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# 2025-04-18 - Dungeons & Dragons & Rogues, Oh My!
Today i am writing about Dungeons & Dragons. D&D is open-ended
enough to be different things for different people. It can be a
tactical dungeon crawl where the objective is to kill monsters and
take their stuff. It can be story telling and improv theater where
you get to make-believe and escape from a mundane day-to-day world.
In any case it is intended to be a creative, social experience,
giving the participants a chance to exercise their imaginations,
try out new ways of being, and have fun with their friends. In my
not so humble opinion, those are important.
The first computer game i played was Dungeon (AKA Zork), and it was
influenced by D&D. This game was a solitaire exercise in exploration
and puzzle solving.
Dungeon, Zork, etc. (1978-1981)
Later, when a "mini mall" opened in my neighborhood, one of the
stalls was rented by people who handed out Chick tracts, including
Dark Dungeons. Cheap entertainment for a broke kid.
Dark Dungeons (1984)
One of the local pawn shops sold shareware on 5-1/4" floppy disks.
They charged $1 per disk. It was often a gamble. You read the title
and a short descriptive sentence on the disk label and crossed your
fingers that it would be worthwhile. I bought a floppy labeled
Ring Wielder, which turned out to be a print-your-own RPG ruleset. I
printed it on tractor-feed paper and tried to play it with my brother
and sister. We didn't really grok it.
Ring Wielder (1989)
In high school, i discovered Rogue and played it a lot. After that
came Hack, both from sneakernet. Then a group of us pitched in $1
each to order a copy of Moria from a mail-order catalog, and we
shared it with each other. I spent hours playing Moria. Finally,
a friend and i downloaded Larn & NetHack over a modem. Moria grew up
to become Angband. I think of Angband and NetHack as emacs and vi:
different yet the same, both having important contributions. Also,
they can both be considered solitaire versions of D&D.
In high school i had friends who played 2nd Edition AD&D. I even
tried to join in during a group sleepover. They wanted to watch TV
and didn't even begin creating characters until about 10 PM. I am
an early bird, and suffice it to say, i fell asleep during the first
hour of gameplay. They stayed up all night. I had a few more false
starts creating characters but never really playing the game.
All of my high school D&D friends were soundly in the "nerd" camp.
Most of them liked books, programming, and Trek. None of them were
into art, sports, or theater.
Speaking of books and storytelling, i checked out every D&D themed
book i could get my hands on in the school library, which includes
many Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels. I remember Drizzt,
Elminster, Raistlin, etc.
TSR D&D Bibliography
List of Dragonlance Novels
List of Forgotten Realms Novels
It wasn't until 2011 that i finally played a real game of D&D, this
time using 5th Edition. It was my good fortune to play in a campaign
led by an experienced GM and most of the other players were also
experienced. I had a great time!
During this time, D&D retro clones had become popular. This movement
became known as OSR (Old-School Renaissance). I created a campaign
and played Labyrinth Lord with my sister and a few friends. My
setting was named Aldea. It featured classic Tolkien races in a
basically steampunk setting. It was set on a world just coming out
of a global ice age in an era of optimism and growth.
D&D Retro Clones
Old School Renaissance
Labyrinth Lord (2007)
These days if i am feeling nostalgic, i'll fire up my DOS PC and play
a classic roguelike.
Angband
NetHack
Angband (32-bit)
NetHack (32-bit)
tags: article,bencollver,fantasy
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