When I
first started playing Dungeons and Dragons, it was with edition 3.5 (okay, that’s
not entirely true, technically my friend and I invented our own version before
that, but I don’t think that counts). At the time, I didn't really understand
the mechanics of the game since I was being taught on the fly, but that didn't
stop me from enjoying it. Because of the sporadic nature of our playing,
though, I never really took the time to learn that version of the game, as much
as I enjoyed it.
Years and
years later, I started playing 4th edition D&D with my wife and
a couple of friends. I was the only experienced player (except for the friend
running the game), so to make sure I could best help my allies learn, I read
the Player’s Handbook cover-to-cover.
I now had
an understanding of the game far greater than I could imagine. We played and
had a lot of fun, but it didn't last very long because the friend running the
game got very sick.
The next
time I played, it was with my family. This time, my wife was the only
experienced player, as I was the Dungeon Master running the game. At this
point, I’d still only read the Player’s Handbook (I didn't want to invest in
the other two main source books until I knew we were going to keep playing) and
the adventure I was running was modified from a free one online.
I did end
up getting the other books – The Monster Manuel and the Dungeon Master’s Guide –
and I also read those cover-to-cover. Now I understood the game extremely well
and my imagination danced with the possibilities of what I could do.
Ironically, my family have never played again after that, largely due to how
busy everyone has become.
I did,
however, start playing much later with my wife and sister-in-law (and
occasionally her boyfriend). Through running a game with my new knowledge, I
started to master my Dungeon Master skills.
Then, over
the course of last year, 5th edition D&D was released. Extremely
out of character for me, I bought each of the three core books as they came
out. When I read these, my jaw dropped. In essence, it was the same game, but
these books contained so much more.
The 4th
edition of the game has received a lot of criticism – so much so that it almost
killed the brand. It was extremely rules-based, designed so that every player
would be completely balanced with all the others; no one would be powerful than
anyone else. The rules also focused almost entirely on the combat side of the
game, which isn't good for a role playing game where the goal is group
storytelling. Not really knowing any better, I hadn't seen a problem with it.
But then, 5th
edition. It went way beyond the mechanics of the game. It went in-depth into
character development, world building and even plot structure that I would
advise any writer (especially of fantasy) to pick up the Player’s Handbook and
Dungeon Master’s Guide just to learn all they have to teach.
More than
that, simply reading the book made me desperately want to play the game.
Normally when playing games I have particular classes I want to play (usually
rogues or other stealthy roles), but this game made me want to play everything. It made me sad, because I
knew that, as a Dungeon Master, I was unlikely to ever get to play as a
character again.
I did come
up with a solution to that, though. My wife and I have started an experimental
game where we’re running the game cooperatively and both playing characters. In
addition, we’re using Minecraft to make our maps for playing on/in. So far, it’s
working out quite well! In fact, we’re writing it all down, so I may end up
sharing the interesting story with you in episodes as the adventure unfolds.
In
conclusion, Dungeons and Dragons is fun for friends and family, 5th
edition is amazing, and people learning to write should read those books. This
blog was in no way endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Thanks for reading.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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