Dungeons and Dragons
 

Some people have a concept that the game of D&D is Satan incarnate. I'm not going to try and convince anyone it isn't. What I am going to share is something I learned by examining it's rule system.

1. Some rules and rule combinations are ambiguous. In such cases it's okay to go with whatever interpretation makes the most sense to you/your group.

2. There are general rules and specific rules. Specific rules override the general ones. Although sometimes it's difficult to decipher which rule is supposed to be the more general one and which is supposed to be the more specific one. In such cases refer to 1.

3. There are two major interpretations of rules. Rules as written and rules as intended. Rules as written discussions often bog down into long debates even if they are somewhat interesting. Rules as intended discussions are generally short because everyone agrees.

I think Christianity as a whole could be a lot more unified if more of a bible as intended approach was adopted. While there can still be interesting discussions about what the bible means as written I think taking more of an as intended approach would cause people to spend more time "doing things for God" and less time trying to decipher and figure out what the bible means as written.

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

So this post really doesn't have to do with D&D?

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

No, just the analogy between D&D rules and Christian 'laws'. One could go even further and bring out all the supplemental AD&D manuals that are required to really play the game along with the various dice combo's needed.

By the way, is anyone even playing this anymore? It seemed to have vanished since the advent of the computer and TSR being purchased by Wizards of the Coast.

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

The just started printing new 4th edition books a year or 2 ago.

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

By the way I'm not just referring to "laws" but to bible rules that govern what God is like (is God one person or 3 persons), how to obtain salvation and so on(must I be baptized). All those things are "rules".

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

Some people apparently either still play or collect the books and things associated with it. Don't know which, but items still sell on e-bay now and then.

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

I remember when D&D (or AD&D) was one of the unholy trinity which consisted of television, "rock" music, and of course D&D as perverters of the days youth.

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

I played the game for a long long time. The rules are used specifically to give a randomness to encounters like fights with monsters and traps that are modified by character ability scores like intelligence and dexterity as well as modifying circumstances like the ability of the monsters or traps encountered or other factors like magical items.

Here is the thing, the so called "ambiguous" rules are more guidelines for the Dungeon Master who can interject himself into the game.

In fact, even the more specific rules he can be arbitrary with if he wanted to...acting as a "god" so to speak. In an encounter if a person died or would have died the DM can change that to keep the player's character in the game.

In computerized versions of such games you have eliminated the human factor as DM so that sort of thing never happens

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

When I was a kid my dad bought me a basic D&D box set. I discovered a friend of mine had played it before with another friend of his, so we started messing with it.

I really got into it and bought the Advanced D&D books. I had the Players Manual, Dungeon Masters Manual, Monster Manual and Deities and Demi-gods manual. I had even gotten some really nice polyhedron dice and figures. I had a map of the World of GreyHawk, several modules and even magazines. There was a gamers place at the Mall I would go to every now and then to see if they had anything new.

In my view D&D play reflects the persons playing more than the game molds the person....especially when you are stoned.

Otherwise the game itself is just a recreational game based on a world that does not exist

Re: Dungeons and Dragons
 

Yes it's still being played. IN fact I've been seeing commercials at Hulu and other places. Plus there are the video games based on the rule system.

Oh in addition we also has a nifty Dungeon Masters screen that the DM could use that had a lot of necessary reference charts so one did not have to keep flipping pages of a book