaign with all its rigid rules and was rebelling against it.”[16] The game that evolved from those modifications to Chainmail was the game Blackmoor, which modern players of D&D would describe more as a campaign setting rather than a "complete game." The gameplay would be recognizable to modern D&D players, featuring the use of fixed hit points, armor class, character development, and dungeon crawls. This setting was also fleshed out over time and has continued to be played to the present day.[17] Arneson described Blackmoor as “roleplaying in a non-traditional medieval setting. I have such things as steam power, gunpowder, and submarines in limited numbers. There was even a tank running around for a while. The emphasis is on the story and the roleplaying."[16] Details of Blackmoor and the original campaign, which was by then established on the map of the Castle & Crusade Society's "Great Kingdom",[18] were first brought to print briefly in issue #13 of the Domesday Book, the newsletter of the Castle & Crusade Society in July 1972, and later in much-expanded form as The First Fantasy Campaign, published by Judges Guild in 1977.[19] Although much of what was later deemed to be "Tolkien-influenced" in D&D and the concept of adventuring in "dungeons"[20] originated with Blackmoor, as a setting it was not purely fantasy-oriented, with recent history and science fiction elements also incorporated or linked in. These are visible much later in the DA module series

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Dave Arneson published by TSR (particularly City of the Gods), but were also present from the early-mid 1970s in the original campaign and parallel and intertwined games run by John Snider, whose ruleset developed from these adventures and was intended for publication by TSR from 1974 as the first SF RPG.[21] [22]

Dungeons & Dragons Arneson thought that Gygax would be interested in role-playing since Gygax was already a game-maker with similar interests, so he took his game and a few friends to demonstrate to Gygax in late 1971.[9] After collaboration by phone and mail, and playtesting carried out by their various groups and other contacts, Gygax and Arneson wanted to publish the game, later called "The Fantasy Game", but both Guidon Games and Avalon Hill rejected it and Arneson could not afford to invest in the venture.[8] [14] [23] The two men felt that there was a need to publish the game as soon as possible, since similar projects were being planned elsewhere, so rules were hastily put together and Arneson's own final draft was never used.[8] Despite all this, Brian Blume eventually provided the funding required to publish the original Dungeons & Dragons set in 1974, with the initial print run of 1,000 selling out within a year and sales rapidly increasing in subsequent years.[4] [14] Further rules and a sample Gary Gygax, who created the Dungeons & dungeon from Arneson's original campaign (the first published RPG Dragons game with Arneson. scenario in a professional publication) were released in 1975 in the Blackmoor supplement for D&D, named after the campaign setting.[5] The supplement offered little in the way of details from Arneson's actual campaign, however.[16] Arneson formally joined TSR as their Director of Research at the beginning of 1976 but left at the end of the year to pursue a career as an independent game designer.[13] [24]

After TSR In 1977, despite the fact that he was no longer at TSR, Arneson published Dungeonmaster's Index,[25] a 38-page booklet that indexed all of TSR's D&D properties to that point in time, including Chainmail, the original 3-book set of D&D, the five D&D supplements (Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Eldritch Wizardry; Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes; and Swords & Spells), and all seven issues of The Strategic Review. TSR had agreed to pay Arneson royalties on all D&D products, but when the company came out with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) in 1977, it claimed that this was a significantly different product and did not pay him royalties.[26] In response, Arneson filed the first of five lawsuits against Gygax and TSR in 1979. Two years later, in March 1981, as part of a confidential agreement, Arneson and Gygax resolved the suits out of court by agreeing that they would both be credited as "co-creators" on the packaging of D&D products from that point on,[9] but this did not end the lingering tensions between them.[4] (Twenty years later, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) bought TSR and wanted to drop the word "Advanced" from its planned third edition of D&D. WotC CEO Peter Adkison approached Arneson to resolve the two-decade-old issue and for an undisclosed sum of money, Arneson agreed to release all claims to D&D.[26] ) In 1979, Arneson and Richard L. Snider, an original Blackmoor player, co-authored Adventures in Fantasy, a roleplaying game that attempted to recapture the "original spirit of the Role Playing Fantasy Game" that Arneson had envisioned in the early 1970s, instead of what D&D had become.[27] In the early 1980s he established his own game company, Adventure Games, that produced the miniatures games Johnny Reb and Harpoon, as well as his own

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Dave Arneson Adventures in Fantasy role-playing game.[16] Adventure Games was profitable, but Arneson found the workload to be excessive and finally sold his company to Flying Buffalo.[28] While Gary Gygax was president of TSR in the mid 1980s, he and Arneson reconnected, and Arneson briefly relinked Blackmoor to D&D [4] with the "DA" (Dave Arneson) series of modules set in Blackmoor (1986–1987). The four modules, three of which were written by Arneson, detailed Arneson's campaign setting for the first time.[16] When Gygax was forced out of TSR, Arneson was removed from the company before a planned fifth module could be published. Gygax and Arneson again went their separate ways.[4] In 1986, Arneson wrote a new D&D module set in Blackmoor called "The Garbage Pits of Despair", which was published in two parts in Different Worlds magazine issues #42 and #43. Arneson stepped into the computer industry and founded 4D Interactive Systems, a computer company in Minnesota that is still in business today. He also did some programming and worked on several games. He eventually found himself consulting with computer companies.[4] Living in California in the late 1980s, Arneson had a chance to work with special education children. Upon returning to Minnesota, he pursued teaching and began speaking at schools about educational uses of role-playing and using multi-sided dice to teach math.[29] In the 1990s, he began working at Full Sail, a private university that teaches multimedia subjects,[4] and continued there as a professor of computer game design until 2008. Around 2000, Arneson was working with videographer John Kentner on Dragons in the Basement, a video documentary on the early history of role-playing games. Arneson describes the documentary: “Basically it is a series of interviews with original players (‘How did D&D affect your life?’) and original RPG designers like Marc Miller (Traveller) and M.A.R. Barker (Empire of the Petal Throne).”[16] He also made a cameo appearance in the Dungeons & Dragons movie as one of many mages throwing fireballs at a dragon, although the scene was deleted from the completed movie.[6] Arneson and Dustin Clingman founded Zeitgeist Games to produce an updated, d20 System version of the Blackmoor setting.[4] Goodman Games published and distributed this new Blackmoor in 2004.

Personal life Arneson married Frankie Ann Morneau in 1984;[30] they had one daughter,[1] Malia, and two grandchildren.[29] Arneson continued to play games his entire life, including D&D, military miniatures, and an annual meeting to play the original Blackmoor in Minnesota.[4] He taught the class "Rules of the Game" at Full Sail University, a school of graphic arts and game design,[9] in which students learned how to accurately document and create balanced rules sets. He retired from the position on June 19, 2008.[31] Arneson died on April 7, 2009,[32] after battling cancer for two years.[11] According to his daughter, Malia Weinhagen, "The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life ... I think we get distracted by the everyday things you have to do in life and we forget to enjoy life and have fun."[29]

Honors and tributes Arneson received numerous industry awards for his part in creating Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing games. In 1984 he was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design's Hall of Fame[33] and in 1999 was named by Pyramid magazine as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, "at least in the realm of adventure gaming".[34] Three days after his death, Wizards of the Coast temporarily replaced the front page of the Dungeons & Dragons section of their web site with a tribute to Arneson.[35] Other tributes in the gaming world included Order of the Stick #644,[36] and Dork Tower for April 8, 2009.[37] Video game publisher Activision Blizzard posted a tribute to Arneson on their website and on April 14, 2009, released patch 3.1 of the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft, The Secrets of Ulduar, dedicated to Arneson.[38]

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Dave Arneson Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online, now Dungeons and Dragons: Eberron Unlimited, added an in-game memorial altar to Arneson in the Ruins of Threnal's location in the game. They also created an in-game item named the 'Mantle of the Worldshaper' that is a reward for finishing the Threnal quest chain that is narrated by Arneson himself. The Mantle's description states "A comforting and inspiring presence surrounds you as you hold this cloak. Arcane runes run along the edges of the fine cape, and masterfully drawn on the silken lining is an incredibly detailed map of a place named 'Blackmoor'."

Partial bibliography • • • • • • • • •

Dungeons & Dragons (1974) (with Gary Gygax) Blackmoor (1975) Dungeonmaster's Index (1977) The First Fantasy Campaign (1977) Adventures in Fantasy (1979) (with Richard L. Snider) Robert Asprin's Thieves' World (1981) (co-author) Citybook II – Port o' Call (1984) (co-author) Adventures in Blackmoor (D&D Module:DA1) (1986) (with David J. Ritchie) Temple of the Frog (D&D Module:DA2) (1986) (with David J. Ritchie)

• • • • • •

City of the Gods (D&D Module:DA3) (1987) (with David J. Ritchie) DNA/DOA (1989) The Case of the Pacific Clipper (1991) The Haunted Lighthouse (Dungeon Crawl Classics Module #3.5) (2003) Dave Arneson's Blackmoor (2004) (lead designer) Player's Guide to Blackmoor (2006)

External links Official website [39] of Dave Arneson. "Dave Arneson Interview [40]" by Harold Foundary at Digital Entertainment News. "Dave Arneson Interview [41]" by Andrew S. Bub at GameSpy, August 11, 2002. "Slice of SciFi #151: Interview with “Dungeons & Dragons” co-creator Dave Arneson [42]" by Farpoint Media, February 8, 2008. • Jeremy L.C. Jones. “Interview with Dave Arneson” [43], koboldquarterly.com, 2009-04-11. Retrieved on 2009-05-03. Arneson’s last known interview. • • • •

References [1] Minnesota Department of Health. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. [2] Cook, Monte; Tweet, Jonathan; Williams, Skip (2000). Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast. p. 2. "Based on the original Dungeons & Dragons rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson" [3] Lafarge, Paul (September 2006). "Destroy All Monsters: A journey deep into the cavern of Dungeons & Dragons, a utopian, profoundly dorky and influential game that, lacking clear winners or an end, may not be a game at all" (http:/ / www. believermag. com/ issues/ 200609/ ?read=article_lafarge). The Believer 4 (7). . Retrieved 2009-03-22. [4] "Dave Arneson Interview" (http:/ / pc. gamespy. com/ articles/ 540/ 540395p1. html). August 19, 2004. . Retrieved January 31, 2007. [5] Fannon, Sean Patrick (1999). "9: Wargames, the Early Roots; 10: The Birth of a Hobby". The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible (2nd ed.). Obsidian Studios. ISBN 0-9674429-0-7. [6] "Dave Arneson Interview" (http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ august02/ gencon/ arneson/ ). August 11, 2002. . Retrieved January 31, 2007. [7] Fox, Benjamin F. (2001). "The performance of Wargames". in Lancaster, Kurt; Mikotowicz, Thomas J.. Performing the force: essays on immersion into science fiction, fantasy and horror environments. McFarland. pp. 74–75. ISBN 0786408952. [8] Arneson, Dave (June/July 1979). "My Life and Role-Playing". Different Worlds (Chaosium) (3): 6–8.

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Dave Arneson [9] Kushner, David. "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. wired. com/ gaming/ virtualworlds/ news/ 2008/ 03/ ff_gygax). Wired.com. . Retrieved October 16, 2008. [10] Arneson, D.; Gygax, G.; Carr, M. (1972). Don't Give Up the Ship! (1st ed.). Evansville, IN: Guidon Games. pp. ii. [11] BBC: Role-playing games pioneer dies (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ entertainment/ 7994444. stm) [12] Arneson, Dave; Gary Gygax (June 1971). "Don't Give Up The Ship". International Wargamer (International Federation of Wargamers) 4 (6). [13] Anon. (April/May 1981). "An Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. judgesguild. net/ guildhall/ pegasus/ pegasus_01/ interview. shtml). Pegasus (Judges Guild) (1): 4. . [14] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on October 3, 2008. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [15] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on October 4, 2008. . Retrieved September 20, 2005. [16] Varney, Allen (July 1998). "Profiles: Dave Arneson". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#249): 120. [17] Anon. (August 1999). "Pegasus chats with... Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. eostros. com/ guildhall/ epegasus/ pegasus14/ interview. htm). Pegasus (Judges Guild) (14): 6. . [18] Gygax, Gary (June 1977). "Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons: Origins of the Game". Dragon Magazine (TSR, Inc.) 1 (7): 7. [19] Arneson, Dave (July 1972). "Facts about Black Moor". Domesday Book (Castle & Crusade Society) (13): 6–7. [20] Gygax, Gary (June 1978). "D&D Ground and Spell Area Scale". Dragon Magazine (TSR, Inc.) (15): 13. [21] Arneson, Dave (Autumn 1975). "(in) Mapping the Dungeons". The Strategic Review (TSR, Inc.) 1 (3): 6. [22] Snider, John M. (June 1, 1974). "Letter from John M. Snider (dated April(?) 1974)". Supernova (Lew Pulsipher) SF&F Gaming Info—Supplement. [23] Gygax, Gary (June 1979). "D&D, AD&D and Gaming". Dragon Magazine (TSR) (28-29): 7. [24] Kask, Tim (February 1976). "In The Cauldron". The Strategic Review (TSR, Inc.) 2 (1): 2. [25] "Dungeonmaster's Index" (http:/ / www. tomeoftreasures. com/ tot_nontsr/ arneson. htm). Tome of treasures for Dungeons & Dragons Collectibles. . Retrieved 2009-06-07. [26] 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. 2004. p. 247. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. [27] Arneson, David L.; Richard Snider (1979). Adventures in Fantasy: Book of Adventure. Excalibre Games Inc./Adventures Unlimited. p. 1. [28] Sacco, Ciro Allessandro. "An Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20040707092754/ http:/ / www. enworld. org/ modules. php?op=modload& name=Sections& file=index& req=viewarticle& artid=47& page=1). . Retrieved June 3, 2009. (Alternative URL: (http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?f=23& t=35).) [29] Forliti, Amy (April 10, 2009). "Arneson, co-creator of D&D, dies at 61" (http:/ / minnesota. publicradio. org/ display/ web/ 2009/ 04/ 10/ arneson_obit/ ). Associated Press. . Retrieved May 31, 2010. [30] Ancestry.com. Minnesota Marriage Collection, 1958-2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. [31] Horowitz, Etan (June 18, 2008). "D&D co-creator Dave Arneson retiring from Full Sail" (http:/ / blogs. orlandosentinel. com/ etan_on_tech/ 2008/ 06/ dd-co-creator-d. html). The Orlando Sentinel. . Retrieved May 31, 2010. [32] "Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4news/ 20090409). News. Wizards of the Coast. April 9, 2009. . Retrieved April 10, 2009. [33] "List of Winners" (http:/ / www. originsgames. com/ awards/ 1983/ list-of-winners). . Retrieved January 31, 2007. [34] Haring, Scott D. (December 24, 1999). "Second Sight: The Millennium's Best "Other" Game and The Millennium's Most Influential Person" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ login/ article. html?id=1306). Pyramid (online). . Retrieved February 15, 2008. [35] "David Lance Arneson" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ images/ arneson_main. jpg& date=2009-04-10). wizards.com. Wizards of the Coast. April 10, 2009. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ images/ arneson_main. jpg) on April 10, 2009. . Retrieved April 10, 2009. The image originally appeared here (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ welcome). [36] Burlew, Rich. "The Order of the Stick #644" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. giantitp. com/ comics/ oots0644. html& date=2009-04-10). Giantitp. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. giantitp. com/ comics/ oots0644. html) on April 10, 2009. . [37] Kovalic, John (April 8, 2009). "Dork Tower April 8, 2009" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. dorktower. com/ 2009/ 04/ 08/ dork-tower-april-8-2009-thanks-dave/ & date=2009-04-10). Dork Tower. Dork Storm Press. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. dorktower. com/ 2009/ 04/ 08/ dork-tower-april-8-2009-thanks-dave/ ) on April 10, 2009. . Retrieved April 10, 2009. [38] "World of Warcraft Patch Notes 3.10" (http:/ / www. worldofwarcraft. com/ patchnotes/ patch3p10. html). Blizzard Entertainment. . [39] http:/ / blackmoorcastle. com [40] http:/ / www. dignews. com/ feature. php?story_id=2514 [41] http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ august02/ gencon/ arneson/ [42] http:/ / www. sliceofscifi. com/ 2008/ 03/ 08/ slice-of-scifi-151/ [43] http:/ / www. koboldquarterly. com/ k/ article460. php

103

Ed Greenwood

104

Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood, 2008 Born

Canada

Occupation

writer, game designer

Nationality

Canada

Period

1987-

Genres

role-playing games, fantasy

Ed Greenwood (born 1959) is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting.

Early life and the Forgotten Realms Ed Greenwood grew up in the upscale Toronto suburb of Don Mills.[1] He began writing stories about the Forgotten Realms as a child, starting around 1967;[2] they were his "dream space for swords and sorcery stories".[2] Greenwood came up with the "Forgotten Realms" name from the notion of a "multiverse" of parallel worlds; our Earth is one such world, and the Realms another. In Greenwood's original conception, the fantastic legends of our world derive from a fantasy world that we've now lost the way to.[1] Greenwood discovered the Dungeons & Dragons game in 1975, and really got into role-playing with the first AD&D game releases in 1978.[1] The setting became the home of Greenwood's own personal campaign.[3] Greenwood began a Realms campaign in the city of Waterdeep, then started another group known as the Knights of Myth Drannor in Shadowdale. Greenwood felt that his players' thirst for detail made the Realms what it is: "They want it to seem real, and work on ‘honest jobs’ and personal activities, until the whole thing grows into far more than a casual campaign. Roleplaying always governs over rules, and the adventures seem to develop themselves."[1] Beginning with the periodical's 30th issue in 1979,[1] [2] Greenwood published a series of short articles that detailed the setting in The Dragon magazine, the first of which was about a monster known as the curst.[2] Greenwood wrote voluminous entries to Dragon magazine, using the Realms as a setting for his descriptions of magic items, monsters, and spells.[3] In 1986, the American game publishing company TSR began looking for a new campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game,[2] and assigned Jeff Grubb to find out more about the setting used by

Ed Greenwood Greenwood as portrayed in his articles in Dragon.[3] According to Greenwood, Grubb asked him "Do you just make this stuff up as you go, or do you really have a huge campaign world?"; he answered "yes" to both questions.[1] TSR felt that the Forgotten Realms would be a more open-ended setting than the epic Dragonlance setting, and chose the Realms as a ready-made campaign setting upon deciding to publish AD&D 2nd Edition.[1] Greenwood agreed to work on the project, and began working to get the Forgotten Realms officially published.[2] Greenwood sent TSR a few dozen cardboard boxes stuffed with pencil notes and maps, and sold all rights to the Realms for a token fee.[1]

Publishing the Realms In 1987, Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb wrote the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set for TSR—though Greenwood had used the Forgotten Realms for his home Dungeons & Dragons campaign since 1975. The spawned campaign world was a success, and he has been involved with all subsequent incarnations of the Forgotten Realms in D&D. Greenwood's most lasting character from the setting is the wizard Elminster, whom he portrayed (at TSR's request) for a number of years at conventions and as a participant in the RPGA's Living City campaign. Since the release of the Forgotten Realms, Greenwood has published many Forgotten Realms novels,[4] as listed below. He retains certain rights of his setting, but is essentially a freelance author. Greenwood feels his work on the Realms that he likes best are "those products that impart some of the richness and color of the Realms, such as the novel I wrote with Jeff Grubb, Cormyr; the Volo’s Guides; Seven Sisters; The Code of the Harpers; City of Splendors; and stuff that lots of gamers have found useful, such as Drow of the Underdark and Ruins of Undermountain."[1] He found that it has been easy to keep his enthusiasm for the Realms over the years, as so many people care about it, ask him questions about the world's lore ("Realmslore"), and share with him what they have done.[1]

Bibliography • Shandril's Saga • Spellfire (1988); • Crown of Fire (1994); • Hand of Fire (2002) • The Elminster Series • Elminster: The Making of a Mage (1994); • Elminster In Myth Drannor (1997); • The Temptation of Elminster (1998); • Elminster In Hell (2001); • Elminster's Daughter (2004) • The Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy • Shadows of Doom (1995); • Cloak of Shadows (1995); • All Shadows Fled (1995) • The Cormyr Saga • Cormyr: A Novel (1996); • Death of the Dragon (2000) • The Harpers • Crown of Fire (see above); • Stormlight (1996) • Double Diamond Triangle Saga • The Mercenaries (1998);

105

Ed Greenwood • The Diamond (1998) • Sembia • "The Burning Chalice" - The Halls of Stormweather: A Novel In Seven Parts (2000) • The Knights of Myth Drannor Trilogy • Swords of Eveningstar (2006); • Swords of Dragonfire (August 2007); • The Sword never sleeps (November 2008); • Other titles • Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters (1999)

Anthology Novellas • • • • •

"One Comes Unheralded, to Zirta" - originally written in 1967, published in Best of the Realms 2 (2005); "Elminster at the Mage Fair" - Realms of Valor (1993); "So High A Price" - Realms of Infamy (1994); "The Eye of the Dragon" - Realms of Magic (1995); "A Slow Day In Skullport" - Realms of the Underdark (1996);

• "The Whispering Crown" - Realms of the Arcane (1997); • "The Place Where Guards Snore at their Posts" - Realms of the Deep (2000); • "When Shadows Come Seeking A Throne" - Realms of Shadow (2002)

Non-Forgotten Realms Novels • Band of Four Series • The Kingless Land (2000) • The Vacant Throne (2001) • A Dragon's Ascension (2002) • The Dragon's Doom (2003) • The Silent House: A Chronicle of Aglirta (2004) • Falconfar Series • Dark Lord (Solaris Books 2007) • Arch Wizard (Solaris Books 2008) • Falconfar (Solaris Books 2010) • Novel of Niflheim Series • Dark Warrior Rising: A Novel of Niflheim (Tor Books 2007) • Dark Vengeance (Tor Books 2008)

Other activities Greenwood has published over two hundred articles in Dragon Magazine and Polyhedron Newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Association (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times. He has also contributed to most Forgotten Realms gaming accessories, and authored many more—including the detailed Volo's Guide series—and continues to DM his own campaign. He writes regular Realmslore columns for the Wizards of the Coast website [5], and frequents the Candlekeep [6] web forums (where he may be contacted). In addition to all these activities, Greenwood works as a library clerk (and sometimes as a librarian) and has edited over a dozen small press magazines. When not appearing at conventions, he lives in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario.

106

Ed Greenwood As of 1998, Greenwood lived in applegrowing country on Lake Ontario, still working full time at the North York Community Library, as he had since 1974, and continued to run his original Waterdeep campaign with the same core group he started with, albeit meeting only sporadically.[1]

Media Mentions Ed Greenwood has appeared in the following newspaper and magazine articles, websites and podcasts.

Podcasts • Open Design[7] : Open Design 004: Dwarves of the Ironcrags[8] . Ed provides the voice for the introduction to this show. • RPG Countdown[9] : Ed appeared on these episodes: 29 July 2009[10] (Kobold Quarterly 010).

Magazines • To Believe the Magic Is Real: A Conversation with Ed Greenwood [11] Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2008

Further reading • "Ed Greenwood:10 min interview on [[Sounds Like Canada [12]]"]. CBC Radio One. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-10-08.

See also • Lisa Smedman

External links • Biography of Ed Greenwood at Wizards.com [13] • Ed Greenwood [14] at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database • Solaris Books [15]

References [1] Varney, Allen (February 1998). "ProFiles: Ed Greenwood". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#244): 112. [2] Winter, Steve; Greenwood, Ed; Grubb, Jeff. 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons, pages 74-87. (Wizards of the Coast, 2004). [3] Grubb, Jeff; Greenwood, Ed. Forgotten Realms Adventures (TSR, 1990) [4] Buker, Derek M. (2002). The science fiction and fantasy readers' advisory: the librarian's guide to cyborgs, aliens, and sorcerers. ALA Editions. pp. 127–128. ISBN 0838908314. [5] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ forgottenrealms [6] http:/ / www. candlekeep. com [7] Open Design Podcast (http:/ / opendesignpodcast. com/ ). Open Design on Facebook (http:/ / www. facebook. com/ opendesignpodcast). [8] Open Design 004: Dwarves of the Ironcrags (http:/ / opendesignpodcast. com/ odp004-dwarves-of-the-ironcrags). Retrieved 27 August 2009. [9] RPG Countdown (http:/ / rpgcountdown. com/ ). RPG Countdown on Facebook (http:/ / www. facebook. com/ rpgcountdown). [10] RPG Countdown (29 July 2009) (http:/ / rpgcountdown. com/ 2009-07-29). Retrieved 29 July 2009. [11] http:/ / clarkesworldmagazine. com/ greenwood_interview [12] http:/ / www. cbc. ca/ radioshows/ SOUNDS_LIKE_CANADA/ 20070828. shtml [13] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=books/ bio/ EdGreenwood [14] http:/ / www. isfdb. org/ cgi-bin/ ea. cgi?Ed_Greenwood [15] http:/ / www. solarisbooks. com/

107

Monte Cook

108

Monte Cook Monte Cook Born

[1]

January 29, 1968 [1] Watertown, South Dakota, United States

Occupation Writer, game designer Nationality

United States

Genres

Role-playing games, fantasy

Spouse(s)

Sue Weinlein

Monte Cook is a professional table-top role-playing game designer and writer. He is married to Sue Weinlein Cook.[2]

Career Roleplaying Cook has been a professional game designer since 1988, working primarily on role-playing games. Much of his early work was for Iron Crown Enterprises as an editor and writer for the Rolemaster and Champions lines. Cook worked for Iron Crown Enterprises for four years; two as a freelancer and two as a full-time designer.[2] During this period, he attracted fan and critical attention with the popular multi-genre setting Dark Space. Cook began working for TSR in 1992 as a freelancer, "writing a whole slew of stuff for the old Marvel game that never came out because the game got canceled".[2] Joining the TSR team, Cook designed Dungeons & Dragons modules such as Labyrinth of Madness (1995) and A Paladin in Hell (1998), and dozens of supplements to the Planescape line including the Planewalker's Handbook (1996) and Dead Gods (1998). Cook also designed the conspiracy game Dark•Matter (1999). After TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, Cook became a Senior Designer, and was part of the team working on the D&D game's third edition. Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[2] Cook was proud of the work he did on the new Dungeon Master's Guide, especially after Gary Gygax gave his comments to the team as feedback on the book: "He said that the material in the new DMG would help him become a better DM... That was really cool–and satisfying in a 'completion of the circle' sort of way."[2] Cook said in 2000 of his involvement with Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons, "It's a great time to be working here... because every product is big, important, and innovative."[2] Cook left Wizards of the Coast in 2001 and started Malhavoc Press to write material for the d20 System independently. Malhavoc's first product, The Book of Eldritch Might, is widely credited with demonstrating the viability of PDF publishing within the role-playing industry. Notable work under the Malhavoc banner includes Arcana Unearthed, a product he describes as a "variant Player's Handbook". He also wrote or co-wrote a few more products for Wizards of the Coast as a freelancer, including the d20 version of Call of Cthulhu.

Monte Cook

Fiction Cook graduated from the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, and has published the novels The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. He has also published short stories like "Born in Secrets" (in Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in Realms of the Arcane). He also writes a continuing Call of Cthulhu fiction series, "The Shandler Chronicles," in Game Trade Magazine.

Ptolus Malhavoc released Ptolus, a campaign setting based on Monte Cook's home game, in August 2006. Ptolus was also the playtest campaign for the third edition designers. The book was unusually large and expensive for a roleplaying game supplement, being 672 pages and costing over $120 US.

Further material from Malhavoc Shortly after the release of Ptolus, which Cook has often described as the culmination of his original ambitions for Malhavoc, he announced that he would be focusing on writing fiction and other forms of creative work for the foreseeable future.[3] White Wolf and Goodman Games announced his final RPG books. Monte Cook's World of Darkness, his own take on White Wolf's modern horror setting, was released at Gen Con 2007. From Goodman Games is Dungeon Crawl Classics: #50, "Vault of the Iron Overlord", which was also targeted for the same Gen Con release.[4] However, due to demand by fans reading his livejournal [5] and posting their desires on the Malhavoc message boards [6], Monte Cook released one more RPG product in early 2008, the Book of Experimental Might [7]. This was quickly followed by the Book of Experimental Might II: Bloody, Bold and Resolute [8].

External links • Official site [9] • Flames Rising interview [10]

References [1] Pen & Paper listing (http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showcreator& creatorid=2) [2] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [3] http:/ / www. montecook. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?mc_los_157 [4] http:/ / www. white-wolf. com/ index. php?line=news& articleid=639 [5] http:/ / montecook. livejournal. com [6] http:/ / okayyourturn. yuku. com [7] http:/ / www. montecook. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?mpress_BOXM [8] http:/ / www. montecook. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?mpress_BOXM2 [9] http:/ / www. montecook. com/ [10] http:/ / www. flamesrising. com/ interview-with-monte-cook

109

Jonathan Tweet

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet is a game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games Ars Magica, Everway, Over the Edge, Talislanta and the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the Collectible Miniatures Game Dreamblade.

Early life Jonathan Tweet started playing D&D in the 1970s, when his father gave him his first Dungeons & Dragons game. He breifly played with a group of college students, although he says, "but the DM killed me off... because he didn't want a twelve-year-old in his group". Tweet then formed his own gaming group by recruiting classmates.[1]

Career In 1987, Tweet designed the game Ars Magica, a game centered around wizards in the Middle Ages, and in 1992 he designed the game Over the Edge, which free-form rules and a subjective approach.[1] Tweet also helped design the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.[1] Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[2] On December 2, 2008 he was one of the lay offs from Wizards of the Coast.[3] [4] [5] He has many short cultural and political essays on his website with a particular focus on religion and atheism.

Notes External links • Jonathan Tweet's personal homepage [6] • Pen & Paper listing for Jonathan Tweet [7]

References [1] Kenson, Stephen (August 2000). "ProFiles: Jonathan Tweet". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#274): 10, 12, 14. [2] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [3] Jonathan Tweet speaks of his lay off on ENWorld.org (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ general-rpg-discussion/ 246174-layoffs-15. html#post4575563) [4] Jonathan Tweet speaks of his severance package on Wizards of the Coast forums (http:/ / forums. gleemax. com/ showthread. php?p=17373955#post17373955) [5] Jonathan Tweet leaves the Wizards of the Coast forums (http:/ / forums. gleemax. com/ showthread. php?t=1160685) [6] http:/ / www. jonathantweet. com/ [7] http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showcreator& creatorid=4

110

Skip Williams

Skip Williams Ralph Williams, almost always referred to as Skip Williams, is an American game designer. He is married to Penny Williams, who is also involved with the games industry. He is best known as co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition and as the longtime author of Dragon Magazine's column "Sage Advice." (Andy Collins now writes the column.)

Career Born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Williams was informally acquainted with many of the people who developed and influenced the original Dungeons & Dragons game, going to school with Gary Gygax's son Ernie and participating in a gaming group that Gary used to playtest some of the AD&D rules.[1] Williams started out working as a part-time clerk in TSR's Dungeon Hobby Shop in 1976.[2] Williams first worked for TSR in an administrative capacity, working as a cashier, in shipping, and doing various office tasks. Williams directed the Gen Con game fair from 1980-1983.[2] Williams was laid off after a time but continued to work for TSR in a freelance role, performing odd jobs; it was in this circumstance in 1987 that he came to write "Sage Advice" in the pages of Dragon - Williams recalls that Dragon editor Roger E. Moore simply couldn't find anyone else willing to regularly write the column.[1] Williams held the position until 2004. In 1989, Williams joined the RPGA staff for a few years before becoming a roleplaying game designer for TSR.[2] From 1990 to 1992 he was also Associate Editor of Polyhedron magazine. When TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved from Wisconsin to Washington. Williams was promoted to Senior Designer, and worked on the 3rd Edition design team. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[3] Williams also worked on the new edition of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.[2] Although he was released from Wizards of the Coast in 2002 and has since moved back to Wisconsin, he continued to produce D&D and d20 material on a freelance basis up until 2005. His publications from this time include "Cry Havoc!" published by Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press and "Races of the Wild" from Wizards of the Coast. Most recently, he has appeared as the author of the "Ask The Kobold" column for the Wolfgang Baur publication Kobold Quarterly.

External links • Pen & Paper listing for Skip Williams [4]

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

http:/ / www. malhavocpress. com/ cgi-bin/ page. cgi?int_dnd30_Skip Ryan, Michael G. (October 2000). "ProFiles: Skip Williams". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#276): 12, 14, 16. "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showcreator& creatorid=385

111

112

Books Dungeon Master's Guide Dungeon Master's Guide 3.5

Cover of the v3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide Author

Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date

July 2003

Media type

Print (Hardback)

Pages

320

ISBN

0-7869-2889-1

OCLC Number

52691405

LC Classification

GV1469.62.D84 D836 2000

[1]

The Dungeon Master's Guide ("DMG"[2] or "DM's Guide"; in earlier editions, the Dungeon Masters Guide or Dungeon Master Guide) is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains rules concerning the arbitration and administration of a game, and is intended for use primarily or only by the game's Dungeon Master.[3] The original Dungeon Master's Guide was published in 1979,[4] and gave Dungeon Masters everything they needed to run a D&D game campaign.[2] It is intended as a companion book to the Player's Handbook, which contains all of the basic rules of gameplay, and the Monster Manual, which is a reference book giving statistics and characteristics to various animals and monsters. The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual are collectively referred to as the "core rules" of the Dungeons & Dragons game.[5] Both the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook give advice, tips and suggestions for various styles of play.[6] While all players, including the Dungeon Master, are expected to have at their disposal a copy of the Player's Handbook, only the Dungeon Master is expected to refer to the Dungeon Master's Guide or Monster Manual during gameplay.[7]

Dungeon Master's Guide

113

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Like other volumes of Dungeons & Dragons handbooks, the Dungeon Master's Guide has gone through several versions through the years. The original edition was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr, who also wrote the Foreword. The original cover art was by D. A. Trampier, and interior illustrations were provided by David C. Sutherland III, Trampier, Darlene Pekul, Will McLean, David S. LaForce, and Erol Otus. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains scores of tables and charts for figuring damage and resolving encounters in a typical adventure, tables and rules for creating characters, and lists of the various abilities of the different classes of characters.

Original Dungeon Masters Guide (TSR, 1979); Cover art by David C. Sutherland III

One supplement to the Guide was the Dungeon Masters Screen: two heavy-duty tri-fold boards with the most oft-used tables printed on them for easy reference. The 1979 2nd edition of the screen describes its purpose as: "useful for shielding maps and other game materials from the players when placed upright, and also provide[s] instant reference to the charts and tables most commonly used during play." The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition screen came packaged with a brief adventure; later editions of that screen, and screens produced for later editions, have instead included character sheets and general reference booklets. A useful feature of the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide was the Random Dungeon Generator (RDG). The generator allowed, by the rolling of dice, to generate a dungeon adventure "on the fly". A dungeon complete with passageways, rooms, treasure, monsters and other encounters could easily and randomly be 2nd edition Dungeon Masters Screen (TSR, 1979) constructed as the player progressed. It could be used with several people or a single player. This was a useful tool to play the game when others weren't available to play or to have an adventure without preparing a campaign beforehand. The RDG was not included in the subsequent editions of the Dungeon Master's Guide. The original Dungeon Masters Guide was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue #16 of the magazine White Dwarf (December 1979/January 1980). Turnbull commented mostly on the size of the book: "I would say that only the most severe critic could point at a minor omission, let alone a serious one".[3]

Dungeon Master's Guide

114

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition The second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide, released in 1989,[4] was designed by David "Zeb" Cook. Original cover art is by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Easley, Clyde Caldwell, John & Laura Lakey, David Dorman, Douglas Chaffee, and Jean E. Martin. A new version of the Dungeon Master's Guide, with new art and layout but the same text, was released in 1995, as part of TSR's 25th anniversary.[4]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition The third edition Dungeon Master's Guide was published in 2000. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[8]

AD&D 2nd Edition, 1995 printing

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition The 4th edition Dungeon Master's Guide was released on June 6, 2008 at the same time as its companion volumes. It is a 224-page hardcover written by James Wyatt. In addition to a comprehensive look at how to DM a 4th Edition campaign or adventure, it contains information on building encounters, aquatic and mounted combat, skill challenges, traps and hazards, rewards, NPC creation, artifacts, monster creation, and template, along with a sample town and short adventure so that DMs can start running their first 4th Edition adventure right away. It is the first Dungeon Master's Guide not to contain standard magic items, which were moved into the Player's Handbook for 4th Edition.

Additional reading • "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Combat Tables", White Dwarf #13. • "Clerics Turning Undead", Footprints #7. • "Expanded Secondary Skills", Footprints #8. • "Master Encumbrance Guide: Lessening the Burden of Encumbrance", Footprints #7. • "Sneak Preview: AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide", The Dragon #22. • "The Complete Attack and Saving Throw Table", Footprints #10.

4th edition

Dungeon Master's Guide

115

External links • Full list of contents for the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide [9] • Errata [10] • Review of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide [11] from RPG.net

References [1] http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/ 52691405 [2] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5omY07NIV). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on April 6, 2010. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [3] Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1979/1980). "Open Box" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 16): 15. [4] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [5] Livingstone, Ian (Aug/September 1979). "White Dwarf Interviews Gary Gygax" (interview). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 14): 23–24. [6] Pulsipher, Lewis (April/May 1981). "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons, Part II" (overview). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 24): 10–11. [7] Pulsipher, Lewis (Feb/March 1981). "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons" (overview). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 23): 8–9. [8] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [9] http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=31 [10] http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ library/ errata_dmg. html [11] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ reviews/ archive/ 12/ 12836. phtml

Player's Handbook Player's Handbook, 1st edition

Author

Gary Gygax

Cover artist

David A. Trampier

Publisher

TSR Inc.

Publication date

June 1978

Pages

128

ISBN

0-935696-01-6

OCLC Number

13498304

Dewey Decimal

794 19

LC Classification

GV1469.62.D84 G94 1980

[1]

Player's Handbook The Player's Handbook (or, in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, the Players Handbook) is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. It does not contain the complete set of rules, but only those concerning players of the game. Additional rules, concerning Dungeon Masters, who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of the more obscure spells, are found in other sources. Since the first edition[2] , the Player's Handbook has contained tables and rules for creating characters, lists of the abilities of the different character classes, the properties and costs of equipment, descriptions of spells that magic-using character classes (such as wizards or clerics) can cast, and numerous other rules that govern gameplay[3] . Both the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook give advice, tips and suggestions for various styles of play.[4] The Player's Handbook, along with the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual, make up the core rulebooks of Dungeons & Dragons.[5]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons The first true Players Handbook was released in June, 1978.[6] [7] It was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr, who also wrote the Foreword. The original cover art was by D.A. Trampier, who also provided interior illustrations along with David C. Sutherland III.[8] In this edition, the game rules were divided between the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide, which was printed later.[2] Later editions of the game moved the bulk of the game rules to the Player's Handbook, leaving information needed chiefly by the Dungeon Master in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The new rules were now so open-ended, that game campaigns would require a referee or Dungeon Master.[9] The original Players Handbook was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue #10 of the magazine White Dwarf (December 1978/January 1979), who gave the book a rating of 10 out of 10. Turnbull noted, "I don't think I have ever seen a product sell so quickly as did the Handbook when it first appeared on the Games Workshop stand at Dragonmeet", a British role-playing game convention; after the convention, he studied the book and concluded that "whereas the original rules are ambiguous and muddled, the Handbook is a detailed and coherent game-system, and very sophisticated."[2] Turnbull felt a bit of apprehension at the amount of time it would require to digest all the new material, but concluded by saying "I said of the Monster Manual that it was TSR's most impressive publication to date; that is no longer true - this accolade must belong to the Handbook which is nothing short of a triumph."[2] In 1983, TSR changed the cover art of the Players Handbook, although the interior contents remained the same.[7] Printings with this cover also bear an orange spine that fits in with other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books.[10] Numerous foreign editions of the Players Handbook were published, including versions for the UK, Australia, France, and Germany.[11] Dealers continued to place orders for the 1st edition Players Handbook even after 2nd edition was released, causing the final printing to be in July 1990, a year after the release of 2nd edition.[7]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition

116

Player's Handbook

117

Player's Handbook, 2nd edition Author

David "Zeb" Cook

Cover artist

Jeff Easley

Publisher

TSR Inc.

Publication date 1989 Pages

246

ISBN

ISBN 0-88038-716-5

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition Player's Handbook was written by David "Zeb" Cook and released in 1989.[6] [12] [13] The original cover art is by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Douglas Chaffee, Larry Elmore, Craig Farley, John & Laura Lakey, Erik Olson, Jack Pennington, Jeff Butler, Jeff Easley, Jean E. Martin, and Dave Sutherland. The book included major changes regarding character classes, races, and magic, and incorporated many new rules that had been published in supplements such as Unearthed Arcana and Dragonlance Adventures. TSR Inc. also removed some races and classes from the game, such as half-orcs,[14] although some of these were added back into the game in supplements, such as The Complete Book of Humanoids.[15] In 1995, a new version of the 2nd edition Player's Handbook was released as part of TSR's 25th anniversary;[13] the book was revised and expanded by 64 pages,[16] mainly by changing the layout and adding new artwork.[17] A new forward in this edition specifically stated that the book was not Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition.[16]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition Player's Handbook, 3rd edition Author

Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams

Cover artist

Henry Higgenbotham

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date August 10th, 2000 Pages

302

ISBN

ISBN 978-0-7869-1550-7

The third edition, published on August 10th, 2000,[18] (with the Player's Handbook first debuting at that year's Gen Con[9] ) represented a major overhaul of the game, including the adoption of the d20 system. The third edition also dropped the word "Advanced" from the title, as the publisher decided to publish only one version of the game instead of a "basic" and an "advanced" version. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[19] This edition's Player's Handbook also saw the return of half-orcs and monks to the core rules set,[18] along with some all-new classes.[18] In 2003, the rules were revised again to version "3.5" based upon two years of player feedback.[20] Revisions to the Player's Handbook included the classes becoming more balanced against each other.[20] May 2006 saw the release of the Player's Handbook II, designed to follow-up the standard Player's Handbook.[21] It contains four new classes, along with new spells, feats, and new role-playing options.[22] Its cover pays homage to the 1st edition Player's Handbook.[18]

Player's Handbook

118

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition Player's Handbook, 4th edition Author

Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, James Wyatt

Cover artist

Wayne Reynolds (front) , Dan Scott (back)

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date June 6, 2008 Pages

320

ISBN

ISBN 0-7869-4867-1

On June 6, 2008, the Fourth Edition Player's Handbook, subtitled Arcane, Divine and Martial Heroes, was released. It was originally announced that 4th edition's 3 core rulebooks would be released over a three-month period,[23] but the date changed after customer feedback revealed a majority preference among D&D customers to have all three core rulebooks released in the same month.[24] [25] [26] The first Player's Handbook includes eight classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, warlock, warlord, and wizard, and eight races: dragonborn, dwarf, eladrin, elf, human, half-elf, halfling, and tiefling. The warlock and warlord classes, and the dragonborn and tiefling races, represented new additions to the "core" rules, while the book left out previously "core" elements such as the monk and bard classes, and the gnome and half-orc races. Wizards of the Coast emphasized that those elements would be coming in subsequent Player's Handbooks and would be considered to be as central to the game as those in the first book. The 4th edition Player's Handbook 2, subtitled Arcane, Divine and Primal Heroes,[27] was released on March 17, 2009.[27] The Player's Handbook 2 includes eight classes: the avenger, barbarian, bard, druid, invoker, shaman, sorcerer, and warden, and five races: the deva, gnome, goliath, half-orc, and shifter.[28] A third book in the series, Player's Handbook 3, subtitled Psionic, Divine and Primal Heroes, was released on 16th March, 2010[29] . It includes six classes: ardent, battlemind, monk, psion, runepriest and seeker,[30] [31] [32] along with four races, the wilden[33] , the minotaurs, githzerai[34] [35] and shardminds. The PHB3 also includes new multiclassing rules for hybrid characters.[36]

See also • Character class (Dungeons & Dragons) • Editions of Dungeons & Dragons • List of alternate Dungeons & Dragons classes

Additional reading • • • •

Review: AD&D Second Edition Player's Handbook, White Wolf #17 (1989) "Sage Advice", Dragon #148. "Sage Advice", Dragon #149. "Sage Advice", Dragon #157.

Player's Handbook

References [1] http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/ 13498304 [2] Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 10): 17. [3] Turnbull, Don (April/May 1979). "A Dip Into the Players Handbook" (analysis and critique). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 12): 24–25. [4] Pulsipher, Lewis (April/May 1981). "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons, Part II" (overview). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 24): 10–11. [5] Livingstone, Ian (Aug/September 1979). "White Dwarf Interviews Gary Gygax" (interview). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 14): 23–24. [6] Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds. Prometheus Books. [7] Players Handbook (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ phb. html) at acaeum.com. Retrieved November 22, 2008. [8] Gygax, Gary (1978). Player's Handbook. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-01-6. [9] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [10] RPGnet d20 RPG Game Index: AD&D First Edition Players Handbook (1983 TSR edition) (http:/ / index. rpg. net/ display-entry. phtml?mainid=126& editionid=9077). Retrieved on November 22, 2008. [11] PHB Foreign (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ foreign/ phbfor. html) at acaeum.com. Retrieved November 22, 2008. [12] AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Ed. (1989) (http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showbook& bookid=144) at the Pen & Paper RPG Database. Retrieved November 22, 2008. [13] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [14] To Be Orc Not To Be (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ columns/ archetypology21dec01. html) from RPGnet. Retrieved on November 22, 2008. [15] Slavicsek, Bill. The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR, 1993) [16] DataBase: AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Ed. Revised (1995) (http:/ / www. lyberty. com/ encyc/ articles/ dnd/ dnd_phb2eR. html) at lyberty.com. Retrieved November 23, 2008. [17] AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Ed. Revised (1995) (http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showbook& bookid=142) at the Pen & Paper RPG Database. Retrieved November 23, 2008. [18] D&D Alumni: A Look Back at Player's Handbooks (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ alumni/ 20060602a). Retrieved November 23, 2008. [19] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [20] Dungeons & Dragons 2003 Core Rulebook Revisions FAQ (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ article. asp?x=dnd/ dx20021206z). Retrieved November 24, 2008. [21] 3rd edition Player's Handbook II product page (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndacc/ 953747200). Retrieved November 24, 2008. [22] Noonan, David. Player's Handbook II (Wizards of the Coast, 2006). [23] Ampersand: Exciting News! (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dramp/ 20071019). Retrieved November 24, 2008. [24] EN World - Morrus' D&D / 4th Edition / d20 News - View Single Post - Corebooks in June!: News from the Alliance Retailer Summit (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ showpost. php?s=b861f70f4f16a0a212ffd95c4aa5bbc5& p=3832899& postcount=26) [25] EN World - Morrus' D&D / 4th Edition / d20 News - View Single Post - Corebooks in June!: News from the Alliance Retailer Summit (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ showpost. php?s=b861f70f4f16a0a212ffd95c4aa5bbc5& p=3833168& postcount=32) [26] Slavicsek, Bill. "Ampersand: Exciting News!", Dragon Magazine, Published 2007-10-19, Wizards of the Coast (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dramp/ 20071019) [27] 4th edition Player's Handbook 2 product page (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndacc/ 9780786950164). [28] "Contents" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ files/ excerpts/ excerpt_ph2_toc. pdf). Player's Handbook 2 excerpts. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2009-03-06. [29] http:/ / www. amazon. com/ Players-Handbook-4th-Core-Rulebook/ dp/ 078695390X [30] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20090511 [31] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20090707 [32] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ Article. aspx?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20091006 [33] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20090420 [34] http:/ / media. gleemax. com/ podcasts/ DNDXPSeminar1. mp3 [35] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20090804 [36] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drfe/ 20090406

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Monster Manual

120

Monster Manual Monster Manual

Monster Manual for the D&D 4th Edition Rules Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Media type

Print (Hardback)

The Monster Manual (Monstrous Manual, or Monstrous Compendium) is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It includes monsters derived from mythology, and folklore, as well as creatures created for D&D specifically. It describes each with game-specific statistics (such as the monster's level or number of hit dice), and a brief description of its habits and habitats. Most of the entries also have an image of the creature. Along with the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, it is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

History of the Monster Manuals Early Dungeons & Dragons The earliest 1974 Dungeons and Dragons boxed set did not have separate Monster Manuals but provided listings for monsters in one of the three booklets in the set entitled Book 2: Monsters and Treasure. After the separation into "Basic" and "Advanced" games, the "Basic" game continued to be published in level-based boxes. Monsters of the appropriate level were included in the rulebooks for the various "Basic Game" sets (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal) and later collected in a single D&D Rules Cyclopedia book.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons The original book actually bearing the title Monster Manual was written by Gary Gygax and published in 1977. It was the first hardcover book for any Dungeons & Dragons First edition Monster game,[1] [2] and the first of the Core Manuals published for the new Advanced Dungeons Manual (Sutherland & Dragons (AD&D) version of the game.[3] [4] The Monster Manual was a compendium artwork) of more than 350 monsters – some were new, but some were compiled and revised from older sources such as Monsters and Treasure, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Strategic Review and the Dragon.[1] Each monster was listed alphabetically with a comprehensive description and full statistics, and was in some cases supported by an illustration.[1] Except for a cover art change in 1983 to match a new logo and house style, and some minor corrections introduced in the 1978 printings, it went through very little change in its fifteen printings up to 1989.

Monster Manual The credited artists of the first manual, in order, are David C. Sutherland III (DCS), David A. Trampier (DAT), Tom Wham (TW), and Jean Wells. The editor of the original edition was Mike Carr.[5] The first edition Monster Manual is also famous for the topless portrayals of its female monsters, such as the succubus and Type V demons, the lamia, and the sylph, among others. The casual depiction of female nudity is a hallmark of first edition Dungeons and Dragons art. The original Monster Manual was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue #8 of the magazine White Dwarf (August/September 1978). Turnbull felt that "this manual deserves a place on every D&D enthusiast's bookshelf", and praised the explanatory text, stating that it "amplifies, where necessary, [the game statistics] and the result is the most comprehensive listing of D&D monsters you will find, presented in a clarity which is unfortunately all too rare in other sources."[1] Turnbull noted some minor printing errors, and felt that some of the drawings are not as good as others, but felt that the book's quality "is as high as one can reasonably expect in such a complex matter".[1] Turnbull concluded by saying "I can do no more than heap high praise on the Monster Manual. If every DM and every player didn't buy it, I would be very surprised. It is without doubt the best thing that TSR have produced so far."[1] Fiend Folio (1981) was published by TSR UK. Much of the Fiend Folio 's contents were taken from the Fiend Factory feature of White Dwarf, others were taken from various D&D modules, and some were original creations for this volume. It introduced several popular monsters to the D&D game including drow, githyanki, githzerai, slaad, and death knights. It also featured monsters that were widely ridiculed, such as the flumph, one of the few non-evil creatures presented in that volume. Fiend Folio featured more consistent artwork than the original Monster Manual. Monster Manual II (1983) was also credited solely to Gygax, though some of its contents had been taken from various AD&D adventure modules, in particular quite a number from S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and a dozen new devils that had been first published in the pages of Dragon magazine. Like the Fiend Folio before it, the monsters in Monster Manual II listed the experience point value for each monster in the entry itself. The Monster Manual II along with the 1st Edition Unearthed Arcana book featured quite a number of monsters, races and place names from Gary Gygax's Greyhawk Campaign world. Cover art was by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Dave Sutherland, and Larry Elmore. Monster Manual II was rated fairly well at the time, receiving 7 out of 10 overall in a review in issue 49 of White Dwarf magazine. The reviewer praised the book's standard of clear presentation, and felt that the artwork was better than the previous monster books. The reviewer felt that there were too many high level monsters, and too many overly deadly ones, and that just about all the monsters in the book are inimical to adventures; the reviewer felt that it would have been nice to have something friendly to meet on occasion. The reviewer did make note of the fact that there were "many interesting ideas and several well-developed tribes and hierarchies", and felt that overall the book is "a good, well presented addition to the AD&D series, with some very useful creatures" and recommended the book to anyone who likes a wide range of monsters in the game.[6]

2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Compendium (1989) replaced the Monster Manual with the release of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition. The Compendium was a binder of looseleaf sheets rather than a hardback book. The first two volumes contained the "core" monsters of the game. These were followed by a large number of appendices that contained extra monsters for particular campaign settings. The format was intended to help Dungeon Masters keep handy only the monster statistics needed for a particular game session, as well as to greatly expand the information about each monster, as each was given at least one full page. It would also mean they would only need to purchase core volumes and appendix volumes for the campaigns they wanted, rather than getting a mix of monsters in books. However, the binder format ultimately proved impractical for two main reasons: • Looseleaf pages were not as durable as the hardcover format, especially for a frequently used game aid;

121

Monster Manual • Although some pages featured only one monster per sheet, TSR routinely printed different monsters on both sides, making it impossible to keep monsters in strict alphabetical order. In 1993 the Monstrous Manual was released,[2] compiling all monsters from the first two volumes of the Monstrous Compendium plus a large number of monsters from other sources into a 384 page hardcover book. Cover art is by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi, Jeff Butler, Davis Simons, Tom Baxa, Mark Nelson, and color by Les Dorscheid. More Monstrous Compendium Appendices were released as a supplement to the Monstrous Manual in the form of paperback books, mostly 128 pages. They included updated reprints of loose leaf Monstrous Compendium Appendices and new volumes.

3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons The Monster Manual for Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons was released in 2000 as one of three core books of the system. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[7] According to Williams, "The first item on the agenda was coming through the game's twenty year collection of monsters, and deciding which ones were going into the book... The design team decided to focus on creatures that fit well into classic dungeon style adventures, with extra exmphasis on creatures we felt the game needed."[8] It was revised and released again as Monster Manual subtitled Core Rulebook III v3.5, in July 2003. These volumes are not major variations from the earlier concepts of the Monster Manual; they update older monsters to Third Edition rules. In 2001, Monster Manual won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Design of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement 2000.[9] One reviewer called it "...an essential reference book, and it is a bargain...."[10] The v3.5 revision has a slightly different entry on each monster, particularly the division of the attack into Attack and Full Attack entries.[11] Also, most of the monsters now have an enhanced version of them near the original one as an example of advancement (usually either with a template or with class levels). Many monsters now have instructions on how to use them as player characters. Monster Manual II (2002) and Fiend Folio (2003) are new monster-specific rulebooks, and contain mostly updated monsters from the sourcebooks of earlier editions, though some others of the specific monsters featured therein have almost no overlap with those of their first edition namesakes. Monster Manual II includes a discussion of monster design.[12] There have been no new versions of Monster Manual II and Fiend Folio for 3.5 edition, however update errata for both volumes and for the original third edition Monster Manual are available for download from the publishers website [13]. Monster Manual III (2004) contains more monsters and was originally published in the v3.5 format. This Monster Manual is notable for having descriptions within on where the monsters might be found in the Eberron and Forgotten Realms campaign settings.[14] Monster Manual IV (July 2006) is also published in the v3.5 format, and uses the new stat block format that was introduced in the Dungeon Master's Guide II. Monster Manual IV contains fewer actual monsters than Monster Manual II and III, but has sample lairs and encounters for them, gives stats for classes and templates applied to old creatures (for example Drow Ninja) and full page maps. Also, like the third, it has information on where the monsters might appear in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms. The book also ties into the "Year of the Dragons" theme that Wizards of the Coast planned out for 2006 with the Spawn of Tiamat, yet contains no new monsters that are considered 'true dragons.' In October 2006 the Special Edition Monster Manual was released, completing the set of special edition core rulebooks started in 2004 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Like the others, this book was leather-bound with silver-gilt edges and a cloth bookmark. The book was expanded with some new information, 31 new illustrations, and a new index. All collected errata up to its release date was included in this revision, making this edition the most up-to-date Monster Manual so far[15].

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Monster Manual Monster Manual V was released in July 2007, published in the same format as the Monster Manual IV, featuring lairs and tactics and like III and IV detailing how these new monsters fit into Eberron and Forgotten Realms.

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons The 4th edition Monster Manual was released with the other core books on June 6, 2008, and featured the demon prince Orcus (a villain since the earliest days of D&D) on the cover. The 4th edition Monster Manual 2 was released on May 20, 2009, and featured Demogorgon on the cover.

Additional reading Review for first edition Monster Manual II: Fantasy Gamer #6 (1984)

External links • 4th Edition Monster Manual [16] at Wizards of the Coast website. • 3rd Edition Monster Manual [17] at Wizards of the Coast website. • Detailed information on the 1st Monster Manual and differences between printings [18]

References [1] Turnbull, Don (Aug/September). "The Open Box, The Monster Manual". White Dwarf (8): 16–17 [2] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [3] Lawrence Schick. Heroic Worlds (Prometheus Books, 1991). [4] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [5] Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1979) [6] Evans, Megan C (January 1984). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (49): 14. ISSN 0265-8712. [7] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [8] Ryan, Michael G. (October 2000). "ProFiles: Skip Williams". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#276): 12, 14, 16. [9] "2000: List of Winner" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 2000& date=2007-12-24). Origins Game Fair. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 2000) on 2007-12-24. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [10] Shafer, Scott (2000-10-20). "Pyramid Picks: Monster Manual (WotC) and Creature Collection (Sword & Sorcery Studios), for D&D3/d20" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=1918). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [11] "The improvements include separate lines for standard and full attack action...." Ehrbar, Steven E. (2003-08-22). "Pyramid Review: Monster Manual v.3.5 (for Dungeons & Dragons)" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=4147). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [12] Kohler, Alan D. (2002-10-02). "Monster Manual II" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=3691). Pyramid (originally published in d20 Weekly). Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [13] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dnd/ 20030718a [14] "...virtually every creature lists where it frequently occurs in the Wizard's campaign settings of Faerun and Eberron...." Honeywell, Steve (2005-01-21). "Pyramid Review: Monster Manual III (for Dungeons & Dragons)" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=5204). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [15] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndcore/ 953907200 [16] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndacc/ 217207200 [17] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndcore/ 177550000 [18] http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ monster. html

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Monster Manual II

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Monster Manual II Monster Manual

Monster Manual for the D&D 4th Edition Rules Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Media type

Print (Hardback)

The Monster Manual (Monstrous Manual, or Monstrous Compendium) is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It includes monsters derived from mythology, and folklore, as well as creatures created for D&D specifically. It describes each with game-specific statistics (such as the monster's level or number of hit dice), and a brief description of its habits and habitats. Most of the entries also have an image of the creature. Along with the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, it is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

History of the Monster Manuals Early Dungeons & Dragons The earliest 1974 Dungeons and Dragons boxed set did not have separate Monster Manuals but provided listings for monsters in one of the three booklets in the set entitled Book 2: Monsters and Treasure. After the separation into "Basic" and "Advanced" games, the "Basic" game continued to be published in level-based boxes. Monsters of the appropriate level were included in the rulebooks for the various "Basic Game" sets (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal) and later collected in a single D&D Rules Cyclopedia book.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons The original book actually bearing the title Monster Manual was written by Gary Gygax and published in 1977. It was the first hardcover book for any Dungeons & Dragons First edition Monster game,[1] [2] and the first of the Core Manuals published for the new Advanced Dungeons Manual (Sutherland & Dragons (AD&D) version of the game.[3] [4] The Monster Manual was a compendium artwork) of more than 350 monsters – some were new, but some were compiled and revised from older sources such as Monsters and Treasure, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Strategic Review and the Dragon.[1] Each monster was listed alphabetically with a comprehensive description and full statistics, and was in some cases supported by an illustration.[1] Except for a cover art change in 1983 to match a new logo and house style, and some minor corrections introduced in the 1978 printings, it went through very little change in its fifteen printings up to 1989.

Monster Manual II The credited artists of the first manual, in order, are David C. Sutherland III (DCS), David A. Trampier (DAT), Tom Wham (TW), and Jean Wells. The editor of the original edition was Mike Carr.[5] The first edition Monster Manual is also famous for the topless portrayals of its female monsters, such as the succubus and Type V demons, the lamia, and the sylph, among others. The casual depiction of female nudity is a hallmark of first edition Dungeons and Dragons art. The original Monster Manual was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue #8 of the magazine White Dwarf (August/September 1978). Turnbull felt that "this manual deserves a place on every D&D enthusiast's bookshelf", and praised the explanatory text, stating that it "amplifies, where necessary, [the game statistics] and the result is the most comprehensive listing of D&D monsters you will find, presented in a clarity which is unfortunately all too rare in other sources."[1] Turnbull noted some minor printing errors, and felt that some of the drawings are not as good as others, but felt that the book's quality "is as high as one can reasonably expect in such a complex matter".[1] Turnbull concluded by saying "I can do no more than heap high praise on the Monster Manual. If every DM and every player didn't buy it, I would be very surprised. It is without doubt the best thing that TSR have produced so far."[1] Fiend Folio (1981) was published by TSR UK. Much of the Fiend Folio 's contents were taken from the Fiend Factory feature of White Dwarf, others were taken from various D&D modules, and some were original creations for this volume. It introduced several popular monsters to the D&D game including drow, githyanki, githzerai, slaad, and death knights. It also featured monsters that were widely ridiculed, such as the flumph, one of the few non-evil creatures presented in that volume. Fiend Folio featured more consistent artwork than the original Monster Manual. Monster Manual II (1983) was also credited solely to Gygax, though some of its contents had been taken from various AD&D adventure modules, in particular quite a number from S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and a dozen new devils that had been first published in the pages of Dragon magazine. Like the Fiend Folio before it, the monsters in Monster Manual II listed the experience point value for each monster in the entry itself. The Monster Manual II along with the 1st Edition Unearthed Arcana book featured quite a number of monsters, races and place names from Gary Gygax's Greyhawk Campaign world. Cover art was by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Dave Sutherland, and Larry Elmore. Monster Manual II was rated fairly well at the time, receiving 7 out of 10 overall in a review in issue 49 of White Dwarf magazine. The reviewer praised the book's standard of clear presentation, and felt that the artwork was better than the previous monster books. The reviewer felt that there were too many high level monsters, and too many overly deadly ones, and that just about all the monsters in the book are inimical to adventures; the reviewer felt that it would have been nice to have something friendly to meet on occasion. The reviewer did make note of the fact that there were "many interesting ideas and several well-developed tribes and hierarchies", and felt that overall the book is "a good, well presented addition to the AD&D series, with some very useful creatures" and recommended the book to anyone who likes a wide range of monsters in the game.[6]

2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Compendium (1989) replaced the Monster Manual with the release of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition. The Compendium was a binder of looseleaf sheets rather than a hardback book. The first two volumes contained the "core" monsters of the game. These were followed by a large number of appendices that contained extra monsters for particular campaign settings. The format was intended to help Dungeon Masters keep handy only the monster statistics needed for a particular game session, as well as to greatly expand the information about each monster, as each was given at least one full page. It would also mean they would only need to purchase core volumes and appendix volumes for the campaigns they wanted, rather than getting a mix of monsters in books. However, the binder format ultimately proved impractical for two main reasons: • Looseleaf pages were not as durable as the hardcover format, especially for a frequently used game aid;

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Monster Manual II • Although some pages featured only one monster per sheet, TSR routinely printed different monsters on both sides, making it impossible to keep monsters in strict alphabetical order. In 1993 the Monstrous Manual was released,[2] compiling all monsters from the first two volumes of the Monstrous Compendium plus a large number of monsters from other sources into a 384 page hardcover book. Cover art is by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi, Jeff Butler, Davis Simons, Tom Baxa, Mark Nelson, and color by Les Dorscheid. More Monstrous Compendium Appendices were released as a supplement to the Monstrous Manual in the form of paperback books, mostly 128 pages. They included updated reprints of loose leaf Monstrous Compendium Appendices and new volumes.

3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons The Monster Manual for Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons was released in 2000 as one of three core books of the system. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions.[7] According to Williams, "The first item on the agenda was coming through the game's twenty year collection of monsters, and deciding which ones were going into the book... The design team decided to focus on creatures that fit well into classic dungeon style adventures, with extra exmphasis on creatures we felt the game needed."[8] It was revised and released again as Monster Manual subtitled Core Rulebook III v3.5, in July 2003. These volumes are not major variations from the earlier concepts of the Monster Manual; they update older monsters to Third Edition rules. In 2001, Monster Manual won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Design of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement 2000.[9] One reviewer called it "...an essential reference book, and it is a bargain...."[10] The v3.5 revision has a slightly different entry on each monster, particularly the division of the attack into Attack and Full Attack entries.[11] Also, most of the monsters now have an enhanced version of them near the original one as an example of advancement (usually either with a template or with class levels). Many monsters now have instructions on how to use them as player characters. Monster Manual II (2002) and Fiend Folio (2003) are new monster-specific rulebooks, and contain mostly updated monsters from the sourcebooks of earlier editions, though some others of the specific monsters featured therein have almost no overlap with those of their first edition namesakes. Monster Manual II includes a discussion of monster design.[12] There have been no new versions of Monster Manual II and Fiend Folio for 3.5 edition, however update errata for both volumes and for the original third edition Monster Manual are available for download from the publishers website [13]. Monster Manual III (2004) contains more monsters and was originally published in the v3.5 format. This Monster Manual is notable for having descriptions within on where the monsters might be found in the Eberron and Forgotten Realms campaign settings.[13] Monster Manual IV (July 2006) is also published in the v3.5 format, and uses the new stat block format that was introduced in the Dungeon Master's Guide II. Monster Manual IV contains fewer actual monsters than Monster Manual II and III, but has sample lairs and encounters for them, gives stats for classes and templates applied to old creatures (for example Drow Ninja) and full page maps. Also, like the third, it has information on where the monsters might appear in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms. The book also ties into the "Year of the Dragons" theme that Wizards of the Coast planned out for 2006 with the Spawn of Tiamat, yet contains no new monsters that are considered 'true dragons.' In October 2006 the Special Edition Monster Manual was released, completing the set of special edition core rulebooks started in 2004 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Like the others, this book was leather-bound with silver-gilt edges and a cloth bookmark. The book was expanded with some new information, 31 new illustrations, and a new index. All collected errata up to its release date was included in this revision, making this edition the most up-to-date Monster Manual so far[15].

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Monster Manual II Monster Manual V was released in July 2007, published in the same format as the Monster Manual IV, featuring lairs and tactics and like III and IV detailing how these new monsters fit into Eberron and Forgotten Realms.

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons The 4th edition Monster Manual was released with the other core books on June 6, 2008, and featured the demon prince Orcus (a villain since the earliest days of D&D) on the cover. The 4th edition Monster Manual 2 was released on May 20, 2009, and featured Demogorgon on the cover.

Additional reading Review for first edition Monster Manual II: Fantasy Gamer #6 (1984)

External links • 4th Edition Monster Manual [16] at Wizards of the Coast website. • 3rd Edition Monster Manual [17] at Wizards of the Coast website. • Detailed information on the 1st Monster Manual and differences between printings [18]

References [1] Turnbull, Don (Aug/September). "The Open Box, The Monster Manual". White Dwarf (8): 16–17 [2] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [3] Lawrence Schick. Heroic Worlds (Prometheus Books, 1991). [4] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [5] Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1979) [6] Evans, Megan C (January 1984). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (49): 14. ISSN 0265-8712. [7] "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. [8] Ryan, Michael G. (October 2000). "ProFiles: Skip Williams". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#276): 12, 14, 16. [9] "2000: List of Winner" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 2000& date=2007-12-24). Origins Game Fair. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 2000) on 2007-12-24. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [10] Shafer, Scott (2000-10-20). "Pyramid Picks: Monster Manual (WotC) and Creature Collection (Sword & Sorcery Studios), for D&D3/d20" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=1918). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [11] "The improvements include separate lines for standard and full attack action...." Ehrbar, Steven E. (2003-08-22). "Pyramid Review: Monster Manual v.3.5 (for Dungeons & Dragons)" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=4147). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [12] Kohler, Alan D. (2002-10-02). "Monster Manual II" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=3691). Pyramid (originally published in d20 Weekly). Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24. [13] "...virtually every creature lists where it frequently occurs in the Wizard's campaign settings of Faerun and Eberron...." Honeywell, Steve (2005-01-21). "Pyramid Review: Monster Manual III (for Dungeons & Dragons)" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ pyramid/ sample. html?id=5204). Pyramid. Steve Jackson Games. . Retrieved 2007-12-24.

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Fiend Folio

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Fiend Folio Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. All three are collections of monsters, making each Fiend Folio a sequel to its game's version of the Monster Manual. The first incarnation was unusual in that the bulk of the material in the initial First Edition D & D release came from the English gaming magazine White Dwarf rather than being authored by Gary Gygax, the game's creator. Readers and gamers had submitted creatures to the Fiend Factory department of the magazine, and the most highly regarded of those appearing in the first ten issues were selected to be in the publication.

Publication history Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition

Fiend Folio

AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio. Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

TSR

Publication date

1981

Media type

Print (Hardback)

Pages

128

ISBN

0-935696-21-0

OCLC Number

11291023

Dewey Decimal

794 19

LC Classification

GV1469.D8 F54 1981

[1]

Games Workshop, with Don Turnbull editing the project, originally intended to produce and publish the Fiend Folio tome (ISBN 0-935696-21-0) with a publication date in late 1979. The Fiend Folio was to be intended as the second volume of the Monster Manual, and would be officially recognized by TSR as an AD&D product, with the monsters mostly taken from submissions for White Dwarf's "Fiend Factory" column.[2] At the time, Games Workshop was the holder of the license to publish Dungeons & Dragons game products in the United Kingdom.[3] Although the manuscript was completed on time by editor Don Turnbull, a business dispute between Games Workshop and TSR Hobbies delayed publication of the book for nearly two years. The Fiend Folio was finally published in August 1981 by TSR itself, who used the product to launch its UK division.[4] [5]

Fiend Folio The 128-page hardcover Fiend Folio owes much of its content to "Fiend Factory", at the time a regular column appearing in Games Workshop's magazine White Dwarf. Material was drawn from the first ten issues of the magazine. Also edited by Turnbull, "Fiend Factory" also featured new AD&D monsters, many of them created by gamers who read the magazine.[2] The book used the same format as that of the Monster Manual, clearly and succinctly defining the each monster's specifications and abilities.[6] The bulk of monsters in the Fiend Folio come from British contributors, all of whom are acknowledged in the index. Many of the book's contents and illustrations were previously featured in the "Fiend Factory" column.[6] Also included were the jermlaine, drow, kuo-toa, and svirfneblin, all previously appearing in TSR modules.[7] Turnbull included several previously-published "Fiend Factory" monsters in the Fiend Folio, but included even more creatures that had been submitted to (but not published in) White Dwarf's "Fiend Factory".[6] See the list of AD&D 1st ed. monsters for details. Aside from monsters, the book also included random encounter tables for dungeons, outdoors and the Astral and Ethereal Planes; These encounter tables combined creatures from the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, superseding those tables in the Dungeon Master's Guide.[6] The githyanki, originated by Charles Stross within the pages of White Dwarf, were introduced to most D&D players in the Fiend Folio.[8] The githyanki was featured on the cover, which helped it gain traction among the D&D community. Not all creatures featured on covers have done as well; the Firbolg appeared on the cover of 1983's Monster Manual II and has since slipped back into obscurity.[9] Monsters featured in this book were originally submitted by Charles Stross, Ian Livingstone, Tom Moldvay, among numerous others. Interior illustrations were supplied by Chris Baker, Jeff Dee, Emmanuel (who also illustrator the cover), Albie Fiore, Alan Hunter, Russ Nicholson, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, David C. Sutherland III, Bill Willingham, Polly Wilson, and Tony Yates. (The publication of "Fiend Factory" monsters had one unintended side-effect for Citadel Miniatures, who had the contract to produce gaming miniatures based on White Dwarf features. As a condition of including "Factory" monsters in the Folio, Games Workshop transferred the copyright on those monsters to TSR, who already had an exclusive contract with Grenadier Models. This forced Citadel to discontinue miniatures depicting "Factory" monsters that appeared in the Folio.[10] ) In 1983, TSR used the Monster Manual II to introduce a new "orange spine" cover design for hardcover AD&D manuals. The Fiend Folio was the only AD&D hardcover that did not have its cover redesigned to match the new style; instead, TSR let the Folio go out of print. Despite the early withdrawal from the market, "more than 190,000 copies" of the Fiend Folio were sold. In 1985, as TSR was getting ready to begin work on the AD&D game's second edition, Gary Gygax stated that he was planning to incorporate material from the Fiend Folio into a revised Monster Manual for the new edition.[11] However, Gygax resigned from TSR in October 1986,[12] before the second edition was produced.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition The Fiend Folio Monstrous Compendium (ISBN 1-56076-428-7) was published by TSR, Inc. in April 1992, for use with the 2nd Edition AD&D rules. It is the fourteenth volume of the Monstrous Compendium series, consisting of a cardboard cover, 64 loose-leaf pages, and four divider pages. Also known as the Fiend Folio Appendix, it contains over sixty monsters created or updated by members of the RPGA, including revised versions of many monsters introduced in the original Fiend Folio.[13]

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Fiend Folio

130

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition

Fiend Folio

D&D 3rd Edition Fiend Folio. Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date 2003 Media type

Print (Hardback)

Pages

224

ISBN

0-7869-2780-1

The third Fiend Folio (ISBN 0-7869-2780-1) was published in April 2003 for use with the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. The 224-page hardcover manual included only a few monsters from the original, but added many new creatures, with an emphasis on monsters with extraplanar origins.[14] The book contains over 150 monsters, with approximately half of them being all-new.[15] The Fiend Folio was released before the 3rd edition ruleset was revised to the "3.5 edition", so the book's desginers tried to anticipate many of the changes due to appear in the revised Monster Manual and implemenet them in the Fiend Folio.[14] The "extraplanar" and "swarm" subtypes, and the allocation of skill points and feats to work the same way as player characters, were introduced in this book and then featured in the revised Monster Manual.[14] The book also introduced three new fiend prestige classes for monsters: fiend of blasphemy, fiend of corruption, and fiend of possession. This edition introduced grafts and symbionts as new elements to the game.[14] The Fiend Folio also introduced two demons more powerful than balors: kluritchirs and myrmyxicus. It also introduced a devil more powerful than pit fiends: paeliryon. Many of the creatures from the 1st Edition Fiend Folio were updated to the d20 rules by Necromancer Games in their (ENnie award winning[16] ) Tome of Horrors[17] .

Reception TSR's Dragon magazine featured two separate reviews of the book in issue #55 (November 1981). Ed Greenwood called the book a disappointment, citing its lack of detail and "breaches of consistency". He felt that there were many incomplete or inadequate monster entries, and also criticized the book for having too many new undead and too many new races. Greenwood, however, did consider the slaad, Elemental Princes of Evil, and penanggalan "worthy additions to any campaign" and noted that the previously published drow and kuo-toa were "expected attractions, but good to see nonetheless."[7] Contributor Alan Zumwait also reviewed the book, noting that a few of the inclusions were "just Monster Manual creatures that are changed or crossbred with other monsters." He was pleased by the inclusion of the neutral Oriental dragons, but felt that their descriptions were inferior to those of the dragons in the Monster Manual. He liked the slaadi and Elemental Princes of Evil, but felt they should both have counterparts of other alignments. Zumwait summed up his review by stating that "the FIEND FOLIO Tome is like a basket of

Fiend Folio peaches: Most of it is pretty good stuff, but part of it is the pits."[18] At the urging of Kim Mohan, Don Turnbull wrote a rebuttal, which was printed in the same issue. Turnbull cited the publication's legal holdups, and the AD&D game's evolution during that time, as part of the reason for the work's inconsistencies. He also felt that Greenwood's concerns of incompleteness and inadequacy were a matter of subjective personal taste.[19] AD&D creator Gary Gygax was also critical of errors in the book. Gygax noted that due to "premature actions", TSR got "the cart in advance of the horse" by mentioning a spell (advanced illusion) and a magic item (philosopher's stone) which had not yet appeared in a game manual, promising they would eventually appear game material in 1983.[20] Gygax later commented on an individual who had criticized the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, noting that this was the same individual responsible for errors on the Fiend Folio's random encounter tables, among other errors.[21] The Fiend Folio was given an 8 out of 10 in the Dec/Jan 1981/1982 issue of White Dwarf. Reviewer Jamie Thomson compared it to the Monster Manual in format, and felt its artwork was better than that book. Thompson felt the biggest distinction was that while the MM was American, the FF was of British origin. Creatures commented on were the giant bat ("seems an obvious choice for D&D), the death dog ("rumored to be a descendant of Cerberus"), Lolth ("which often appears on fantasy literature"), the elemental princes of evil, and the Drow ("who figure prominently in a number of TSR dungeon modules"). Also mentioned were the penanggalon, the caterwaul, the death knight, and the revenant. In summary, Thomson recommended the book for readers who wanted more monsters, but that if they didn't already possess the MM it was not essential.[6]

Additional reading • • • • •

Review: Different Worlds #15 (1981) "Inhuman Gods, Part I" White Dwarf #39 "Inhuman Gods, Part II" White Dwarf #40 "Inhuman Gods, Part III" White Dwarf #41 "Inhuman Gods, Part IV" White Dwarf #42

External links • • • • •

The Acaeum: Later AD&D Manuals [22], retrieved June 2, 2006. Dragonsfoot Forums: Fiend Folio - Underrated? [23], retrieved June 7, 2006 EN World Forum: How stellar was the old Fiend Folio! [24], retrieved June 7, 2006 Google Groups: rec.games.frp Fiend Folio [25], retrieved June 7, 2006 Stuff of Legends: Fiend Factory [26], retrieved June 7, 2006

References [1] http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/ 11291023 [2] Turnbull, Don (April/May 1979). "Fiend Factory" (feature). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 12): 8–10. [3] Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax" (http:/ / www. thekyngdoms. com/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=37). thekyngdoms.com. . Retrieved 2008-10-24. [4] Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5. [5] "Later AD&D Manuals" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ lateradd. html). Acaeum. . [6] Thomson, Jamie (Dec/Jan 1981/1982). "Open Box" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 28): 14. [7] Greenwood, Ed (November 1981). "Flat taste didn't go away" (review). Dragon (TSR) (Issue 55): 6–7,9. [8] D&D Alumni: The Planes (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4alum/ 20081219) [9] Decker, Jesse; David Noonan (September 9, 2005). "Monsters with Traction" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ dd/ 20050909a). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2009-08-29. [10] http:/ / www. solegends. com/ citf/ citff/ index. htm [11] Gygax, Gary 1985. "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: The future of the game", Dragon 103:8,10 (Nov 1985)

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[12] Gygax, Gary 1987. "From the Sorcerer's Scroll", Dragon 122:40 (Jun 1987) [13] "TSR Previews". Dragon (TSR) (Issue 180): 92. April 1992. [14] Ryan, Michael 2003. Personality Spotlight: Fiend Folio designers (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ ps/ 20030404a), retrieved June 2, 2006 [15] Smith, Matt (2007). "Previews: See What's "In the Works"" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ iw/ iw20030112a). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2009-08-30. [16] "ENnie Awards-2003" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ ennies/ 2003. html). . Retrieved 2008-01-02. [17] Greene, Scott; Peterson, Clark (2002). Tome of Horrors. Necromancer Games. pp. 328. ISBN 1-58846-112-2. [18] Zumwait, Alan (November 1981). "Observations of a semi-satisfied customer" (review). Dragon (TSR) (Issue 55): 8,10. [19] Turnbull, Don (November 1981). "Apologies -- and arguments" (Editorial). Dragon (TSR) (Issue 55): 12. [20] Turnbull, Don (March 1982). "Advanced Illusion and Philosopher's Stone" (Editorial). Dragon (TSR) (Issue 59): 10. [21] Gygax, Gary 1982. "New spells for illusionists", Dragon 66:22-28 (Oct 1982) [22] http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ lateradd. html [23] http:/ / www. dragonsfoot. org/ forums/ viewtopic. php?t=17862 [24] http:/ / www. enworld. org/ showthread. php?t=49327 [25] http:/ / groups. google. com/ group/ rec. games. frp/ browse_thread/ thread/ a494d50aa9da446 [26] http:/ / www. solegends. com/ citf/ citff/ index. htm

Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana, 1st edition

Cover of Unearthed Arcana for the 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons; cover art by Jeff Easley Author

Gary Gygax

Illustrator

Jeff Easley, Jim Roslof, Roger Raupp, Timothy Truman, and Jim Holloway

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

TSR, Inc.

Publication date

1985

Media type

Print (Hardback)

Pages

128

ISBN

0-88038-084-5

OCLC Number

15054860

Dewey Decimal

794 19

LC Classification

GV1469.62.D84 G96 1985

[1]

Unearthed Arcana

133

Unearthed Arcana, 3rd edition

Cover of Unearthed Arcana for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons Author

Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, and Rich Redman

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date February 2004 Media type

Print (Hardback)

Pages

224

ISBN

0-7869-3131-0

Unearthed Arcana (abbreviated UA)[2] is the title shared by two hardback books published for different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Both were designed as supplements to the core rulebooks, containing material that expanded upon other rules. The original Unearthed Arcana was written primarily by Gary Gygax, and published by game publisher TSR in 1985 for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rules. The book consisted mostly of material previously published in magazines, and included new races, classes, and other material to expand the rules in the Dungeon Masters Guide and Players Handbook. The book was infamous for its considerable number of errors, and was received negatively by the gaming press whose criticisms targeted the over-powered races and classes, among other items. Gygax intended to use the book's content for a planned second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons; however, much of the book's content was not reused in the second edition, which went into development shortly after Gygax's departure from TSR. A second book using the Unearthed Arcana title was produced by Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons third edition in 2004. The designers did not reproduce material from the original book, but instead attempted to emulate its purpose by providing variant rules and options to change the game itself. A reviewer for RPGnet noted that while this book was filled with ideas and suggestions, he found little that he actually wanted to use.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Development history The original Unearthed Arcana was written by Gary Gygax with design and editing contributions by Jeff Grubb and Kim Mohan, respectively, and then published by TSR in 1985.[3] :128 Gygax reportedly produced the book to raise money as TSR was deeply in debt at the time.[4] He announced in the March 1985 issue of Dragon magazine that Unearthed Arcana would be released in the summer of that year. He proposed the book as "an interim volume to expand the Dungeon Masters Guide and Players Handbook", as the information was spread out in several places and difficult to keep track of.[5] Unearthed Arcana was to include material written by Gygax and previously published in

Unearthed Arcana Dragon, and later updated and revised for the book. The book would also contain previously unpublished material, some of it written by other contributors to Dragon.[5] According to British writer Paul Cockburn, some of the material in Unearthed Arcana had been previously published in Imagine magazine.[6] The original Unearthed Arcana contains errors in its text, which readers discovered and reported to Dragon magazine.[7] Even some positive reviews of the book pointed out the considerable number of mistakes.[8] Dragon editor Kim Mohan, with ideas from Gygax, Frank Mentzer, and Jeff Grubb, addressed the many errors found in the book. In the November 1985 issue of Dragon magazine, Mohan printed four pages of rules corrections as well as new supplementary material intended to be inserted into the book, and some explanations and justifications for items which were not actually errors,[7] and compiled a two-page list of type corrections meant to be pasted into further revisions of Unearthed Arcana.[9] Dragon also devoted the entirety of its "Sage Advice" column in the January 1986 issue to answering readers' questions about Unearthed Arcana, as a follow-up to Mohan's prior column.[10] However, the errata were not incorporated into later printings of the manual.[11]

Contents The 128-page Unearthed Arcana was written for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rules and was divided into two sections: one for players and one for the Dungeon Master (or "DM", the game organizer).[3] The book provided new races, classes, and other expansion material. The book gives details on using "subraces" of the standard races, such as dark elves (drow), and deep gnomes (svirfneblin), for use as player characters and non-player characters. Unearthed Arcana includes the barbarian (found in Dragon #63[12] ), cavalier (found in Dragon #72[13] ), and thief-acrobat (found in Dragon #69[14] ) character classes,[5] [6] and also includes expansions and revisions of the druid and ranger classes.[5] The book presents a large addition to the range of character races, including the drow and svirfneblin.[6] The book includes new weapons, and revised information on character level maximums for non-human player characters.[5] Unearthed Arcana details the weapon specialization rules, in which a fighter or ranger "can adopt a weapon as a special arm, and receive bonuses in its use".[6] The book also describes the comeliness attribute, and contains new spells.[6]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition By 1985 Gygax was planning a second edition for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules, and intended beginning work on this in 1986. He intended to incorporate material from Unearthed Arcana, Oriental Adventures, and the original Players Handbook into the new edition's Players Handbook.[15] Gygax used the book to explore some ideas he had for the new edition, such as changing the mechanics for hit dice (the measurement of a character's "health" in the game), and altering the game's mechanics to allow the game system to work other genres, and to allow characters to have skills that compliment the character classes.[16] Shortly after announcing his intentions for second edition, Gygax was removed as TSR's President and Chairman of the Board. In 1986 he resigned all positions with TSR, leaving the shape and direction of the Dungeons & Dragons game to other designers.[17] The designers of second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons removed material from the original Players Handbook in the new edition, as well as much of the new material that had appeared in Unearthed Arcana, which they considered to be "unbalanced".[18] The book had five printings after the release of AD&D 2nd edition with the last printing published two years after the new edition was released.[11]

134

Unearthed Arcana

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition The second book to use the name Unearthed Arcana was written by Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, and Rich Redman, and published in 2004 by Wizards of the Coast, for use with the Dungeons & Dragons third edition rules.[19] The designers aimed the book at experienced players and DMs looking for something new, encouraging them to customize the game's rules. The designers did not want the third edition book to be like the original Unearthed Arcana mechanically, because according to Andy Collins: "Every book on the market looks like the original Unearthed Arcana. New classes, new spells, new magic items - that's the default "recipe" for a d20 product these days. We saw no need to do that with this book."[20] Where the original Unearthed Arcana had simply expanded the rules and options of the core game, this 224-page supplement was aimed at providing an extensive list of variant rules and options to change the standard game itself.[20] The volume of options added was intentionally excessive; according to the designers, a Dungeon Master who reads the book must be prepared to "Drink from the fire hose"[19] :4 and to think before using options that may radically imbalance the game.[20]

Reception Paul Cockburn reviewed the original Unearthed Arcana in issue 73 of White Dwarf magazine (January 1986), rating it 4 out of 10 overall. He summed up the book's contents by calling them "A rules extension package of reprints, most of which add very little of interest or value to anybody's game."[6] Cockburn predicted that the book would be a huge commercial success due to the seemingly never-filled appetite some people have for new material. However, he felt that as a rules companion book it would not be used universally by gaming tournaments or by other publishers, or even players moving from one group to another, and that the book would wind up causing problems and confusion for gamers. Cockburn criticized the weapons specialization rules and the new character generating method, called the barbarian class "a farce" after losing their prohibition from magic, and considered the extended number of character races "virtually ridiculous", as it added several over-powerful races to the list.[6] Cockburn noted that the bulk of the book was taken up by the new spells; while he felt these spells were OK, he said they "add nothing very scintillating to the game".[6] Cockburn compared the cavalier class to the paladin, calling the cavalier "everything the paladin should have been in the first place", and felt that when compared to the thief class the acrobat "offers possibilities that should have been attached to the thief from the beginning".[6] Following Cockburn's review, UA was subjected to further criticism by Allan Miles in two articles published in the magazine. In White Dwarf 85 (January 1987), More Than Skin Deep, a general discussion of the subject of PC race in AD&D, touched upon the subject in the context of Unearthed Arcana.[21] Arcana or Errata? in White Dwarf 89 (May 1987) covered the volume specifically, opening with the observation that the material published in the book was now "definitely affecting the way the game is played," despite the fact that the bulk of its reception had been negative.[22] Miles began by mentioning the aspects of the book that he considered predominantly unproblematic, such as the addition of new spells, magic items, weapons, and the introduction of minimum starting values for hit points. He then went on to discuss the areas he considered disruptive of game balance at length, including the new methods for character generation, malleable limits to demi-human class levels and characteristics themselves, the rules regarding the new Comeliness attribute, aspects of the Cavalier and Barbarian classes, changes to Thief alignment requirements, and the results of UA's version of weapon specialization.[22] William B. Haddon's review of the third edition Unearthed Arcana on RPGnet lauded the book's content while criticizing the interest level of the content as "very flat". He found the power level unbalanced for each of the new sub-systems introduced, and found little in the suggested rules that he wanted to use. He did note that the book was "jam packed" with pages of variants, ideas and suggestions, and found that the "Behind the Curtain" explanations from the designers gave him insight into their thought process behind the book's contents. Haddon called the book's art "terrible," explaining that "It looks cartoony and has little of the flavor or strength found in the art of so many other WotC products."[23]

135

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References [1] http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/ 15054860 [2] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5omY07NIV). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on April 6, 2010. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [3] Gygax, Gary. Unearthed Arcana (TSR, 1985) [4] La Farge, Paul (September 2006). "Destroy All Monsters" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5oiWIAHL5). The Believer Magazine. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. believermag. com/ issues/ 200609/ ?read=article_lafarge) on April 3, 2010. . [5] Gygax, Gary (March 1985). "Demi-Humans Get a Lift". Dragon (TSR) (95): 8–10. [6] Cockburn, Paul (January 1986). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (73): 7. ISSN 0265-8712. [7] Mohan, Kim (November 1985). "Arcana Update, Part 1". Dragon (TSR) (103): 12. [8] Farstad, Errol (1987). "The Critical Hit". Polyhedron Newszine (TSR) (38): 8. [9] "Unearthed Arcana additions and corrections". Dragon (TSR) (103): 48–49. November 1985. [10] Petticord, Penny (January 1986). "Sage Advice". Dragon (TSR) (117): 32, 47, 54. [11] Later AD&D Manuals (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ setpages/ lateradd. html). The Acaeum. Retrieved on June 1, 2006. [12] Gygax, Gary (July 1982). "The Big, Bad Barbarian". Dragon (TSR) (63): 8–10. [13] Gygax, Gary (April 1983). "The Chivalrous Cavalier". Dragon (TSR) (72): 6. [14] Gygax, Gary (January 1983). "A "split class" for nimble characters: the Thief-Acrobat". Dragon (TSR) (69): 20–23. [15] Gygax, Gary (November 1985). "The Future of the Game". Dragon (TSR) (103): 8. [16] Johnson, Joel (2008-03-04). "Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview" (http:/ / gadgets. boingboing. net/ 2008/ 03/ 04/ dungeons-dragons-cre. html). Boing Boing Gadgets. . Retrieved 2010-03-21. [17] Gygax, Gary (June 1987). "From the Sorcerer's Scroll". Dragon (TSR) (122): 40. [18] Winter, Steve (September 1997). "Cure Light Wounds". Polyhedron Newszine (TSR) (49): 24. [19] Collins, Andy; Decker, Jesse; Noonan, David; Redman, Rich (February 2004). Unearthed Arcana (3rd ed.). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3131-0. [20] Ryan, Michael (February 7, 2004). Product Spotlight: Unearthed Arcana (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ ps/ 20040207a). Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on June 1, 2006. [21] Miles, Allan (January 1987). "More Than Skin Deep". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) 1 (85): 12–15. "Problems of race in AD&D, expounded by Allan Miles.". [22] Miles, Allan (May 1987). "Arcana or Errata?". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) 1 (89): 52–54. "I never wanted to be a barbarian anyway... criticisms from Allan Miles.". [23] Haddon, William B. (February 20, 2004). "Review of Unearthed Arcana" (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ reviews/ archive/ 10/ 10125. phtml). RPGnet. . Retrieved January 11, 2009.

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Oriental Adventures

137

Oriental Adventures Oriental Adventures (abbreviated OA[1] ) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of Oriental Adventures provides rules for adapting its respective version of D&D for use in campaign settings based on the Far East, rather than the medieval Europe-setting assumed by most D&D books. Both versions of Oriental Adventures include example campaign settings.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Oriental Adventures Author

Gary Gygax, David "Zeb" Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

TSR

Publication date

1985

Media type

Print (Hardback)

ISBN

0-88038-099-3

OCLC Number

13643577

Dewey Decimal

794 19

LC Classification

GV1469.62.D84 G95 1985

[2]

The original Oriental Adventures (ISBN 0-88038-099-3) was written by Gary Gygax, David "Zeb" Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval, and published in 1985 by TSR, Inc. for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition rules. Cover art was by Jeff Easley, with interior illustrations by Roger Raupp, James Holloway, Easley, and Dave Sutherland. Further chapters provide spells, monsters, magic items, and other rules used in Oriental campaigns. The book provides rules for ten character classes and three races to be used in place of standard AD&D classes and races.[3] The book presents new versions of the barbarian (here a steppes warrior, or a forest and jungle dweller) and monk, as well as new classes such as the ninja, kensai, wu-jen, and shukenja. Kensai "seek to perfect their weapons technique to the exclusion of all else. They are deadly in combat, but cannot use magical weaponry because it detracts from the appreciation of their skill".[3] Wu-jen are magic-users who must obey their personal taboos to avoid losing all spell powers, and shukenja are clerics that become penalized if they kill enemies too freely.[3] The other classes introduced in the book are the bushi, samurai, sohei, and yakuza.[4] The three new character races are the korobokuru (equivalent to dwarves, without the bad tempers and greed), the hengeyokai (intelligent animals who can shapechange into human form), and the spirit folk (humanoids whose lifeforce is tied to a particular location).[3] The original Oriental Adventures introduced two major innovations to the AD&D system. Although previous TSR publications (such as Deities & Demigods) had touched on using non-European settings for the game, Oriental Adventures was the first official supplement entirely devoted to roleplaying in a non-Western setting. Oriental Adventures also introduced a new game mechanic to Dungeons & Dragons, as the first official supplement to include rules for nonweapon proficiencies.[5] Both non-weapon proficiencies and non-European settings were explored in more detail in 2nd Edition AD&D rules. The book included an honor system, in which "honor points" are lost when a character fails to behave in a correct fashion or uphold the family name; eventually the character sheet is simply thrown away, if such behavior continues.

Oriental Adventures

138

Personal honor is also reflected in the honor a character's family.[3] The book includes detailed rules for karate and other martial arts styles, and allows the DM to construct new martial arts styles and techniques by choosing from a range of menu options.[3] The original Oriental Adventures includes a long background section on the fantasy setting known as Kara-Tur.[3] Kara-Tur was later made a continent of Abeir-Toril. TSR went on to produce eight adventure modules using the Oriental Adventures rules and the Kara-Tur setting. Gary Gygax intended to incorporate the material from Oriental Adventures into revised versions of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide[6] , but left TSR shortly after announcing the project[7] . Oriental Adventures was the biggest seller in 1985.[8] Little if any material from Oriental Adventures was incorporated into the AD&D 2nd Edition core books, and Oriental Adventures itself was never revised for the 2nd Edition.

Reception Ashley Shepherd reviewed Oriental Adventures for issue 74 of White Dwarf magazine, giving it an overall rating of 9 out of 10. Shepherd felt that the book was not so much a sourcebook as "a completely new version of AD&D. The old stand-bys of the AD&D system are still in the rules, but the elements have been intelligently modified to produce something that is far greater than the sum of its parts."[3] The reviewer felt that the character classes all had a twist which makes them interesting and worth playing, and noted that the monk is in its proper Eastern context, and the ninja was the best version the reviewer had seen. The reviewer felt that the skill system of "proficiency slots" is a "sensible extension of the character rules, and should be extended to cover the whole system, not just this Eastern supplement".[3] Shepherd also felt that the Honour system was a good touch, and felt that the real strength of the new martial arts system was that the DM was now able to construct any number of new styles. Shepherd compared the sourcebook favourably with Bushido, another oriental role-playing game of the time, feeling that Oriental Adventures was a better choice as a game system. Shepherd concluded the review by stating that "By remaining compatible with the rest of AD&D, Dave Cook has written an excellent set of rules which should be very popular. Oriental Adventures has even persuaded me to start playing AD&D again."[3]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition Oriental Adventures

Cover of Oriental Adventures Author

James Wyatt

Genre(s)

Role-playing game

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Publication date October 2001 Media type

Print (Hardcover)

Pages

256

Oriental Adventures

139 ISBN

0-7869-2015-7

The second version of Oriental Adventures (ISBN 0-7869-2015-7) was written by James Wyatt and published by Wizards of the Coast in October 2001. It uses the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules. The book includes 5 new races including the Nagas, Nezumi, & Vanara, 5 new classes, over 25 new prestige classes, 100 new spells, and 75 new monsters. The featured campaign setting of this edition is Rokugan, a campaign setting originally created for the game Legend of the Five Rings. The second Oriental Adventures won the 2002 Ennie Award for "Best Campaign Setting". [9] In 2005, AEG dropped the D20 version of Legend of the Five Rings (and 3rd edition Oriental Adventures with it). The main reason was because the 3rd Edition Oriental Adventures corebook was out of print.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition A number of the monsters from the Oriental Adventures setting such as the oni have been included in the Monster Manual. Wizards of the Coast has not yet announced if Oriental Adventures will be released or if player classes such as the ninja, samurai, shugenja, sohei and wu jen will appear in future products. The shaman has appeared in Player's Handbook 2 as a leader based on the primal power source. The monk appears in Player's Handbook 3.

Further reading Review: Dragon #134 (1988) • • • • • • • • • • •

"...And a Step Beyond That", Dragon #122 "A Menagerie of Martial Arts", Dragon #127 "A Step Beyond Shogun...", Dragon #122 "Flying Feet and Lightning Hands", Dragon #164 "Hand-to-Hand Against the Rules", Dragon #139 "New Kicks in Martial Arts", Dragon #136 "Sage Advice", Dragon #121 "Sage Advice", Dragon #122 "Sage Advice", Dragon #151 "Taking the Mystery Out of the Orient: Updates and Errata for Oriental Adventures", Footprints #9 "Things Your Sensei Never Taught You", Dragon #164

External links • Kohler, Alan D. Oriental Adventures capsule review [10], retrieved June 1, 2006 • http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7441.html

References [1] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5omY07NIV). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on April 6, 2010. . Retrieved October 3, 2008. [2] http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/ 13643577 [3] Shepherd, Ashley (February 1986). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 74): 9–10. ISSN 0265-8712. [4] Gygax, Gary, with David Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval. Oriental Adventures (TSR, 1985) [5] * David Cook, "Oriental opens new vistas", Dragon 104:20-21, Dec 1985. [6] Gary Gygax, "The future of the game", Dragon 103:8-10, Nov 1985. [7] Gary Gygax, "From the Sorcerer's Scroll", Dragon 122:40, Oct 1987. [8] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20.

Oriental Adventures [9] The ENnie Awards - 2002 ENnie Archive (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ ennies/ 2002. html), retrieved June 17, 2006. [10] http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ reviews/ rev_5215. html

140

141

Settings Greyhawk

Designer

Gary Gygax

Publisher

TSR, Inc. Wizards of the Coast

Publication date

1980

Genre(s)

Fantasy

System

Dungeons & Dragons

Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.[1] [2] Although not the first campaign world developed for Dungeons & Dragons—Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign predates it by a few months—the world of Greyhawk was the setting most closely identified with the development of the game from 1972 until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also the nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually, an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000–2008.

Early development In the late 1960s, Gary Gygax, a military history buff and fan of pulp fantasy, started to add elements of fantasy into traditional tabletop medieval miniatures wargames at his games club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He sometimes replaced typical medieval weapons with magical spells, or used dragons and other fantastical monsters in place of soldiers.[3] [4] [5] In 1971, as part of a rule set for tabletop battles called Chainmail that he was co-writing, he created supplementary rules for magical spells and monsters as well as one-to-one combat.[6] Around the same time in Minneapolis–St. Paul, another tabletop wargamer, Dave Arneson, was also developing a new type of game. Arneson had been impressed by the Napoleonic tabletop "Braunstein" campaigns of fellow wargamer David Wesely that incorporated elements of what would now be called role-playing, including using a neutral referee or judge, and conversations between the players and imaginary characters to resolve diplomatic issues.[7] However, Arneson soon grew tired of the Napoleonic setting, and one night when the gaming group assembled, he presented a plastic model of a castle in place of the usual battlefield,[8] and told the players that instead of controlling regiments that night, they would each take one individual character into the castle of the Barony of Blackmoor to explore its dangerous dungeons.[9] For combat resolution, he started by using rock-paper-scissors,[10] but quickly moved to a combination of rules that combined Chainmail and a nautical wargame he had co-written with Gary Gygax and Mike Carr called Don't Give Up the Ship.[11] What set Arneson's game apart from Wesely's tabletop wargaming was that the players could keep the same characters from session to session, and that the characters "advanced" by developing better abilities or powers over time.[12]

Greyhawk

142

Arneson's Minneapolis-St. Paul Napoleonic gaming group was in touch with Gygax's Lake Geneva group, and Arneson mentioned his dungeons of Blackmoor that the group was playing on alternate weekends.[13] Gygax was interested, so during a visit to Lake Geneva in 1972, Arneson demonstrated his Blackmoor dungeons to Gygax.[14] Gygax was immediately intrigued by the concept of individual characters exploring a dungeon setting,[15] and believed that this was a game that could be marketed and sold. He and Arneson agreed to co-develop a set of rules based on Chainmail. In order to provide a playtest environment in which to develop these rules, Gygax designed his own castle, "Castle Greyhawk", and prepared the first level of a dungeon that lay beneath it.[16] Two of his children, Ernie and Elise, were the first players,[17] and during their first session, they fought and destroyed the first monsters of the Greyhawk dungeon; Gygax variously recalled this as being some giant centipedes[18] or a nest of scorpions.[19] During the same session, Ernie and Elise also found the first treasure, a chest of 3,000 copper coins (which was too heavy to carry, much to the children's disgust).[20] [21] After his children had gone to bed, Gygax immediately began to work on the second level of the dungeon.[22] At the next play session, Ernie and Elise were joined by Gygax's friends Don Kaye and Rob and Terry Kuntz.[23] About a month after his first session, Gygax created the nearby city of Greyhawk, where the players' characters could sell their treasure and find a place to rest.[24]

1972–1979: Home campaign As Gygax and Arneson worked to develop and publish the rules for Dungeons and Dragons through TSR, Gygax continued to design and present the dungeons and environs of Castle Greyhawk to his circle of friends and family, using them as playtesters for new rules and concepts. As the players began to explore more of the world outside of the castle and city, Gygax developed other regions and cities for them to explore. With play sessions happening seven days a week, and sometimes twice a day,[25] Gygax didn't have the time or inclination to create the map for a whole new world; he simply drew his "world" over a map of North America, adding new cities and regions as his world slowly grew through on-going adventures.[26] The city and castle of Greyhawk he placed near the real-world position of Chicago, his birthplace; various other places were clustered around it. For instance, the rival city of Dyvers he placed in the area of real-world Milwaukee.[27] [28] He also continued to develop the dungeons underneath the castle, and by the time he was finished, the complex labyrinth encompassed 13 levels filled with devious traps, secret passageways, hungry monsters and glittering treasure. Although details of these original Greyhawk dungeons have never been published in detail, Gygax gave some tantalizing glimpses of them in an article he wrote for the European fanzine Europa in 1975: Before the rules for D&D were published, "Old Greyhawk Castle" was 13 levels deep. The first level was a simple maze of rooms and corridors, for none of the "participants" had ever played such a game before. The second level had two unusual items, a Nixie pool and a fountain of snakes. The third featured a torture chamber and small cells and prison rooms. The fourth was a level of crypts and undead. The fifth was centered around a strange font of black fire and gargoyles. The sixth was a repeating maze with dozens of wild hogs... in inconvenient spots, naturally backed up by appropriate numbers of Wereboars. The seventh was centered around a circular labyrinth and a street of masses of ogres. The eighth through tenth levels were caves and caverns featuring Trolls, giant insects and a transporter nexus with an evil Wizard (with a number of tough associates) guarding it. The eleventh level was the home of the most powerful wizard in the castle: He had Balrogs as servants. The remainder of the level was populated by Martian White Apes, except the sub-passage system underneath the corridors which was full of poisonous critters with no treasure. Level twelve was filled with Dragons. The bottom level, number thirteen, contained an inescapable slide which took the players clear through 'to China', from whence they had to return via "Outdoor Adventure". It was quite possible to journey downward by an insidious series of slanting passages which began on the second level, but the likelihood of following such a route unknowingly didn't become too great until the seventh or eighth level...

Greyhawk

143 Side levels included a barracks with Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls continually warring with each other, a museum, a huge arena, an underground lake, a Giant's home, and a garden of fungi.[29]

Anyone who made it to the bottom level alive met Zagyg, the insane architect of the dungeons. ("Zagyg" is a reverse homophone of "Gygax", and was Gygax's inside joke that the person who designed this crazy, purposeless place—himself—must be insane.)[30] Only three players ever made it to the bottom level and met Zagyg, all of them during solo adventures: Rob Kuntz (playing Robilar), Gygax's son Ernie (playing Tenser), and Rob's brother Terry (playing Terik).[31] Their reward was to be instantly transported to the far side of the world,[32] where they each faced a long solo trek back to the city of Greyhawk. (However, Terik and Tenser managed to catch up to Robilar along the way, and they made it back to Greyhawk together.)[33] By this time, over twenty players crowded Gygax's basement almost every night,[34] and the effort needed to plan their adventures took up much of Gygax's spare time. He had been very impressed with Rob Kuntz's imaginative play as a player, and appointed Rob to be co-Dungeon Master of Greyhawk.[35] [36] This freed up Gygax to work on other projects, and also gave him an opportunity to participate as a player, creating characters like Yrag and Mordenkainen. [37] In order to "make room" for Rob's dungeons, Gygax scrapped his bottom level and integrated Rob's work into the Greyhawk dungeons.[38] Gygax and Kuntz continued to develop new levels for their players, and by the time the Greyhawk home campaign drew to a close in 1985,[39] the castle dungeons encompassed more than fifty levels.[40]

Significant player characters of the home campaign While many players participating in the Gygax/Kuntz home campaign were occasional players, sometimes not even giving their characters a name,[41] others played far more frequently, and several of their characters became well-known to the general gaming world well before publication of the Greyhawk campaign setting. Some of these characters became known when Gygax mentioned them in his various columns, interviews and publications. In other cases, when Gygax created a new magical spell for the game, he would sometimes "borrow" the name of a wizard character from his home campaign to add verisimilitude to the spell name (for example, Tenser's floating disc, Tenser being a character created by his son Ernie).[42] Some of the characters who became synonymous with Greyhawk at that time included: • Murlynd: Gary Gygax's friend Don Kaye created Murlynd for the second-ever session of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign in 1972.[43] Gygax later recalled that "Murlynd" was the first attempt by a player to make a creative name for a character; in the early days, most players—including Gygax himself—simply used their own name as a basis for their character's name. (Tenser = Ernest, Yrag = Gary, etc.)[44] Cross-pollination with other fictional "universes" was common in the early days [45] , and in one of these sessions, Murlynd was transported to America's Wild West, a setting that Kaye loved.[46] When Murlynd eventually returned to the world of Greyhawk, he brought his six-shooters back with him. Although Gygax did not allow the use of gunpowder in his Greyhawk setting, he made a loophole for Don Kaye by ruling that Murlynd actually carried two "magical wands" that made loud noises and delivered small but deadly missiles.[47] His name is used for the Unearthed Arcana item, Murlynd's Spoon. • Robilar: Robilar was a fighter belonging to Rob Kuntz. Like Murlynd, Robilar was also created for the second-ever session beneath Castle Greyhawk in 1972, rolled up on Gygax's kitchen table. Gygax suggested to Kuntz the name of Robilar, after a minor character in Gygax's novella The Gnome Cache.[48] Because Kuntz was a constant player, Robilar rapidly gained power and possessions. As the city of Greyhawk was developed, he also became the secret owner of the Green Dragon Inn in the city of Greyhawk, where he kept tabs on happenings in the city.[49] Kuntz quickly grew impatient with play when it involved more than a couple of players, and often played solo adventures one-on-one with Gygax.[50] Robilar was not only the first to reach the 13th and bottom level of Gygax's Greyhawk dungeons, but on the way, he was also responsible for freeing nine demi-gods (whom Gygax revived a decade later as some of the first deities of Greyhawk: Iuz, Ralishaz, Trithereon, Erythnul,

Greyhawk Olidammara, Heironeous, Celestian, Hextor, and Obad-Hai). Robilar was also the first to enter Gygax's Temple of Elemental Evil, and trashed it from top to bottom, even freeing the demoness Zuggtmoy from her prison at the centre of the Temple. Kuntz later related that Gygax was very dismayed that his masterpiece dungeon had been destroyed by a single adventurer, and as punishment, Gygax had an army pursue Robilar all the way back to his castle, which Robilar was forced to abandon.[51] [52] Robilar even lost possession of the Green Dragon Inn.[53] • Tenser: Tenser was a wizard played by Gygax's son Ernie. In the earliest days of Greyhawk, Ernie often gamed with Rob Kuntz (Robilar) and Terry Kuntz (Terik). At one point, using their combined forces of loyal henchmen, the three controlled access to the first level of the Greyhawk dungeons while they ransacked the lower levels.[54] Eventually Tenser became the second character to reach the 13th (and at the time, the bottom level) of the Greyhawk dungeons, when he noticed that Robilar was missing and went in search of him.[55] Gary Gygax "borrowed" Tenser's name for two spells, Tenser's floating disc and Tenser's transformation. • Terik: Terik (or Teric) was a character created by Terry Kuntz (brother of Rob Kuntz). Terik often adventured with Tenser and Robilar in the days when the three controlled the first level of the dungeons of Greyhawk.[49] Terik became the third and last character to reach the bottom level of Gygax's original Greyhawk dungeon when he noticed Robilar and Tenser were missing and went in search of them.[49] • Erac's Cousin: Gary Gygax's son Ernie originally had a character he called "Erac". Later, he created a wizard who, due to a personal issue as part of his backstory, refused to reveal his name, simply referring to himself as "Erac's Cousin". Gary Gygax knew that Ernie liked the Barsoom stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and at one point, whisked Erac's Cousin off to a very Barsoom-like Mars,[49] where the inhabitants refused to let the wizard use magic. Erac's Cousin was forced to become a fighter instead, and learned to fight proficiently with two weapons simultaneously. Eventually he was able to teleport back to Oerth, but when he acquired two vorpal blades, Rob Kuntz and Gary Gygax decided he had become too powerful,[49] and lured him into a demon's clutches. The demon took him to an alternative plane that drained the magic from the vorpal blades, destroying them. • Yrag: After Gygax made Kuntz a co-DM, this fighter was Gygax's first character,[56] and Gygax often referred to Yrag's various adventures in columns and interviews. ("Yrag" is simply "Gary" spelled backwards.) • Mordenkainen: This was perhaps Gygax's most famous character, and also his favourite.[57] Mordenkainen started as a lowly 1st-level wizard in 1973,[58] his name drawn from Finnish mythology.[59] Due to constant play, often with Rob Kuntz as DM, Gygax advanced Mordenkainen into a powerful character. (In later years, Gygax would not reveal exactly how powerful Mordenkainen had become, only ever admitting that the wizard had "twenty-something levels".)[60] Even years after he last played Mordenkainen, he would not disclose any of Mordenkainen's powers or possessions.[61] Various spells from first edition bear his name, such as Mordenkainen's faithful hound, Mordenkainen's lucubration, and Mordenkainen's sword. • Bigby: Bigby started life as an evil low-level wizard non-player character in Rob Kuntz's dungeons of Greyhawk. Gary Gygax, playing Mordenkainen, managed to subdue him, and forced Bigby to become his servant. After a long time and several adventures, Mordenkainen managed to convince Bigby to leave his evil ways behind, and Kuntz ruled that Bigby had changed from an enemy to a loyal henchman, and therefore Gygax could take over Bigby as a player character.[62] [63] Thereafter, Gygax developed Bigby into a powerful wizard second only to Mordenkainen, and used his name to describe a series of "hand" spells (Bigby's crushing hand, Bigby's grasping hand, etc.). For a time after this, Rob Kuntz ruled that all the names of Mordenkainen's future henchmen had to rhyme with Bigby. This resulted in Zigby the dwarf; Rigby the cleric; Sigby Griggbyson the fighter; Bigby's apprentice, Nigby; and Digby, Mordenkainen's new apprentice who replaced Bigby.[64] • Melf: Melf was an elven character created by Gary Gygax's son Luke. After Luke had rolled up his elf's abilities and filled out the rest of his character sheet, he couldn't think of a name for his new character, and simply went with what was written across the top of the character sheet: M Elf (that is, male elf). Gary Gygax borrowed Melf's name for the spell Melf's acid arrow.[65]

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Greyhawk • Rary: Rary was a low-level wizard created by Brian Blume and played only until he reached 3rd-level, at which point Blume retired him, having reached his objective, which was to be able to call his character "Medium Rary".[66] Gygax borrowed the name for the spells Rary's mnemonic enhancer and Rary's telepathic bond. Ironically, the original Rary was never powerful enough to cast either of "his" spells. • Otto: Otto, like Bigby, started life as an evil non-player character wizard in the dungeons of Greyhawk. Tenser and Robilar defeated him in combat, and when given a choice of which master to serve, Otto chose to serve Robilar (thereby becoming a character "owned" by Robilar's creator, Rob Kuntz.) Thereafter, Otto accompanied Robilar on many adventures, including Robilar's destruction of the Temple of Elemental Evil.[49] Gary Gygaz borrowed Otto's name for the spell Otto's irresistible dance. • Drawmij: Drawmij was a wizard created by Jim Ward—"Drawmij" is simply his name spelled backwards. Gygax borrowed Drawmij's name for the magical spell Drawmij's instant summons. • The Circle of Eight: At the point where Gygax's own characters in the Greyhawk home campaign had collectively accumulated both enough wealth that they couldn't easily spend it, and a standing army that rivalled most nations' forces, he gathered all eight of the characters together—Mordenkainen (wizard), Yrag (fighter), Bigby (wizard), Rigby (cleric), Zigby (dwarf), Felnorith (elf), Vram (elf) & Vin (elf)—as the Circle of Eight. Pooling their resources, Gygax had the Eight construct a stronghold in the middle of an evil land so they would not have to travel far to find adventure.[67] After three years of game time, the result was the Obsidian Citadel, a massive and impregnable octagonal castle[68] from which any of the Eight could sally forth in search of adventure.[69]

Greyhawk "firsts" The first deities of Greyhawk One facet of culture that Gygax did not address during the first few years of his home campaign was organized religion. Since his campaign was largely built around the needs of lower-level characters, he didn't think specific deities were necessary, since direct interaction between a god and a low-level character was very unlikely. Some of his players took matters into their own hands, calling upon Norse or Greek gods such as Odin or Zeus, or even Conan's Crom in times of dire need.[70] However, some of the players wanted Gygax to create and customize a specific deity so that cleric characters could receive their powers from someone less ambiguous than "the gods". Gygax, with tongue in cheek, created two gods: Saint Cuthbert—who brought non-believers around to his point of view with whacks of his cudgel[71] —and Pholtus, whose fanatical followers refused to believe that any other gods existed. Because both of these deities represented aspects of Good, Gygax eventually created a few evil deities to provide some villainy.[72] The first glimpse of Oerth In the first issue of The Dragon published in June 1976, Gygax prefaced Chapter 1 of his serialized novella The Gnome Cache with a note that the story's setting, Oerth, was very similar to Earth in terms of geography.[73] In Chapter 2, which appeared in the next issue of The Dragon, a shrine to St. Cuthbert (spelled "St. Cuthburt") was mentioned, the first published reference to a Greyhawk deity.[74] The first Greyhawk novel In 1976, Gygax invited the science fiction/fantasy writer Andre Norton to play Dungeons & Dragons in his Greyhawk world. Norton subsequently wrote Quag Keep, which involved a group of gamers who travel from the "real" world to Greyhawk. It was the first novel to be set, at least partially, in the Greyhawk setting, and according to Alternative Worlds, the first to be based on D&D.[75] Quag Keep was excerpted in Issue 12 of The Dragon (February 1978)[76] just prior to the book's release. (In 2006, after Norton's death, her partially completed manuscript of a sequel, Return to Quag Keep, was finished by Jean Rabe and subsequently published.)

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The first Greyhawk adventures published by TSR Between 1976–1979, Gygax also shared some glimpses of his home campaign with other gamers when he set several TSR D&D adventures in the world of Greyhawk: • • • • • • • • •

Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (1976), republished in 1982 as S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth S1 Tomb of Horrors (1978) G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (1978) G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl (1978) G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978) D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (1978) D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (1978) D3 Vault of the Drow (1978) T1 The Village of Hommlet (1978)

In addition, Lawrence Schick set his 1979 TSR adventure S2 White Plume Mountain in Greyhawk.

1980: The World of Greyhawk folio edition In 1975, Gygax and Kuntz published a booklet called Supplement I: Greyhawk, an expansion of the rules for Dungeons and Dragons based on their play experiences in the Greyhawk campaign. Although it detailed new spells and character classes that had been developed in the dungeons of Greyhawk, it did not contain any details of their Greyhawk campaign world. The only two references to Greyhawk were an illustration of a large stone head in a dungeon corridor titled The Great Stone Face, Enigma of Greyhawk, and mention of a fountain on the second level of the dungeons that continuously issued endless numbers of snakes.[77] The 2004 publication 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons suggested that details of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign were published in this booklet,[78] but in fact, Gygax had no plans in 1975 to publish details of the Greyhawk world, since he believed that new players of Dungeons and Dragons would rather create their own worlds than use someone else's.[79] In addition, he didn't want to publish all the material he had created for his players; he thought he would be unlikely to recoup a fair investment for the thousands of hours he had spent on it; and since his secrets would be revealed to his players, he would be forced to recreate a new world for them afterwards.[80]

Supplement I: Greyhawk by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz was an expansion of D&D rules that contained no material about the Greyhawk campaign world other than two brief references.

However, with the release of the AD&D Players Handbook in 1978, many players were intrigued by the connection of Greyhawk characters to magical spells such as Tenser's floating disc, Bigby's crushing hand, and Mordenkainen's disjunction. The AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, released the following year, also made references to the dungeons of Greyhawk. Players' curiosity was further whetted by the ten D&D modules set in Greyhawk that were published between 1976–1979. Several of Gygax's regular columns in Dragon magazine also mentioned details of his home campaign or some of the characters that inhabited his world. Gygax was surprised when it became apparent that players wanted to use Greyhawk as their campaign world.[81]

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Development of geography In response to this, Gygax changed his mind and decided he would publish his private campaign world, but with some important changes. Rather than using his own map, which was simply the real-world Earth overwritten with his cities, towns and regions, he decided to create a new world called Oerth. (Gygax sometimes joked, "Say it as Oi-th as if you were from Brooklyn, and that's the way I pronounce it. That annoys all who take a fantasy world far too seriously.")[82] Once he had sketched out the entire planet to his satisfaction,[83] [84] he decided to concentrate his first efforts on one small corner of the world. One hemisphere of Oerth was dominated by a massive continent called Oerik. Gygax asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34" x 22" (86 cm x 56 cm). He found that, using the scale he desired, he could only fit the northeast corner of the continent of Oerik on two of the sheets.[85] [86] In order to give this campaign setting as much flexibility as possible in terms of geographic settings, his map included arctic wastes, desert, temperate forests, tropical jungles, mountainous cordillera, seas and oceans, mighty rivers, archipelagos and volcanoes.[87] He placed the city and castle of Greyhawk roughly in the centre of the map, in an area that would have about the same temperate climate as his home in Lake Geneva. For the other regions that had surrounded the city of Greyhawk on his old map, some were left relatively close to the city of Greyhawk; for instance, the rivalry between the cities of Dyvers, Hardby and Greyhawk was a feature of Gygax's campaign, so the three cities were placed in close proximity to each other. However, most other regions were moved further away, scattered across the new map.[88] Gygax also added many more new regions, countries and cities, bringing the number of political states to 60: [89]

Almor

Furyondy

Iuz

Pomarj

Spindrift Isles

Ull

Ahlissa

Geoff

Keoland

Ratik

Sterich

Urnst (County)

Bandit Kingdoms

Gran March

Ket

Rel Astra

Stonefist

Urnst (Duchy)

Bissel

Great Kingdom

Lordship of the Isles

Rovers of the Barrens

Sunndi

[91] Valley of the Mage

Blackmoor

Greyhawk

Medegia

Scarlet Brotherhood

Tenh

Veluna

Bone March

Highfolk

North Province

Sea Barons

Tiger Nomads

Verbobonc

Celene

Horned Society

Nyrond

Sea Princes

Tusmit

Wild Coast

Dyvers

Ice Barbarians

Onnwal

Shield Lands

Ulek (County)

Wolf Nomads

Ekbir

Idee

Pale

Snow Barbarians

Ulek (Duchy)

Yeomanry

Frost Barbarians

Irongate

Perrenland

South Province

Ulek (Principality)

Zeif

[92]

[90]

Needing original placenames for all of the geographical and political places on his map, Gygax sometimes resorted to wordplay based on the names of friends and acquaintances. For instance, Perrenland was named after Jeff Perren, who co-wrote the rules for Chainmail with Gygax; Urnst was a homophone of Ernst (his son Ernie); and Sunndi was a near-homophone of Cindy, another of Gygax's children.[93] From Gygax's prototype map, Darlene Pekul, a freelance artist in Lake Geneva,[94] developed a full colour map on a hex grid. Gygax was so pleased with the end result that he quickly switched his home Greyhawk campaign over to the new world he had created.[95]

Development of history and politics Heroes are not needed in peaceful times. As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote of Bilbo Baggins' harmonious Shire and its lack of warriors, "Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers..."[96] Knowing that his new world would need conflict, Gygax set out to create a fractious place where chaos and evil were in the ascendant and courageous champions would be needed. In order to explain how his world had arrived at this state, he wrote an outline of a thousand years of history. As a military history buff, he was very

Greyhawk familiar with the concept of waves of cultural invasions; for example, the Picts of Great Britain invaded by Celts, who in turn were invaded by Romans. In creating a similar pattern of history for his world, Gygax decided that a thousand years before his campaign began, this corner of the continent had been occupied by a peaceful but primitive people called the Flannae; hence the name of this part of Oerik, "the Flanaess". At that time, far to the west of the Flanaess, two peoples were at war, the Bakluni and the Suloise. The war reached its climax when both sides invoked mighty magic to obliterate each other, an event called the "Twin Cataclysms". Refugees of these disasters were forced out of their lands, and the Suloise invaded the Flanaess, forcing the Flannae to flee to the outer edges of the continent. Several centuries later, a new invader appeared, the Oeridians, and they in turn forced the Suloise southward. One tribe of the Oeridians, the Aerdi, began to set up an empire. Several centuries later, the Aerdi's "Great Kingdom" ruled most of the Flanaess. The Aerdi overkings marked the beginning of what they believed would be perpetual peace with Year 1 of a new calendar, the Common Year (CY) Reckoning. However, several centuries later, the Empire began to rot with decadence. The overkings fell prey to madness, black magic and evil, and began to treat their subjects like slaves. When the most evil overking of all, Ivid V, came to the throne, the oppressed peoples rose up in righteous rebellion, and the overking responded with an iron fist.[2] It was this point, in the year 576 CY, with the once-bright Great Kingdom now an evil crumbling tyranny, and small brave countries and cities rebelling against it, that Gygax set the world of Greyhawk. As Gygax wrote in his World of Greyhawk folio, "The current state of affairs in the Flanaess is confused indeed. Humankind is fragmented into isolationist realms, indifferent nations, evil lands, and states striving for good."[1] Gygax did not issue monthly or yearly "updates" to the state of affairs as presented in the folio since he saw 576CY as a common starting point for every home campaign; because each would be moving forward at its own pace, there would be no practical way to issue updates that would be relevant to every Dungeon Master.[97] Gygax was also aware that different players would be using his world for different reasons. When he was the Dungeon Master of his home camapaign, he found that his players were more interested in dungeon-delving than politics; but when he switched roles and became a player, often going one-on-one with Rob Kuntz as Dungeon Master, Gygax immersed his own characters in politics and large-scale battles of conquest.[98] Knowing that there would be players simply looking for a town in which to base their campaign, and others who would be seeking to meddle in politics or command armies in battle,[99] Gygax tried to include as much detail as possible about each region, including a short description of the region and its people, the title of its ruler, the racial makeup of its people, its resources and major cities, and its allies and enemies. For the same reason that he had created a variety of geographical, political and racial settings, he also strove to create a world with some good, some evil, and some "undecided" areas. He felt that some players would be happiest playing in a mainly good country and fighting the evil that arose to threaten it; others might want to be a part of an evil country; and still others might take a neutral stance and simply try to collect gold and treasure from both sides.[100]

Publication TSR intended to publish "World of Greyhawk" early in 1979; the foreword by editor Allen Hammack was dated February 1979. However, Gygax's The World of Greyhawk (TSR 9025)[1] did not hit store shelves until August 1980.[101] The World of Greyhawk consisted of a 32-page folio (this edition is often called the "World of Greyhawk folio" to distinguish it from later editions) and a 34" x 44" (86 cm x 112 cm) two-piece colour map of the Flanaess. (For the folio's contents, see World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting.) Reviewers were generally impressed, but some remarked on the lack of a pantheon of Greyhawk-specific deities, as well as the lack of any mention of the infamous dungeons of Castle Greyhawk.[101]

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1980–1983: Between editions Even before the folio edition was available for sale, Gygax made plans to publish supplementary information, using his column "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" that appeared on a semi-regular basis in TSR's Dragon Magazine. In the May 1980 issue,[102] Gygax gave a quick overview of the development of his new The World of Greyhawk folio, believing that the folio would be on store shelves before his column appeared. (However, it would actually be another three months until the folio was finally published.) For players who planned to use large scale army tactics, he gave details of the private armies that were commanded by some prominent Greyhawk characters (all of them originally created by players in his home campaign): Bigby (created by Gygax himself), Mordenkainen (also created by Gygax), Robilar (Rob Kuntz), Tenser (Gygax's son Ernie) and Erac's Cousin (also Ernie Gygax). And Gygax also mentioned some of the planned Greyhawk publications he was overseeing: a large-scale map of the City of Greyhawk; some adventure modules set in Greyhawk; a supplementary map of lands outside the Flanaess; all 50 levels of Castle Greyhawk's dungeon; and miniatures army combat rules. (None of these projects other than a few of the adventure modules were ever published by TSR.) Although Gygax originally intended to immediately publish more details of Greyhawk in Dragon on a regular basis, other projects intervened, and it wasn't until the August 1981 issue of Dragon that Len Lakofka, in his column "Leomund's Tiny Hut", outlined methods for determining a character's place of birth and languages spoken. Gygax added an addendum concerning the physical appearances of the main Greyhawk races.[103] In the November 1981 issue, Gygax gave further details of racial characteristics and modes of dress.[104] In the December 1981 issue, David Axler contributed a system for determining weather in the world of Greyhawk.[105] (Gygax later confided that he thought the system of 14 charts needed to determine the weather was too cumbersome, and he personally didn't use it in his home campaign.)[106]

More information about every political region The folio edition only had 32 pages, and information about each region was necessarily condensed into a short paragraph or two. Gygax realized that some players needed more in-depth information about the motivations and aspirations of each region, and the history of interactions with surrounding regions. With this in mind, Gygax decided to publish a much longer description of each region in Dragon. The first two articles, covering seventeen regions, appeared in the December 1981 and January 1982 issues. (Issues 56 & 57).[107] [108] However, due to his involvement in many other TSR projects, Gygax handed responsibility for completion of this project to Rob Kuntz, who covered the remaining 43 regions in the March 1982, July 1982 and September 1982 issues. (Issues 59, 63 and 65)[109] [110]

Deities of Greyhawk In the August 1982 issue (Issue 64), Gygax gave advice on how to adapt deities from the previously published Deities and Demigods[111] for worship by non-human races in the Greyhawk world.[112] A few months later, he published a long and very detailed five-part article in the November 1982 to March 1983 issues (Issues 67-71) that outlined a pantheon of deities custom-made for humans in the world of Greyhawk. In addition to his original Greyhawk deities, St. Cuthbert and Pholtus, Gygax added 17 more deities:

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150

Good

Neutral

St. Cuthbert [113] (forthrightness)

Celestian (stars)

Pholtus (resolution)

[114] [113]

Heironeous (chivalry)

[114]

Ehlonna (forest)

[114]

Trithereon (liberty) Zagyg (humour)

[117]

Evil [114]

Fharlanghn (travel)

[114]

[115]

Istus (fate)

Obad-hai (nature)

[113]

Hextor (war)

Iuz (oppression)

[113]

Erythnul [116] (slaughter) [115]

[117]

Boccob (magic)

[117]

Olidammara (music)

[116]

Incabulos (plague)

[116]

Nerull (death)

[116]

Ralishaz (madness)

[116]

Wastri (bigotry)

Although later versions of the campaign setting would assign most of these deities to worship by specific races of humans, at this time they were generally worshipped by all humans of the Flanaess. (For a complete examination of the development of the deities of Greyhawk, see Greyhawk deities.)

Non-player characters of Greyhawk Also included in the March 1983 issue (Issue 71) was an article detailing four unique characters of Greyhawk. The first two "quasi-deities"—Heward and Keoghtom—had been created by Gygax as non-player characters (NPCs—characters designed to interact with players). The third, Murlynd, was a character that had been created by Gygax's childhood friend Don Kaye before Kaye's untimely death in 1975. The fourth, a "hero-deity" named Kelanen, was developed to illustrate the "principle of advancement of power".[118]

TSR Greyhawk adventures published after the folio edition Of the ten adventures set in Greyhawk published by TSR before the folio edition, all but one had been written by Gygax. However, the new availability of information about Gygax's campaign world and TSR's desire to make it central to D&D encouraged many new writers to set their adventures in Greyhawk. This, combined with the fact that Gygax was increasingly involved in other areas of the company, meant that of the seventeen Greyhawk adventures published in the two years after the folio edition, only four were written or co-written by Gygax. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (Gary Gygax, 1980) A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity (David Cook, 1980) A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade ( Harold Johnson & Tom Moldvay, 1981) A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords (Allen Hammack, 1981 ) A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords (Lawrence Schick, 1981) Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (David C. Sutherland III & Gary Gygax, 1980) C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (Harold Johnson & Jeff R. Leason, 1980) C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness (Allen Hammack, 1980) I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City (David Cook, 1981) L1 The Secret of Bone Hill (Lenard Lakofka, 1981) U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (Dave Browne & Don Turnbull, 1981)] U2 Danger at Dunwater (Dave Browne & Don Turnbull, 1982) N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God (Douglas Niles, 1982) WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (Gary Gygax, 1982) S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (Gary Gygax, 1982) Originally published as Lost Caverns of Tsojconth in 1976

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• U3 The Final Enemy (Dave Browne & Don Turnbull, 1983) • L2 The Assassin's Knot (Lenard Lakofka, 1983) (In 1981, TSR also published the "super-modules" D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth and G1-2-3 Against the Giants, both being compilations of previously published modules from the "Drow" series and the "Giant" series respectively.)

First published deities of Greyhawk Shortly after the release of the folio edition, TSR released the adventure module C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, designed to familiarize players with the Olman race of the Amedio Jungle. Largely based on Aztec and Incan cultures, this adventure introduced the first published deities of the Greyhawk campaign: Mictlantecuhtli, god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld; Tezcatlipoca, god of sun, moon, night, scheming, betrayals and lightning; and Quetzalcoatl, god of air, birds and snakes. However, this area of the Flanaess was not explored further in any subsequent TSR adventures or source material, and these three gods would be "orphaned" through disuse for almost twenty years.

1983: World of Greyhawk boxed set In 1983, TSR published an expanded boxed set of the campaign world, World of Greyhawk[119] (usually called the "Greyhawk boxed set" to differentiate it from other editions). This edition increased the total number of pages of information fourfold, from 32 pages in the folio edition to 128 pages, and the amount of details was commensurately greater. One major addition was a pantheon of deities: in addition to the nineteen deities outlined by Gygax in his Dragon article, another 31 new deities were added (although only three received full write-ups of their abilities and worshippers). This brought the number of Greyhawk deities to an even fifty. For the next eight years, Greyhawk would be primarily defined by the information in this publication.

The box cover for World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting boxed set (TSR, 1983)

(For the contents of the boxed set, see World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. For more information about the development of Greyhawk pantheons, see Greyhawk deities.)

1984-1985: Following publication of the boxed set Publication of the World of Greyhawk was only the first step in Gygax's vision for Oerth.[120] Over the next few years, he planned to unveil other areas of the continent of Oerik, one piece at a time, giving each new area the same in-depth treatment of history, geography and politics as had been accorded the Flanaess.[121] And even after Oerik had been thoroughly explored, there was always the far side of Oerth: another complete hemisphere that Gygax had mapped out in his personal notes.[122] Part of this would be Gygax's work,[123] but since he had an entire planet to work with, he envisioned other authors' work being incorporated into this. Len Lakofka and Francois Froideval had already created material that Gygax wanted to place on Oerth.[124] Frank Mentzer, Creative Consultant at TSR at the time, wrote four RPGA tournament adventures taken from his home campaign setting of "Acquaria" (published by TSR as the first four of the R-series modules: R1 To the Aid of Falx, R2 Investigation of Hydell, R3 Egg of the Phoenix, and R4 Doc's Island); Mentzer envisioned them as the first part of a new "Aqua-Oeridian" campaign set

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somewhere on Oerth outside of the Flanaess. However, by this time, Gygax was in Hollywood on a semi-permanent basis, approving scripts for the Saturday morning D&D cartoon series and trying to land a deal for a D&D movie. Not only was Gygax's own output of Greyhawk-related materials greatly reduced, but without his day-to-day presence at TSR headquarters, the company's focus and resources were about to shift away from Greyhawk to a new campaign setting called Dragonlance. One of the factors that contributed to the success of the Dragonlance setting when it was published in 1984 was a series of concurrent novels by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Gygax realized that novels set in Greyhawk could have a similar benefit for his campaign world and wrote Saga of Old City, the first in a series of novels that would be published under the banner Greyhawk Adventures. The protagonist was Gord the Rogue, and this first novel told of his rise from the Slum Quarters of the city of Greyhawk to become world traveller and thief extraordinaire. The novel was designed to promote sales of the boxed set by providing colourful details about the social customs and peoples of various cities and countries around the Flanaess. Even before Saga of Old City rolled off the presses in November 1985, Gygax wrote a sequel, Artifact of Evil. He also wrote a short story, At Moonset Blackcat Comes, that appeared in the special 100th issue of Dragon in August 1985. This introduced Gord the Rogue to gamers just before Saga of Old City was scheduled to be released.[125]

Greyhawk modules As further proof that TSR's focus had shifted away from Greyhawk, in the two years after the boxed set appeared, TSR only published 8 adventures set in Greyhawk, five of them written or co-written by Gygax, and the other three from TSR's United Kingdom division:

Saga of Old City by Gary Gygax (TSR, 1985); Cover art by Clyde Caldwell. The first Greyhawk Adventures novel, and the first featuring "Gord the Rogue".

• EX1 Dungeonland (Gary Gygax, 1983) • EX2 Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (Gary Gygax, 1983) [Both of the EX adventures, although nominally set in Greyhawk, transported characters through a planar gate into an alternate reality.] • • • • • •

UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave (Dave Brown, Tom Kirby & Graeme Morris, 1983) UK2 The Sentinel (Graeme Morris, 1983) UK3 The Gauntlet (Graeme Morris, 1984) WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (Robert Kuntz & Gary Gygax, 1984) WG6 Isle of the Ape (Gary Gygax, 1985) T1–4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer, 1985)

Greyhawk

Dragon articles Between 1983–1985, the only notable supplement for the Greyhawk world was a five-part article by Len Lakofka in Issues 86–90 & 92 of Dragon (June–October 1984 & December 1984) that detailed the Suel gods who had been briefly mentioned in the boxed set. In Issue 92 (December 1984), Gygax mentioned clerics of non-human races and indicated that the 24 demihuman and humanoid deities that had been published in Issues 58–62 of Dragon (February–June 1982) were now "Greyhawk legal"; this increased the number of Greyhawk deities from 50 to 74.[126] Other than those articles, Greyhawk was only mentioned in passing in three other issues until Gygax's "Gord the Rogue" short story in Issue 100 of Dragon (August 1985).[127] [128] [129] Gygax then provided some errata for the boxed set in Issue 101 (September 1985). However, this would be the last mention of Greyhawk in Dragon for almost two years.

Gygax departs Shortly after the release of the boxed set, Gygax discovered that while he had been in Hollywood, TSR had run into serious financial difficulties.[130] Returning to Lake Geneva, Gygax managed to get TSR back on firm financial footing. However, different visions of TSR's future caused a power struggle within the company, and Gygax was forced out of TSR on December 31, 1985. By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg).[131] However, he lost the rights to all his other work, including the world of Greyhawk and the names of all the characters he had ever used in TSR material. Mordenkainen, Robilar, Tenser and Melf—to name a few—no longer belonged to Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz, Ernie Gygax and Luke Gygax; their fictional lives were now controlled by TSR.

1986–1987: Greyhawk without Gygax Up until this time, Gygax had been the creator of Oerth and the arbiter of all things Greyhawk. Now the world of Greyhawk belonged to TSR, and its continued development would become the work of many writers and creative minds. Rather than Gygax's vision of an entire planet of new lands and adventures, the setting would never be expanded beyond the Flanaess, nor would other authors' work be linked to unexplored areas of Oerik. In time, TSR's stewardship would produce a new storyline, and Greyhawk would become a very different place than Gygax had envisioned.[132] At this point in 1986, however, in the months following Gygax's ouster, TSR turned away from development of Greyhawk and focussed its energies on a new campaign setting called Forgotten Realms. TSR's preoccupation meant that in 1986 and 1987, only three Greyhawk modules were released, A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords, S1-4 Realms of Horror and GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, all being collections of previously published modules rather than new material.

Greyhawk novels continue without Gord the Rogue Gygax's novel Saga of Old City, released in November 1985, and Artifact of Evil, which ironically appeared two months after Gygax's departure from TSR, proved to be popular titles, and in 1987, TSR hired Rose Estes to continue the series, albeit without Gord the Rogue, to whom Gygax had retained all rights. Between 1987 and 1989, Estes produced five more novels under the Greyhawk Adventures banner: Master Wolf,[133] The Price of Power,[134] The Demon Hand,[135] The Name of the Game,[136] and The Eyes Have It.[137] A sixth book, Dragon in Amber, appeared in 1990 book catalogues, but the book was never written, and the series was discontinued.[138]

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The dungeons of Greyhawk revealed In its 1986 Summer Mail Order Hobby Shop catalogue, TSR had listed a new Greyhawk adventure called WG7 Shadowlords, a high-level adventure to be written by Gary Gygax and Skip Williams.[139] However, this adventure was cancelled after Gygax left TSR, and the catalogue number WG7 was reassigned to a new adventure, Castle Greyhawk, released in 1988. It was the first new Greyhawk adventure in three years, but players buying the adventure hoping to be finally ushered into Gygax's famous dungeons discovered it had nothing to do with Gygax's original Castle Greyhawk. Instead, it was a compilation of 12 humorous dungeons levels, each one written by a freelance author. The puns and jokes often referenced modern culture—the Amazing Driderman, King Burger, Bugsbear Bunny, and the crew of Star Trek—while the appearance of Mordenkainen in a movie studio seemed to mock Gygax and his time spent in Hollywood trying to land a movie deal for TSR.

1988–1990: Greyhawk revived By 1988, with the first series of Dragonlance adventures drawing to a close and Forgotten Realms doing very well, TSR turned back to Greyhawk. In Issue 129 of Dragon (January 1988), Jim Ward—one of the original players in the dungeons of Greyhawk, creator of the wizard Drawmij, and now working for TSR in the post-Gygax era—requested player input about what should be included in a hardcover source book for Greyhawk.[140] He received over 500 letters in response.[141] Seven months later, in Issue 135 (August 1988), he outlined the ideas from readers that been included,[141] and Greyhawk Adventures appeared shortly afterward. The book's title was borrowed from Rose Estes' "Greyhawk Adventures" line of novels and used the same front-cover banner design. It was the thirteenth and final hardcover book published for the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The contents were designed to give Dungeon Masters ideas and play opportunities unique to the Greyhawk world, including new monsters, magical spells and magical items; wondrous geographical features; and profiles of prominent citizens and the avatars of deities. In the time since Gygax had left TSR, no original Greyhawk material had been published, and many letter writers had requested ideas for new adventures. Ward responded by including six plot outlines that could be inserted into a Greyhawk campaign.

The City of Greyhawk boxed set The publication of Greyhawk Adventures came just as TSR released the 2nd edition of D&D. In an attempt to ride the combined wave of publicity resulting from the release of 2nd edition, the release of the Greyhawk Adventures source book and the relative popularity of Roses Estes' "Greyhawk Adventure" novels, TSR released The City of Greyhawk boxed set in 1989 under the "Greyhawk Adventures" banner. Written by Carl Sargent and Rik Rose, this was not the city created by Gygax and Kuntz, but a new plan built from references made in previously published material. (For the complete contents of the boxed set, see City of Greyhawk.) This release was particularly notable for remolding Gary Gygax's old "Circle of Eight" into a new plot device. Instead of a group of eight companions (all characters belonging to Gygax) who sallied forth from an impregnable bastion to fight evil, the Circle became eight wizards led by Mordenkainen (although he was not part of the Circle himself.) In addition to Mordenkainen, seven of the wizards were already well-known to D&D players, since Gygax had used their names to describe various spells: Bigby, Otiluke, Drawmij, Tenser, Nystul, Otto, and Rary. The eighth was a new name, the female wizard Jallarzi Sallavarian. The Circle's mandate was to act as neutral referees between Good and Evil, never letting one side or the other gain the upper hand for long. In addition, Sargent & Rose took Gygax's original Obsidian Citadel, repurposed it as Mordenkainen's castle, and placed it in an unspecified location in the Yatil Mountains.[142] The following year, in conjunction with this boxed set, TSR published a trilogy of WGA (World of Greyhawk Adventure) modules by Richard & Anne Brown—WGA1 Falcon's Revenge, WGA2 Falconmaster and WGA3 Flames of the Falcon—set in the city and centred around a mysterious villain called "The Falcon." A fourth WGA module published the same year, WGA4 Vecna Lives! by David Cook, featured the first appearance by Vecna,

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Greyhawk formerly just a mythic lich in D&D lore, but now promoted to demigod status.

Modules released under the "Greyhawk Adventures" banner TSR also released five new WG (World of Grehyawk) adventures which used the "Greyhawk Adventures" banner: • • • • •

WG8 Fate of Istus (Various authors, 1989) WG9 Gargoyle (Dave Collins & Skip Williams, 1989) WG10 Child's Play (Jean Rabe & Skip Williams, 1989) WG11 Puppets (Vince Garcia & Bruce Rabe, 1989) WG12 Vale of the Mage (Jean Rabe, 1989)

In 1990, TSR also published WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, a module and source book about Castle Greyhawk by TSR writers Blake Mobley and Timothy Brown. Although this was not the Castle Greyhawk of Gygax and Kuntz, it was the first serious attempt to publish details of the Castle.

1991–1997: A new vision of the Flanaess In 1990, TSR decided that the decade-old world of Greyhawk needed to be refreshed. Rather than expanding beyond the boundaries of the Flanaess to develop new lands and new stories, the decision was made to stay within the Flanaess and instead, move the campaign timeline forward a decade, from 576 CY to 586 CY, in order to provide the setting for a new storyline. The main story vehicle to move the timeline forward would be a war fomented by Iuz that would embroil the entire Flanaess, a device that would allow TSR to radically alter the pattern of regions, alliances and rulers from Gygax's original vision.

The Greyhawk Wars In order to move players from Gygax's familiar World of Greyhawk to their new vision, TSR planned a trilogy of modules that would familiarize players with events and conditions leading up to the coming war, and then take them through the war itself. Once players completed the war via the three modules, a new boxed set would be published to introduce the new storyline and the new Flanaess. Although the original plan called for the publication of three modules, only two of the them, WGS1 Five Shall Be One by Carl Sargent and WGS2 Howl from the North by Dale Henson, were released in 1991. These described events leading up to the war. The third module was reworked into Greyhawk Wars, a strategy wargame that led players through the events, strategies and alliances of the actual war. A booklet included with the game, Greyhawk Wars Adventurer's Book, described the war in detail: In 582 CY (six years after Gygax's original setting of 576 CY), a regional conflict started by Iuz gradually widened until it was a war that affected almost every nation in the Flanaess. A peace treaty was finally signed in the city of Greyhawk two years later, which is why the conflict became known as the Greyhawk Wars. On the day of the treaty-signing, Rary—once a minor spellcaster created and then discarded by Brian Blume but now elevated by TSR to the Circle of Eight—attacked his fellow Circle members, aided and abetted by Robilar. After the attack, Tenser and Otiluke were dead, while Robilar and Rary fled to the deserts of the Bright Lands. (Rob Kuntz, original creator of Robilar, objected to this storyline since he believed that Robilar would never attack his old adventuring companion Mordenkainen. Although Kuntz did not own the creative rights to Robilar and no longer worked at TSR, he unofficially suggested an alternate storyline that Robilar had been visiting another plane and in his absence, a clone or evil twin of Robilar was responsible for this outrage.[143] )

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From the Ashes In 1992, after the two WGS "prequel" modules and the Greyhawk Wars game had been on the market for some months, TSR released the new Greyhawk setting, From the Ashes, a boxed set primarily written by Carl Sargent that described the Flanaess in the aftermath of the Greyhawk Wars. This contained a large 4-colour hex map of the area around the city of Greyhawk, a number of "quick adventure cards", and two 96-page books. The first book, Atlas of the Flanaess, was a replacement for Gygax's original World of Greyhawk boxed set, albeit with some changes: • Many human gods from previous editions were not included, although one new demigod, Mayaheine, was added. This had the net effect of reducing the total number of human deities from 50 to 28. • Deities of other races were increased from 24 to 38, but unlike the full descriptions that were given to the human gods, these were simply listed by name. • Like Gygax's original boxed set, each region was given a 200- to 300- word precis, although some details included in the older edition, such as trade goods, total population and racial mixes, were not included in this edition. A number of regions—Ahlissa, Almor, Medegia and South Province—no longer existed after the Wars or had been folded into other regions. Two new regions—the Plains of the Paynims and the Olman Islands—were added. This had the net effect of reducing the total number of regions from 60 to 58. • Darlene Pekul's large 4-color 2-piece fold-out map of the Flanaess included in Gygax's setting was reduced to a small black & white map printed on the inside cover of the Atlas. The second book, the Campaign Book, was designed as a supplement to the 4-year-old City of Greyhawk boxed set, not meant to replace it but only to update some of the details of the city and its environs, as well as give details of some new non-player characters and possible adventure hooks. In Gygax's setting, the major conflict had been between the Great Kingdom and the lands that were trying to free themselves from the evil overking. In Sargent's world, the Great Kingdom storyline was largely replaced by the major new conflict between the land of Iuz and the regions that surrounded it. Southern lands outside of Iuz's reach faced the menace of the Scarlet Brotherhood, while in other parts of the world, some countries had been invaded by monsters and others had been taken over by agents of evil. Overall, the vision was of a darker world where good folk were being swamped by a tide of evil. ("The cult of Mayaheine is one considerably on the increase in beleaguered non-evil Flanaess lands, for Mayaheine is a demipower of protection and survival."[144] ) Sargent tried to generate interest for this grimmer vision of the Flanaess by following up with an article in Dragon's Issue 191 (March 1993): "...the powers of evil have waxed strong. The hand of Iuz, the Old One, extends across the central Flanaess, and the cruel Scarlet Brotherhood extends its power and influence around the southern lands bordering the Azure Sea. The WORLD OF GREYHAWK setting has become a truly exciting world again..."[145] The boxed set was supported by the publication of two new source books in 1993, also written by Sargent: • WGR4 The Marklands provided information about the good realms of Furyondy, Highfolk, and Nyrond that opposed Iuz. • WGR5 Iuz the Evil detailed information about the lands of Iuz, and emphasized the prominent new role that Iuz now played in the world order. In addition, a number of adventures were also published, as much to provide more source material as for adventure: • WGQ1 Patriots of Ulek was the first module published after From the Ashes, and advanced the storyline in Ulek, threatened by invasion from Turrosh Mak of the Pomarj. • WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk by Jack Barker, Roy Rowe, Louis Prosperi and Tom Prusa was a loosely connected series of mini-adventures—for instance, exploring Bigby's home, travelling to the demiplane called The Great Maze of Zagyg, and trading riddles with a sphinx. Each mini-adventure focussed on a unique treasure in the Flanaess. • WGR3 Rary the Traitor by Anthony Pryor was both an adventure module as well as a source book about the Bright Lands, the new home of Rary and Robilar following their murder of Tenser and Otiluke.

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Greyhawk • WGR6 The City of Skulls by Carl Sargent and WGM1 Border Watch by Paul T. Riegel were modules highlighting the struggle between Furyondy and the lands of Iuz. Like Gygax had done ten years before, Sargent also used the pages of Dragon to promote his new world. He was working on a new source book, Ivid the Undying, and excerpted parts of it in Issues 204, 206 & 208 (April, June and August 1994).[146] [147] [148]

TSR drops Greyhawk However, in late 1994, TSR abruptly killed Sargent's new book just as it was being readied for publication, and stopped work on all other Greyhawk projects. Nothing more about Greyhawk was ever published by TSR with one exception: in May 1995, a Dragon column devoted to industry gossip noted that the "lost manuscript" of Ivid the Undying had been released by TSR as a computer text file.[149] Using this file, several people have reconstructed the book as it might have appeared in published form.[150] By the end of 1996, TSR found itself heavily in debt and unable to pay its printers. Just as bankruptcy in 1997 seemed inevitable, Wizards of the Coast stepped in and, fueled by income from its collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, bought TSR and all its properties.[78]

1998–2008: Wizards of the Coast After Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and TSR merged, the determination was made that TSR had created too many settings for the D&D game, and several of them were eliminated.[78] However, WotC's CEO, Peter Adkison, was a fan of both D&D and Greyhawk,[78] and two major initiatives were created: a revival of Greyhawk, and a new (third) edition of D&D rules. A team of people was put together to revive the moribund Greyhawk setting by pulling together all the previously published information about the campaign setting. Once that was done, the decision was made to update Carl Sargent's storyline, and in much the same way as Sargent had done, using "prequel" adventures to pave the way for the new campaign setting. First, Roger E. Moore created Return of the Eight in 1998. In this adventure, set in 586 CY (the same year as the From the Ashes boxed set), the players meet the surviving members of the Circle of Eight (now called the "Circle of Five" because it was missing Tenser, Otiluke and Rary). If the players successfully finish the adventure, Tenser is rescued from death (although he refuses to rejoin the Circle), and the Circle is reconstituted as Eight with the addition of three new wizards: Alhamazad the Wise, Theodain Eriason and Warnes Starcoat. Next, the Greyhawk Player's Guide by Anne Brown was released. This 64-page booklet moved the storyline ahead 6 years to 591 CY, and it mostly condensed and reiterated material that had been released in Gygax's and Sargent's boxed sets. New material included important non-player characters, a guide to roleplaying in the Flanaess, and some new sights. The list of deities was both shrunk and expanded; the 38 non-human deities in the From the Ashes boxed set were eliminated and non-human concerns assigned to a handful of human deities, but the list of human deities was expanded from 24 to 54. With the groundwork for a new storyline prepared, TSR/WotC released the new campaign setting as a 128-page sourcebook, The Adventure Begins by Roger E. Moore. Taking its lead from the Greyhawk Player's Guide, the new campaign world was set in 591 CY. Unlike the darker feel of From the Ashes, where the Flanaess was slowly drowning in evil, Moore returned to Gygax's world of adventure. The "Lost Tombs" trilogy of modules—The Star Cairns and Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad by Sean K. Reynolds, and The Doomgrinder by Steve Miller—were the first to be published in the new setting.

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25th anniversary of D&D The year 1999 marked 25 years since the publication of the original D&D rules, and WotC sought to lure older gamers back to Greyhawk by producing a series of nostalgia-tinged Return to... adventures that evoked the best-known Greyhawk modules from 20 years before, under the banner "25th Anniversary of D&D": • Return to the Tomb of Horrors by Bruce R. Cordell reprinted Gary Gygax's S1 Tomb of Horrors, and added a substantial expansion. • Return to the Keep on the Borderlands by John D. Rateliff took Gary Gygax's 1979 module, B2 Keep on the Borderlands and restocked it with fresh monsters, as if the 20 years that had passed since the original module's publication also equalled 20 years of game time. Although the original had been in a generic setting, the new adventure set the Keep in Greyhawk. • Return to White Plume Mountain by Bruce R. Cordell likewise updated Lawrence Schick's 20-year-old adventure by advancing the storyline 20 years. • Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff by Sean K. Reynolds included the full text of Gygax's three original 1979 "Giant" modules and details of eighteen new adventure sites in Geoff, linked together as an integrated campaign. • Slavers by Sean K. Reynolds and Chris Pramas was a sequel to the original A1-4 Scourge of the Slavelords series, set 10 years after the original adventures. • Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil by Monte Cook returned the players to Gygax's infamous temple that Rob Kuntz (as Robilar) had originally trashed. (Published in 2001 to D&D's 3rd edition rules.) In conjunction with the publication of the "Return to" adventures, WotC also produced a series of companion novels known as the Greyhawk Classics series: Against the Giants,[151] White Plume Mountain,[152] Descent into the Depths of the Earth,[153] Expedition to the Barrier Peaks,[154] The Temple of Elemental Evil,[155] Queen of the Demonweb Pits,[156] Keep on the Borderlands,[157] and The Tomb of Horrors.[158] In an attempt to attract players of other D&D settings, WotC released Die, Vecna, Die! by Bruce R. Cordell and Steve Miller, a three-part adventure tying Greyhawk to the Ravenloft and Planescape campaign settings. Published in 2000, it was the last adventure to be written for D&D's 2nd edition rules.

Third edition In the editions of D&D published by TSR, the setting of the game had not been specifically defined—Dungeon Masters were expected to either create a new world, or purchase a commercial campaign setting such as Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. In 2000, after two years of work and test-play, WotC released the 3rd edition of D&D, and for the first time, defined a "default" setting for the game: the world of Greyhawk. Under third edition rules, unless a Dungeon Master specifically chose to use a different campaign setting, his or her D&D game would be set in the world of Greyhawk.

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Living Greyhawk With the release of the 3rd edition of D&D, RPGA—the organized play division of WotC—announced a new massively shared living campaign, Living Greyhawk, modelled on a 2nd edition campaign called Living City. Although Living City was relatively successful, RPGA wanted to expand the scope of their new campaign—instead of one city as a setting, the new campaign would involve 30 different regions of Greyhawk, each specifically keyed to a particular country, state or province of the real world. Each region would produce its own adventures, and in addition to these, RPGA would provide worldwide "core" adventures. To provide the level of detail needed for such a venture, WotC published the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, the most in-depth examination of the world of Greyhawk ever produced, and the official starting point for not only the campaign, but also for all home campaigns from that point forward. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (Wizards of the

Concurrent with the release of the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook, Coast, 2000), an updated sourcebook for the "Living Greyhawk" debuted at Gen Con 2000 with three Core campaign setting adventures: COR1-1 Dragon Scales at Morningtide by Sean K. Reynolds, COR1-2 The Reckoning by Sean Flaherty and John Richardson, and COR1-3 River Of Blood by Erik Mona. Unlike previous campaign settings where the calendar was frozen at a point chosen by the author, the Living Greyhawk calendar did advance one year in game time for every calendar year in real time: the campaign started in 591 CY (2001) and ended in 598 CY (2008), at which point over 1000 adventures had been produced for an audience of over 10,000 players.[159] During this time, the campaign administrators incorporated most of WotC's new rules releases into the Greyhawk world (only excising material they felt would "unbalance" the campaign by either providing too much power to the players or to the adventure writers). In 2005, the administrators incorporated every deity ever mentioned in official Greyhawk material previous to 3rd edition, as well as all deities mentioned in new 3rd edition source books. This tripled the number of deities in the campaign from about 70 to almost 200.[160] However, despite the massive amount of world and storyline development, none of the Living Greyhawk storylines or changes to the setting were considered "official" since the regional adventure modules were produced by volunteers, and only received a cursory vetting by the campaign administrators of RPGA and no review by WotC personnel.

WotC Greyhawk releases Despite the popularity of the Living Greyhawk campaign, WotC did not produce much material for Greyhawk after the 25th anniversary "Return to..." series of adventures mentioned above, other than the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and Fright at Tristor. The Standing Stone (2001) by John D. Rateliff did have several minor references to the Greyhawk setting, and Red Hand of Doom (2006) by James Jacob contained instructions for where to set the adventure within the world of Greyhawk (as well as for Forgotten Realms and Eberron). Otherwise, WotC left the development of the Greyhawk world to RPGA's Living Greyhawk campaign and concentrated on producing more source books of new expansion material for the core rules of D&D.

Greyhawk

2008 to present At Gen Con 2007, WotC announced that the 4th edition of D&D (D&D 4E) would be released the following spring, and Greyhawk would no longer be the default campaign setting under the new rules system. For this reason, Living Greyhawk was not converted to the new rules system; instead, it was brought to a conclusion at Origins 2008. In 2009, WotC released The Village of Hommlet by Andy Collins, which updated Gary Gygax's original 1st-edition Village of Hommlet to fourth edition. It was not available for purchase, but rather was sent as a reward for those who joined the RPGA.

Unofficial Greyhawk sources Although TSR and then WotC had owned the official rights to the World of Greyhawk since the first folio edition was published in 1980, the two people most responsible for its early development, Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, still had most of their original notes regarding the 50 levels of dungeons under Castle Greyhawk. In addition, Gygax also had his old maps of the city of Greyhawk,[161] and still owned the rights to Gord the Rogue. After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he continued to write a few more Gord the Rogue novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: Sea of Death (1987), City of Hawks (1987), and Come Endless Darkness (1988). However, by this time, Gygax was furious with the new direction in which TSR was taking "his" world. In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.[162] For the next 15 years, he worked to develop other game systems. But there was still the matter of the unpublished dungeons under Castle Greyhawk. Although Gygax had given tantalizing glimpses into the dungeons in his magazine columns and articles, the dungeons themselves had never been released to the public. Likewise Gygax's version of the city of Greyhawk had never been published, although Frank Mentzer believed the reason for that was because "the City of Greyhawk was a later development, originally being but a location (albeit a capital). As such it was never fleshed out all that thoroughly... notes on certain locations and notorious personnel, a sketch map of great brevity, and otherwise quite loose. That is doubtless why Gary didn't publish it; it had never been completed."[163] However, in 2003, Gygax announced that he was working with Rob Kuntz to publish the original castle and city in 6 volumes, although the project would use the rules for Castles and Crusades rather than D&D.[164] Since WotC still owned the rights to the name "Greyhawk", Gygax changed the name of the castle to "Castle Zagyg"—the reverse homophone of his own name originally ascribed to the mad architect of his original 13-level dungeon. Gygax also changed the name of the nearby city to "Yggsburgh", a play on his initials E.G.G. This project proved to be much more work than Gygax and Kuntz had envisioned. By the time Gygax and Kuntz had stopped working on the original home campaign, the castle dungeons had encompassed 50 levels of cunningly complex passages and thousands of rooms and traps. This, plus plans for the city of Yggsburgh and encounter areas outside the castle and city, would clearly be too much to fit into the proposed 6 volumes. Gygax decided he would recreate something like his original 13-level dungeon,[165] amalgamating the best of what could be gleaned from binders and boxes of old notes.[166] However, neither Gygax nor Kuntz had kept careful or comprehensive plans. Because they had often made up details of play sessions on the spot,[167] they usually just scribbled a quick map as they played, with cursory notes about monsters, treasures and traps.[168] These sketchy maps contained just enough detail so that the two could ensure their independent work would dovetail. All of these old notes had to be deciphered, 25-year-old memories dredged up as to what had happened in each room, and a decision made whether to keep or discard each new piece.[169] Recreating the city too, would be a challenge; although Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, all of his previously published work on the city was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of the city from scratch while still maintaining the "look and feel" of his original.[170]

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Greyhawk Even this slow and laborious process came to a complete halt in April 2004 when Gygax suffered a serious stroke. Although he returned to his keyboard after a seven-month convalescence, his output was reduced from 14-hour work days to only one or two hours per day.[171] Kuntz had to withdraw due to other projects, although he continued to work on an adventure module that would be published at the same time as the first book. Under these circumstances, work on the Castle Zagyg project continued even more slowly,[172] although Jeffrey Talanian stepped in to help Gygax. Finally in 2005, Troll Lord Games published Volume I, Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh. This 256-page hardcover book contained details of Gygax's original city, its personalities and politics, as well as over 30 encounters outside the city. The two-part fold-out map of the area was rendered by Darlene Pekul, the same artist who had produced the original map for the folio edition of World of Greyhawk. Later that year, Troll Lord Games also published Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau, an adventure module written for the Yggsburgh setting by Rob Kuntz. Book catalogs published in 2005 indicated several more volumes in the series would follow shortly, but it wasn't until 2008 that the second volume, Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works, appeared. The Upper Works described details of the castle above ground, acting as a teaser for the volumes concerning the actual dungeons that would follow. However, Gygax died in March 2008 before any further books were published. After his death, Gygax Games, under the control of Gary's widow Gail, took over the project, but to date no more volumes of the Castle Zagyg project have been published. Rob Kuntz has also published some of his creative work within the Greyhawk dungeons, releasing in 2008 the adventure modules The Living Room, a whimsical but very dangerous room in the Greyhawk dungeons that housed enormous furniture; and Bottle City, a seemingly innocuous bottle found on the second level of the Greyhawk dungeons that contained within it an entire city. 2009 saw Kuntz release Daemonic & Arcane (a collection of Greyhawk and Kalibruhn magic items) and The Stalk (a wilderness adventure from Greyhawk), with plans to publish Kuntz's original levels contributed to Castle Greyhawk.

See also • Greyhawk modules

Additional reading • • • • • •

Gygax, Gary and Robert Kuntz. Supplement I: Greyhawk (TSR, 1975). Gygax, Gary. The World of Greyhawk (folio edition) (TSR, 1980). Gygax, Gary. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (TSR, 1983). Ward, James M. Greyhawk Adventures (TSR, 1988). Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes (TSR, 1992). Moore, Roger E. Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (TSR, 1998).

External links • Canonfire!'s Greyhawk wiki [173]. • Canonfire! [174] – Greyhawk reference materials and fan fiction (see Canonfire!). • Greyhawk Apocrypha [175] – Unpublished and supplemental information from notable Greyhawk authors and editors. • Greyhawk [176] in the RPGnet Gaming Index. • grodog's Greyhawk [177] Allan Grohe's compendium of original research essays about the Greyhawk Campaign, Greyhawk Castle, and other topics • Living Greyhawk /RPGA page [178] on the Wizards of the Coast site. • TSR Archive [179] Greyhawk product list. • Wesley Phillips' Greyhawk Page [180] It has some sources of information about Greyhawk from AD&D edition.

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References [1] Gygax, Gary (1980). The World of Greyhawk. TSR. ISBN 0-935696-23-7. [2] Holian, Gary; Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, Frederick Weining (2000). Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1743-1. [3] Gygax: "As the members began to get tired of medieval games, and I wasn't, I decided to add fantasy elements to the mix, such as a dragon that had a fire-breath weapon, a 'hero' that was worth four normal warriors, a wizard who could cast fireballs (the range and hit diameter of a large catapult) and lightning bolts (the range and hit area of a cannon), and so forth. I converted a plastic stegosaurus into a pretty fair dragon, as there were no models of them around in those days." "Industry Insights: The RPGnet Interviews - Interview with Gary Gygax, part 1 of 3" (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ columns/ lynch01may01. html). RPGNet. 2001-05-01. . Retrieved 2009-03-22. [4] Gygax: "The reception of fantasy elements in the medieval tabletop wargame was incredibly enthusiastic by about 90% of the old group. Lee Tucker dismissed it, and me. Mike Reese and Jeff Perren were not captivated by giants hurling boulders and dragons breathing fire and lightning bolts, nor did wizards with spells, heroes and superheroes with magic armor and swords prove compelling to them." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 41)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-41. html). EN World. 2005-07-03. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [5] Gygax: "I would use my point buys to take a superhero in magic armor, with a magic sword, backed up by a wizard with fireball spells. The superhero would assail the mass of enemy troops, and when they gathered round to attack him the wizard would drop a fireball on the lot. The superhero was very likely to come out unscathed, much to the fury of my opponents." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-2. html). EN World. 2003-04-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [6] Gygax: "I wrote the Chainmail Medieval Military miniatures Rules "Man-to-Man" and "Fantasy Supplement" c. 1970, and the booklet was published in 1971." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-23. html). EN World. 2006-07-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [7] Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: a History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. pp. 17–18. [8] Arneson: "See, I had this neat German plastic kit [of a castle]. Oddly enough, even though it was actually a German kit, years later I learned that it was actually a model of a castle in Sicily. But when I started, I was thinking German."Jones, Jeremy L.C. (April 2009). "Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. koboldquarterly. com/ k/ article460. php). Kobold Quarterly (9). . Retrieved 2009-04-13. [9] Arneson: "[The concept of a fantasy campaign] just grew and shortly [the plastic castle] was too small for the scale I wanted. But it was a neat kit and I didn’t want to abandon it, so the only way to go was down [into the dungeons]. All this happened a few weeks before the first adventurers caught sight of it."Jones, Jeremy L.C. (April 2009). "Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. koboldquarterly. com/ k/ article460. php). Kobold Quarterly (9). . Retrieved 2009-04-13. [10] Lafarge, Paul (September 2006). "Destroy All Monsters: A journey deep into the cavern of Dungeons & Dragons, a utopian, profoundly dorky and influential game that, lacking clear winners or an end, may not be a game at all" (http:/ / www. believermag. com/ issues/ 200609/ ?read=article_lafarge). The Believer 4 (7). . Retrieved 2009-03-22. [11] Gygax: "Dave Arneson and I met at a Gen Con here in Lake Geneva around 1968, and with Mike Carr we authored the Don't Give Up the Ship naval miniatures rules for the Great Age of Sail around 1971-2." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-23. html). EN World. 2006-07-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [12] Arneson, Dave (June/July 1979). "My Life and Role-Playing". Different Worlds (Chaosium) (3): 6–8. [13] Arneson: "We were in correspondence with the group from Lake Geneva through the Napoleonic Campaigns at that time, so we mentioned that we were doing fantasy stuff on alternate weekends and they became very interested in it." "Interview with Dave Arneson" (http:/ / www. judgesguild. net/ guildhall/ pegasus/ pegasus_01/ interview. shtml). Pegasus (Judges Guild) (1). April/May 1981. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [14] Gygax: "Dave was running a man-to-man (1 figure = one person) Chainmail fantasy campaign around then, and he... came down from the Twin Cities to see us, the gaming group, in Lake Geneva in the late autumn of 1972. Arneson brought some of his campaign material with him..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-23. html). EN World. 2006-07-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [15] Gygax: "I was as much taken with the prototype of the D&D game as anyone..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-2. html). EN World. 2004-02-11. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [16] Gygax: "Credit Dave Arneson and Dave Megary (designer of the Dungeon! boardgame) with my concentrating on subterranean settings for the D&D game. The contained adventuring environment was perfect for establishing fixed encounters before a game session, and for developing progressively more hazardous ones as the PCs grew in their capacity to manage them." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-19. html). EN World. 2006-06-27. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [17] Gygax: "It was in the late fall of 1972 when I completed a map of some castle ruins, noted ways down to the dungeon level (singular), and invited my 11-year-old son Ernie and nine-year-old daughter Elise to create characters and adventure. This they did, and around 9 PM ... they had to come back from such imaginary derring-do, put their index card character sheets aside, and get ready for bed. They had had a marvelous time and wanted to keep playing." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv. html). EN World. 2003-07-22. . Retrieved 2010-03-16. [18] Q: "What was the first ever monster killed by a PC in D&D?" Gygax: "A giant centipede, with the 1st level PCs played by my son Ernie (fighter) and daughter Elise (cleric)." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-65. html). EN World. 2005-08-19. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Greyhawk [19] Gygax: "The monsters first encountered, by son Ernie's and daughter Elise's characters, were a nest of scorpions in some rubble in the very first room of the dungeon they entered. The glint of coins was mentioned to lure the incautious hand into attack proximity, but Elise's PC used a dagger to poke around, and the scorpions were spotted. Eventually one managed to sting, but the poison saving throw was made." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-7. html). EN World. 2004-01-28. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [20] Gygax: "They next encountered and defeated a gang of kobolds with a chest of 3,000 copper pieces. Needless to say, they weren't pleased with the treasure." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-7. html). EN World. 2004-01-28. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [21] Gygax: "Later in the long session of exploration, the two intrepid adventurers came upon the lair of several kobolds, slew two and the rest fled. They found an iron chest filled with coins...several thousand copper pieces--that was too heavy to move. A big disappointment." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 65)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-65. html). EN World. 2003-07-22. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [22] Gygax: "After they went upstairs I stayed in my study and went to work on a second dungeon level." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 1)" (http:/ / enworld. cyberstreet. com/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv. html#post1022839). EN World. 2005-08-19. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [23] Gygax: "In a couple of days time Don Kaye (Murlynd), Rob (Robilar, Otto) and Terry (Terik) Kuntz joined the gang." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-8. html). EN World. 2006-08-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [24] Gygax: "The castle and dungeons came about a month before the first, one-page map of the City of Greyhawk." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XI, Page 21)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 167680-gary-gygax-q-part-xi-21. html). EN World. 2002-09-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [25] Gygax: "An average of seven gaming sessions a week was typical even when I was busy working. Often I played more than that. " "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 38912-q-gary-gygax-continuation-thread-part-ii-9. html). EN World. 2003-02-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [26] Gygax: "When I initiated the Greyhawk campaign, I envisaged a world of parallel earth sort. Thus the geography then assumed was pretty close to that of earth. Being busy running game sessions, creating dungeon levels, the map of Greyhawk City, writing new material, and also really enjoying 'winging it', I never did a large-scale map for the world." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-8. html). EN World. 2002-09-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [27] Gygax: "The planet was much like our earth. The city of Greyhawk was located on the [Great] lakes in about the position that Chicago is, and Dyvers was north at the Milwaukee location. The general culture was pseudo medieval European. Some of the kingdoms shown on the WoG map were around the adventure-central area, the City of Greyhawk." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-4. html). EN World. 2003-04-14. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [28] Gygax: "When I was using the pre-World of Greyhawk map for my world setting, the West Coast of North America was the Pleistocene region inhabited by savage cavemen and their contemporary fauna." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 45)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-45. html). EN World. 2005-07-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [29] Gygax, Gary (April 1975). "How to Set Up Your Dungeons & Dragons Campaign—and Be Stuck Refereeing It Seven Days a week until the wee hours of the Morning" (http:/ / www. whiningkentpigs. com/ DW/ oldzines/ europa6-8. pdf). Europa (Basel, Switzerland: Walter Luc Haas) 6 (8): 18. . Retrieved 2010-03-22. [30] Gygax: "Zagyg is based on a sort of joke--me as the mad designer of Greyhawk Castle and its dungeons. After all, how else could such a place exist? "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 18)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-18. html). EN World. 2002-09-20. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [31] Gygax: "Rob, playing Robilar solo, delved into the dungeon, made it. Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13. Then Terry Kuntz noted both of his usual companions were not available to play, went forth with Terik, and made the lowest level successfully... No other players in the group managed that." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-11. html#post893009). EN World. 2003-05-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [32] Gygax: "When a character got down to this level there was no going back. The one managing that was given an appropriate reward then sent on a giant, one-way slide clear through to the other side of the world." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-11. html#post893009). EN World. 2003-05-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [33] "Robilar was one of the first to make it around the Oerth. By entering the lowest level in Greyhawk Castle, he was propelled by a magical slide to what would be modern day 'China.' Teric and Tenser followed, as they missed his return to the first level of the Castle, which, as a team, this trio held sway over. They caught up with him by scrying and they finished the adventure together."Kuntz, Robert J.; Behringer, Douglas J.. "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co." (http:/ / site. pied-piper-publishing. com/ joomla/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=58& Itemid=65). . Retrieved 2009-05-15. [34] Gygax: "Many of them, the "regulars" numbering around a dozen, were there seeking daily adventure sessions, while the majority of the others showed up to play on weekends. Sometimes there were over 20 D&D gamers gathered in my basement." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 108)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-108. html). EN World. 2005-12-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Greyhawk [35] Gygax: "I enlisted Rob as co-DM for my campaign too, as it took two of us to manage the large player groups, and also to run all the game sessions demanded by smaller parties. Often times there were two long sessions a day in 1974 and 1975. I had to write material, so Rob ran many of them." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-8. html). EN World. 2002-09-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [36] Gygax: "There were well over 60 different players that participated in in the game sessions that I ran, and that's one of the reasons that I had Rob Kuntz join me as co-DM." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 108)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-108. html). EN World. 2005-12-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [37] Gygax: "An average of seven gaming sessions a week was typical even when I was busy working. Often I played more than that. Rob would DM for me one-on-one where I mostly roleplayed..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 38912-q-gary-gygax-continuation-thread-part-ii-9. html). EN World. 2003-02-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [38] Gygax: "When after a couple of year's of time Rob became my co-DM there was a massive alteration in the upper works of the castle, a whole, massive new 1st level was created, and then the level plan for the expanded lower levels of the dungeon was created anew, with the original levels of my making incorporated with those of Rob's dungeons, plus a number of new ones we created to fill the whole scheme." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [39] Gygax: "I ceased the campaign in 1985 when I severed all times with TSR. I have used it on occasion since, of course, but nor for regular, ongoing play." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 34)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-34. html). EN World. 2007-03-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [40] Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [41] Q: "I'm curious as to, in the early D&D games, how much character and personality did the players put into the PC's?" Gygax: "The main thrust for most players back then was the action, so a few PCs were unnamed, and we referred to them rather caustically as 'Joe's fighter' or 'Bob's cleric'. The core group, the regulars, were much more concerned with developing their PCs, interacting with each other and some NPCs in character." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-7. html). EN World. 2005-02-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [42] Q: "Did you make up named spells like Melf's acid arrow, Otiluke's resilient sphere and Mordenkainen's disjunction yourself, or did these come from player research?" Gygax: "All of those spells I made up, usually to honor a PC in my campaign, or for the person who suggested the basis. Tasha [Tasha's hideous laughter] was a little girl who sent me letters in crayon, Nystul [Nystul's magic aura] was an actual stage magician I met through Len Lakofka. Melf [Melf's acid arrow] was a PC of son Luke, and Otiluke [Otiluke's resilient sphere] was a combination of a couple of his other PCs." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 6)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-6. html). EN World. 2003-05-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [43] Gygax: The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-9. html). EN World. 2004-03-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [44] Gygax: "In general most of the players, myself included when initially adventuring and not DMing, thought little of the PC's name, but more about what thrilling things would transpire. Thus my first character was named Yrag, and some of the younger fellows in the group didn't even name their PC. Don Kaye was a semi-exception with Murlynd. As I became a bit more engaged in the broader possibility spectrum of the game I did a more seriously considered PC [Mordenkainen]... That became common with most of the veterans in our group around that time." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 14)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-14. html). EN World. 2006-06-15. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [45] Gygax: "We did WWII, modern city, and a bit of wild west... SF action was common... About one session in every 12 would involve somethingfrom outside the fantasy genre. That was enough to keep things from getting too staid." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 3)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-3. html). EN World. 2005-02-21. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [46] Kuntz: "Don was a great fan of the Western and an avid supporter of the Boot Hill rules." "Robilar Remembers: Murlynd" (http:/ / piedpiperpublishing. yuku. com/ topic/ 1966). Pied Piper Publishing. 2004-10-18. . Retrieved 2009-09-16. [47] Gygax: "The strange wands that Murlynd used made a loud noise and delivered a damaging missile, but neither effect was due to gunpowder. These were very rare magic items devised by Murlynd's arcane understanding of technology and how to make it function magically." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 13)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-13. html). EN World. 2003-11-25. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [48] Kuntz: "Robilar's name is derived from Gary's novel, The Gnome Cache. Written prior to the formation of TSR, Robilar occurs therein as the baron who sends the questing Dunstan after the gnome treasure. Since I had contributed a minor sequence idea to the novel (wherein Dunstan, having succeeded, requires the Baron Robilar to uphold his part of the bargain by knighting him, which he does, quickly and without ceremony and then runs off to claim fame from higher-ups for "his", the Baron's, success) Gary later suggested the name for my primary PC in Greyhawk." "Robilar Remembers: Journey to the City of the Gods" (http:/ / pied-piper-publishing. com/ ). Pied Piper Publishing. 1997. . Retrieved 2009-10-03. [49] Kuntz, Robert J.; Behringer, Douglas J. (June 1994). "Tales from the Green Dragon Inn" (http:/ / www. oerthjournal. com/ oerthjournals/ OJ_07. pdf). The Oerth Journal (7): 41–44. .

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Greyhawk [50] Q:"What was the largest party Robilar ever adventured with (I mean, with other player characters)?" Kuntz: "Probably 6-7 in the earlier days. That then was too much for my wonts, which spurred me to seek solo adventures when possible." "Robilar Remembers: Robilar Q & A" (http:/ / piedpiperpublishing. yuku. com/ topic/ 1951/ t/ Robilar-Q-amp-A. html?page=8). Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-05-02. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [51] Kuntz: "Gary was none too happy with Robilar's adventure beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil. Robilar had a great time dismembering creatures, crunching things and watching Gary's look of consternation grow with every toppled column. The final straw was the releasing of Zuggtmoy. The DM's vendetta pursued Robilar all the way back to his castle, which he was forced to abandon." "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co." (http:/ / site. pied-piper-publishing. com/ joomla/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=58& Itemid=65). Pied Piper Publishing. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [52] Kuntz: "Losing my castle was a major defeat, but I decided to abandon it because [Gygax] was noticeably intent on getting even with me for the Temple of Elemental Evil sacking I’d perpetrated." "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats" (http:/ / piedpiperpublishing. yuku. com/ topic/ 1953). Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [53] Kuntz: "The city, at the instigation of those Good forces, especially Tenser, had [the Green Dragon] confiscated." "Robilar Remembers: Robilar's defeats" (http:/ / piedpiperpublishing. yuku. com/ topic/ 1953). Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [54] Kuntz: "Robilar, along with Teric and Tenser, formed a triumvirate and took over the first level of Castle Greyhawk for a while. They barracked their respective forces there and guarded ingress and egress, using the location as a base for further adventures deep within the sprawling castle complex. " "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar and Co." (http:/ / site. pied-piper-publishing. com/ joomla/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=58& Itemid=65). Pied Piper Publishing. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [55] Gygax: "Ernie, noting Rob's absence from adventuring with the party, sent Tenser on a solo quest to discover Robilar's whereabouts. He managed to follow a similar path, and made level 13." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-11. html#post893009). EN World. 2003-05-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [56] Gygax: "My first PC was a fghter named Yrag, back in 1972." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-8. html). EN World. 2005-03-01. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [57] Q: "Of the characters you have played, which is your favorite?" Gygax: "I really must admit Mordenkainen is my favorite. I enjoy playing fighters, rangers, thieves, clerics, and multi-classed sorts in OAD&D, but the magic-user is usually most fun for me."Johnson, Joel (2008-03-04). "Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview" (http:/ / gadgets. boingboing. net/ 2008/ 03/ 04/ dungeons-dragons-cre. html). Boing Boing Gadgets. . Retrieved 2009-05-14. [58] Gygax: "Mordenkainen came into being about the first month of 1973." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-8. html). EN World. 2005-03-01. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [59] Gygax: "The background I created for Mordenkainen was Finnish-like in nature, and his master was a chap called...Vainomoinen, sometimes referred to as 'Old Waino.' I really was captivated with Finnish myth after seeing a B&W movie done by the Russians, I think, about [Vainomoinen], Leminkainen, and Ilmarinen adventuring to Pojola and entering Louhi's fortress, then reading The Green Magician by de Camp and Pratt as well as the Kalevala." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-13. html). EN World. 2006-06-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [60] Gygax: "I do believe that Mordenkainen earned his twenty-something levels through cleverness, daring, a bit of luck, and dint of trying..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 13)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-13. html). EN World. 2006-06-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [61] Q: "May we see [Mordenkainen's] stats?" Gygax: "Can you see Mordie's stats? No! I won't even show you those for my most recent PC, Louhi Sharpnose, a gnome illusionist and treasure finder who I created only about four years back." Johnson, Joel (2008-03-04). "Dungeons & Dragons Creator Gary Gygax Passes Away; Interview" (http:/ / gadgets. boingboing. net/ 2008/ 03/ 04/ dungeons-dragons-cre. html). Boing Boing Gadgets. . Retrieved 2009-05-14. [62] Gygax: "Mordenkainen was adventuring in Rob's dungeon when he surprised a 3rd level magic-user of Evil persuation. Mordie's charm spell worked on that worthy, whose name turned out to be Bigby. By dint of fellowship, lecturing, mentoring, and sharing with Bigby, he was not only turned from [Evil] to Neutral, but from there to a leaning towards [Good] as he considered his past actions." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 24)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 167680-gary-gygax-q-part-xi-24. html). EN World. 2006-08-08. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [63] Q: "I heard a story which made it sound like Bigy was an NPC that you charmed and [who] later became your PC." Gygax: "Mordenkainen did indeed manage to get the drop on Bigby, [and] charm him. At the time Bigby was a 3rd-level [Evil] dungeon dweller. By word and deen Mordie brought him around from [Evil] to [Neutral], and thus Bigby became his apprentice. I got to roll the stats for that character after Rob [Kuntz] determined he was a loyal henchman of Mordenkainen." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 3)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii. html). EN World. 2005-02-19. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [64] "What's in a Name? Call it Whatever, But it Still Smells Sweet". Dragon (Bellevue WA: Paizo) (318). April 2004. [65] Whitehead, Adam (2009-10-25). "The Worlds of D&D: Greyhawk" (http:/ / thewertzone. blogspot. com/ 2009/ 10/ worlds-of-d-greyhawk. html). The Wertzone. . Retrieved 2010-04-15. [66] Gygax: "[Rary] was one that Brian Blume created early in the D&D cycle, a magic-user that Brian wanted to work up to 3rd level so as to introduce him as 'Medium Rary.' When he gained that level Brian quit playing that PC, pretty much dropped out of regularly playing D&D in fact." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-7. html). EN World. 2006-05-29. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Greyhawk [67] Gygax: "The original [Circle of Eight] was composed of my PCs--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Felnorith, Zigby, Vram & Vin. In the novel version the Circle was expanded to encompass other PCs in my campaign such as Tenser. It came into being because Mordenkainen and Associates had a lot of wealth stored up from successful adventuring, located a place for a stronghold deep in enemy territory to assure plenty of action, and then went to work building the citadel. As there was an small army of dwarves associted with the larger, mounted field army, the building project went relatively quickly, about three game years to complete. While it was in progress, the 'boys' were active in raiding the lands around to keep the enemy forces back on their heels." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-01. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [68] Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel was indeed my personal creation as a player.... It was an octagonal castle with eight wall towers and a central keep with much space between the outer wall and the inner works because of the number of troops housed in this fortress. "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-9. html). EN World. 2004-03-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [69] Gygax: "The Obsidian Citadel and its Circle of Eight was original to my own campaign. When Mordenkainen was at a level I considered too high for normal adventuring, I used the money he and his associates had amassed to construct the said fortress. The members of the 'Circle were Mordenkainen and...others of my PCs: Bigby, Yrag the fighter, Rigby the cleric, Zigby the Dwarf, the Elves Vram and Vin, and Felnorith as principles. A number of lesser PCs were [also] associated." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part III, Page 17)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 46861-q-gary-gygax-pt-3-a-17. html). EN World. 2003-07-08. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [70] Kuntz: "Before [Gygax] codified the gods there [were] Norse Gods... Robilar really only mentioned Odin once or twice; Mornard's Gronan as well as Ratners's Ayelerach both swore by Crom." "Robilar Remembers: Goddess of Luck?" (http:/ / piedpiperpublishing. yuku. com/ topic/ 1994). Pied Piper Publishing. 2002-11-20. . Retrieved 2009-09-16. [71] Gygax: "St. Cuthbert was more of a joke than otherwise. Consider the advocacy of pounding sense into someone's head by dint of blows from a club." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-4. html). EN World. 2006-08-23. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [72] Gygax: "The development of anything akin to a logical pantheon of deities for the world setting took a considerable period of time to complete because we seldom dealt with such entities in play. St. Cuthbert and Pholtus were amusing to the players with cleric PCs so I spent time detailing them. The balance then followed as I brought into play evil deities to serve as villians and to frustrate the aims of the PCs." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VIII, Page 5)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-5. html). EN World. 2005-02-24. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [73] Gygax, Gary (June 1976). "The Gnome Cache (Part I)". The Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (1): 28. [74] Gygax, Gary (August 1976). "The Gnome Cache (Part II)". The Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (2): 6. [75] Norton, Andre; Jean Rabe (2006). Return to Quag Keep (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=zRiBR0YlFJAC& pg=PP3& dq=greyhawk+ gygax). MacMillan. pp. Introduction. ISBN 0765312980. . [76] Norton, Andre (February 1978). "Quag's Keep (excerpts)". The Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (12): 22–30. [77] Gygax, Gary; Kuntz, Rob (1975). Dungeons and Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk. Lake Geneva WI: TSR. p. 30 & 63. [78] 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. 2004. p. 55. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0. [79] Gygax: "When I initially began creating adventure material I assumed that the GMs utilizing the work would prefer substance without window dressing, the latter being properly the realm of the GM so as to suit the campaign world and player group." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 40)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-40. html). EN World. 2007-03-28. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [80] Gygax: "As I was running a game with a large number of players involved, I really didn't want to supply them with the whole world on a platter." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-11. html). EN World. 2003-11-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [81] Gygax: "When I was asked by TSR to do my World of Greyhawk as a commercial product I was taken aback. I had assumed most DMs would far prefer to use their own world settings." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-11. html). EN World. 2003-11-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [82] "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-7. html). EN World. 2005-02-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [83] Q: "In Dragon 315, Jim Ward talks about the origins of the Greyhawk setting, and is quoted as having said: 'He [Gygax] had the whole world mapped out'. Does this mean you have material about the rest of Oerth hidden in your basement?" Gygax: "Yes, I had a sketch map of the remainder of the globe..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 33)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-33. html). EN World. 2005-06-21. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [84] Gygax: "The exact form of the remainder of the globe was not settled upon. I wanted an Atlantis-like continent, and possibly a Lemurian-type one. Likely two large continents would have been added. The nearest would house cultures akin to the Indian, Burmese, Indonesian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Japanese. Another would likely have been the location of African-type cultures, including the Egyptian. A Lemurian culture would have been based on the Central and South American cultures of the Aztec-Mayay-Inca sort." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 38912-q-gary-gygax-continuation-thread-part-ii-19. html). EN World. 2003-04-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [85] Gygax: "When I was asked to create a campaign setting for TSR to market, I did a new and compact "world"--that only in part, of course, as that was all I could fit onto the two maps allowed. So that became the World of Greyhawk." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part I, Page 8)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 22566-q-gary-gygax-part-i-8. html). EN World. 2002-09-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Greyhawk [86] Gygax: "I found out the maximum map size TSR could produce, got the go-ahead for two maps of that size, then sat down for a couple of weeks and hand-drew the whole thing. After the maps were done and the features shown were named, I wrote up brief information of the features and states. Much of the information was drawn from my own personal world, but altered to fit the new one depicted on the maps." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-11. html). EN World. 2003-11-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [87] Gygax: "The World of Greyhawk setting was crafted to allow for individualization by DMs, of course, and so was as non-specific and vague in places where the DM was likely to have created his own material." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 54)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 193204-gary-gygax-q-part-xiii-54. html). EN World. 2007-10-15. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [88] Gygax: "When I did the map for the World of Greyhawk product I made up 90% of the material on the spot...and liked it better than what I had been doing so switched my own campaign to the newly created world of Oerth. Only the places surrounding the City of Greyhawk came from my original campaign setting." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 97)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-97. html). EN World. 2005-08-24. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [89] Gygax knew that Len Lakofka's first TSR adventure, The Secret of Bone Hill, was being readied for publication. It was set in Lakofka's home campaign setting of Lendore Island, so Gygax added that placename to the Spindrift Islands archipelago, and slyly added a reference to Lakofka in the description of the islands: "Lendore Isle is named for the Arch Mage who founded it, but tales of him and the fellowship he brought to the Spindrifts are all but lost." [90] Ket was accidentally left out of the Table of Contents in the folio edition. [91] Valley of the Mage was accidentally left out of the Table of Contents in the folio edition. [92] Gygax borrowed the name of Dave Arneson's campaign world, Blackmoor, for one of his regions. However, his intention was not to move any part of Arneson's campaign to his own, and the Greyhawk region of Blackmoor bore no resemblance to Arneson's world, other than a sly reference to a ruined castle and "extensive ruins are supposed to exist under these ruins.". Gygax: "The Blackmoor on the Oerik maps is certainly not the same as Dave Arneson's campaign setting. I liked its ring, so I put it onto the map as I was making up names for the various states. "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 7)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-7. html). EN World. 2006-05-29. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [93] "Revised Greyhawk Index" (http:/ / www. greyhawkonline. com/ canonfire/ gh_index. rtf). TSR. . Retrieved 2009-03-29. [94] "Interview: Darlene" (http:/ / grognardia. blogspot. com/ 2009/ 06/ interview-darlene. html). Grognardia. . Retrieved 2009-06-23. [95] Gygax: "Of course as my campaign world was active, had many players, I did not wish to detail it [for the general public], so I created Oerth, the continent of Oerik, and all that went with it for general use by other DMs. I found I liked it so well that I switched my group's play to the World of Greyhawk soon after I had finished the maps and manuscript." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 161566-gary-gygax-q-part-x-11. html). EN World. 2006-06-04. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [96] Tolkien, J.R.R. (1937). The Hobbit. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.. p. 20. ISBN 0048230707. [97] Gygax: "In regards to the timeline for the WoG setting, I had no immediate plan for advancing it as the world was meant to be used by all DMs so desirous, each making it conform to his own campaign needs." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 193204-gary-gygax-q-part-xiii-9. html). EN World. 2007-04-25. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [98] Gygax: "In general the player groups in my campaign were not much interested in politics and warfare. When I played my PCs, I was always meddling in politics and had a large army, so some warfare was played out with Rob as the DM." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-5. html). EN World. 2004-01-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [99] Gygax: "Greyhawk was set up to enable both political play and large-scale warfare..." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 5)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 71486-gary-gygax-q-part-v-5. html). EN World. 2004-01-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [100] Gygax: "The relatively low level of NPCs, and the balance between alignments was done on purpose so as facilitate the use of the world setting by all DMs. With a basically neutral environment, the direction of the individual campaign was squarely in the hands of the DM running it... That was done because to my way of thinking dominance by one alignment group tends to restrict the potential for adventuring." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 11)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-11. html). EN World. 2003-11-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [101] "Often promised, but often delayed, WORLD OF GREYHAWK sometimes appeared destined to never see the light of publication... Soon the summer was fast disappearing, along with most of our expectations, but on a fateful day in early August, the cherished cry was finally raised. THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK had arrived!"Seiken, Jeff (February 1981). "The Dragon's Augury: The Wait Was Worth It". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) V (8): 48–49. [102] Gygax, Gary (May 1980). "From the Sorceror's Scroll: Greyhawk - The Shape of the World". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) IV, No. 11 (37): 10–11, 30. [103] Lakofka, Len; Gygax, Gary (August 1981). "Leomund's Tiny Hut: Adding Depth to the Flanaess". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VI, No. 2 (52): 18–24. [104] Gygax, Gary (November 1981). "From the Sorcerer'Scroll: More "Meat" for Greyhawk". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VI, No. 5 (55): 17–19. [105] Axler, David (December 1981). "Weather in the World of Greyhawk: A Climate for realistic AD&D adventuring, adaptable for use in your world". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VIII, No. 7 (68): 42–53. [106] Gygax: "I must accept the blame, of course, as I okayed the material. Of course, being a DM who always flew by the seat of his pants, I never used [the tables]... When I was running a game the weather was what I said it was." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part V, Page 15)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forums/ showthread. php?t=76849& page=5& pp=15). EN World. 2005-01-06. . Retrieved 2009-03-15.

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Greyhawk [107] Gygax, Gary (December 1981). "From the Sorcerer'Scroll: More "Meat" for Greyhawk". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VI, No. 6 (56): 17–19. [108] Gygax, Gary (January 1982). "From the Sorcerer'Scroll: More "Meat" for Greyhawk". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VI, No. 7 (57): 13–16. [109] Kuntz, Rob (July 1982). "Greyhawk's World - News, Notes and Views of the Greyhawk World: Events of the Eastern and Southern Flanaess". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VII, No. 1 (63): 14–17. [110] Kuntz, Rob (September 1982). "Greyhawk's World - News, Notes and Views of the Greyhawk World: Events of the Eastern and Southern Flanaess". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VII, No. 4 (65): 11–12. [111] Ward, James M.; Kuntz, Robert J. (1980). Deities and Demigods. Lake Geneva WI: TSR. ISBN 0-935696-22-9. [112] Gygax, Gary (August 1982). "Greyhawk's World - News, Notes and Views of the Greyhawk World: Events of the Eastern and Southern Flanaess". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VII, No. 3 (64): 13. [113] Gygax, Gary (November 1982). "Deities and Demigods of Greyhawk, Part 1". Dragon (Issue 67): p. 23. [114] Gygax, Gary (December 1982). "Deities and Demigods of Greyhawk, Part 2". Dragon (Issue 68): p. 63. [115] Gygax, Gary (January 1983). "Deities and Demigods of Greyhawk, Part 3". Dragon (Issue 69): p. 27. [116] Gygax, Gary (March 1983). "Deities and Demigods of Greyhawk, Part 5". Dragon (Issue 71): p. 52. [117] Gygax, Gary (February 1983). "Deities and Demigods of Greyhawk, Part 4". Dragon (Issue 70): p. 20. [118] Gygax, Gary (March 1983). "Greyhawk's World: Four Uncharacteristic Characters". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) VII, No. 9 (71): 19–22. [119] Gygax, Gary (1983). World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva WI: TSR. [120] Gygax: "Had I remained in creative control of the D&D game line at TSR one of the projects I planned was the complete development of the Oerth world setting, and production of source nodules for the various states and outstanding featires of the Flanaess--such as the Roft Canyon, the Sea of Dust, etc." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 12)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-12. html). EN World. 2006-09-22. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [121] Q: "What direction would have Greyhawk gone? How different would it be today?" Gygax: "There would be a complete globe with more continents and states thereon." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part II, Page 19)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 38912-q-gary-gygax-continuation-thread-part-ii-19. html). EN World. 2003-04-05. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [122] Gygax: I did intend to expand the WoG setting to cover the complete planet... No real work had been done on this project, though, when I parted from TSR at the end of 1985." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-4. html). EN World. 2004-02-29. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [123] Gygax: "I had plans to create material detailing the various states and major terrain features of the world setting, as well as completing the world with a second boxed set."" "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 10)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 193204-gary-gygax-q-part-xiii-10. html). EN World. 2007-04-26. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [124] Gygax: "Francois had a map of a continent and some islands to the east, and they were going to be added. The "Orient" wes actually to be past them, closer to the West Coast of Oerik... Len Lakofka had an eastern continental addition as well as the Lendore Isles, so what I planned to so was incorporate Francois' and Len's maps with Oerik, complete the lower continent below it, and have a real globe." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 4)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 121380-gary-gygax-q-part-viii-9. html). EN World. 2005-03-03. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [125] Gygax, Gary (August 1985). "At Moonset Blackcat Comes". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (100): 22.] [126] Gygax, Gary (December 1984). "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: Clerics live by other rules". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (92): 22.] [127] Heard, Bruce (February 1984). "Spells between the covers". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (82): 55. [128] Moore, Roger E. (May 1984). "Special skills, special thrills". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (85): 12.] [129] Mentzer, Frank (January 1985). "Ay pronunseeAYshun gyd". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (93): 24.] [130] Gygax: "I was alerted to a problem: Kevin Blume was shopping TSR on the street in New York City. I flew back from the West Coast, and discovered the corporation was in debt to the bank the tune of circa $1.5 million." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XII, Page 28)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 171753-gary-gygax-q-part-xii-28. html). EN World. 2007-01-21. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [131] Gygax: "Anagrams of my name are exclusively my property according to my settlement agreement with TSR, so that is how I can use Zagyg, or Zagig, as well as Yrag." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, Page 91)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-91. html). EN World. 2005-10-20. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [132] Gygax: "Later TSR and [Wizards of the Coast] approaches to and treatment of the Greyhawk setting was quite contrary to the purpose for which I intended it when it was created." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part XIII, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 193204-gary-gygax-q-part-xiii-9. html). EN World. 2007-04-25. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [133] Estes, Rose (April 1987). Master Wolf. Lake Geneva: TSR. ISBN 0-88038-457-3. [134] Estes, Rose (August 1987). The Price of Power. Lake Geneva: TSR. ISBN 0-88038-458-1. [135] Estes, Rose (March 1988). The Demon Hand. Lake Geneva: TSR. ISBN 0-88038-542-1. [136] Estes, Rose (July 1988). The Name of the Game. Lake Geneva: TSR. ISBN 0-88038-614-2. [137] Estes, Rose (September 1989). The Eyes Have It. Lake Geneva: TSR. ISBN 0-88038-755-6. [138] "Greyhawk Novels" (http:/ / www. amazon. co. uk/ Greyhawk-Novels/ lm/ R1N5CG54R01CCY). Amazon Books. 2007-03-157. . Retrieved 2009-05-28.

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Greyhawk [139] "World of Greyhawk Series (WG4 - 12)" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ ddindexes/ modpages/ wg. html). The Acaeum. . Retrieved 2009-05-30. [140] Ward, James A. (January 1988). "The Game Wizards: A volume of Oerthly Delight". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (129): 57. [141] Ward, James A. (August 1988). "The Game Wizards: Readers speak out on Greyhawk Adventures". Dragon (Lake Geneva WI: TSR) (135): 30. [142] Sargent, Carl; Rose, Rik (1989). "3". The City of Greyhawk: Folks, Feuds and Factions. Lake Geneva WI: TSR Inc.. pp. 20–27. ISBN 0-88038-731-9. [143] "Robilar Remembers: Lord Robilar & Co." (http:/ / site. pied-piper-publishing. com/ joomla/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=58& Itemid=65). Pied Piper Publishing. 2007-01-29. . Retrieved 2009-05-16. [144] Sargent, Carl (1992). From the Ashes. Lake Geneva WI: TSR. p. 95. ISBN 1-56076-341-8. [145] Sargent, Carl (March 1993). "Campaign Journal: Greyhawk Adventures risen from the ashes". Dragon (191): 64–68. [146] Sargent, Carl (April 1994). "Campaign Journal: A strange alliance". Dragon (204): 52–57. [147] Sargent, Carl (June 1994). "Campaign Journal: The Sea Barons". Dragon (206): 34–41. [148] Sargent, Carl (August 1994). "Campaign Journal: The Adri Forest". Dragon (208): 47–58. [149] Anonymous (May 1995). "Rumblings: TSR publishes lost Greyhawk manuscript electronically". Dragon (217): 98. [150] "Ivid the Undying" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ library/ ividundying. pdf). The Acaeum: Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium. . Retrieved 2009-06-17. [151] Emerson, Ru (July 1999). Against the Giants. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1379-7. [152] Kidd, Paul (October 1999). White Plume Mountain. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1424-6. [153] Kidd, Paul (June 2000). Descent into the Depths of the Earth. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1635-4. [154] Green, Roland J. (November 2000). Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1656-7. [155] Reid, Thomas M (May 2001). The Temple of Elemental Evil. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1864-0. [156] Kidd, Paul (October 2001). Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1903-5. [157] Emerson, Ru (November 2001). Keep on the Borderlands. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1881-0. [158] Strohm, Keith Francis (February 2002). The Tomb of Horrors. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2702-X. [159] Tulach, Chris (2008-06-20). "RPGA Report: Evolution of Shared Worlds (Part 4: The 3rd Edition Era)" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drrep/ 20080620). Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 2009-01-31. [160] Conforti, Steve (2005-03-02). Living Greyhawk: Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, Version 2.0 (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ rpga/ downloads/ LG_Deities. zip). RPGA. . [161] Gygax: "The original map of Greyhawk city was one sheet of graph paper with colored boxes indicating various places where PC would go--inns & taverns, armorers, money changers & banks, gemners & jewelers, city buildings, guilds, etc. That was expanded to two, then four map sheets, with the thieves' quarter and Rob's Green Dragon Inn shown." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 76849-gary-gygax-q-part-vi-2. html). EN World. 2004-02-13. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [162] Q: "After you left TSR, you finished the Gord the Rogue books. At the end of the cycle, Oerth bites the bullet. Was this your way of saying that Greyhawk is dead and that fans should turn away from TSR's version with disdain?" Gygax: "More my way of saying that since T$R had killed the setting with trash releases, it was time to wipe out the shame by obliterating the setting." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, page 2)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-2. html). EN World. 2004-11-19. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [163] "The Acaeum Forum" (http:/ / www. acaeum. com/ forum/ about7105. html). The Acaeum. 2008-05-13. . Retrieved 2009-09-04. [164] Gygax: "I have laid out a new schematic of castle and dungeon levels based on both my original design of 13 levels plus side adjuncts, and the 'New Greyhawk Castle' that resulted when Rob and I combined our efforts and added a lot of new levels too. From that Rob will draft the level plans for the newest version of the work. Meantime, I am collecting all the most salient feature, encounters, tricks, traps, etc. for inclusion on the various levels. So the end result will be what is essentially the best of our old work in a coherent presentation usable by all DMs, the material having all the known and yet to be discussed features of the original work that are outstanding... I hope." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81. html). EN World. 2005-12-15. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [165] Gygax: "The whole of the combined material Rob and I put together would be far too large for publication, 50 levels or so. What I have done is gone back to my original design of more modest scope, because I doubt the work will need to accommodate groups of 20 PCs delving on a daily basis." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [166] Gygax: "...the original upper and lower parts of Castle Greyhawk changed many times over the years they were in active use. What we will do is to take the best of the lot and put that into a detailed format usable by anyone." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [167] Gygax: "I did indeed create details for the PC party on the spot, adding whatever seemed appropriate, and as Rob played and learned from me, he did the same, and when we were actively co-DMing we could often create some really exciting material on the spot, if you will." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IX, page 81)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 125997-gary-gygax-q-part-ix-81. html). EN World. 2005-12-15. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [168] Gygax: "As Rob learned from me, he too DMed by the proverbial seat of the pants method. A single line of notes for an encounter was sufficient for either of us to detail a lengthy description, action, dialog, tricks or traps, and all the rest." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved

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Greyhawk 2009-03-15. [169] Gygax: "What our challenge is going to be is to cull the extraneous, take the best, and re-create the details we made up on the spot. Of course the most famous things will be there, along with most of the best parts that are not well-known through story and word of mouth." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [170] Gygax: "Yggsburgh was a pain in the rump to write because I wanted to include as much detail as possible for the GM interested in using it as a campaign base. So there are sections on history, costume, monetray system and economy of the area, and complete descriptions of the town, its main locations, and the outstanding geographical areas all with encounters or suggestions for same." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [171] Gygax: "the problem is that I tire out after about an hour." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 9)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-9. html). EN World. 2003-11-02. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [172] Gygax: "Rob has finished his add on module, but i have not been up to doing the work needed to create the upper works of the castle proper, let alone the dungeon levels below them When my oldest friend died in late November, it was quite a setback for me. Anyway, I am feeling a good deal better if late, and I will attempt real creative work as soon as I feel up to it--likely March." "Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VII, Page 23)" (http:/ / www. enworld. org/ forum/ archive-threads/ 104817-gary-gygax-q-part-vii-23. html). EN World. 2005-02-18. . Retrieved 2009-03-15. [173] http:/ / www. canonfire. com/ wiki/ index. php?title=Main_Page [174] http:/ / www. canonfire. com/ cfhtml/ index. php [175] http:/ / www. canonfire. com/ cfhtml/ modules. php?name=News& new_topic=47 [176] http:/ / index. rpg. net/ display-search. phtml?key=background& value=Greyhawk& sort=year [177] http:/ / www. greyhawkonline. com/ grodog/ greyhawk. html [178] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=lg/ arch/ dndlg [179] http:/ / www. flash. net/ ~brenfrow/ gh/ gh. htm [180] http:/ / www. geocities. com/ TimesSquare/ 5878/

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Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms second edition logo Creators

Ed Greenwood

Country

United States

Language

English

Genre

Fantasy

Published

1987–current

Media type

Game accessories, novels, computer role-playing games, comic books

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories.[1] Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including sword and sorcery novels, computer role-playing game adaptations (including the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game to use graphics), and comic books. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most popular D&D settings,[2] [3] largely due to the success of novels by authors such as R. A. Salvatore and numerous computer role-playing games, including Pool of Radiance (1988), Baldur's Gate (1998), and Neverwinter Nights (2002). According to the setting's creators, the "Forgotten Realms" is the name of an imaginary fantasy world that exists somewhere beyond the real world. The setting is described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and seemingly supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world—hence the term "Forgotten Realms". On the original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, small runic letters read "Herein lie the lost lands", an allusion to the connection between the two worlds.

The world The focus of the Forgotten Realms setting is the continent of Faerûn, part of the fictional world of Abeir-Toril (usually called simply Toril), an Earth-like planet with many real-world influences. Unlike Earth, the lands of the Forgotten Realms are not all ruled by the human race: the planet Abeir-Toril is shared by humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, orcs, and other peoples and creatures. Technologically, the world of the Forgotten Realms is not nearly as advanced as that of Earth; in this respect, it resembles the pre-industrial Earth of the 13th or 14th century. However, the presence of magic provides an additional element of power to the societies. There are several nation states and many independent cities, with loose alliances being formed for defense or conquest. Trade is performed by ship or horse-drawn vehicle, and manufacturing is based upon cottage industry.

Forgotten Realms

Geography Abeir-Toril consists of several large continents, including Faerûn, which was first detailed in the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, published in 1987 by TSR.[4] The other continents include Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, and other yet unspecified landmasses. Kara-Tur, roughly corresponding to ancient East Asia, was later the focus of its own source book Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms, published in 1988.[5] Various products detailing specific areas of Faerûn, such as the 2nd edition FR13 Anauroch (1991), FR15 Gold and Glory A map of Faerûn (1992), FR16 The Shining South (1993), and FRS1 The Dalelands (1993), have been released, and through these much of the continent has been heavily detailed and documented to create a highly developed setting. In early editions of the setting, The Realms shared a unified cosmology with various other campaign settings called the Great Wheel. In this way each of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings were linked together to form one interwoven world connected by various planes of existence. With the release of the 2001 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, the setting was given its own distinct and separate cosmological arrangement, with unique planes not explicitly connected to those of the other settings.[6] [7]

Religion Religion plays a large part in the Forgotten Realms, with deities and their followers being an integral part of the world. They do not have a passive role, but in fact interact directly in mortal affairs, answer prayers, and have their own personal agendas. All deities must have worshipers to survive, and all mortals must worship a patron deity to secure a good afterlife. A huge number of diverse deities exist within several polytheistic pantheons; a large number of supplements have documented many of them, some in more detail than others.[8] [9] Much of the history of The Realms detailed in novels and source books concerns the actions of various deities or The Chosen (mortal representatives with a portion of their deities' power) such as Elminster, Fzoul Chembryl, Midnight (who later became the new embodiment of the goddess of magic, Mystra), and the Seven Sisters. Above all other deities is Ao, the Overlord. Ao does not sanction worshipers and distances himself from mortals. He is single-handedly responsible for the Time of Troubles, or Godswar, as seen in The Avatar Trilogy.

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Characters The setting is the home of several iconic characters popularized by authors, including Elminster the wizard, who has appeared in several series of novels created by Greenwood himself, and Drizzt Do'Urden the highly popular drow, or dark elf, ranger created by R. A. Salvatore.

History Early years

Ed Greenwood in 2008

Ed Greenwood began writing stories about the Forgotten Realms as a child, starting around 1967;[10] they were his "dream space for swords and sorcery stories".[10] Greenwood came up with the "Forgotten Realms" name from the notion of a "multiverse" of parallel worlds; our Earth is one such world, and the Realms another. In Greenwood's original conception, the fantastic legends of our world derive from a fantasy world that we've now lost the way to.[11] Greenwood discovered the Dungeons & Dragons game in 1975, and really got into role-playing with the first AD&D game releases in 1978.[11] The setting became the home of Greenwood's own personal campaign.[12] Greenwood began a Realms campaign in the city of Waterdeep, then started another group known as the Knights of Myth Drannor in Shadowdale. Greenwood felt that his players' thirst for detail made the Realms what it is: "They want it to seem real, and work on ‘honest jobs’ and personal activities, until the whole thing grows into far more than a casual campaign. Roleplaying always governs over rules, and

the adventures seem to develop themselves."[11] Beginning with the periodical's 30th issue in 1979,[10] [11] Greenwood published a series of short articles that detailed the setting in The Dragon magazine, the first of which was about a monster known as the curst.[10] Greenwood wrote voluminous entries to Dragon magazine, using the Realms as a setting for his descriptions of magic items, monsters, and spells.[12] In 1986, the American game publishing company TSR began looking for a new campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game,[10] and assigned Jeff Grubb to find out more about the setting used by Greenwood as portrayed in his articles in Dragon.[12] According to Greenwood, Grubb asked him "Do you just make this stuff up as you go, or do you really have a huge campaign world?"; he answered "yes" to both questions.[11] TSR felt that the Forgotten Realms would be a more open-ended setting than the epic Dragonlance setting, and chose the Realms as a ready-made campaign setting upon deciding to publish AD&D 2nd Edition.[11] Greenwood agreed to work on the project, and began working to get the Forgotten Realms officially published.[10] Greenwood sent TSR a few dozen cardboard boxes stuffed with pencil notes and maps, and sold all rights to the Realms for a token fee.[11] Greenwood noted that TSR altered his original conception of the Realms being a place that we could travel to from our world, "Concerns over possible lawsuits (kids getting hurt while trying to 'find a gate') led TSR to de-emphasize this meaning".[11]

Forgotten Realms

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition Although the Realms were yet to be an official campaign world, the module H1: Bloodstone Pass, released in 1985 by TSR, is now considered to be a part of the Forgotten Realms,[13] although it wasn't until module H3: The Bloodstone Wars was released that Forgotten Realms became the official setting for the module series.[14] The first official Forgotten Realms product was Douglas Niles's Darkwalker on Moonshae, the first book in The Moonshae Trilogy, which predates the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set by 1 month.[15] The Campaign Set (often referred to as the "Old Grey Box")[15] was later released in 1987[16] [17] as a boxed set of two source books (Cyclopedia of the Realms and DM's Sourcebook of the Realms)[4] and four large maps, designed by Greenwood in collaboration with author Jeff Grubb. The Forgotten Realms became an instant hit.[16] The compilation module Desert of Desolation was reworked to fit into the Forgotten Realms.[18] The module N5: Under Illefarn bears the Forgotten Realms logo on the cover, as do the two modules released in 1988, H4: The Throne of Bloodstone and I14: Swords of the Iron Legion. The Crystal Shard was released in 1988,[19] the first novel to feature the successful character Drizzt Do'Urden, who has since appeared in more than seventeen subsequent novels, many of which have been featured on the New York Times Best Seller list.[20] In 1988, the first in a line of Forgotten Realms computer role-playing games, Pool of Radiance was released by Strategic Simulations, Inc. The game was popular, winning the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988[21] and, in 1992, the game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Several supplements to the original boxed set were released under the first edition rules, including FR1 Waterdeep and the North and FR2 Moonshae in 1987, and FR3 Empires of the Sands, FR4 The Magister, FR5 The Savage Frontier, FR6 Dreams of the Red Wizards, and REF5 Lords of Darkness in 1988. Also in 1988 came the City System boxed set, containing several maps of the city of Waterdeep. Ruins of Adventure, a module based on the computer game Pool of Radiance, was released in 1988. The boxed set Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms was released in 1988, giving details of the lands of Kara-Tur which had previously appeared in the 1986 book Oriental Adventures, and were now officially placed in the Forgotten Realms world. In 1988 also, the module OA5: Mad Monkey vs the Dragon Claw was released for the Kara-Tur setting as a Forgotten Realms product. In 1989, DC Comics began publishing a series of Forgotten Realms comics written by Jeff Grubb. Each issue contained twenty-six pages, illustrated primarily by Rags Morales and Dave Simons. Twenty-five issues were published in total, with the last being released in 1991. A fifty-six page annual Forgotten Realms Comic Annual #1: Waterdhavian Nights, illustrated by various artists, was released in 1990.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition An eponymous module, based on the computer role-playing game Curse of the Azure Bonds, was released in 1989, as was the The Avatar Trilogy series of novels, consisting of Shadowdale, Tantras, and Waterdeep that detailed the storyline which became known as the "Time of Troubles". A series of module adaptations for these novels were released in the same year, along with the Hall of Heroes accessory, detailing many of the major characters appearing in Forgotten Realms novels published up through that time. In early 1990, the hardcover Forgotten Realms Adventures by Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood was released, which introduced the Realms setting to the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game and detailed how the Time of Troubles had changed the setting.[12] The RPGA used the Forgotten Realms city of Ravens Bluff as the setting for their first living campaign. Official RPGA support for this product line included the Living City modules series. A number of sub-settings of the Forgotten Realms were briefly supported in the early 1990's. Three more modules were produced for the Kara-Tur setting. The Horde: Barbarian Campaign Setting, released in 1990, detailed The Hordelands, which also featured a series of three modules. The Maztica Campaign Set, in 1991, detailed the continent of Maztica.

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Forgotten Realms The original gray boxed set received a revision in 1993 to update it to the second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules system, with the release of a new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting boxed set, containing three books (A Grand Tour of the Realms, Running the Realms, and Shadowdale) and various "monster supplements,"[22] with a new graphic look.[17] Additional material for the setting was released steadily throughout the 1990s. Forgotten Realms novels, such as the Legacy of the Drow series, the first three books of The Elminster Series, and numerous anthologies, were also released throughout the 1990s, which lead to the setting being hailed as one of the most successful shared fantasy universes of the 1990s.[23] These novels in turn sparked interest in role-playing activity by new gamers.[24] Numerous Forgotten Realms video games were released Between 1990 and 2000. The Eye of the Beholder PC game was released in 1990.[25] This game was later followed by two sequels, the first in 1991,[26] and the second in 1992.[27] All three games were re-released for DOS on a single disk in 1995.[28] Another 1991 release was Neverwinter Nights on America Online, the first graphical Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG).[29] In 1998, Baldur's Gate was released, the first in a line of popular computer role-playing games[30] developed by BioWare and "considered by most pundits as the hands-down best PC roleplaying game ever".[1] The game was followed by a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000 as well as Icewind Dale, a separate game that utilized the same game engine as Baldur's Gate. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor was released in 2001. Several popular Forgotten Realms characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster made minor appearances in these games.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition With the release of the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons rules system in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was released as a hardcover, in 2001, updating the official material and advancing the timeline of the game world.[6] In 2002, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001.[31] Several additional rulebooks were released for the new edition, including Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn (2001), Magic of Faerûn (2001), Lords of Darkness (2001), Faiths and Pantheons (2002), Silver Marches (2002), Races of Faerûn (2003), and Unapproachable East (2003). Adventure modules included Into the Dragon's Lair (2000), Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor (2001), and City of the Spider Queen (2002). In 2002, Bioware released Neverwinter Nights, set in the northern reaches of Faerûn and operated on the revised 3.0 rules for D&D. It was followed by two expansion packs (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark). A sequel was produced by Obsidian Entertainment in 2006, itself followed by the expansion sets Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir. The Forgotten Realms Deluxe Edition compilation was released in 2006, containing the Baldur's Gate series (excluding the Dark Alliance games), Icewind Dale series, and all Neverwinter Nights games before Neverwinter Nights 2. With the release of the version 3.5 update to the rules, the Forgotten Realms product line continued to expand. Accessories released included Underdark (2003), Player's Guide to Faerûn (2004), Serpent Kingdoms (2004), Shining South (2004), Lost Empires of Faerûn (2005), Champions of Ruin (2005), City of Splendors: Waterdeep (2005), Champions of Valor (2005), Power of Faerûn (2006), Mysteries of the Moonsea (2006), Dragons of Faerûn (2006), and Grand History of the Realms (2007). Adventure modules released included Sons of Gruumsh (2005), The Twilight Tomb (2006), Expedition to Undermountain (2007), Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave (2007), Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land (2007), and Anauroch: The Empire of Shade (2007).

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Forgotten Realms

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition With the release for Dungeons & Dragons's 4th Edition, the Forgotten Realms were updated again to the new rules system, featuring a very changed Realms and moving the fictional world's timeline 104 years into the future.[32] [33] The Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, released August 2008, is a 288-page book for Dungeon Masters. The Forgotten Realms Player's Guide was released the following month, and contains information for players to help create Forgotten Realms characters. An adventure, Scepter Tower of Spellgard, was also released in September 2008 and can be used in combination with the adventure in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide to start a Forgotten Realms campaign.[34] In 2008, the Forgotten Realms also became the setting for the RPGA's sole living campaign, with Living Forgotten Realms replacing Living Greyhawk.

Reception In his book, The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible, Sean Patrick Fannon describes the Forgotten Realms as being "the most ambitious fantasy game setting published since Tekumel",[1] and that it "may be the most widely played-in game setting in RPG history."[1] Similarly, in literature, the novels written in the Forgotten Realms setting have formed one of "the industry's leading fantasy series."[35] Over time these novels have gained "unprecedented popularity,"[36] which led, as Marc Oxoby noted in his book, The 1990s, to the novels having an "extraordinary shelf life," remaining in print for many years.[36] This popular reception has also been reflected in public libraries—for example, Joyce Saricks states in The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction that the novels have been among the most requested books by fans of the fantasy genre.[37]

See also • List of Dungeons & Dragons video games • List of Forgotten Realms novels • Forgotten Realms (comics)

External links • Forgotten Realms at Wizards of the Coast official website [38] • The Forgotten Realms wiki [39] • Living Forgotten Realms [40]

References [1] Fannon, Sean Patrick (1999). The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible (2nd ed.). ISBN 0-9674429-0-7. [2] Slagle, Matt (2007-01-18). "'Neverwinter Nights' sequel brings more dungeon exploration to PC" (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_qn4188/ is_20070118/ ai_n17153575). Associated Press (Deseret News). . Retrieved 2008-12-04. [3] "'Neverwinter Nights' sequel brings more dungeon exploration to PC" (http:/ / reviews. cnet. com/ pc-games/ baldur-s-gate-pc/ 4505-9696_7-30975286. html). CNET Networks. 1999-01-20. . Retrieved 2008-12-04. [4] Greenwood, Ed; Jeff Grubb (1987). Forgotten Realms Campaign Set. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 0-88038-472-7. [5] Pondsmith, Mike; Jay Batista, Rick Swan (1988). Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-608-8. [6] Greenwood, Ed; Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5. [7] Baker, Richard; James Wyatt (2004). Player's Guide To Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5. [8] Boyd, Eric L. (1998). Demihuman Deities. TSR. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1. [9] Boyd, Eric L.; Mona, Erik (2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3. [10] Winter, Steve; Greenwood, Ed; Grubb, Jeff. 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons, pages 74-87. (Wizards of the Coast, 2004). [11] Varney, Allen (February 1998). "ProFiles: Ed Greenwood". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#244): 112. [12] Grubb, Jeff; Greenwood, Ed. Forgotten Realms Adventures (TSR, 1990)

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Forgotten Realms [13] Bloodstone Pass (http:/ / www. pen-paper. net/ rpgdb. php?op=showbook& bookid=2040) at the Pen & Paper RPG Database, listing the module as part of the Forgotten Realms game line. Retrieved on November 30, 2008. [14] H1: Bloodstone Pass (http:/ / index. rpg. net/ display-entry. phtml?mainid=3808) at RPGnet. Retrieved on November 30, 2008. [15] Greenwood, Ed; Jeff Grubb (1993). Running the Realms. TSR. pp. 4–5. ISBN 1-56076-605-0. [16] "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp& date=2008-10-03). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_FAQ. asp) on 2008-10-03. . Retrieved 2008-10-03. [17] "The History of TSR" (http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp& date=2008-10-04). Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ DnDArchives_History. asp) on 2008-10-04. . Retrieved 2005-08-20. [18] Bambra, Jim (September 1987). "Open Box". White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 93): 4. [19] Jacob, Merle; Hope Apple (2000). To Be Continued: An Annotated Guide to Sequels. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9781573561556. [20] "Biography of R. A. Salvatore" (http:/ / www. rasalvatore. com/ biography. aspx?selection=3). . Retrieved 2006-03-03. [21] "1988 List of Winners" (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 1988). Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design. . Retrieved 9 December 2008. [22] Greenwood, Ed; Jeff Grubb, Don Bingle (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. TSR, Inc.. ISBN 1-56076-617-4. [23] Oxoby, Marc (2003). The 1990s. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313316159. [24] Punday, Daniel (2005). "Creative Accounting; Role-playing Games, Possible-World Theory, and the Agency of the Imagination". Poetics Today 26 (1): 113–139. doi:10.1215/03335372-26-1-113. [25] Eye of the Beholder for PC (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ rpg/ eyeofthebeholder/ index. html?tag=result;title;0). Gamespot. Retrieved on December 1, 2008. [26] Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ rpg/ eyeofthebeholder2tlod/ index. html?tag=result;title;6). Gamespot. Retrieved on December 1, 2008. [27] Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ rpg/ eyeofthebeholder3aomd/ index. html?tag=result;title;8). Gamespot. Retrieved on December 1, 2008. [28] Eye of the Beholder Trilogy for DOS (http:/ / www. mobygames. com/ game/ eye-of-the-beholder-trilogy) Mobygames. Retrieved on December 1, 2008. [29] Stormfront Studios Honored at 59th Annual Emmy Technology Awards For Creating First Graphical Online Role-Playing Game (http:/ / www. mcvuk. com/ press-releases/ 34298/ Stormfront-Studios-Honored-At-59th-Annual-Emmy-Technology-Awards-For-Creating-First-Graphical-Online-Role-Playing-Game) Mcuvk. Retrieved on December 1, 2008. [30] Curtis, Aaron (1999-04-19). "Gamers' Corner; Visiting Worlds You Won't Want to Leave" (http:/ / www. latimes. com/ ). The Los Angeles Times: p. C4. . Retrieved 2008-12-04. [31] "2001 List of Winners" (http:/ / www. originsgamefair. com/ awards/ 2001). Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design. . Retrieved 9 December 2008. [32] "Previews for June and Beyond" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ 4pr/ 20080605a). Wizards of the Coast. 5 June 2008. . Retrieved 9 December 2008. [33] "Forgotten Realms" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ drdd/ 20080828a). Design & Development. Wizards of the Coast. 28 August 2008. . Retrieved 9 December 2008. [34] "Scepter Tower of Spellgard" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=products/ dndacc/ 217647400). Product page. Wizards of the Coast. . Retrieved 7 December 2008. [35] Milliot, Jim (October 22, 2007). "Wizards Brews New Fiction Line". Publishers Weekly 254 (42). [36] Oxoby, Marc (2003). The 1990s. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 148. ISBN 0313316155. [37] Saricks, Joyce G. (2001). The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. ALA Editions. pp. 49–50. ISBN 0838908039. [38] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ dnd/ ForgottenRealms. aspx [39] http:/ / forgottenrealms. wikia. com/ wiki/ Main_Page [40] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ lfrx/ welcome

177

Eberron

178

Eberron Eberron is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, set in a period after a vast destructive war on the continent of Khorvaire. Eberron is designed to accommodate traditional D&D elements and races within a The Eberron logo differently toned setting; Eberron combines a fantasy tone with pulp and dark adventure elements, and some non-traditional fantasy technologies such as trains, skyships, and mechanical beings which are all powered by magic. Eberron was created by author and game designer Keith Baker as the winning entry for Wizards of the Coast's Fantasy Setting Search, a competition run in 2002 to establish a new setting for the Dungeons and Dragons game. Eberron was chosen from more than 11,000 entries, and was officially released with the publication of the Eberron Campaign Setting hardback book in June 2004. The campaign setting book was written by Baker, Bill Slavicsek, and James Wyatt. In June 2005 the Eberron Campaign Setting book won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game Supplement of 2004. A new version of the Campaign Setting was released in June and July 2009 to bring the setting to the new 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Released were a Player's Guide, a Campaign Guide and an Adventure. No more 4th edition Eberron releases are planned.

Characteristics One of the most obvious differences between Eberron and generic D&D is the level of magic. High-level magic, including resurrection spells, is less common than in most other settings. However, low-level magic is much more pervasive, primarily provided by the Dragonmarked Houses. Many cities have magical lanterns throughout the streets. A continent-spanning, magical "lightning rail" provides high speed transportation. Alignment is slightly more muddied than in other official settings. Evil beings of traditionally good races and good beings of traditionally evil races are encouraged; but alignment definition remains true to D&D standards, with good and evil retaining their meanings. However, the situation often arises in the campaign world that oppositely aligned characters will side with each other briefly if a threat looms over all, and also both good and evil characters will infiltrate each others' organizations for purposes of espionage.

Eberron Campaign Setting book cover

Religion is similarly less clear-cut. The pantheon of Eberron does not make itself overtly known. The existence of divine magic is not evidence of the gods, as clerics who worship no deities but instead follow a path or belief system also receive spells. A cleric can even actively work against their own church and continue to receive spells. As a result, religion is largely a matter of faith. Unlike in many other 3rd edition D&D settings, a cleric does not have to be within one step of his deity's or religion's alignment, and is not restricted from casting certain spells because of alignment.[1] The setting adds a new base character class, the artificer. Artificers are spellcasters focusing on magical item creation. Artificer infusions (their equivalent to spells) focus on temporarily imbuing objects with the desired effects.

Eberron For example, instead of casting bull's strength on a character, an artificer would cast it upon a belt to create a short term magical Belt of Bull's Strength. Artificers have access to a pool of "craft points" which act as extra experience points (only) for use in creating magical items without sacrificing level attainment. This pool is refilled when the artificer gains levels, or by draining power from an existing magical item (destroying the item in the process). Eberron also introduces a new NPC class known as the magewright, which is an arcane caster who has a limited selection of low-level spells. The existence of magewrights is part of the reason for the prevalence of low-level magic in Eberron.[2] To try to create a pulp setting, Eberron uses "action points" that allow a player to add a six-sided die to the result of rolls made with a twenty-sided die. Characters receive a set allotment of single-use action points each character level. The Eberron Campaign Setting also includes feats which grant additional uses for action points, such as allowing a player to add an eight-sided die instead of a six-sided die, or spending two action points to grant your character an additional move or standard action. Certain class features with uses per day, like a barbarian's rage ability, a cleric's turn/rebuke undead ability, or a druid's wild shape ability, can be used again by spending 2 action points. The final use for action points is to spend one to stabilize a dying character.

World The Eberron setting primarily takes place in Khorvaire, a continent that was ruled by goblinoids of Dhakaan in ancient times. Humans are now the most populous race in Khorvaire, living primarily in the area known as the Five Nations. Southeast is the small continent of Aerenal, ruled by elves. Due south is the jungle continent of Xen'drik, once ruled by an empire of giants that collapsed, now largely wilderness, with some areas under tribal dominion of the drow. Frostfell is an unexplored land of ice in the north. The other two main continents are Sarlona (a continent ruled by quori, creatures from the Region of Dreams) and Argonnessen (a continent inhabited by dragons). The world of Eberron has twelve moons; some sages believe there is a thirteenth moon that has vanished or is invisible to the naked eye.[3] "Eberron" is also the name for the land of the world, and is also referred to as the Dragon Between. Siberys, the Dragon Above, is the name given to the planetary rings which surround the planet. Khyber, the Dragon Below, is the name given to the underworld, and is similar to the Underdark in many other settings. According to the creation story, the world was formed when the progenitor wyrms changed their form into what they are now. Siberys and Khyber fought, leading to Siberys' body being broken into pieces. To stop Khyber, Eberron wrapped around him, and Siberys' broken body became a ring around them both. Siberys created the dragons, Eberron created humanoids and other "lower races", and Khyber created the "demons" of the world. According to Keith Baker, there is some significance to the fact that each name contains "ber", but he has not stated what this is.

Roots and influences The inspiration for Eberron came when Keith Baker was working on VR-1's cancelled pulp MMORPG Lost Continents. Baker aimed to fuse the energy of pulp adventure and film noir settings to traditional fantasy settings[4] and steampunk. The Eberron Campaign Setting sourcebook lists the following movies as inspirations for Eberron's tone and attitude: • • • • •

Brotherhood of the Wolf Casablanca From Hell The Maltese Falcon The Mummy

• The Name of the Rose • Pirates of the Caribbean

179

Eberron • Raiders of the Lost Ark • Sleepy Hollow

See also • List of Eberron modules and sourcebooks

References • Przybyszewski, Chris (2004). "Eberron Campaign Setting" [5]. SF Site. Retrieved 2008-04-22.

External links • Eberron Home Page at Wizards of the Coast [6] • Eberron wiki [7]

References [1] Baker, Keith (2004-07-05). ""Religion in Eberron"" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ ebds/ 20040705a). . Retrieved 2006-04-09. [2] Baker, Keith (2004-08-23). ""Magic in Eberron: Magewrights"" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ ebds/ 20040823a). . Retrieved 2006-04-09. [3] Baker, Keith; Chris Perkins (2005-03-07). ""The Moons of Eberron"" (http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ ebds/ 20050307a). . Retrieved 2006-04-09. [4] ""Interview with Turbine and Keith Baker, the Creator of Eberron"" (http:/ / www. stratics. com/ content/ interviews/ ddo/ interviews/ 070804. php). 2004-07-08. . Retrieved 2005-12-30. [5] http:/ / www. sfsite. com/ 09b/ ec184. htm [6] http:/ / www. wizards. com/ default. asp?x=dnd/ eberron [7] http:/ / eberron. wikia. com

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Article Sources and Contributors Dungeons & Dragons  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=375754361  Contributors: (Ta) TERRORIST (Ta), 157.178.1.xxx, 18jahremädchen, 1wheel, 23skidoo, 2fort5r, 3330philip, 5mmcanen, A D Monroe III, ASH1977LAW, Aallen123, Aaron Zabriskie, Acroterion, Adambro, Adashiel, Addshore, Adidaniteelf, Aeonite, Agamemnon2, AgentLewis, Ahkond, Ahoerstemeier, AidanPryde, Akaihyo, Alai, Alan De Smet, Alan Liefting, Alansohn, Alblux, Alecr, Alex '05, AlexiusHoratius, Alexkin, Alf Boggis, Alfred Matthew Yankovic, Alhutch, Alkivar, AllanLee, Allenseaberg, Allstarecho, Alphazane, Amtran, Anaxial, Andrea Parri, Andrew Hampe, Andrew Maiman, AndrewM1, Android79, Andryono, AngelHedgie, Angelbo, Angryman991, Anna512, Anonymous Dissident, Ansible, Ant, Apeloverage, Apotheon, Aquelajames, Are you ready for IPv6?, Ariamaki, Ariel23, Ariesatpkve, Armedtrader, Armistej, Arny, Arthena, Arvedui, Aseld, Ashenai, Ashmoo, Astudent, Atakdoug, Atticuslai, Ausir, AustinHerdt, Avador, AvalonXQ, Axeman89, Aximilli kala, Axl, B, B7582, BEATTHEHEAT, BGilkison, BIGGIE56, BMT, BOZ, BRPierce, Badagnani, Badboyzack10, Bakkster Man, Baron Shizzle Von Nizzle, Barra Sadei, Basket911, Basketball110, Battloid, Bbagot, Bcrowell, Beach drifter, Beasterbrook, Bedford, BenB4, Benjaminlobato, Berek Halfhand, Beyondthebreach, Bhadani, Big iron, Bilby, Birched, Blackpeoplerule, Blake momochi, Bluezy, Bmicomp, Bobbybobbybobby1234, Bobo192, BodomSilence, Bongitybongbong, Bpgore, BradBeattie, Brak666, BreathingMeat, Brendano, BrianGCrawfordMA, Brighterorange, Bryan Derksen, Buccaroooo, Burpelson AFB, C mon, CIreland, COMPFUNK2, Cadra, Cadsuane Melaidhrin, CalebNoble, Calidrea, California123123, Callumski, Calmer Waters, Calvin 1998, CambridgeBayWeather, Camperdave, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, CanadianLinuxUser, Canley, Canonblack, CapnZapp, Capricorn42, Captain panda, CardinalDan, CarolinianJeff, Cartires101, CatherineMunro, Cayzle, Cazcaz, Ccsdmchs, Cdang, Chalst, Chamal N, Chaser, Chevinki, Chill Factor Five, Chinju, Chipmunk365, Chorazin, Chowbok, Christian List, Chrylis, Chunkymonkey123456789, Chupon, Ciderbarrel, CillanXC, Circeus, Cjewell, Clappingsimon, Click23, Clockworkblue, CloneDeath, Closedmouth, Clubjuggle, Cmdrjameson, Cmglee, Cobaltbluetony, Coffee, Colaco, Coll7, Conversion script, Coplan, Corcyn, Cori Fournier, Corollo12, Corporal79, Corti, Corvun, Corvus13, Crapload, Crazytail3, Creidieki, Cretog8, Crissov, Crywalt, Cureden, Currymaniac, CyberCosmiX, Cybercobra, Cyp, D, D.A.mUnster, D6, DCB4W, DHBoggs, Dachannien, Daedalus733, DalminTarnek, Danausplexippus, Daniel, Daranios, Dark reaper6789, DarkSoldier, Darth Panda, Dave Runger, Davemon, Davewho2, David Brider, DeadEyeArrow, Deenoe, Deep7nikehoops, Dekker1991, DeliOfTheGhetto, Delldot, DennyColt, Deor, DerHexer, Derek Ross, Derek.cashman, Des1974, Desaguliers, Deyyaz, Dfa206, Difo Lordslasher, Dilcoe, Discospinster, Dispenser, Dj.chair, Dlohcierekim, Dmmaus, Dndmasta, DocWatson42, Dodger, Dodsworth falconslayer, Dogface, Dominick, DoomsDay349, Doopokko, DopefishJustin, DoubleBlue, Doug, Douglas kerns, Dp76764, Dragon Dave, Dragonsrevenge, Draygor69, DreamGuy, Drilnoth, Drunkenteaparty, Duck98, Dugwiki, Dungeonmasterrules, DurotarLord, Duvik, Dycedarg, Dysepsion, Dystopos, ESkog, Eadric, Ec5618, Edward Wakelin, EdwinHJ, Eequor, Eeshwan, Efigueroa, Eirek, ElKabong, Elassint, Electricbassguy, Elenseel, ElfWord, Elliskev, Eluchil, Elvenmonk, Ely ely82, Emote, Emuzesto, Envoypv, Epbr123, Eric22222, ErikHaugen, EronMain, Ethan a dawe, Eugene van der Pijll, Every name is taken12345, Everyking, Exiled osiris, FF2010, FT2, Fairsing, Fang Aili, Farosdaughter, Fear the hobbit, Feezo, Femto, FeralDruid, Finduilas 09, Finlay McWalter, Finngall, Firsfron, Flammifer, Fleiger, Flockmeal, Flowerpotman, FlyingToaster, Fordmadoxfraud, Forteblast, FoxtrotNinja, Frank Shearar, Frecklefoot, Fredil Yupigo, Fredrik, Frehley, FreplySpang, Fresheneesz, Friday, Friginator, Frijole, Frodogolem, Fsotrain09, Furrysaint, Fëaluinix, G4ier, GABaker, GDibyendu, GGHHAAUUNNLLEETT, GRuban, Gab.popp, Gaius Cornelius, Garlicycharly, Gary7pick, Garzane, Gbnogkfs, Gdavidp, Gdo01, Geeoharee, Gene Ward Smith, Genesis, Genevakrops, George Le Chat, George Steinmetz, Gingerclan, Ginkgo100, Gitman00, Gizzakk, Gjd001, Glaurung quena, Gmcomp, Gnfnrf, Go for it!, Gogo Dodo, GoodDamon, Gornly, Gracefool, Graeme Bartlett, Graham87, Grandmasterka, Gravesr, Green-Dragon, GreenCrayon, Grunt, Gtrmp, Gurch, Gwernol, GwydionMathonwy, Gyzmr, Gzornenplatz, H Bruthzoo, HVulpes, HaZe, Hackerguy, Hadal, Hailey C. Shannon, Hairy Dude, HalfShadow, Halmstad, HappyInGeneral, Happylobster, Harami2000, Harmil, Harryboyles, Hashar, Haukurth, Hawk the druid, Hazardous Matt, Hellome4, Henning Hogue, Herbythyme, HexaChord, Hightower 40, HisSpaceResearch, Histrion, Hobbes3k, Hohum, Honeybearprince3, Hotwiki, Houndstoothuk, Hugatree1715, Hyphz, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, ILUVDND, IanCheesman, Iceberg3k, Iforget1919, Ihcoyc, Iknowyourider, Ilario, Immaheadtoday, InShaneee, Infosocialist, Infrangible, Ingolfson, Insanity42, Intgr, Into The Fray, Inversetime, Invincible Ninja, Iridescent, IrisKawling, IronGargoyle, Ironfrost, Islandboy99, Islander, It Is Me Here, Ixfd64, J Milburn, J.delanoy, J00bsrnub3s, JDJarvis, JForget, JGerretse, JOE KING 95, JRM, JRSM, JRice, Jack O Lanturn, Jag595, Jaggnor, Jakeha110, Jamdav86, Jammy0002, Janneok, Japo, JarlaxleArtemis, Jasonglchu, Jauerback, Jaxl, Jayron32, Jazriel, Jbedell, JeeksUrianoc, Jeff G., Jeffreymcmanus, Jeffrywith1e, Jel, Jeltz, Jeremyb, Jftsang, JoeNotCharles, 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Tommo148, Toonstruck, TowerDragon, TravisTX, Traxs7, Trent12345409, Trinite, Troff11, Tromatic, Trysha, Turlo Lomon, Twelve SIDED, Twilight Helryx, Twooars, Tylerchan0204, Tylermr, Tysto, UkPaolo, Ulric1313, Uncle Dick, Usbcd36, Useight, Utcursch, UtherSRG, Valerhu0, Vb, Veinor, Veledan, Viashino retromancer, Visor, Vl'hurg, Vonkwink, Voyagerfan5761, Vranak, Vu1kan, WALFULZ, WGDIS.txt, Walrusfood, Wangi, Wapcaplet, Warhammer: 3025, Watcher051, Watsyurname529, Wax69, Waza, Wedgiez85, Welsh, Wendell, Wernher, Whatnwas, White Agent, Whoisrube, Whollabilla, Wiki alf, WikiLaurent, Wikicam, Wikimaster911, WikipedianMarlith, WildElf, Wildgriffin, Wizzard2k, Wjgates, Wknight94, Wmahan, Woohookitty, Worloq, Wwwwolf, Wyatt Riot, Xaendrik, Xanzzibar, Xaosflux, Xastic, Xeno, Xezbeth, Xm202wow, YLSS, Yamaguchi先生, Yik Lin Khoo, Yonatan, Youizafoolbudd, Yst, Ytookay, ZOMGNicky, Zack, Zanter, Zesryn, Zeuron, Zippanova, Zombiebaron, Zorblek, Zoriac255, Zylotroph123, 1952 anonymous edits Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=374256083  Contributors: Abyss42, Alan De Smet, Alansohn, BD2412, BOZ, Burzmali, CBDunkerson, Canageek, Cbj77, Chowbok, D.brodale, DHBoggs, David Shepheard, Dfrg.msc, Fairsing, Firsfron, Gil Gamesh, Graeme Bartlett, Harami2000, HarryHenryGebel, Hongooi, J04n, Jkeene, John of Reading, Koavf, Lethesl, LilHelpa, Pak21, Paladar, Pawsplay, Richiekim, Rjwilmsi, RyokoMocha, Singerboi22, Spikebrennan, SteinbDJ, Svartalf, Talon Artaine, TheFarix, Thu, Tkynerd, Waza, Woohookitty, Ynhockey, 32 anonymous edits TSR, Inc.  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=374431099  Contributors: $yD!, 100110100, 23skidoo, Alan De Smet, Alefteris, Aml830, Amorrow, Andycjp, AnnaFrance, Apeloverage, Apotheon, Ashmoo, Audaciter, BOZ, Benfergy, Bforte, Bobjuch, BreathingMeat, Bryan Derksen, Bunnyhop11, Cain Mosni, CatherineMunro, Cdang, Chevinki, Chiller1800, Chris the speller, Cmdrjameson, Craw-daddy, Damian Yerrick, DavidEdwardMartin, Ddcc, Dismas, DocWatson42, Downtown dan seattle, Drilnoth, Drmike, Duncan1800, ElKevbo, Erolos, Fairsing, Fortdj33, Frecklefoot, GRuban, GentlemanGhost, Gracefool, Greenshed, Grubbiv, Gtrmp, Happy-melon, Harami2000, Heilemann, Huwmanbeing, Iceberg3k, J. Finkelstein, JLaTondre, Jbolden1517, Jeffrywith1e, Jimmylogan0916, Jonathunder, K.Nevelsteen, KathrynLybarger, Kbdank71, Kchishol1970, Keifer113, Korath, Lightmouse, LizardWizard, Lowellian, MIT Trekkie, Markkawika, Michael Dorosh, Mike Selinker, Moroboshi, Mrwojo, Narziss39, Netoholic, Odinart, OlEnglish, One, Oop, Orangemike, Percy Snoodle, Peyre, Phil Sandifer, Phlegat, Plasticup, Poulsen, Prosfilaes, Publicly Visible, Radical Mallard, RaspK FOG, Ravenhull, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Roger Pearse, SE7, STGM, SamuelTheGhost, Scott Mingus, Seankreynolds, Semichrist, Seth Ilys, Shadzar, Silly Dan, Smash, Spshu, Suffusion of Yellow, Sukael, TerokNor, The snare, Val42, Vegaswikian, Weapon X (de), Wikikittykat, Zahid Abdassabur, Zenoseiya, 92 anonymous edits Dungeons & Dragons (1974)  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=362228056  Contributors: BOZ, Drilnoth, LexCorp, 6 anonymous edits Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=364144049  Contributors: BOZ, Booksmartusa, DustFormsWords, Rjwilmsi, 11 anonymous edits

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Article Sources and Contributors Editions of Dungeons & Dragons  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=375836985  Contributors: -hh, Admiral Norton, Agamemnon2, Alan De Smet, Amatulic, Andrew McIntosh, Angr, Avador, BOZ, Baakran, Bbagot, Bedford, Bill the Cat 7, BillyTMC, Bobson, Boffob, Buccaroooo, Cadsuane Melaidhrin, CalRis25, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canonblack, CapnZapp, Captain Obvious and his crime-fighting dog, CaptainPinko, Chowbok, Ciobanica, Corti, DHBoggs, DNEP, DarkSoldier, Darklilac, David Shepheard, Dcs.trad, Delldot, Dezro, Donhoraldo, DopefishJustin, Drilnoth, DuaneVP, Ec5618, Echternacht, Eleos, ElinorD, Fairsing, Gaius Cornelius, GardmanVS, GentlemanGhost, Glaurung quena, Glynth, Gordon Ecker, Gracefool, Grithfang, Gtrmp, Hairy Dude, HalfShadow, Harami2000, Hazmunkey, IRP, Ian Pitchford, Iceberg3k, Ignissacer, Inuyasha73036, IronGargoyle, JDJarvis, Jake Wartenberg, Jauerback, Jeltz, Jfhurtado, Jlambert, Johnuniq, Kintaro, Krsont, Krychek, La Maupin, Ladril, LawfulGoodThief, Lawrence King, M4bwav, MJBurrage, MacsBug, Marasmusine, Matt Fitzpatrick, Matthew0028, Mboverload, Mike Blackney, Minaker, Mordicai, Mstuomel, MvL1234, Nazimkaraca, NotARusski, Od Mishehu, Ou tis, Pak21, Pat Payne, Pennyforth, Prosfilaes, PurplePlatypus, QASIMARA, RJHall, RJaguar3, Remurmur, Rjwilmsi, Runtime, RyokoMocha, S3000, Sdornan, Sebgiroux129, Secondary Oak, Serpent's Choice, Sfan00 IMG, Shadow1, ShadowRangerRIT, Shadzar, Shirulashem, SnowFire, SpaceLem, Spshu, Ssh83, Ssilvers, Sunborn, Sydius, Tengu99, That Guy, From That Show!, The snare, TheFarix, TheHelmedHorror, Tom W.M., Tomeoftreasures, Van der Hoorn, VentrueCapital, Vianello, Vladimirg, Wadsworth, Waza, Webwarlock, Wyatt Riot, 301 anonymous edits Dungeons & Dragons controversies  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=375231422  Contributors: A. Smith, Agamemnon2, AidanPryde, Andycjp, Apeloverage, Asarelah, Ashmoo, Atkinson 291, BOZ, BRPierce, Bakilas, Blechinacea, BreathingMeat, Calvinballing, Chowbok, Daveydweeb, Doug, Drilnoth, Fairsing, Fightin' Phillie, Finlay McWalter, Frecklefoot, Galaxiaad, Harmil, Ilkali, Ingridcita, J Milburn, JDspeeder1, Jmm6f488, Jor, Julesd, Jéské Couriano, Kshinji, Kuralyov, Lord Seth, Lowellian, Maester mensch, MightyWarrior, Moonriddengirl, Pak21, Peregrine Fisher, Peyre, QuantumEleven, RJHall, Rjwilmsi, Ryan Paddy, Satanael, Secret Saturdays, ShelfSkewed, SouthernNights, Spartan 175, Subbob, The wub, TheWizardOfAhz, Vivio Testarossa, WBardwin, Waza, Wbrice83186, Wildie, Wyatt Riot, YDK500, Zzedar, 74 anonymous edits d20 System  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=374725614  Contributors: Acewolf359, Andrewbadr, Archer904, Astudent, Avalterra, Axon, Barrok, Bryan Derksen, Burschik, CLAES, Chochopk, ColorOfSuffering, CronoDekar, Cybercobra, Cyberia23, CyborgTosser, David Shepheard, DePiep, DeadTotoro, Dmreference, Dominus, Drilnoth, Dugwiki, Dysprosia, EJVargas, Eric Shalov, FeralDruid, FeralDruid2, Frodogolem, GTBacchus, Gavin.collins, Gracefool, Gtrmp, Harmil, Iceberg3k, Ingolfson, JakkoWesterbeke, Jeremypage, Jmical, Joriki, Jzuzsrsbs, Kaszeta, Kazubon, Ken Arromdee, Knotwork, Liftarn, Longshot14, MVMosin, Manuel Anastácio, Mathman1550, Med, Michael Hopcroft, Mindmatrix, Moroboshi, Mproud, Mrdude, Mrwojo, Nave.notnilc, NeonMerlin, Netoholic, Penchantrix, Percy Snoodle, Perey, Peter Knutsen, Peter S., Piggyfreak6, Pion, Porges, Positron, PurplePlatypus, Putnik, Pz.Az.04Maus, Quadell, RJHall, RPG Nut, RadRafe, RaspK FOG, Sangrolu, Secondary Oak, Shandris, Simetrical, Siradia, Sobelk, Spiff, SpuriousQ, Ssilvers, Starwed, TAnthony, The Merciful, The9muse, Thumperward, TowerDragon, Turlo Lomon, Tznkai, Vt-aoe, WAS 4.250, Waza, WestonWyse, Windharp, Wwagner, Xompanthy, Zntrip, ²¹², 104 anonymous edits Wizards of the Coast  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=372671917  Contributors: Alan De Smet, Andrew Maiman, Annorax, Aquelajames, Arctic-Editor, Asatruer, Avador, Axl, BDD, BOZ, Barticus88, Bill the Cat 7, Bryan Derksen, Cadwal, Canadian-Bacon, CatherineMunro, Cdang, Chris the speller, Cool Hand Luke, Cornflake pirate, Craw-daddy, CronoDAS, Crystallina, DJ Samurai, Daekharel, Direkobold, DocWatson42, Downtown dan seattle, Drilnoth, EEMIV, Edward, EmmyMaven, Epsilon60198, Erebus555, Ethyr, Finn-Zoltan, Frecklefoot, FrozenPurpleCube, Funpaul, Gamma, Gary D, Gary King, Geusa2002, Ghewgill, Gorge56, Gtrmp, Hailey C. Shannon, Hephaestos, Iceberg3k, Isomorphic, It Is Me Here, JamesLucas, Jamesontai, JarlaxleArtemis, Jaytan, Jclemens, John Darrow, Jonnybone, Jpittman, Justin Bacon, Jwalker11711, Jwolfe, Katana Geldar, Kbdank71, Kedi the tramp, KramarDanIkabu, LafinJack, LiDaobing, Liftarn, Lightmouse, Like You Never Did See, Lord Hawk, Lowellian, LtPowers, Lupin, Majin Izlude, Menace64, Menchi, MidkiffAries, Mike Selinker, Millsdavid, Mrwojo, Mtesm, Ncsaint, Netoholic, NotAnonymous0, Ocram, Oliphaunt, One, Ost316, Percy Snoodle, Plasticup, Poccil, Postdlf, Radiant!, Remurmur, ReyBrujo, Rich Farmbrough, Roberto999, Robofish, Roninbk, Ruakh, Ruinfix, San de Berg, SandyGeorgia, Saruoh, Sean Whitton, Seinfreak37, Semichrist, SentientGolem, Sesu Prime, Shadzar, Shortride, Simetrical, SkeezerPumba, Skittleys, Slordak, SparqMan, SportsMaster, Squids and Chips, Tezero, TheMadjai, Thumperward, Titoxd, Vranak, Waza, Wdflake, WhisperToMe, Wikiaholic, Wxlfsr, Ynhockey, Yoghurt, Zaphraud, 73 anonymous edits Open Game License  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=342798840  Contributors: 0x539, 100110100, AnonEMouse, Apeloverage, Axl, Axlq, Axon, Azathar, Baakran, Bart133, Bblackmoor, Bevo, Bonadea, C.Fred, Ccoff27, Cmdrjameson, Craw-daddy, Darktemplar, Dave314159, Diavosh, Diego Moya, Drilnoth, Dugwiki, Eliyak, Enkrates, Everyking, Ezrafan, Gavin.collins, Guyjohnston, J3ff, Kingpaul, Liftarn, LilHelpa, Mike Selinker, Mrwojo, OS2Warp, Open2universe, Pd THOR, Peregrine Fisher, Publicly Visible, RJHall, Rray, Shadzar, Shirulashem, Thumperward, Virak, Waza, Webwarlock, WikHead, Wile E. Heresiarch, Xezbeth, 29 anonymous edits Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=265162194  Contributors: 100110100, Abductive, Admiral Norton, Alan De Smet, Altenmann, AndyBQ, Angel Black, BOZ, CapnZapp, Damuna, Dejvid, Dp76764, Drilnoth, EEMIV, Ec5618, Eekerz, Fairsing, Gordon Ecker, GusChiggins21, HogansIslander, Ifrit, Johnnyfog, Jéské Couriano, Luigifan, Maianess, Mboverload, Muhandes, NeonMerlin, NotARusski, OrangeDog, R'n'B, RJHall, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Savant13, Shadzar, SnowFire, Spellmaster, StarSword, Steven3x, Sukael, Svick, Technolust, Thiseye, TowerDragon, Tsukatu, Zzedar, 60 anonymous edits Character class (Dungeons & Dragons)  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=376067452  Contributors: AndyBQ, Antiochcow, ArqMage, BOZ, Baba Jaga, Bill the Cat 7, Bob rulz, CapnZapp, Chenhsi, Comicsubversion, DESiegel, Diego Garza, Ec5618, Esrever, Felliax08, Gordon Ecker, Green-Dragon, Grudgekeyper, Heinrich k, Iridescent, 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Love, JHunterJ, JNighthawk, Jeanenawhitney, Jeffrywith1e, Jkaharper, Jonathunder, K.Nevelsteen, Kaszeta, Kbdank71, Kinnerc, LarRan, Lightmouse, Llarna B, Lonely Atom, Lotje, Lupin, Martarius, Mayumashu, Monegasque, Mrwojo, NeonMerlin, Nietzsche 2, NorthernThunder, Nv8200p, Paul S, Percy Snoodle, Phatom87, Plasticup, Postcard Cathy, RFD, RGTraynor, RJHall, RegentsPark, Rich Farmbrough, Scalasaig, Shsilver, SlimXero, Slinga, Snowmanradio, SriMesh, Supersquid, Theraring, ValarClan, Varianor, WWGB, Walloon, Waza, Yaevin, Yamara, Yvh11a, Zyxw, 119 anonymous edits Ed Greenwood  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=371556373  Contributors: Al Lemos, BOZ, BatiZizu, Bearcat, Boing! said Zebedee, Calliopejen1, D6, Dpmcalister, Drilnoth, Ephealy, Erolos, Fjl, FrozenPurpleCube, Garion96, Garret Beaumain, Goododa, Goshopium, J JMesserly, JHunterJ, JLaTondre, Jack Merridew, JarlaxleArtemis, Jontveit, Karl-Henner, KarmaInferno, Ltnublet, MW Turnage, Martin Majer, Minesweeper, Mpj17, Nv8200p, O Love, Ozgod, Penwhale, Peter Greenwell, Quadell, RJHall, RSStockdale, Rangek, RedJ 17, Rjwilmsi, Ruinfix, Schneelocke, Shalom Yechiel, Squashua, Trixt, Vgranucci, Wassupwestcoast, Wavy G, Wendell, 54 anonymous edits Monte Cook  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=352748211  Contributors: AlexTiefling, BOZ, Bedford, CyborgTosser, DavidHolden, Erolos, Grimbones, Gtrmp, Julesd, Kbdank71, Matt-M-McElroy, Merganser86, Mike Selinker, Moegopher, NeonMerlin, Nilmerg, Pooji Dung, PurplePlatypus, Rjwilmsi, Robbstrd, Robofish, Rray, Semichrist, SimonP, Sstaunb,

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Article Sources and Contributors TheLoneAmigo, Wendell, Yaevin, 31 anonymous edits Jonathan Tweet  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=375391310  Contributors: Asatruer, Ashmoo, Azalin Rex, BOZ, Direkobold, Docu, Drilnoth, Dysprosia, Foondar, Gimboid13, Gtrmp, Kniedzw, Mattbrundage, Mike Selinker, Mrwojo, Percy Snoodle, Rich Farmbrough, Robofish, Rray, Salsb, Semichrist, Shadzar, Tirwhan, Xhin, Yaevin, Zoicon5, 16 anonymous edits Skip Williams  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=374970008  Contributors: Aquelajames, Asatruer, Ashlov71, Aydee, BOZ, Bobby Freedom, Caerwine, Canageek, Cbj77, David3434, Falphin, Frecklefoot, Guyphillips, JarlaxleArtemis, Jayjg, JoshuaZ, Kbdank71, Martarius, Mike Selinker, Mirudus, Pegship, Percy Snoodle, PurplePlatypus, Robbstrd, Robofish, Rpyle731, Rray, Ryulong, Semichrist, TheFarix, Thw1309, Ulric1313, Wendell, Wrathchild, Yaevin, 23 anonymous edits Dungeon Master's Guide  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=355642471  Contributors: 87Fan, Alan De Smet, Avador, BOZ, Big Bird, Buddpaul, Dr Fell, Drilnoth, Dukeofomnium, Ec5618, ElinorD, Fairsing, Frecklefoot, Grunt, Gtrmp, Gunslinger47, Hairy Dude, Hetar, Hyju, Livajo, Marasmusine, Mark5677, Mathardy, Mgoter, Mindmatrix, Mozkill, Muchness, Oxymoron83, Pegship, PigFlu Oink, RJHall, Rjwilmsi, Scid, Sderose, Serpent's Choice, Vampyrecat, Vgranucci, Waza, Webwarlock, Werideatdusk33, 41 anonymous edits Player's Handbook  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=373919151  Contributors: 2pac 2007, After Midnight, Alan De Smet, AndyBQ, BOZ, Ben Standeven, Carrywatch, Download, Drilnoth, Ec5618, Fairsing, Frecklefoot, GnomeNinja5, Gordon Ecker, Gracefool, Gtrmp, Hairy Dude, HarryHenryGebel, Hetar, Itub, JarlaxleArtemis, LtPowers, Nancy.cain, NeonMerlin, Pak21, Pakaran, Pegship, RJHall, RTChambers, RedWolf, Rjwilmsi, Sebgiroux129, Serpent's Choice, Smcmillan, Tassedethe, That Guy, From That Show!, TheFarix, TheHelmedHorror, Veledan, Volkai, Waza, Webwarlock, Werideatdusk33, WildElf, Yellwsub, Yuefairchild, 57 anonymous edits Monster Manual  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=374943288  Contributors: Alan De Smet, Anetode, Ange Noir, Ashmoo, BOZ, Brianga, CRGreathouse, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Casliber, Charles Matthews, Chris the speller, Coffeezombie, DocDragon, DocWatson42, Doktor Treet P. 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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Newdndlogo.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Newdndlogo.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 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Sutherland III Image:D&D Game 1.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:D&D_Game_1.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Philip Mitchell Image:Commons-logo.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Commons-logo.svg  License: logo  Contributors: User:3247, User:Grunt Image:Wiktionary-logo-en.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wiktionary-logo-en.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Brion VIBBER Image:Wikibooks-logo-en.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikibooks-logo-en.svg  License: logo  Contributors: User:Bastique, User:Ramac Image:Tsr logo GK.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_GK.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Alan De Smet, Drilnoth, Yamara Image:Tsr logo game wizards.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_game_wizards.png  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Alan De Smet Image:Tsr logo lizardfolk.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_lizardfolk.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Alan De Smet Image:Tsr logo wizard.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_wizard.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Alan De Smet Image:Tsr logo lines.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_lines.png  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Alan De Smet Image:Tsr logo gold disc.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tsr_logo_gold_disc.png  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Alan De Smet Image:D&d original.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:D&d_original.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: BOZ, Drilnoth, Gracefool, Justin Bacon, Melesse, Rindis, Salavat, Sfan00 IMG, Skier Dude, 2 anonymous edits Image:AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AD&D_2nd_Edition_Player's_Handbook.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Fairsing, Gracefool, MrDolomite, Robbstrd, Sfan00 IMG, ShakespeareFan00 Image:DungeonMasterGuide2e-RCover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DungeonMasterGuide2e-RCover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Fairsing Image:MonsterManual-v35-Cover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MonsterManual-v35-Cover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Original cover art by Henry Higginbotham Image:Occult dnd.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Occult_dnd.png  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Cydebot, User:Haukurth, User:Nihiltres, User:Redddogg, User:Robbstrd Image:Wizards of the Coast logo.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wizards_of_the_Coast_logo.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: Like You Never Did See Image:Peter Adkison-2007.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Peter_Adkison-2007.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5  Contributors: User:Alan De Smet file:Gary Gygax Gen Con 2007.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gary_Gygax_Gen_Con_2007.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: Alan De Smet file:Portal.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Portal.svg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: User:Bitplane, User:Pepetps Image:Gen Con Indy 2008 - Gary Gygax memorials 04.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gen_Con_Indy_2008_-_Gary_Gygax_memorials_04.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: User:Alan De Smet, User:Piotrus file:Dave Arneson.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dave_Arneson.png  License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5  Contributors: Original uploader was Alan De Smet at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by ValarClan at en.wikipedia. File:Gary Gygax Gen Con 2007.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gary_Gygax_Gen_Con_2007.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: Alan De Smet file:Ed Greenwood.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ed_Greenwood.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0  Contributors: Claire H. from New York City, USA Image:DungeonMastersGuide-v35-Cover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DungeonMastersGuide-v35-Cover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Original cover art by ? 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Sutherland III Image:FiendFolioCover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:FiendFolioCover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Bender235, DarkFalls, Fairsing, Frecklefoot, Grey Shadow, Melesse, Robbstrd, Sfan00 IMG, ShakespeareFan00, Template namespace initialisation script, 1 anonymous edits Image:Fiend folio v35 cover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fiend_folio_v35_cover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs (game designer)James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matt Sernett, Chris Thomasson, James Wyatt (game designer)James Wyatt File:UnearthedOld.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UnearthedOld.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Gary Gygax File:Unearthed_Arcana_coverthumb.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Unearthed_Arcana_coverthumb.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Andy Collins (game designer)Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan (game designer)David Noonan, and Rich Redman Image:Oriental Adventures coverthumb.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Oriental_Adventures_coverthumb.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: BaronTaltos, Skier Dude, 1 anonymous edits Image:WotC Greyhawk.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WotC_Greyhawk.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors File:Ed Greenwood.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ed_Greenwood.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0  Contributors: Claire H. from New York City, USA Image:WotC Eberron.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WotC_Eberron.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Image:Eberron cs book cover.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Eberron_cs_book_cover.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: RJHall, 1 anonymous edits

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License Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/

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