The adventurers grow in might as the campaign continues. Many people who play the game keep their campaigns going for months or years, meeting with their friends every week or so to pick up the story where they left off. The game has no real end when one story or quest wraps up, another one can begin, creating an ongoing story called a campaign. Because the DM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be exciting and unexpected. Will they walk across the dangerously weathered drawbridge? Tie themselves together with rope to minimize the chance that someone will fall if the drawbridge gives way? Or cast a spell to carry them over the chasm? Then the DM determines the results of the adventurers’ actions and narrates what they experience. The DM might describe the entrance to Castle Ravenloft, and the players decide what they want their adventurers to do.
The DM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore.
One player, however, takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM), the game’s lead storyteller and referee. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with other characters, battle fantastic monsters, and discover fabulous magic items and other treasure. Working together, the group might explore a dark dungeon, a ruined city, a haunted castle, a lost temple deep in a jungle, or a lava-filled cavern beneath a mysterious mountain. In the Dungeons & Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). And Amy, Riva is checking out the drawbridge? Phillip: Does my Investigation skill apply?ĭM: They look like decorations to you. Is there any hint they might be creatures and not decorations? Phillip, you’re looking at the gargoyles? Anything is possible, but the dice make some outcomes more probable than others.ĭungeon Master (DM): OK, one at a time.
Players roll dice to resolve whether their attacks hit or miss or whether their adventurers can scale a cliff, roll away from the strike of a magical lightning bolt, or pull off some other dangerous task. Unlike a game of make-believe, D&D gives structure to the stories, a way of determining the consequences of the adventurers’ action. Do I think we can cross it, or is it going to collapse under our weight? I have a feeling they’re not just statues.Īmy (playing Riva): The drawbridge looks precarious? I want to see how sturdy it is. Phillip (playing Gareth): I want to look at the gargoyles. Beyond this, the main doors of Castle Ravenloft stand open, a rich warm light spilling into the courtyard. A rotting wooden portcullis, green with growth, hangs in the entry tunnel. From atop the high strong walls, stone gargoyles stare at you from hollow sockets and grin hideously. The chains of the drawbridge creak in the wind, their rust-eaten iron straining with the weight. A lowered drawbridge spans the chasm, leading to an arched entrance to the castle courtyard. Beyond these, a wide chasm gapes, disappearing into the deep fog below.
Crumbling towers of stone keep a silent watch over the approach. It’s about picturing the towering castle beneath the stormy night sky and imagining how a fantasy adventurer might react to the challenges that scene presents.ĭungeon Master (DM): After passing through the craggy peaks, the road takes a sudden turn to the east and Castle Ravenloft towers before you. Like those games, D&D is driven by imagination. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. The Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is about storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery.