So You Want to Play D&D

Dungeons & Dragons. Everyone knows the name, and it’s becoming more popular. Possibly even mainstream. You can even buy one of a few different starter sets at Target. But for some of us, D&D has been a part of our lives for a long time. I personally have been playing some version of D&D, not to mention other tabletop roleplaying games, since the mid 1980’s, and I can say that it has been a trip watching my life long hobby become more and more recognized. So assuming that with my 30ish years of experience I might have some ideas, I thought I’d put this out to help people who might be interested in trying roleplaying out. Today I want to talk about systems (specifically D&D systems).

System

I’m going to delve into other roleplaying systems in another article, but for now, let’s just look at D&D. Easy right? Well...not so much. There are several versions of D&D that, believe it or not, are still being played concurrently today. So here is my quick rundown of each edition:

1974 | LBB (Little Brown Books) Original Dungeons & Dragons

Put out a few years before I was born and based off of a tabletop wargame called Chainmail, this edition was reportedly based off of a campaign that was created by Gary Gygax et. al. allowing others to focus on a single character and grow them through several levels by adventuring, particularly by descending into dungeons, for the first time. I never got to play this version personally, and while I have a nice set of reproductions, I don’t know that I would try. I’ve read the books, Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, and while it was fun to see where it all began, I will say that layout, brevity, and conciseness has definitely improved over the years, even as the amount of content and information has grown.

Play it if you want to see where things began, and if you want to handwave, or as we say in tabletop roleplaying, DM fiat a lot of rules as you play. Sadly I checked Amazon and other sites and couldn’t find a legitimate way to purchase this classic system.

1977/1995 | Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons (Basic)

So yeah, for a while one D&D wasn’t enough, and we had Basic D&D (sometimes known as Holmes, Moldvay, or Mentzer depending upon which edition you had) and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (with a 1st and 2nd edition). Surprisingly if you read into the books there was a bit of cross compatibility here, and I recall at the time going back and forth between my Moldvay & Cook, Mentzer Red Box, and 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D books with relative ease. Of course back then my campaigns were fairly basic, but thankfully the stats and rules were pretty malleable. Importantly, this is the period in which a lot of the campaign settings were created that long time fans love and new players will surely hear about (and which many continue on today). Settings such as The Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Planescape, and my personal favorite, Dark Sun. Of those named only The Forgotten Realms is currently published as a continuing setting. The main difference between Basic and Advanced D&D is rules density. Basic is, as one would expect, pretty basic. Advanced adds more fiddly bits to the frame that exists in Basic. For example one of the biggest differences is Race as Class (Basic) vs. Race and Class (Advanced). There are of course many more, but as I said, both have the same bones.

Play Basic if you want a more simple, streamlined version of 70’s to 80’s D&D (I would suggest Moldvay). If you want more bits and bobs go for Advanced (I would suggest 1st over 2nd personally). Amazon has some limited edition reprints of Advanced that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) put out in the 00’s, and for PDFs or print on demand versions you really should check out Drivethrurpg.

2000/2003 | Dungeons & Dragons (3rd Edition, v3.5)

The year of 2000 proclaimed there shall only be one D&D, and it was good. This was the edition that I played the most, and it helped form my home group that I largely continue to play with today. This system, and it’s revision not long after into 3.5, is really what led to roleplaying entering more firmly into the public eye, in my opinion. More than a simple new edition, 3rd changed a lot of the rules while keeping much of the lore (except my poor doggo kobolds) the same. Here is the first unified system in D&D, where many of the rolls hinge on one die, the d20, and hence, with the additional creation of the Open Gaming License (OGL), the d20 System was born, and the floodgates of third party supplements and even whole third party games (looking at you Pathfinder) opened. It’s because of the OGL that much of the gaming landscape is the way it is today, including the OSR or Old School Renaissance movement and the games that continue to come from it. I’m sure I’ll talk about some of those in the future.

On its own 3rd Edition was a nice upgrade, with tight rules, and while a bit more gamey than the earlier editions, it was still very easy to hourerule and handwave to your liking. The system, while unified, could become fiddly as much as Advanced, but over all a lot of the math was easier to process (see THAC0, or Descending vs. Ascending Armor Class).

Also of note is that WotC held a contest during this period to create the newest setting for D&D. Eberron, an excellent magic heavy, steam punkish setting was the result, and is still being used today.

Play 3rd edition (or v.3.5) if you want a more unified system with a large amount of supplements still available for purchase. You may have to get the core books (or the holy trinity, Players’ Guide, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monsters Manual) second hand, but they are still out there, and much cheaper than older editions.

2008/2010 | Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition, Essentials)

Now this is the contentious one. There are people that love 4th edition, and people that hate it. There are few, like me, in between. I played it a bit in some local game stores, my home group didn’t meet much during this time and weren’t too into it anyway. I feel like the lead designers were trying to get the feel from a lot of action rpg video games of the time, and it gave the system, still largely similar to 3rd edition, a more immediate, fast, yet less narrative feeling. With ability cooldowns, plug and play power sets, resource management like survival days and healing surges, and other similar systems it definitely felt more like you were roll playing and not roleplaying. That isn’t to say that storytelling and roleplaying couldn’t be injected into the game, and many, myself included, did just that, but in all honestly 4th edition was more a tactical wargame than a roleplaying game. More video game than narrative game. I had fun with it, but if it means anything to you, it is the only edition of D&D that is not currently sitting on my bookshelf (having been auctioned off at one of my game store’s used gaming auctions), barring the Gamma World boxed set based off the same system (I just love Gamma World).

Play 4th edition, or Essentials, if you like board games, video games, and tactical wargames. The good thing being that it is still largely available from various sources.

2014 | Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

The circle is now complete. Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the current, readily available rules set, is arguably a move to bring some of the spirit from earlier editions back to the property. While continuing to use the unified system introduced in 3rd edition, and despite a lot of the same veneer of lore, there are new rules and modifications of older ones that move the system forward from previous editions. An interesting angle that is presented in 5th edition is the focus more on rules as tool box, and a lot of discussion in the books, the core books at least, talk about “take this” and “leave that” much more than previous editions do, and I think that is more of a reflection of the time, as you see this approach in many other roleplaying games as well. I’ve run 5th edition fairly extensively and I can tell you that it, somehow, is easier to run than more crunchy editions (3rd and 4th I’m looking at you) and older more ethereal systems (OD&D, Basic, and Advanced). I’m certain I’m biased, and maybe it has something to do with my years of experience, but in my opinion it’s just smoother. That being said, like any edition of any roleplaying game, it has some issues. But this is both the most concise and the most full version of D&D to date, and not surprising considering 40 years of play and development.

Play 5th edition if you want to play the most recent and most supported version of D&D. You can easily find starter sets and core books both online and in brick and mortar stores, and if you like you can download the Basic Rules of 5th edition for free!

Bottom line

If you are interested, welcome to the hobby, and whatever you choose to play, just play. Grab some friends, grab some dice, and make some stories. Trust me, it’s fun. I’ve been doing it for over 30 years. With the options out of the way, next time I’ll talk more about being a Player. See you soon.