Dungeons & Dragons (also referred to as D&D) is a fantasy role-playing game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and published by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR) in 1974.
It’s an interactive storytelling experience between players who play the role of characters and a Dungeon Master who arbitrates their interactions with the world around them.
The Dungeon Master (or DM) presents the players with a situation, and the players declare their responses to it. They can choose to fight, flee, negotiate, or whatever they want. Unlike a conventional board game or video game which constrains players to a finite selection of options, D&D players are limited only by their own imaginations (and the discretion of the DM).
Typical characters follow fantasy archetypes including (but not limited to) Fighters, Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, Barbarians, Rogues, and even Bards. They can be any of an assortment of races, such as Humans, Dwarves, Elves, or Halflings. The rulebooks provide the nuts and bolts involved in creating a character, but it’s up to the player to bring that character to life. Two players with identical character sheets could play extraordinarily different characters, depending on their personalities and how much development they put into those characters’ motives, backstories, etc…
Together, the players and DM go on imaginary adventures, fighting monsters, solving problems, gather treasure, and earn experience points.
When a character earns enough experience points, he or she goes up a level, acquiring new skills according to their chosen class, and improving their existing ones. Fighters hit harder, spellcasters learn new and more powerful spells, and rogues further develop their ability to sneak around.
The outcome of decisions players make for their characters is often determined by rolling one or more of a variety of polyhedral dice. The twenty-sided die has become a recognizable symbol of the game, and tabletop role-playing in general.
Over the past 40+ years, the game has gone through several revisions. Now owned by Hasbro Subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, it is currently in its fifth edition.
The game enjoys wide appeal due in part to its versatility. There’s no one right way to play. Some groups engage in serious campaigns, while others prefer a more lighthearted or even silly approach. Children play it after school with chips and juice, but it’s certainly not unknown for adults to enjoy a few beers during a session.
The history of Dungeons & Dragons is not without some bumps in the road. During the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, it was falsely linked by many to Satanism and suicide. That was on top of it being widely regarded as a hobby for outcasts and nerds.
Fortunately, however, nerd culture is all the rage nowadays, and D&D is more popular than ever with the estimated number of worldwide players in excess of 13 million.