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By Root 328 0

Guide, were released in June 2008. The fourth edition, unlike previous editions, diverged radically in redesigning Dungeons & Dragons (Smith 2008). In past editions, Dungeons & Dragons relied upon long-term restrictions to balance characters—wizards who started out weak would eventually become far more powerful than their fighter compatriots. This was also reflected in varying experience level tables to slow or quicken advancement for each class. These restrictions were changed in the fourth edition with the intent of making every level fun for every class. Class powers were changed to at will, per encounter, and per day. Healing became available to every character instead of just clerics.

Online support for Dungeons & Dragons has been promised from Wizards of the Coast. A virtual game table has long been in production but as of this writing has yet to debut. Current online support includes digital editions of Dragon and Dungeon magazine and a compendium that incorporates Dragon magazine updates with the core rules.

Fellowship

One of the key elements of Dungeons & Dragons is cooperation. Unlike other forms of parallel entertainment, like movies, or solitary entertainment, like reading a book, role-playing is a shared activity (Gygax 1987:13). Cooperation in the game is key to success, especially at lower levels where the characters are vulnerable.

The agreed-upon paradigm for role-playing games, which has been refined over the years, assumes that players will sit down at a table. That very act helps shape the nature of the characters in the game. It is assumed that the players are seated in close enough proximity to each other to interact. There is one Dungeon Master, presumably sitting near the center of the group. The players roll dice to determine results, which means the Dungeon Master can see these results as well as the other players.

All of these factors creates a sense of unity. Unlike a poker game, the players are all on the same team with a common goal: killing monsters and taking their stuff (Hite 2007:32). There are of course role-playing games that actively discourage this kind of harmony (e.g., Paranoia) but even then, the sense is that it’s all in fun. There isn’t any real reward for winning, because it’s a collaborative style of play.

With the Dungeon Master as the sole representation of the antagonists, the players can work as a team to overcome any obstacle. And they feel like a team, in close proximity to each other at a table. In business terms, it’s a goaloriented meeting to overcome a specific task (as opposed to just “winning”) that is played repeatedly.

It’s interesting that the original boxed set of Dungeons & Dragons lists one “referee” (not Dungeon Master) and from four to fifty players handled in a single campaign. It recommends a referee to player ratio of about 1:20 or thereabouts (Gygax 1974:5). Although the original Dungeons & Dragons was a simpler game, fifty players seems like a mammoth task to handle.

Gygax’s game started out with a handful of players in 1972, but by 1973 it had expanded to a dozen. When the D&D game was published, players began showing up for weekly sessions in the basement of Gygax’s house, sometimes more than twenty. To accommodate the masses, he made Rob Kuntz a co-referee. They merged dungeons and worked together to manage huge groups simultaneously.

Large number of players create an additional role that is uncommon today, that of the Caller. In a large group, having up to twenty people would make it impossible for players to be heard. A Caller coordinates the players’ actions and organizes their efforts so that the Dungeon Master can respond appropriately. I’ve played games with up to twelve players at once and discovered it is impossible to appropriately cater to each player as the moment dictates; someone, usually a quiet player, inevitably suffers.

In Role-Playing Mastery, Gygax later clarified that up to four players is possible for a game master; with an assistant, up to eight people can be managed without unduly affecting the