Dungeons & Dragons

If you ever played Dungeons & Dragons, this blog has some information on its history you might find interesting.

I remember first playing D&D with the original set of rules at a friend’s house around 1976, but I eventually grew tired of the dungeon crawls and Monty Haul style of play that the game mechanics seemed to encourage (intentionally or otherwise). If I wanted to simulate a Vietnam search and destroy mission, I’d play a war game, not a role playing game.

It stands to reason that if you have a rule book full of magical items that players can acquire, they’re going to want to acquire as many of them as they can. One of the (unintentionally) funniest lines I’ve heard a dungeon master utter was “You’re limited to one magical artifact per day.”

Many of the D&D magic items have somewhat comical names, such as “Boots of Dancing.” On the infrequent occasions that I was playing with a Monty Haul group, I’d often claim my character possessed mock magical items. My favorites were the “Dagger of Healing” (1d6 of healing and 1d6 of damage) and the “Sword of Surgery” (2d6 of healing and 2d6 of damage).

Here’s how it works, I explained, I just keep stabbing myself until I start to feel better!

No one ever batted an eye.`