PDA

View Full Version : Why I Roam The Dungeons and Why You Should As Well



TheZin
2007-12-18, 10:32 PM
Hello, I'm don't post here often enough but I would like to thank the community for being what it is. I play dnd and Star Wars whenever I can but this forum along with the comics are super and tops. Definetly the place the get help or info on dice-games and just to read up fun quotes, stories and whatever else you want, you know?

So, I'd just like to say that I was bored this fine evening and I decided to write a short story type thing about dungeons and dragons and I hope that you won't mind if I post it here because it's about DnD and just what I think it is. I'm not by far an experienced player so it's kind of difficult to think that I could give an accurate description of the world that is dnd but I'm hoping I did alright. Any criticism is well appreciated.

Why I Roam The Dungeons

Questions I'm going to pretend I've been asked a lot recently are 'what exactly is dnd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnd) or Dungeons and Dragons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons)?' and 'why would that be interesting?' - actually I've just been told 'that's just lame' or 'that's stupid'. Now to just answer the last two statements, it's my own damn choice, it's not about dressing up and pretending to be a wizard, warrior or whatever but about hanging out with friends, eating, drinking and, well, yes pretending to be wizards, warriors and whatever(s) - hey, it's just holding onto the kid inside and having fun with friends, you can't blame me for that. But I digress so here's me going back onto the subject. Well to put it simply (and to get it over with in one sentence) it's a role-playing game with dice. That's about it, actually. However, if you wish, you may read more.

Ah, so you actually want to learn more or you're just really bored. I'm going to assume the first to better my own self-esteem. Where do I begin?

I have to warn you that I won't go into any details about how rolling the different dice affects the game or how many health-points ogres, kobolds or dragons have. I'm just trying to give you a hint of what the game might be but if you absolutely want to know what gameplay is like then you might as well skip to the end although I still won't explain any dice logics and I think the bits in between are also very helpful. Oh, and for the love of god don't judge the game by my sorry excuse of a description - you need to at least see if not play a session before you can judge it.

A bit of history perhaps? Well, it all began in 1974 when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson scribbled down some rules to a game that they used to play with some friends. Those were derived from war-games that had very very complex rules (think chess but with every little piece having a variety of ways to hurt any of the other pieces). Now, these rules allowed for people to create their own characters with personalities and history. The term role-players is the best description simply because you are actually playing the role of someone else, often enough, fictional. These rules have evolved greatly during the past 30 or so years and have been the source of much enjoyment for a very very large group of individuals all around the world but the main points have remained the same. These being:


Have fun.
Do stuff you'd normally be afraid of.
Include friends and become closer.
Enjoy yourself as much as possible.
Do it people you feel comfortable around.
Have fun.


And I can't overstate the first and last points because the game really has no point if you're playing it and you're absolutely hating it.


So, what exactly is dnd? Like I said, it's a role-playing game and trying to explain all the rules is rather tricky if not impossible but I'll try to give a quick overview of the important bits. A normal game involves but is not limited to players (group [party]), a game master (or dungeon master ), a table, dice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice#non-cubical_dice), time and a roof over your head would be suggestible as well but I suppose outdoor games could be fun.
A game with a story is referred to as a session. A story, however, isn't limited to one session because certain stories take a long time to tell, it's just the way the game has been built up. If these sessions involve the same storyline and none/most of the players don't lose interest [this usually doesn't happen if the guy running the game [dungeon master / DM] is good] then this string of games is called a campaign.
There are some campaigns that last three or four sessions. The group of people [party] may change its members, the dm may change but there are groups that have never changed and have been playing the same campaign [and are still at it] for twelve years - that's saying something.

How it starts? For one, someone you know has somehow got his hands on the core rulebooks: Players Handbook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player%27s_Handbook) [PHb], Dungeon Master's Guide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master%27s_Guide) [DMG] and Monster Manual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Manual) [MM] [these are books that give you the structure and basic rules for the game and are a great help to beginners but a good player who knows the rules can be as good and usually a lot more interesting], you can always make up your own rules but trust me, when I say that these books or a person who has played the game can help, a lot. If you ask around, you'll probably find someone who has these books or knows someone who does so you don't have to spend money on them yourself because they can be rather expensive.

Once you have the rulebook or someone who knows how the game works you'll need people to play it with. These two points are equally important because as a group the game will more likely last longer. Usually it is easier to go into a group that has already been playing together for a while because:
a) people who play are usually friendly toward newcomers and know that it's hard being a beginner and as such tend to be helpful.
b) groups who play together can always function even if you don't like the game or the particular game that the group is playing doesn't suit you.
c) more people means more fun although the suggested max is about 4 to 6 people but bigger groups are fine and nice too as long as your DM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master) can handle it or the game doesn't go stale.
but you don't need any people with experience if you're really interested but, I find it helps if you're with people who know the game so you can pick up on many things more easily - but maybe I'm just weak-willed, go ahead, learn the game alone or with your friends and start playing, nobody's stopping you but do tell me how it went.






What the hell is a DM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master) [[i]Dee-Emm]? A Dungeon Master is basically the storyteller. Imagine the game being a story, an interactive one. Instead of reading about the actions of characters you get to decide how, what, why, with whom, after which and how hard they are going to try and do something. The Dungeon Master is the guy who fills up all the gaps before, in between and after your character's actions. He makes up the adventure and the story - maps are often enough involved. Beginners might find it easier to get their hands on predesigned adventures - stories that have the main plots and its twists written down along side maps, graphs, pictures and descriptions. This is not to say that you can't just take the idea and form it into your own. This game is all about the freedom - the freedom to do anything you can think of or anything you want to. But there are certain unwritten rules that I'll talk about just a bit later in the players section.

The DM has the responsibility of keeping all the players happy and interested. The last one is more important because even if you're not happy about the way the game is you still want your character to succeed. Now this doesn't mean giving the players whatever they want because that would be too easy. It has to be challenging but not too hard. Fun, yet not absurd. Conventional, but not a repetition of a repetition of a repetition.

Usually games are on a scale between role-playing and combat. Because the world of dungeons and dragons is medieval-ish there are no guns (although there are plenty of RPGs that take place in modern times or even long into the future, it's all about finding your cup of tea, the games can happen in different settings altogether [think everything from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer to Star Wars to Diskworld]) however there is magic which makes a big difference. Again, I'm slowly drifting away from the subject at hand. Because there are swords and magic, combat is much more thrilling than just slashing away at some ogre or some other creature. On the other side of things there is roleplaying, which I suppose is intertwined into every game but the main point is some games may focus more on the combat i.e. attacking a large fortress on a hill with a small group of people (your party) against a massive army or a fierce cannibal fire-breathing gnome or whatever the DM can imagine basically while on the other hand some games may just be about solving a mystery or playing out your character as best as you can.

I know some DMs, that insist that when you, for example, describe how you make a stupid face to catch the attention of some bartender or shop-keep that you actually make the face and the DM judges this face and tells you if the shopkeep or bartender is actually distracted or just disturbed. Now although this may seem stupid the truth is that when the DM calls upon the imagination of players the whole group remembers this - it's something funny, something unique, something special. I can't really explain this but most groups have plenty of inside-jokes that absolutely nobody else will ever get because they just weren't there. I'll get to gameplay in a second this part's really important. Every experience unites the party, the players, the people and makes the game that much more exciting and fascinating. It has to be fun, that's still the point. You can play the game with absolutely absurd rules, the storyline can be utter crap and the people involved can have the combined IQ of a piece of purified wax as long as it's fun, everything is fine. If you and the others enjoy it, nobody else has to understand even a tiny granule of what's going on, I'm sorry but that's the way it is. Perhaps this is one of the reasons people who play the game are often looked upon a bit strangely.

Who can be the players? The simple answer is anyone. It really is, because as long as you enjoy the activity it really isn't important who you are. If you don't ruin the experience for someone else so much the better.

How can I play? Well, it all starts with the setup, once you have the players, the dm, the story, all you need to do is get together and decide who you want to be. During the first game this can take anywhere from 30 minutes if you have already decided amongst your group up to three hours for first time players OR when you just want to talk to the group about how to balance the party out so you don't have too many sword-wielders and have a lack of healers, magic-users or archers. It all depends because character creation is probably the most difficult part in setting up a game. I can ease your mind by saying that you only have to do this once unless you kill your character and decide to make another one - that's right, you don't have to play the same guy forever and ever and ever. As a DM you also have to worry about the storyline and all the challenges but as a player the hardest bit is usually making up a person you want to portray. Some people go as far as thinking up a novel-like background for their character up to their second-grade crushes and favourite pair of sandals but it's their own choice and only adds to the game.

As a general rule it helps to know what kind of neighborhood your character comes from and what his world-views are. That is to say, if your guy/gal is a knight, a peasant, a monk, a demi-god, a priest, an high-elf with a huge bow and shiny shoes AND if he is morally good, neutral or evil and if he sees the world as being chaotic, neutral or lawful. This last option is called alignment (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Alignment) - it basically explains how your character would act in certain situations. For example (and this may be COMPLETELY off so you're better off just reading about it in the wiki): your character grabs two ropes and then realizes that on one end there is a box with the most powerful weapon ever created that would plunge into the depths of hell if he let go and on the other there is the most purest and innocent babies and someone who would bring about world piece hanging over a very very steep cliff with very very pointy rocks at the bottom. You can only hold onto one of the ropes because otherwise they would both slip.

If you were lawful good you would pretty much have to choose the baby, otherwise you would be acting against your moral values.
On the other hand if you were lawful evil you would choose the gold because logically you could do a lot more with it and you don't really care about the kid.

Chaotic Evil/Neutral/Good could slip either way although evil would probably prefer letting go of the baby and good slips more towards saving the kid.

Neutral neutral might just let go of both and ponder about life. It's all rather complex but to break it down.

Evil - you act evil
Good - you act good

Chaotic - you do whatever you want when you want it
Lawful - you follow your principles and more importantly you have principles.

Neutral / Neutral means that you can tip either way.








What does a game usually look like? Usually? Well, it looks like a bunch of people sitting around a table rolling some dice and talking. That's it actually. The DM describes the situation the players are in and on most cases presents them with a problem or quest to solve and as is the tradition the players accept because it's just one of those unwritten rules. This is a pretty stupid description but it honestly is what it looks like.

That's it, the end. You can leave and head back out into the Internet or perhaps you would like to know what it's actually like when you're a player? Sound good? OK.

Every person is always trying to think where the story could take their characters and how their character would react, how they could outwit the dungeon master, because often enough this is possible. He or she is after all only human. In every situation you have to remember that your character is not you - it's not the physical player sitting at the table with lots of people and dice and probably soft-drinks and chips it's some worn-down hero or a stylish rouge or a battle-scarred orc barbarian. This is why the game works - you have to be someone else. Place yourself in someone else's shoes. It's logical that you can't act like someone else 100% at all times but if you try then that is what makes the game fun.

The most important thing, aside from having fun, is that you have keep it believable. This doesn't mean that your character can't do something amazing and supernatural it just has to make sense. You're playing the character - he isn't playing you and he isn't you. He doesn't know the things you do. Top-Tip: Using information that your character doesn't know or couldn't possibly understand or comprehend is called METAGAMING - this is most often frowned upon and can ruin the game if it's used excessivly.

As a player you have to understand that players are different, stories are different and even though the rulebooks are the same, even the rules can differ. This is actually referred to as rule #0 - CHECK WITH YOUR DUNGEON MASTER. The Dungeon Master uses to rules the make the game - the rules don't make the game, although they help.

So, what can I say besides good luck and have fun? Nothing that cool actually. There are plenty of little things that you pick up from here and there. Usually you don't need dice because other players most often have them if they've played before - it's just something that you invest some money in and you never have to worry about again. You should probably familiarize yourself with such terms as crit. hit, crit. miss, d#(the # is any of the following numbers [4;6;8;10;12;20;100]), ranged, melee, hit and miss. I know most of these are quite obvious and there are actually many many many more that you will pick up over time if you play, the thing is if you don't know these or if you're confused don't be afraid to ask.

I guess that's about it. If you absolutely hate the game because of me I still suggest you give it a try because maybe I'm just bad at describing it. If you absolutely love the whole idea then look around for people with pouches on their belts and listen for the sound of a die hitting a desk or you could just ask around. It's not that hard actually, just ask if anyone has heard of it and maybe you can just find yourself a game yet, hmm?

Anyway, that is it from me.
Good luck and have fun.

Originally written about 3 hours ago for my blog.
Selfish advertisement inside, it's not even a link:http://john.eksiil.net

Crow
2007-12-19, 01:02 AM
Good summary. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

TheZin
2007-12-19, 09:37 AM
I did post this at, for me, around 5 or 7 am so I didn't really expect to get ANY replies but do thank you for your comment and I hope you don't mind me using this chance to respond as a shameless cover to bump my thread.

Mr. Friendly
2007-12-19, 09:38 AM
Very well written, excellent summary.

Prometheus
2007-12-19, 11:43 AM
I concur, most of the people around hear are well acquainted and very fond of D&D, but it would serve very effectively to explain to others.

Whenever someone says D&D is geeky, I immediately draw the comparison to RPG and MMORPG. The former is single-player, the latter is over the interntet. How exactly is D&D not a social game?

Emperor Demonking
2007-12-19, 01:43 PM
Yeah its a nice summary.

TheZin
2007-12-20, 11:31 AM
Actually I was thinking if anyone could perhaps tell me if I made any mistakes or if I should rectify or correct anything. I'd be happy to add something or fix some spelling errors because I do believe that at least I could use this text to give people that I'd like to introduce Dnd to a hint of what the game is about.