History TAbletopGame / DungeonsAndDragons

The newest edition is known as 4E, short for Fourth Edition, which has created quite a big amount of discussion. [[BrokenBase There are haters, lovers, people who don't care and everything in between.]] The changes are many from the inclusion of dragonborn (draconic humanoids [[OlderThanTheyThink from a 3.5 splatbook]]), the mainstreaming of tieflings (humans with distant fiendish ancestory), the replacement of three classes with two new classes (and the reinstatement of those three classes in a ''second'' Player's Handbook), and much much more.

Two companion magazines -- ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' and ''Magazine/{{Dungeon}}'' -- have been published since 1976 and 1986 respectively, offering additional content, articles and resources for D&D. Since 2007, the magazines have ceased paper publication and can now be found in digital format on the ''Wizards Of The Coast'' website. AD&D has "Core Rules" toolset sold on CD. With the release of 4E, a set of virtual tabletop software called ''D&D Insider'' is set to be released that will give gamers a official way to play D&D over the Internet. [[VaporWare Someday]].

For the animated series based on the game, see ''[[Series/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons And Dragons]]''. There are also two movies. The first (see [[Film/DungeonsAndDragons here]]) is D&D InNameOnly, while the second (''WrathOfTheDragonGod'') [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel is a lot better]], despite being made on a low budget.

* {{Greyhawk}}: Your basic MedievalEuropeanFantasy, the base DungeonsAndDragons setting for 1st and 3rd Edition. A high-fantasy world ravaged by war, where the forces of evil are stronger than in other settings. The City of Greyhawk stands at the center of the world, its gates always open for adventure. Features strong forces of [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil active neutrality]].

* RangedEmergencyWeapon: In pre-4E D&D, almost every melee character needed to carry one of these. (In 4th edition, you probably wouldn't hit anything with it, and you have powers that let you make ranged attacks with your "melee" weapon anyway.)

* '''Dungeons and Dragons (3rd edition) - 2000:''' Arguably this, and the revised 3.5 edition, are currently the best known by all but the oldest gamers. 3rd edition made major simplifications to the rules by using the {{d20 system}} (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in GammaWorld long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", where as only specific classes had access to them before. 3e is also the easiest edition to multiclass in - you could take a level of thief, then go back to taking fighter levels without affecting your advancement. Races (humans, dwarves, half-orcs, etc) were rebalanced, so any race can play any class (this also means spellhurling dwarves and halflings, but it's something a ''setting'' should decide anyway), the highest level you can reach is now... just 20, instead of varying by race, class, and so on, and generally, the game became a lot simpler to use without losing very much of its depth. In addition, much of the material thrown out in 2nd edition - half-orcs, monks, battles with demons, and so on, was re-added back in.

* '''[[http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?firstsearch=1&key=title&match=loose&value=Labyrinth+Lord Labyrinth Lord]]:''' Another retroclone based on old-school D&D, this one uses the Moldvay/Cook edition of D&D as its base, which introduces the Thief, turns the Elf into a fighter/mage, and uses different-sized hit dice for classes. There are also two supplements which recreate White Box D&D (Original Edition Characters) and AD&D (Advanced Edition Companion). Goblinoid Games, the publisher, uses a modified version of the rules of this game for their post-apocalypse game called ''[[http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?firstsearch=1&key=title&match=loose&value=Mutant+Future Mutant Future]]'', a close-as-you-can-get-it homage to ''GammaWorld''.

* GammaWorld: While ''technically'' a different game line, uses identical mechanics and is often seen as a subset of vanilla DD. ScavengerWorld AfterTheEnd inhabited by {{Mutants}} constantly trying to win the SuperPowerLottery and usually either CursedWithAwesome or BlessedWithSuck.

Two companion magazines -- ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' and ''Dungeon'' -- have been published since 1976 and 1986 respectively, offering additional content, articles and resources for D&D. Since 2007, the magazines have ceased paper publication and can now be found in digital format on the ''Wizards Of The Coast'' website. AD&D has "Core Rules" toolset sold on CD. With the release of 4E, a set of virtual tabletop software called ''D&D Insider'' is set to be released that will give gamers a official way to play D&D over the Internet. [[VaporWare Someday]].

* SapientCetaceans: Some editions have depicted dolphins as sentient Good-aligned creatures with their own patron goddess.

* PlantPerson: Dryads.

** Aarakocra - bird people.
** Abeils - bee people.
** Asabis - lizard people.
** Bullywugs - frog people.
** Crabmen - crab people.
** Desmodus - bat people.
** Dragonborn - dragon people.
** Equicephs - horse people.
** Firenewts - lizard people again.
** Formians - ant people.
** Giff - hippopotamus people.
** Gnolls - hyena people.
** Goatfolk (Ibixians) - goat people.
** Gripplis - frog people again, but this time ''tree'' frog.
** Hadozees - ape people.
** Hurgeons - hedgehog people.
** Kercpa - squirrel people.
** Kenku - another bird people, with looks of a hawk and attitude of a magpie.
** Lizardfolk - lizard people ''again''.
** Locathah - fish people.
** Loxos - elephant people.
** Minotaurs - bull people.
** Nycters - bat people again.
** Psurlons - earthworm people.
** Pterafolk - pteranodon people.
** Rakshasas - tiger people.
** Sahuagin - shark people.
** Saurials - dinosaur people.
** Sivs - frog people ''again''.
** Tabaxis - leopard people.
** Thri-kreen - praying mantis people.
** Urskans - bear people.
** Wemics - lion people.
** Yak Folk - yak people.
** ...and ''{{Mystara}}'' has an extra collection of its own on top of all this.

* GenreLaunch: For tabletop role-playing games.

* ForgottenRealms: A world of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart Cultures]], partially [[LostColony shanghaied from Earth]], prominent features are constant conflicts between [[OddJobGods numerous and very active deities]], the world being one big [[UpToEleven Thirty Thousands]] [[ThirtyGambitPileup Xanatos Pileup]] between dozens of factions, and scads of high-powered [=NPCs=] (mostly the stars of the setting's popular novel lines) running around. The most popular setting, and the most developed.

* TakeUpMySword: A ridiculously common backstory for unoriginal characters. (Orphans are still more common, though.