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Tag Archives: Gary Gygax
Turning Character Deaths in D&D Into Deals that Benefit Game and Story
A few years ago, I heard someone suggest what I then considered the worst bit of roleplaying game advice ever: Let players choose whether to allow their characters to die. Except, hear me out, maybe something like that could work. … Continue reading →
Posted in Advice, Role-playing game design
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Tagged death, Fate RPG, Gary Gygax, Stars Without Number, storytelling
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20 Comments
How Character Death Lands D&D in a Tug-of-War Between Game and Story
Character death has always torn Dungeons & Dragons between game and story. The threat of death makes the game exciting, but actual death brings a character’s story to an unsatisfying end that can disrupt a campaign. Without characters facing the … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game design, Role-playing game history
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Tagged D&D Championship, Dave Arneson, death, Gary Gygax, raise dead, reincarnation, storytelling
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10 Comments
8 Fast Facts About D&D’s Magic Missile Spell
1. Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax introduced the Magic Missile spell in the original game’s first supplement, Greyhawk (1975). “This is a conjured missile equivalent to a magic arrow, and it does full damage (2-7 points) to any creature … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history, Rules
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Tagged Gary Gygax, Greyhawk, J. Eric Holmes, Jeremy Crawford, magic missile, spells
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5 Comments
How Dungeons & Dragons Got Its Ability Scores
The earliest character sheet for the game that inspired Dungeons & Dragons includes 8 character traits: Brains, Looks, Credibility, Sex, Health, Strength, Courage, and Cunning. The character comes from Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign, which launched in 1971. See A History … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged ability scores, Blackmoor, Chainmail, cleric, D.H. Boggs, Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, Greyhawk, Jon Peterson, Mike Carr
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3 Comments
Secret D&D Games, Sharpshooters, Baby Orcs, and More From the DM David’s Comment Section
Time for another visit to the comment section. At the end, one reader tells a true story of how the Satanic panic drove a group’s Dungeons & Dragons games into secret, and what happened when concerned citizens learned of the … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Adventurers League, assassin, Bruce Cordell, Dave Arneson, Dead Gods, Deities & Demigods, Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, ecology, Far Realm, Fez, Freedom, Gary Gygax, Gates of Firestorm Keep, greatest adventures, hit points, moral dilemmas, Planescape, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, realism, Ruins of Castle Greyhawk, Satanic panic, Sharpshooter, Steve Townshend, Teos Abadia, THAC0, thief, Thomas Christy, Throne of Bloodstone, Tomb of Annihilation, Vecna Lives!
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7 Comments
A Butcher, a Baker, and Naughty Nannies in D&D’s First Setting Book: City State of the Invincible Overlord
In December of 1975, TSR had yet to publish any Dungeons & Dragons setting information other than the hints published in the Grayhawk and Blackmoor supplements. Blackmoor’s Temple of the Frog qualified as the only published adventure, although the armies … Continue reading →
Queen of the Demonweb Pits Opened Dungeons & Dragons to the Planes
In Dragon magazine issue 8, published July 1977, Gary Gygax proposed the Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, a great wheel of planes surrounding the prime material. The existence of infinite planes “will vastly expand the potential of all campaigns which adopt … Continue reading →
19 Adventures in the Running for 10 Greatest Adventures Since 1985
For my list of the 10 greatest adventures since 1985, nominations, reviews, and reputation led me to consider many more excellent adventures than fit a list of 10. Today’s post reveals the adventures that fell short of my 10 greatest, … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged Aaron Allston, Bill Slavicsek, Bruce Cordell, Carl Sargent, Chris Perkins, City of Skulls, City of the Spider Queen, Cloud Giant's Bargain, Creighton Broadhurst, Dark Sun, David Zeb Cook, Dawn of the Overmind, Dead in Thay, Die Vecna Die!, Dungeon magazine, Ed Greenwood, Forge of Fury, Forgotten Realms, Gary Gygax, greatest adventures, Greyhawk, James Wyatt, Ken Rolston, Kevin Kulp, Logan Bonner, Merchant House of Amketch, Monte Cook, Night Below, Night of the Walking Dead, Planescape, Ravenloft, Reavers of Harkenwold, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Richard Baker, Ruins of Undermountain, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Teos Abadia, The Slaying Stone, Treasure Hunt, Vecna Lives!, Will Doyle, Wizards of the Coast
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5 Comments
Why Did So Many Classic Adventures Come From 7 Years of D&D’s 45-Year History?
When Dungeons & Dragons fans rate adventures, the ones published early get the most accolades. In 2004, Dungeon magazine listed the greatest adventures of all time. Of 30 adventures, 20 came from 1985 or earlier. TSR started publishing adventures in … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged Gary Gygax, greatest adventures, Teos Abadia, TSR
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21 Comments
Why Dungeon & Dragons Dropped Assassins and Renamed Thieves
Why did D&D’s second edition drop assassins and its third edition change thieves to rogues? Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged assassin, barbarian, D&D Encounters, David Zeb Cook, Gary Gygax, rogue, Steve Winter, thief
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76 Comments
