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Tag Archives: Gary Gygax
The True Story of the Cthulhu and Elric Sections Removed from Deities & Demigods
Just a couple of years after its release, the original Deities & Demigods from 1980 became legend. The first copies included sections featuring the Melnibonéan mythos from the Elric stories by Michael Moorcock and the Cthulhu mythos from the tales … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged Chaosium, Fritz Leiber, Gary Gygax, Greg Stafford, H. P. Lovecraft, James Ward, Lynn Willis, Michael Moorcock, Sandy Petersen, Steve Perrin, TSR
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14 Comments
Should a Dungeon Master Invite Players to Help Create the D&D World Beyond Their Characters?
In 1970, Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson joined the Castles & Crusades Society, a group of miniature gamers formed by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. The group imagined a Great Kingdom and parceled out territories to players to develop for … Continue reading →
How to Use the Players’ Metagaming to Mess With Their Heads (and Improve Your Game)
In the original Dungeon Master’s Guide, Dungeon & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax suggested speeding overcautious players by rolling “huge handfuls of dice” to raise fears of nearby monsters. Of course, the characters in the game world never hear the die … Continue reading →
Why Gary Gygax Added Unrealistic Hit Points, Funny Dice, and Descending AC to D&D
In 1972, Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson introduced his Blackmoor campaign to co-creator Gary Gygax. The campaign stemmed from Gary’s Chainmail rules, but Dave’s game transformed the rules for miniature-figure battles into something new and irresistible—something that broadly resembled … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged Blackmoor, Combat, Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, hit points, Jon Peterson, polyhedral dice, realism
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12 Comments
The Tangled Origins of D&D’s Armor Class, Hit Points, and Twenty-Sided Die Rolls To-Hit
In 1977, when I first read the Dungeon & Dragons basic rules, the way armor class improved as it shrunk from 9 to 2 puzzled me. Shouldn’t higher numbers be better? Players just used AC to find a row on … Continue reading →
The Game-Design Trends That Turned D&D Into a Game Gary Gygax Disliked
The second edition of Dungeons & Dragons that reached gamers probably stayed close to the edition co-creator Gary Gygax might have designed. But later, Gary would say, “In my estimation second-edition AD&D began to lose the spirit of the original.” … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged D&D second edition, Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, Mike Mearls
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18 Comments
How Much Would Gary Gygax’s Second-Edition D&D Have Differed From the Version That Reached Gamers?
In 1985, Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax shared his plans for a new, second edition in Dragon magazine. Even as his column reached print, Gary was forced out of TSR, ending his work on D&D. This left D&D fans … Continue reading →
Gary Gygax’s Thwarted Plans for Second-Edition Dungeons & Dragons
In 1985, D&D co-creator Gary Gygax wrote a column for Dragon magazine describing his plans for a second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. “This task does not preclude later supplements, changes and yet new editions (a Third, perhaps a … Continue reading →
Posted in Role-playing game history
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Tagged D&D second edition, Gary Gygax, James Maliszewski, monk, psionics, skills, TSR, Unearthed Arcana
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8 Comments
Four Ways the New D&D Adventurers League Rules Reshape the Campaign, and One Way They Don’t
The new Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League campaign rules change treasure from a prize for looting to an award for the real hours players spend pursuing an adventure’s goal. This change aims to reward more styles of play, to balance … Continue reading →
Unfrozen DMs, Annoying Spells, Dynamic Battles, and More Insights from the Comment Section
Time for another trip to the comment section. The unfrozen dungeon master In The Plight of the Unfrozen Dungeon Master, I wrote about DMs returning to Dungeons & Dragons and adapting the changes in the way folks play the game. … Continue reading →
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