188-597: The flexibility of the Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) game rules means that Dungeon Masters (DM) are free to create their own fantasy campaign settings . For those who wanted a pre-packaged setting in which to play, TSR , Wizards of the Coast (WotC), and other publishers have created many settings in which D&D games can be based; of these, the Forgotten Realms , an epic fantasy world, has been one of
376-438: A Magic: The Gathering block released in 2013. This plane was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in the 5th Edition campaign setting book Mythic Odysseys of Theros (2020). Wyatt co-led the design with F. Wesley Schneider . The plane of Arcavios and its magical university Strixhaven were "created from scratch by the world-building team" for the 2021 Strixhaven: School of Mages Magic: The Gathering set. The university
564-419: A moral panic in the 1980s that attempted to associate it with Satanism and suicide. The game has won multiple awards and has been translated into many languages. Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game. It is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a tabletop. Typically, one player takes on the role of Dungeon Master (DM) while the others each control
752-473: A "strong impact" though he also said that the list of other influential authors was long. The D&D magic system, in which wizards memorize spells that are used up once cast and must be re-memorized the next day, was heavily influenced by the Dying Earth stories and novels of Jack Vance . The original alignment system (which grouped all characters and creatures into 'Law', 'Neutrality' and 'Chaos')
940-585: A Middle Eastern city and palace during the Crusades. Act III is supposedly based on the Central American jungles; Kurast is inspired by the lost Mayan civilization . Act IV takes place in Hell and is the shortest, with just three quests compared to the other Acts that have six. The Lord of Destruction expansion adds the fifth chapter Act V which continues the story where Act IV left off. Act V's style
1128-441: A PC to advance a level , which grants the character improved class features, abilities and skills. XP can be lost in some circumstances, such as encounters with creatures that drain life energy, or by use of certain magical powers that come with an XP cost. Hit points (HP) are a measure of a character's vitality and health and are determined by the class, level and Constitution of each character. They can be temporarily lost when
1316-619: A background story, illustrations, maps, and goals for players to achieve. Some may include location descriptions and handouts, although they are not required for gameplay. Although a small adventure entitled " Temple of the Frog " was included in the Blackmoor rules supplement in 1975, the first stand-alone D&D module published by TSR was 1978's Steading of the Hill Giant Chief , written by Gygax. A linked series of adventures
1504-518: A better play experience than under the 3rd Edition. The new game was developed through a number of design phases spanning from May 2005 until its release. Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition was announced at Gen Con in August 2007, and the initial three core books were released June 6, 2008. 4th Edition streamlined the game into a simplified form and introduced numerous rules changes. Many character abilities were restructured into "Powers". These altered
1692-608: A cataclysmic event in which the Exandrian pantheon exploded into a civil war that put the entire world in peril". Created by author and game designer Ed Greenwood as his personal campaign and detailed in a long series of articles in Dragon Magazine , Forgotten Realms became the most popular D&D setting from the late 1980s onwards and has been well received by both gamers and reviewers. Sean Patrick Fannon , author of The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible , has praised
1880-414: A character sustains wounds in combat or otherwise comes to harm, and loss of HP is the most common way for a character to die in the game. Death can also result from the loss of key ability scores or character levels. When a PC dies, it is often possible for the dead character to be resurrected through magic, although some penalties may be imposed as a result. If resurrection is not possible or not desired,
2068-474: A dominant aspect of the setting and are as commonplace as magic in other D&D settings – native / latent psionic abilities are commonly found in individuals of all humanoid races and their powers are respected. Religion and divine magic is based on the worship of elemental forces, spirits or the Sorcerer-Kings themselves – the old gods have long abandoned the world. Wizards and arcane spellcasters, on
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#17327810981372256-576: A fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail . When Dave Wesely entered the Army in 1970, his friend and fellow Napoleonics wargamer Dave Arneson began a medieval variation of Wesely's Braunstein games, where players control individuals instead of armies. Arneson used Chainmail to resolve combat. As play progressed, Arneson added such innovations as character classes, experience points, level advancement, armor class, and others. Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up
2444-513: A fixed set of basic properties, such as attribute requirements, maximum durability, armor rating (on armor), block chance (on shields), damage, and attack speed (on weapons). Magical quality items have blue names and one or two randomly selected bonuses, such as bonuses attributes, skills, or damage, indicated by a prefix or suffix. Rare quality items have randomly generated yellow names and 2 to 6 random properties. Unique items have fixed names in gold text, and instead of randomized properties, they have
2632-420: A free PDF in 2016. However, these articles are not considered official material for organized play. In 2017, Mike Mearls wrote: "It's basically a thing James does for fun, and we don't want to burden it with needing all the work required to make it official". The positive response to the "Plane Shift" articles lead to the 2018 publication of Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica , a full hardcover setting guide to
2820-631: A half months. It was awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 edition for being the fastest selling computer game ever, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks of availability. Its sales during 2000 alone reached 2.75 million globally; 33% of these copies were sold outside the United States, with South Korea making up the largest international market. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos , World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade , World of Warcraft: Wrath of
3008-565: A hardcover book. Released by TSR in 1991, Dark Sun diverges from the tone of "conventional" medieval fantasy, drawing heavy inspiration from novels like Dune and the Barsoom series. The campaign is set on the harsh desert world of Athas – once a lush planet teeming with life, it has since been stripped of its fertility by uncontrolled use of defiling magic and is now a desolate and savage place where civilization has retreated to city-states controlled by god-like Sorcerer-Kings. Psionics are
3196-428: A healthy seller for TSR. In the 1980s, the rules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and "basic" Dungeons & Dragons remained separate, each developing along different paths. In 1981, the basic version of Dungeons & Dragons was revised by Tom Moldvay to make it even more novice-friendly. It was promoted as a continuation of the original D&D tone, whereas AD&D was promoted as an advancement of
3384-647: A hireling that provides something missing from their character class; for instance, the melee-focused Paladin may choose an Iron Wolf for ranged magical support. In Heroes of the Storm (2015), playable characters Cassia and Xul represent the Amazon and the Necromancer classes, respectively. Diablo II can be played multiplayer on a local area network (LAN) or the Blizzard's Battle.net online service. Unlike
3572-603: A loose-leaf binder that was subsequently replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993. In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised, although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition, and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as optional rulebooks. The release of AD&D 2nd Edition deliberately excluded some aspects of the game that had attracted negative publicity. References to demons and devils, sexually suggestive artwork, and playable, evil-aligned character types – such as assassins and half-orcs – were removed. The edition moved away from
3760-451: A lower difficulty at any time, albeit it is not possible to replay the quests that are already completed. Players can create a hardcore character. In normal mode, the player can resurrect their character if killed and resume playing, while a hardcore character has only one life. If killed, the character is permanently dead and unplayable. In addition, all items and equipment on that character will be lost unless another friendly character has
3948-566: A measure against cheating , where they must be played at least once every 90 days to avoid expiration. Open games are subject to many abuses as the characters are stored on the players' own hard drives. Many cheats that were used on closed realms do not exist or work any longer. Hacks, bots, and programs which allow the player to run multiple instances of the game at the same time are not allowed by Blizzard. They are rarely used anymore. Blizzard cracked down on spambots which advertise sites selling Diablo II's virtual items for real-world currency. As
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#17327810981374136-522: A more general audience of college and high school students. Roughly 1,000 copies of the game were sold in the first year, followed by 3,000 in 1975, and many more in the following years. This first set went through many printings and was supplemented with several official additions, such as the original Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements (both 1975), as well as magazine articles in TSR's official publications and many fanzines . In early 1977, TSR created
4324-506: A near-bankrupt TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast . Following three years of development, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition was released in 2000. The new release folded the Basic and Advanced lines back into a single unified game. It was the largest revision of the D&;D rules to date and served as the basis for a multi-genre role-playing system designed around 20-sided dice, called
4512-402: A percussionist, and Scott Petersen, the game's sound designer, worked on the drum samples. Waiz played on the dumbek, djembe, and finger cymbals which gave Matt Uelmen a base upon which to build tracks around. The town theme from Act II, "Toru", makes strong statement of departure from the world of Act I while also maintaining a thematic connection to what had come before. It is the first time in
4700-427: A player's characters. But the designers also forego elements such as quest markers that are common in modern games, preserving as much of the original experience as possible, and making the re-master almost completely unchanged from the original Diablo II . Diablo II has a positive reception. The PC version of the game achieves an overall score of 88/100 on Metacritic and 89% at GameRankings . GameSpy awarded
4888-716: A response which walked back several changes to the OGL; this response did not contain the updated OGL. The Motley Fool highlighted that "Hasbro pulled an abrupt volte-face and had its subsidiary D&D Beyond publish a mea culpa on its website". On January 27, 2023, following feedback received during the open comment period for the draft OGL1.2, Wizards of the Coast announced that the System Reference Document 5.1 (SRD 5.1) would be released under an irrevocable Creative Commons license ( CC BY 4.0 ) effective immediately and Wizards would no longer pursue deauthorizing
5076-471: A series of separate gaming sessions. Players choose a class when they create their character, which gives them special perks and abilities every few levels. The early success of D&D led to a proliferation of similar game systems. Despite the competition, D&D has remained the market leader in the role-playing game industry. In 1977, the game was split into two branches: the relatively rules-light game system of basic Dungeons & Dragons , and
5264-444: A set of 3 to 8 preselected properties. Green-named set items have fixed names and preselected properties like unique items, and belong to specifically named sets of 2 to 6 items. Additional properties known as set bonuses are activated by equipping multiple or all items from the same set. These are themed on individuals, like Civerb's cudgel, shield, and amulet, each of which provides individual bonuses which are enhanced if two or more of
5452-516: A setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics . The various planes from the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game were first adapted for Dungeons & Dragons in a series of free PDF releases called Plane Shift by James Wyatt , who worked on D&D for many years before moving over to Magic in 2014. Wyatt also writes the text for the series of Art of Magic: The Gathering coffee table books, which reprint illustrations from
5640-429: A single character, representing an individual in a fictional setting. When working together as a group, the player characters (PCs) are often described as a " party " of adventurers, with each member often having their own area of specialty that contributes to the success of the group as a whole. During the course of play, each player directs the actions of their character and their interactions with other characters in
5828-688: A stand-alone (non-D&D) Conan Role-Playing Game boxed set based on the Marvel Superheroes RPG system. In 1986, TSR published another AD&D module: RS1: Red Sonja Unconquered licensed from Red Sonja Corp., which is set on the Zaporoska River, and authored by Anne Gray McCready . All three AD&D modules (CB1, CB2, and RS1) contain a two-page setting overview of "The Hyborian World", with sections on history and geography, people, technology, monsters, spellcasters, and magic items. There are also Hyboria-specific adaptations of
Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings - Misplaced Pages Continue
6016-653: A theme of 1960s and 1970s " sword and sorcery " fantasy fiction to a mixture of medieval history and mythology. The rules underwent minor changes, including the addition of non-weapon proficiencies – skill-like abilities that appear in first edition supplements. The game's magic spells are divided into schools and spheres. A major difference was the promotion of various game settings beyond that of traditional fantasy. This included blending fantasy with other genres, such as horror (Ravenloft), science fiction (Spelljammer), and apocalyptic (Dark Sun), as well as alternative historical and non-European mythological settings. In 1997,
6204-486: A trap or resisting the effect of a spell, a saving throw can be used to determine whether the resulting effect is reduced or avoided. In this case the odds of success are influenced by the character's class, levels and ability scores. In circumstances where a character is attempting to complete a task such as picking a lock, deactivating a trap, or pushing a boulder, a Difficulty Class must be hit or exceeded. Relevant ability bonuses are added to help players succeed. As
6392-406: A twenty-sided die is used to determine whether a hit is made in combat, with other dice such as four, six, eight, ten, or even twelve-sided die used to determine how much damage was dealt. Factors contributing to the outcome include the character's ability scores, skills, and the difficulty of the task. In circumstances where a character is attempting to avoid a negative outcome, such as when dodging
6580-568: A unique blending of these elements. The world of D&D was influenced by world mythology, history, pulp fiction , and contemporary fantasy novels, as listed by Gygax in the Appendix N of the original Dungeon Master's Guide . The importance of Tolkien's works The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as an influence on D&D is controversial. The presence in the game of halflings , elves , half-elves , dwarves , orcs , rangers , and
6768-455: A variety of locations and settings to explore and battle in, as well as an increased cast of characters to play as and interact with. Building on the success of its predecessor, Diablo (1997), and improving the gameplay, both in terms of updated character progression and a better-developed story, Diablo II was one of the most popular games of 2000 and has been cited as one of the greatest games of all time . Major factors that contributed to
6956-581: Is ambient industrial and experimental . It was recorded in Redwood City, Oakland, and San Mateo, California, from April 1997 to March 2000. Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Other scores are combinations of parts that were created more than a year after the first game's release. A single track usually integrates recorded samples from sound libraries, live recorded instrument interpretation samples specially meant for
7144-549: Is "part of Wizards' plans to apply more resources to the digital side of D&D" following the purchase of D&D Beyond by Hasbro earlier in the year. Wizards of the Coast CEO Cynthia Williams and Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, at a December 2022 Hasbro investor-focused web seminar, called the Dungeons & Dragons brand "under monetized". They highlighted the high engagement of fans with the brand, however,
7332-404: Is a China-inspired realm known as Tianguo, "a fictional land based on wuxia films and on Chinese folklore and legend". Beyond the initial release, the product was not supported. Dragonlance was the first complete fictional world to be intentionally produced and marketed as an RPG supplement, with product tie-ins (novels, role-playing modules, figurines, etc.) prepared and manufactured when it
7520-459: Is a city called Manifest, a mausoleum city built atop a geological feature known as the Well of Souls, a gathering place for ghosts, unique as a place in which ghosts can cross over to the realm of the living. The first published setting for D&D , created by D&D co-author Gary Gygax . Greyhawk is Gygax's original campaign, one which eventually turned into an official game supplement and
7708-450: Is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson . The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast , later a subsidiary of Hasbro , since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames , with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D 's publication
Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings - Misplaced Pages Continue
7896-413: Is a massive plateau containing a dense jungle environment. Loosely based on pre-colonial Indochina, Malatra is cut off from the rest of the world by distance, geography and powerful magic. Different races and variants of races from Forgotten Realms, Kara-Tur, and Spelljammer inhabit the plateau, and there is little in the form of technology. True gods, money, and books are all unheard of in the setting, as it
8084-526: Is an island divided between the native Charonti, a civilization that makes heavy use of magic (especially necromancy), and the Knorr, barbarians who despise the vile practice of magic and have been driven from a far-away homeland to Jakandor. The setting was released in the form of three books, as part of the AD&;D: Odyssey line. These books are: A novel written by Grubb, entitled Jakandor: Land of Destiny ,
8272-477: Is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games , especially the role-playing video game genre. D&D departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation . These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for
8460-727: Is commonly referred to as a " campaign ". The locations where these adventures occur, such as a city, country, planet, or entire fictional universe , are referred to as " campaign settings " or "worlds." D&D settings are based in various fantasy genres and feature different levels and types of magic and technology. Popular commercially published campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons include Greyhawk , Dragonlance , Forgotten Realms , Mystara , Spelljammer , Ravenloft , Dark Sun , Planescape , Birthright , and Eberron . In addition to first-party campaigns and modules, two campaigns based on popular culture have been created. The first, based on Stranger Things ,
8648-542: Is credited with increasing the market share of d20 products and leading to a "boom in the RPG industry in the early 2000s". With the release of the 4th Edition , Wizards of the Coast introduced its Game System License , which represented a significant restriction compared to the very open policies embodied by the OGL. In part as a response to this, some publishers (such as Paizo Publishing with its Pathfinder Roleplaying Game ) who previously produced materials in support of
8836-415: Is divided into five colleges: Lorehold, Witherbloom, Prismari, Quandrix, and Silverquill; each college was founded by a different Elder Dragon. In June 2021, a crossover campaign book Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos was released which introduces the setting to Dungeons & Dragons . CBR reported that "in the world of Magic: The Gathering , Strixhaven is the largest and most powerful magic academy in
9024-557: Is intended to have a more primitive feel and stress heroism. Malatra was created as a Living Setting for Polyhedron magazine, and used in organized play at conventions. Most of the information from the setting can be found in Polyhedron magazine starting with issue #102, with a number of adventures being released every year. The setting started during second edition in 1995 and continued to release more adventures regularly into third edition through 2003. In 2007 one final adventure using
9212-600: Is level 99. Two additional character classes, the Druid and Assassin, were added in the expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction . The player can enlist the help of one hireling (computer-controlled mercenaries ) from a mercenary captain in the town; Rogue Scouts (archers with Amazon abilities), Desert Mercenaries or Town Guards (melee fighters with Paladin auras), Iron Wolves (elemental spellcasters with occasional melee capability), and Barbarians (melee fighters with many hitpoints ), from Acts I, II, III, and V, respectively. In
9400-537: Is mainly mountainous as the player ascends Mount Arreat, with alpine plateaus and icy tunnels and caverns. Occasional portals can take the player to dungeons in Hell (seen in Act IV) for extra monsters and experience. After reaching the summit of Arreat, the player gains access to the Worldstone Keep. In addition to the acts, there are three sequential difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell; completing
9588-469: Is now regarded as part of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting as its setting is mentioned in some Forgotten Realms sourcebooks and novels. Unlike other subsettings, this product line was not separated by space, but by time, taking place in the distant past. Released as a box set, The Horde ' s subheading on its front cover reads "Barbarian Campaign Setting". It details a region known as
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#17327810981379776-413: Is reset at various intervals by Blizzard to allow for all players to start fresh with new characters on an equal footing. Ladder seasons have lasted from as short as six months to over a year. When a ladder season ends, all ladder characters are transferred to the non-ladder population. Certain rare items are available only within ladder games, although they can be traded for and exchanged on non-ladder after
9964-454: Is the FRP game played most often in most places." In the 1980 book The Complete Book of Wargames , game designer Jon Freeman asked, "What can be said about a phenomenon? Aside from Tactics II and possibly PanzerBlitz (the first modern tactical wargame), this is the most significant war game since H.G. Wells ." However, Freeman did have significant issues with the game, pointing out, "On
10152-510: Is the object of a quest. The game's extensive rules – which cover diverse subjects such as social interactions, magic use , combat, and the effect of the environment on PCs – help the DM to make these decisions. The DM may choose to deviate from the published rules or make up new ones if they feel it is necessary. The most recent versions of the game's rules are detailed in three Fifth Edition core rulebooks : The Player's Handbook ,
10340-584: The Diablo II video game, both for AD&D 2nd edition and D&D 3rd edition. Second edition products include The Bloodstone Tomb D&D Diablo II Fast-Play Game (1999), D&D Adventure Game: Diablo II Edition (boxed set, 2000), Diablo II: The Awakening (adventure, 2000), and Diablo II miniatures (2000). Third edition products include Diablo II: To Hell and Back (adventure, and its web enhancement "The Secret Cow Level") and Diablo II: Diablerie (supplement), all from 2001. Dragon Fist , released on
10528-524: The Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual . The only items required to play the game are the rulebooks, a character sheet for each player, and a number of polyhedral dice . Many players also use miniature figures on a grid map as a visual aid if desired, particularly during combat. Some editions of the game presume such usage. Many optional accessories are available to enhance
10716-560: The Forgotten Realms setting, but overall darker in tone, closer to a sword and sorcery scenario. The first official edition of the campaign was published in 1980, although sections of it had appeared in articles published by the author. The campaign itself began as a dungeon and then expanded into an entire continent (Oerik) and eventually other added areas. In general, Oerth is an action-packed world which seems to be gradually descending into savagery and chaos and continually on
10904-513: The One D&;D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons and an upcoming virtual tabletop simulator with 3D environments developed using Unreal Engine . Revised editions of the Player's Handbook , Monster Manual , and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. In April 2022, Hasbro announced that Wizards would acquire
11092-449: The D&D product line, decided to continue supporting the 3rd Edition rules, thereby competing directly with Wizards of the Coast. Others, such as Kenzer & Company , returned to the practice of publishing unlicensed supplements and arguing that copyright law does not allow Wizards of the Coast to restrict third-party usage. During the 2000s, there has been a trend towards reviving and recreating older editions of D&D , known as
11280-650: The D&D Beyond digital toolset and game companion from Fandom ; the official transfer to Wizards occurred in May 2022. At the Hasbro Investor Event in October 2022, it was announced that Dan Rawson, former COO of Microsoft Dynamics 365 , was appointed to the newly created position of Senior Vice President for the Dungeons & Dragons brand; Rawson will act as the new head of the franchise. Chase Carter of Dicebreaker highlighted that Rawson's role
11468-603: The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Diablo II became a major hit in the German market and debuted at #1 on Media Control's computer game sales chart for June 2000. Speaking with Havas Interactive's public relations director, PC Player ' s Udo Hoffman noted that the representative "had to make an effort on
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#173278109813711656-495: The Lord of Destruction expansion, was released on September 23, 2021. Diablo II ' s storyline progresses through four chapters or "acts". Each act follows a predetermined path, but the wilderness and dungeons between key areas are randomly generated. The player progresses through the story by completing a series of quests within each act, while there are also optional side dungeons for extra monsters and experience. In contrast to
11844-556: The Los Angeles Times , wrote, "players and scholars attribute the game's resurgent popularity not only to the longueurs of the pandemic, but also to its reemergence in pop culture—on the Netflix series Stranger Things , whose main characters play D&D in a basement; on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory ; or via the host of celebrities who display their love for the game online". Following an apology issued by Wizards of
12032-539: The Magic setting of Ravnica, which first appeared in 2005. It is a high-magic world with a loose Slavic flavor, and features a single city which spans the entire planet and is controlled by ten competing guilds of different ideologies. Wyatt was the lead designer on Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (2018) and he said that "this book is, essentially, Plane Shift: Ravnica". Theros is a setting inspired by Greek mythology and Roman mythology . The setting originated as part of
12220-481: The Old School Revival . This, in turn, inspired the creation of "retro-clones" , games that more closely recreate the original rule sets, using material placed under the OGL along with non-copyrightable mechanical aspects of the older rules to create a new presentation of the games. Alongside the publication of the 5th Edition, Wizards of the Coast established a two-pronged licensing approach. The core of
12408-824: The Open Game License (OGL) for use by other publishers. D&D 4th edition was released in June 2008. The 5th edition of D&D , the most recent, was released during the second half of 2014. In 2004, D&D remained the best-known, and best-selling, role-playing game in the US, with an estimated 20 million people having played the game and more than US$ 1 billion in book and equipment sales worldwide. The year 2017 had "the most number of players in its history—12 million to 15 million in North America alone". D&D 5th edition sales "were up 41 percent in 2017 from
12596-606: The Thousand and One Nights , with genies, elemental wizards, holy assassins, and a land unified by belief in the power of Fate. The land, named Zakhara, is located near the southern border of the continent of Faerûn, the main landmass of the Realms. However, Al-Qadim appeared under its own label, and not the Forgotten Realms label, unlike Kara-Tur and Maztica. This campaign setting is no longer officially supported, but it
12784-438: The d20 System . The 3rd Edition rules were designed to be internally consistent and less restrictive than previous editions of the game, allowing players more flexibility to create the characters they wanted to play. Skills and feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage further customization of characters. The new rules standardized the mechanics of action resolution and combat. In 2003, Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5
12972-452: The "core rulebooks", were released: the Player's Handbook (PHB), the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), and the Monster Manual (MM). Several supplementary books were published throughout the 1980s, notably Unearthed Arcana (1985), which included a large number of new rules. Confusing matters further, the original D&D boxed set remained in publication until 1979, since it remained
13160-471: The "default" setting for the 3rd edition of D&D , with deities from the setting being used as examples in the core rulebooks, and an organized play "living" campaign for the edition was set in Greyhawk. More recently, the 5th edition adventure book Ghosts of Saltmarsh is set in the Greyhawk setting. Jakandor , released in 1998, is a self-contained "campaign arena" conceived by Jeff Grubb . Jakandor
13348-439: The "loot" icon checked. Standard and hardcore characters play on separate online channels; as such a hardcore player can never appear in the same game session as a standard player. Diablo II uses a system of randomly generated equipment similar to the original Diablo , but more complicated. Weapons and armor are divided into several quality levels: normal, magical, set, rare, and unique. Normal quality items are base items with
13536-460: The 2024 core books are, uh, 'solid', according to the CEO, it's evident that Hasbro holds little faith in analog games clotting the money bleed elsewhere in the company's structure". Early in the game's history, TSR took no action against small publishers' production of D&D compatible material and even licensed Judges Guild to produce D&D materials for several years, such as City State of
13724-514: The 25 mm scale. Periodically, Dungeons & Dragons has returned to its wargaming roots with supplementary rules systems for miniatures-based wargaming. Supplements such as Battlesystem (1985 and 1989) and a new edition of Chainmail (2001) provided rule systems to handle battles between armies by using miniatures. An immediate predecessor of Dungeons & Dragons was a set of medieval miniature rules written by Jeff Perren . These were expanded by Gary Gygax , whose additions included
13912-472: The 3.5 rules was created for the organized play circuit. Maztica is a continent west of Faerûn that parallels Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica . In the fourth edition of D&D , Maztica was no longer on Toril , but was shifted to Abeir . The fifth edition of the game reinstated the 3rd edition geography. The Ghostwalk setting consists of a single campaign book. The central locale for the Ghostwalk setting
14100-502: The 5th Edition rules have been made available under the OGL, while publishers and independent creators have also been given the opportunity to create licensed materials directly for Dungeons & Dragons and associated properties like the Forgotten Realms under a program called the DM's Guild . The DM's Guild does not function under the OGL, but uses a community agreement intended to foster liberal cooperation among content creators. Wizards of
14288-461: The AD&;D rules: fear factor, luck points, and quick non-magical healing. Council of Wyrms is a D&D boxed set, published in 1994, that includes rules for playing dragon , half dragon, and dragon servant characters . It includes three rule books: one for the base rules, one for dragon family and clan histories, and one for adventure modules. In 1999 it was slightly revised and reprinted as
14476-553: The Coast Senior Communications Manager, confirmed that there would be more Dungeons & Dragons crossovers with Magic: The Gathering in the future, noting "there is a huge crossover between Magic players and D&D players" and since Wyatt has worked on both D&D and Magic , it is even more likely that there will be more crossovers. Dungeons %26 Dragons Dungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated as D&D or DnD )
14664-507: The Coast announced that it was working on a 5th edition of the game. The company planned to take suggestions from players and let them playtest the rules. Public playtesting began on May 24, 2012. At Gen Con 2012 in August, Mike Mearls , lead developer for 5th Edition, said that Wizards of the Coast had received feedback from more than 75,000 playtesters, but that the entire development process would take two years, adding, "I can't emphasize this enough ... we're very serious about taking
14852-790: The Coast for offensive and racist material included in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the announced revisions to the product in September 2022, Christopher Perkins – Wizards' game design architect – announced a new inclusion review process for the Dungeons & Dragons studio in November 2022. This process will now require "every word, illustration, and map" to be reviewed at several steps in development "by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication". The previous process only included cultural consultants at
15040-636: The Coast has started to release 5th Edition products that tie into other intellectual properties—such as Magic: The Gathering with the Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (2018) and Mythic Odysseys of Theros (2020) source books. Two 5th Edition starter box sets based on TV shows, Stranger Things and Rick and Morty , were released in 2019. Source books based on Dungeons & Dragons live play series have also been released: Acquisitions Incorporated (2019) and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020). Between November and December 2022, there
15228-584: The Coast's creative department, the Eberron campaign setting was released in 2004. Straying from the "standard" Western European flavor used in many other D&D settings such as Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms , Eberron takes place in a world of pulp action and fantasy noir with steampunk influences, where the inhabitants make extensive use of magic in place of technology, or technology powered by magical energies. Fantasy versions of steam trains, airships, and even robots are commonplace, mostly replacing
15416-575: The Coast, but Kenzer & Company continues to use this setting for its own Hackmaster game. TSR released a setting based on the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber . The corrupt city of Lankhmar on the planet Nehwon is the starting place of grand adventures filled with mystery and deceit. Though Lankhmar is no longer supported as a setting for Dungeons & Dragons , its rights are held by Goodman Games , who have released it as
15604-565: The Content Marketing Institute's 2019 award for best "In-Person (Event) Content Marketing Strategy". Dungeons & Dragons continued to have a strong presence on Twitch throughout 2019; this included a growing number of celebrity players and dungeon masters, such as Joe Manganiello , Deborah Ann Woll and Stephen Colbert . Wizards of the Coast has created, produced and sponsored multiple web series featuring Dungeons & Dragons . These shows have typically aired on
15792-559: The Dark Wanderer's journey as a drifter named Marius follows him. Marius, now in an asylum , narrates the events to a hooded visitor, whom he initially believes to be the Archangel Tyrael. The player realizes that the Dark Wanderer's mission is to reunite with the other prime evils, Baal and Mephisto. The story is divided up into four acts: In the epilogue, Marius indicates he was too weak to enter Hell, and that he fears
15980-462: The Endless Waste, which lies between Faerûn and Kara-Tur. The setting is modeled on medieval Mongolia ( A Guidebook to the Endless Waste , page 9). An oriental setting loosely based on mythical and medieval East and Southeast Asia , featuring advanced and mystical civilizations populated by martial warriors, samurais, ninjas, spirit folk and other fantastical creatures. It was introduced in
16168-400: The Forgotten Realms are not all ruled by the human race: the setting's planet, Abeir-Toril , is shared by humans , dwarves , elves , goblins , orcs, dragons and other peoples and creatures. Technologically, the world resembles pre-industrial Earth of the 13th or 14th century. However, the strong presence of magic provides an additional element of power to the societies. The main focus of
16356-419: The Forgotten Realms, which is also the setting of a large number of novels, featuring, among others, the popular characters Drizzt Do'Urden , Artemis Entreri , and Elminster . The Forgotten Realms are the default setting for most adventures released for the 5th edition of D&D , though the core rulebooks reference the wider multiverse. Al-Qadim is a setting inspired by Arabian mythology and in particular
16544-667: The Horadric Cube is used to combine two or more items to create a new item. For example, three identical lower-quality gems can be combined to create a single higher-quality gem, and three small rejuvenation potions can be combined to create a single, more powerful rejuvenation potion. Diablo II allows the player to choose between five different character classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Paladin. Each character has different strengths, weaknesses, and sets of skills to choose from, as well as varying beginning attributes. The maximum level that any character can obtain
16732-580: The Invincible Overlord . This attitude changed in the mid-1980s when TSR took legal action to try to prevent others from publishing compatible material. This angered many fans and led to resentment by the other gaming companies. Although TSR took legal action against several publishers in an attempt to restrict third-party usage, it never brought any court cases to completion, instead settling out of court in every instance. TSR itself ran afoul of intellectual property law in several cases. With
16920-516: The Lich King , World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Diablo III have since surpassed Diablo II ' s record to become fastest-selling computer games ever at their times of release, according to Blizzard. In the United States, PC Data tracked 308,923 sales for Diablo II during the June 25–July 1 period, including sales of its Collector's Edition. This drew revenues of $ 17.2 million. Domestic sales reached 790,285 units ($ 41.05 million) by
17108-534: The Netherdeep , includes some setting information; the adventure heads from Xhorhas to the city of Ank'Harel on the continent of Marquet. From there, players will be drawn into the Netherdeep – "a terrifying cross between the Far Realm and the deep ocean". The book is "the closest to cracking open Exandria's origins that Mercer has come to date. Call of the Netherdeep is steeped in the history of The Calamity,
17296-543: The OGL1.0a. Eric Goldberg reviewed Dungeons & Dragons in Ares Magazine #1 (March 1980), rating it a 6 out of 9, and commented that " Dungeons and Dragons is an impressive achievement based on the concept alone, and also must be credited with cementing the marriage between the fantasy genre and gaming." Eric Goldberg again reviewed Dungeons & Dragons in Ares Magazine #3 and commented that " D&D
17484-504: The Pandemonium Fortress after defeating Diablo, Tyrael opens a portal to send the adventurers to Arreat. Diablo II was announced by Blizzard in 1997, with a planned launch in the first quarter of 1998. According to designer and project lead Erich Schaefer, "Diablo II never had an official, complete design document... for the most part we just started making up new stuff." Lead developer David Brevik wanted to fix all of
17672-539: The Prime Evils after they were banished to the mortal realm by the Lesser Evils. With the corruption of Diablo's soulstone, the demon is able to control the Dark Wanderer and is attempting to free his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Baal, united with the mage Tal-Rasha, is imprisoned in a tomb near Lut Gholein. Mephisto is imprisoned in the eastern temple city of Kurast. As the story progresses, cut scenes show
17860-667: The Sanskrit Female 1 samples. The game was released in Collector's Edition format, containing bonus collector's material , a copy of the Diablo Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper campaign setting, and promotional movies for other Blizzard games. In 2000, the Diablo II: Exclusive Gift Set similarly contained exclusive collector's material and promotional videos, as well as a copy of
18048-521: The Ship! , Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing "The Fantasy Game", the game that became Dungeons & Dragons , with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax. The name was chosen by Gygax's two-year-old daughter Cindy; upon being presented with a number of choices of possible names, she exclaimed, "Oh Daddy, I like Dungeons & Dragons best!", although less prevalent versions of
18236-491: The Underdark (an underground realm dominated by evil elves), Maztica (inspired by pre-Columbian Mesoamerica), and Kara-Tur (based on the mythical Far East). For D&D's 4th edition, the setting was reworked: the timeline advanced into the future where a major cataclysm caused by a conflict amongst gods caused the previously divided worlds Abeir and Toril to collide with several geographical areas changing place. In 2014, with
18424-479: The Wizards of the Coast website, was promoted as a new role playing game, describing itself in its introduction as an " AD&D variant". With its debut near the end of the lifespan of second edition, the variant rules blended rules found in different editions. For example, the game used the monster template of second edition, but the armor class rules of third edition. The campaign setting, created by Chris Pramas ,
18612-494: The ability to redo skills and attributes). Not all patches have affected Diablo II directly, as several were designed to address aspects of the expansion to the game and had minimal effects on Diablo II . Diablo II takes place after the end of the previous game, Diablo , in the world of Sanctuary. In Diablo , an unnamed warrior defeated Diablo and attempted to contain the Lord of Terror's essence within his own body. Since then,
18800-569: The age range of 25–34 and 26% of players are aged 35+. In January 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that according to Liz Schuh, head of publishing and licensing for Dungeons & Dragons, "revenue was up 35% in 2020 compared with 2019, the seventh consecutive year of growth," and in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , "virtual play rose 86% [...] aided by online platforms such as Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds ". Sarah Parvini, for
18988-430: The basic game includes many rules and concepts which contradicted comparable ones in AD&D . John Eric Holmes , the editor of the basic game, preferred a lighter tone with more room for personal improvisation. AD&D , on the other hand, was designed to create a tighter, more structured game system than the loose framework of the original game. Between 1977 and 1979, three hardcover rulebooks, commonly referred to as
19176-465: The campaign is the region of Faerûn , the western part of a continent that was roughly modeled after the Eurasian continent on Earth. Faerûn was first detailed in the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set , published in 1987 by TSR , and contains rough analogues of mythical versions of European, African and Middle Eastern cultures, as well as regions dominated by non-human races. Other areas include
19364-470: The cards with details for each plane's lore; the Plane Shift releases were created to allow players to use those books as campaign setting guides by providing the necessary rule adaptations. Between 2016 and 2018, six "Plane Shift" articles were released: Amonkhet , Dominaria , Innistrad , Ixalan , Kaladesh , and Zendikar , along with an Ixalan-set adventure. Plane Shift: Innistrad was released as
19552-422: The continent of Tal'Dorei on Exandria, where the first Critical Role campaign with the adventuring group Vox Machina took place. One critic highlighted that this campaign has the "specific flavor of high fantasy drama" akin to the "Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms books". An updated edition, titled Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn (2022) from publisher Darrington Press , moves the timeline 20 years forward to
19740-467: The continent of Taladas, noted for having a large molten sea in its middle, and a nation of minotaurs modeled on the Roman Empire , with its own imperial family, senate, and gladiatorial games . In 2003, Wizards of the Coast held a contest for fans to propose the most creative new setting, the reward being a publishing contract. Keith Baker 's setting won, and with additional design by Wizards of
19928-680: The continent of Wildemount in Exandria, where the second Critical Role campaign takes place, and adds a new type of magic called dunamancy , which focuses on manipulating time and space. Wildemount was designed with an Eastern European influence – specifically, the Dwendalian Empire was inspired by 15th century Russia and Prussia, Xhorhas by 13th-century Romania, and the edges by 14th-century Spain. Critics have highlighted Wildemount specifically as breaking from traditional fantasy tropes. A second collaboration book, Critical Role: Call of
20116-406: The creation of the character skill tree. The team was given creative freedom to come up with further ideas, often spending time playing video games for inspiration, but this haphazard development path led to the game's delay. After missing a key deadline in 1998, Blizzard North entered crunch during 1999 to assure the game would release by 2000. Diablo II , despite having less than one percent of
20304-421: The details from a leaked full copy of the OGL 1.1 including updated terms such as no longer authorizing use of the OGL1.0. Codega highlighted that "if the original license is in fact no longer viable, every single licensed publisher will be affected by the new agreement. [...] The main takeaway from the leaked OGL 1.1 draft document is that WotC is keeping power close at hand". A week after the leak, Wizards issued
20492-415: The different editions. The original Dungeons & Dragons , now referred to as OD&D , is a small box set of three booklets published in 1974. With a very limited production budget of only $ 2000—with only $ 100 budgeted for artwork —it is amateurish in production and assumes the player is familiar with wargaming. Nevertheless, it grew rapidly in popularity, first among wargamers and then expanding to
20680-437: The discretion of the product lead for a project. All products being reprinted will also go through this new review process and be updated as needed. In September 2021, it was announced that a backwards compatible "evolution" of 5th edition would be released in 2024 to mark the 50th anniversary of the game. In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under
20868-430: The dominant race in most of known Athas, appear to be tougher than in other worlds; elves are nomadic desert dwellers and long-distance runners; halflings are depicted as savage jungle cannibals. These elements, combined with a post-apocalyptic desert setting and the alien feel of Athas' native cultures, give Dark Sun a unique flavor among the various D&D worlds. Wizards released several pen and paper adaptations of
21056-400: The end of October 2000, according to PC Data. Another $ 4.47 million were earned in the region by that date via sales of the Collector's Edition . Diablo II finished 2000 with 970,131 sales in the United States, for a gross of $ 48.2 million. Diablo II ' s success continued in 2001: from February to the first week of November, it totaled sales of 306,422 units in the United States. It
21244-507: The era of the second Critical Role campaign . Exandria was first mentioned in an official Wizards of the Coast publication in the adventure book Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019). In 2020, after Mercer had been working with Wizards of the Coast for about a year and a half on the project, Exandria officially became a part of Dungeons & Dragons through the release of the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount . This book focuses on
21432-464: The expansion would have brought in more elements of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game featuring elements like guild halls, what Brevik considered an "ARPG+MMO". Brevik said the expansion was shelved when most of the Blizzard North staff left the company around June 2003. The score was composed by Matt Uelmen and integrates creepy ambience with melodic pieces. The style of the score
21620-580: The first Diablo , whose levels consisted of descending deeper and deeper into a Gothic-themed dungeon and Hell, Diablo II ' s environments are much more varied. Act I is similar to the original Diablo ; the Rogue Encampment is a simple palisade fort, with plains and boreal forests making up the wilderness area, and the Monastery resembles the typical medieval fortress. Act II mimics Ancient Egypt 's desert and tombs; Lut Gholein resembles
21808-419: The first element of a two-pronged strategy that would divide D&D for nearly two decades. A Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set boxed edition was introduced that cleaned up the presentation of the essential rules, makes the system understandable to the general public, and was sold in a package that could be stocked in toy stores. Later in 1977, the first part of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D )
21996-429: The form of battles with " monsters " – a generic term used in D&D to describe potentially hostile beings such as animals, aberrant beings, or mythical creatures. In addition to jewels and gold coins, magic items form part of the treasure that the players often seek in a dungeon. Magic items are generally found in treasure hoards, or recovered from fallen opponents; sometimes, a powerful or important magic item
22184-493: The game (four Acts in the original or five Acts in the expansion) on a difficulty setting will open up the next level. On higher difficulties, monsters are more varied, stronger, and may be resistant or immune to an element or physical damage; experience is penalized on dying, and the player's resistances are handicapped. However, better items are rewarded to players as they go through higher difficulties. A character retains all abilities and items between difficulties and may return to
22372-437: The game (guitar, flute, oriental percussion), and electronic instruments also, making the tracks difficult for later live interpretations. While the player visits the town, the game recreates the peaceful atmosphere from the first Diablo game, so for that the theme from Act I called "Rogue" comes back with the same chords of the original piece, reproducing only a part of the original Diablo town theme. For Act II Mustafa Waiz,
22560-460: The game an 86 out of 100, IGN awarded the game an 8.3 out of 10, and GameSpot awarded the game an 8.5 out of 10. Greg Vederman reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation , rating it five stars out of five, and stated that " Diablo II is a must-have PC title. That's all there is to it." Diablo II earned GameSpot's 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of
22748-415: The game by giving "the busy gamer the chance to play D&D once a week as their schedules allow. In the past, D&D games could take months, even years, and players generally had to attend every session so that the story flow wasn't interrupted. With Encounters , players can come and go as they choose and new players can easily be integrated into the story continuity". On January 9, 2012, Wizards of
22936-459: The game can be played cooperatively (Players vs. Environment, PvE), groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills can finish some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing strong incentives for party-oriented character builds. Up to eight players can be in one game; they can either unite as a single party, play as individuals, or form multiple opposing parties. Experience gained, monsters' hit points and damage, and
23124-568: The game had been played by more than 20 million people. As many as six million people played the game in 2007. David M. Ewalt , in his book Of Dice and Men (2013), praised that the game allows for a personal fantastical experience and stated that "even though it's make-believe, the catharsis is real." Diablo II Diablo II is a 2000 action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows , Classic Mac OS , and OS X . The game, with its dark fantasy and horror themes,
23312-413: The game has offered differing methods of determining these scores. The player then chooses a species (such as a dwarf, elf, or human – called "race" prior to 5e 2024), a character class (such as a fighter, rogue, or wizard), an alignment (a moral and ethical outlook), and other features to round out the character's abilities and backstory, which have varied in nature through differing editions. During
23500-613: The game have been inspired by hundreds of individual works such as A. E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer", Coeurl (the Displacer Beast ), Lewis Carroll 's " Jabberwocky " ( vorpal sword) and the Book of Genesis (the clerical spell 'Blade Barrier' was inspired by the " flaming sword which turned every way" at the gates of Eden ). Dungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between
23688-434: The game is played, each PC changes over time and generally increases in capability. Characters gain (or sometimes lose) experience, skills and wealth, and may even alter their alignment or gain additional character classes, which is called "Multiclassing" . The key way characters progress is by earning experience points (XP), which happens when they defeat an enemy or accomplish a difficult task. Acquiring enough XP allows
23876-592: The game's cutscenes , and supports cross-progression between the different platforms. The remastered version supports online features for players within the same console family, but not local co-op. Cross-platform play was not available upon release, although there is a possibility of it being included in a future update. The game also features quality-of-life improvements that Blizzard can implement by taking advantage of modern computers and consoles, including support for controllers on all systems, easier means of item identification, and shared stashes of items between all of
24064-408: The game's success include its continuation of popular fantasy themes from the previous game and its access to Blizzard's free online play service, Battle.net . An expansion to the game, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction , was released in 2001. Diablo III , the sequel to Diablo II , was released on May 15, 2012. Diablo II: Resurrected , a remastered version of Diablo II which also includes
24252-465: The game's success. The cover art, designed by Gerald Brom , originally had a hole in the forehead of the character but the hole was hidden after Columbine High School massacre happened. Over 70 people worked on the game. A second expansion beyond Lord of Destruction had been in the design stages of development at Blizzard, according to David Brevik, but never reached the production stage. In addition to adding new classes, areas, monsters, and items,
24440-415: The game, players describe their PCs' intended actions to the DM, who then describes the result or response. Trivial actions, such as picking up a letter or opening an unlocked door, are usually automatically successful. The outcomes of more complex or risky actions, such as scaling a cliff or picking a lock, are determined by rolling dice. Different polyhedral dice are used for different actions. For example,
24628-400: The game, such as expansion rulebooks, pre-designed adventures, and various campaign settings . Before the game begins, each player creates their player character and records the details (described below) on a character sheet. First, a player determines their character's ability scores , which consist of Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Each edition of
24816-473: The game, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world, known as non-player characters (NPCs). The characters form a party and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve problems, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, player characters earn experience points (XP) to level up, and become increasingly powerful over
25004-408: The game. This activity is performed through the verbal impersonation of the characters by the players, while employing a variety of social and other useful cognitive skills, such as logic, basic mathematics, and imagination. A game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure , and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a " campaign ". The results of
25192-424: The hero has become corrupted by the demon's spirit, causing demons to enter the world around him and wreak havoc. A band of adventurers who pass through the Rogue Encampment hear these stories of destruction and attempt to find out the cause of the evil, starting with this corrupted "Dark Wanderer." As the story develops, the truth behind this corruption is revealed: the soulstones were originally intended to imprison
25380-474: The items are used to equip a character. It is unusual to encounter more than one item from a set in a single playthrough of the game, so collectors need to play the game many times to accumulate all items from a set or purchase them online from other players who possess them but do not need them. Additionally, items can possess sockets, which can be used to upgrade items by adding gems for various bonuses. Diablo II includes an item crafting system. An item called
25568-440: The launch of Dungeons & Dragons' s 3rd Edition , Wizards of the Coast made the d20 System available under the Open Game License (OGL) and d20 System trademark license . Under these licenses, authors were free to use the d20 System when writing games and game supplements. The OGL has allowed a wide range of unofficial commercial derivative work based on the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons to be produced since 2000; it
25756-423: The launch of the 5th edition, the world of Forgotten Realms was again returned to its previous, 3rd edition geography. This campaign is currently officially supported by Wizards of the Coast and over the years has expanded into a variety of other media, including literature, comics and video games. The highly successful Baldur's Gate , Icewind Dale , and Neverwinter Nights series of video games are based on
25944-475: The like, as well as the convention of diverse adventurers forming a group, draw comparisons to these works. The resemblance was even closer before the threat of copyright action from Tolkien Enterprises prompted the name changes of hobbit to 'halfling', ent to ' treant ', and balrog to ' balor '. For many years, Gygax played down the influence of Tolkien on the development of the game. However, in an interview in 2000, he acknowledged that Tolkien's work had
26132-555: The majority of spending is by Dungeon Masters who are only roughly 20% of the player base. Williams commented that the increased investment in digital will "unlock the type of recurrent spending you see in digital games". At the July 2024 Hasbro investor meeting, Cocks stated "that digital revenue on D&D Beyond 'accounts for over half' of" the total earnings from Dungeons & Dragons . Carter, now for Rascal , commented that "we know physical books sell poorly, and even if pre-orders for
26320-465: The mechanics. An accompanying Expert Set , originally written by David "Zeb" Cook , allows players to continue using the simpler ruleset beyond the early levels of play. In 1983, revisions of those sets by Frank Mentzer were released, revising the presentation of the rules to a more tutorial format. These were followed by Companion (1983), Master (1985), and Immortals (1986) sets. Each set covers game play for more powerful characters than
26508-408: The more structured, rules-heavy game system of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as AD&D ). AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, a new system was released as D&D 3rd edition, continuing the edition numbering from AD&D ; a revised version 3.5 was released in June 2003. These 3rd edition rules formed the basis of the d20 System , which is available under
26696-446: The most successful and critically acclaimed settings. Many campaign settings include standard sword and sorcery environments, while others borrow Asian, Central American, swashbuckling, horror and even space-travel themes. These are official D&D campaign settings that have been published or licensed by TSR or WotC. Theros and Ravnica originated in the Magic: The Gathering franchise, another property of WotC. A number of
26884-496: The multiverse [...]. Due to its relatively recent addition to the Magic: The Gathering universe, it's likely this Dungeons & Dragons adventure will significantly expand on the lore associated with the magic school". A preview of Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos was available on June 8, alongside the launch of new playtest content titled Unearthed Arcana – Mages of Strixhaven . In 2020, Greg Tito, Wizards of
27072-455: The number of items dropped are all increased as more players join a game, though not in a strictly proportional manner. Players are allowed to duel each other with all damage being reduced in player vs player (PvP). The bounty for a successful kill in PvP is a portion of the gold and the "ear" of the defeated player (with the previous owner's name and level at the time of the kill). The Ladder System
27260-591: The official Dungeons & Dragons Twitch and YouTube channels. In 2020, Wizards of the Coast announced that Dungeons & Dragons had its 6th annual year of growth in 2019 with a "300 percent increase in sales of their introductory box sets , as well as a 65% increase on sales in Europe, a rate which has more than quadrupled since 2014". In terms of player demographics in 2019, 39% of identified as female and 61% identified as male. 40% of players are considered Gen Z (24 years old or younger), 34% of players are in
27448-649: The official strategy guide. The 2000 released Diablo Gift Pack contained copies of Diablo and Diablo II , but no expansions. The 2001 Diablo: Battle Chest version contained copies of Diablo II , Diablo II: Lord of Destruction , the official strategy guide, and the original Diablo . Recently however , the Battle Chest edition no longer contains the original Diablo . Diablo II was released in Japan through Capcom. Blizzard continues to provide limited support for Diablo II , including occasional patches. Although
27636-519: The original Oriental Adventures rulebook published in the 1980s. It later became part of the Forgotten Realms and was eventually placed on the eastern edge of Toril. The lands of Kara-Tur are split between several peoples and kingdoms, the most powerful of which is Shou Lung, a sprawling empire (inspired by historical China) and arguably the largest nation in the Forgotten Realms. A lesser known setting located south of Shou Lung in Kara-Tur, Malatra
27824-481: The original Diablo , Diablo II was made specifically with online gaming in mind. Several spells (such as auras or war cries) multiply their effectiveness if they are cast within a party, and although dungeons still exist, they were largely replaced by open spaces. Battle.net is divided into "Open" and "Closed" realms. Single-player characters may be played on open realms; only Battle.net characters that are stored on Blizzard's servers may be played on closed realms as
28012-609: The original x86 version. On March 11, 2016, Blizzard released the 1.14a Patch, which added support for Windows 7 and newer, a macOS installer and support for OS X 10.10 and 10.11. Diablo II is not supported on macOS 10.15, due to Apple completely dropping compatibility with 32-bit binaries in this version. A remaster of the original and expansion, entitled Diablo II: Resurrected , was released in 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X and Series S , and Nintendo Switch . The remaster includes updated graphics, smoother gameplay and re-rendering of
28200-524: The original CD retail release worked on Windows 95 /98/Me/NT4SP5, the current version downloadable from Battle.net requires at least Windows 2000 / XP . Around 2008, the announcement of Diablo III renewed the interest in its predecessor and brought more attention to the many mods available for the game. In 2015, an unofficial port for the ARM architecture -based Pandora handheld became available by static recompilation and reverse engineering of
28388-419: The original code from Diablo and having much of its content and internal coding done from scratch, was seen by the testers as "more of the same." The game was meant to be released simultaneously both in North America and internationally. This allowed the marketing and PR department for Blizzard North to focus their efforts in building up excitement in players worldwide for the first week of sales, contributing to
28576-410: The original release of the game, hirelings would not follow the player through different Acts, nor be revived if killed. The expansion allows players to retain their mercenary throughout the entire game as well as equipping them with armor and weapons, plus hirelings gain experience and attributes like the player although their level cannot surpass that of their master character. Typically, players choose
28764-598: The other hand, are rarer and usually discriminated against, mainly because most of them are "defilers" who drain life force from the environment to power their magic. However, a small underground minority of magicians called "preservers" work to maintain life and ultimately restore the primeval lushness. Playable humanoid races in Athas include the Thri-Kreen (mantis people) and Half-Giants, as well as warped variants of races found in other conventional fantasy settings: humans,
28952-407: The other hand, beginning characters are without exception dull, virtually powerless, and so fragile" which was not encouraging for "newcomers." He also called the magic system "stupid" feeling that many of the spells were "redundant" and "the effects of the majority are hopelessly vague." He found essential elements such as saving throws, hit points, and experience points "undefined or poorly explained;
29140-630: The outstanding issues from the first Diablo , including improved multiplayer, more distinction between the character classes, and building the game more horizontally across a large virtual space of land rather than the vertical, multilevel dungeon of Diablo . The game was slated to have two years of development work, but it took Blizzard North over three years to finish. Part of this delay was attributed to Brevik's focus on gameplay from Ultima Online , and trying to improve on features from that game for Diablo . Brevik also brought in concepts from games like Civilization and Master of Orion , which led to
29328-653: The pacing of the second town. In all sequences of Act II with deserts and valleys, Arabic percussion sounds dominate. The composer was impressed by two of the Spectrasonics music libraries, Symphony of Voices and Heart of Asia . He used samples from Heart of Asia in the Harem piece from Act II. The "Crypt" track uses a sample from Symphony of Voices ; the choral phrase Miserere . Voice samples from Heart of Asia , Heart of Africa , and Symphony of Voices by Spectrasonics. The "Harem" track samples from Heart of Asia
29516-415: The party's choices and the overall storyline for the game are determined by the DM according to the rules of the game and the DM's interpretation of those rules. The DM selects and describes the various non-player characters (NPCs) that the party encounters, the settings in which these interactions occur, and the outcomes of those encounters based on the players' choices and actions. Encounters often take
29704-578: The phone to avoid singing and jubilating" over the game's commercial performance. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented Diablo II with a "Gold" award after three weeks of availability, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It maintained first place for July and rose to "Platinum" status (200,000 sales) by the end of the month. The game proceeded to place in Media Control's top 10 through October, peaking at #2 in August, and in
29892-428: The player may instead create a new PC to resume playing the game. A typical Dungeons & Dragons game consists of an "adventure", which is roughly equivalent to a single story or quest. The DM can either design an original adventure or follow one of the many premade adventures (also known as "modules") that have been published throughout the history of Dungeons & Dragons . Published adventures typically include
30080-477: The previous. The first four sets were compiled in 1991 as a single hardcover book, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia , which was released alongside a new introductory boxed set . Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition was published in 1989, again as three core rulebooks; the primary designer was David "Zeb" Cook. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium ,
30268-491: The ratio of substance to "holes" compares unfavorably with the head of a tennis racquet." He also noted the rules were "presented in the most illiterate display of poor grammar, misspellings, and typographical errors in professional wargaming." Despite all these issues, Freeman concluded, "As it was given birth, it is fascinating but misshapen; in its best incarnations, it's perhaps the most exciting and attractive specimen alive." The game had more than three million players around
30456-417: The season has ended. The game has been patched extensively; the precise number of patches is impossible to determine as Battle.net has the capability of making minor server-side patches to address urgent bugs. As of July 2016 , the game is in version 1.14d. Through the patch history, several exploits and bugs such as item duplication have been addressed, as well as major revamps to the game's balance (such as
30644-404: The series to be used some radically different elements than the guitars and choral sounds that dominate both the original Diablo and the opening quarter of Diablo II . The foundation of the "Toru" piece is found in exciting dynamics of a Chinese wind gong. The instrument radically changes color from a steady mysterious drone to a harsh, fearsome noise, which gives exotic feeling and at the same time
30832-531: The setting's scope and ambition and considered that it "may be the most widely played-in game setting in RPG history". The Forgotten Realms is a high fantasy world – magic is powerful, legendary monsters are commonplace, and gods often intervene directly in mortal affairs. Players can indulge in several types of fantasy adventures, from straightforward hack-and-slash treasure hunting in dungeons to epic campaigns involving regional wars, cataclysms and direct contact with gods and extra-dimensional beings. The lands of
31020-582: The settings here are no longer published or officially licensed, though all have active fan bases. A setting in which the players took on the powers of the divinely empowered rulers of nations, with emphasis on tactical gameplay with a broad scope. The original campaign setting played for D&D , created by Dave Arneson . Arneson created this setting for use in personal games with the Chainmail rules set in 1971, prior to Greyhawk and indeed Dungeons & Dragons itself. The D&D Blackmoor supplement
31208-459: The spell-using classes by adding abilities that could be used at will, per encounter, or per day. Likewise, non-magic-using classes were provided with parallel sets of options. Software tools, including player character and monster-building programs, became a major part of the game. This edition added the D&;D Encounters program; a weekly event held at local stores designed to draw players back to
31396-411: The stone's effects on him. He gives the soulstone to his visitor. The visitor reveals himself to actually be Baal, the last surviving Prime Evil now in possession of his own soulstone. He then kills Marius and sets the asylum on fire. The story continues with Act V, in the expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction where Baal attempts to corrupt the mythical Worldstone on Mount Arreat. Upon returning to
31584-504: The story gave credit to his then wife Mary Jo. Many Dungeons & Dragons elements appear in hobbies of the mid-to-late 20th century. For example, character-based role-playing can be seen in improvisational theater . Game-world simulations were well developed in wargaming. Fantasy milieux specifically designed for gaming could be seen in Glorantha 's board games, among others. Ultimately, however, Dungeons & Dragons represents
31772-549: The time we need to get this right." The release of the 5th Edition, coinciding with D&D ' s 40th anniversary, occurred in the second half of 2014. Since the release of 5th edition, dozens of Dungeons & Dragons books have been published including new rulebooks, campaign guides and adventure modules . 2017 had "the most number of players in its history—12 million to 15 million in North America alone". Mary Pilon, for Bloomberg , reported that sales of 5th edition Dungeon & Dragons "were up 41 percent in 2017 from
31960-689: The top 30 through December. By the end of 2000, roughly 350,000 units had been sold in the German market. Diablo II continued to chart in January 2001, with a placement of 24th, and its Limited Edition debuted in second place for February. That April, the VUD presented the game with a "Double-Platinum" certification, for 400,000 sales. This made it one of the region's best-selling computer games ever at that time. As of June 29, 2001, Diablo II has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Copies of Diablo: Battle Chest continue to be sold in retail stores, appearing on
32148-592: The traditional medieval trope of knights in shining armor. Originally created by Matthew Mercer for his personal campaigns in 2012, Exandria is the world where the Critical Role web series is set and is a high fantasy setting, which moves away from the "harmful tropes in D&D " around monstrous races. In 2017, Green Ronin Publishing released a setting book written by Mercer and James Haeck, Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting , which focused on
32336-720: The use of miniatures in a fashion similar to its direct precursors. The original D&D set of 1974 required the use of the Chainmail miniatures game for combat resolution. By the publication of the 1977 game editions, combat was mostly resolved verbally. Thus, miniatures were no longer required for gameplay, although some players continued to use them as a visual reference. In the 1970s, numerous companies began to sell miniature figures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons and similar games. Licensed miniature manufacturers who produced official figures include Grenadier Miniatures (1980–1983), Citadel Miniatures (1984–1986), Ral Partha , and TSR itself. Most of these miniatures used
32524-403: The verge of war. It is originally centered on the region of Flanaess, whose fictional history has parallels with that of ancient and medieval Europe – a powerful Oeridian Empire has pushed away barbarian tribes and has become a decadent, evil state, while smaller states, kingdoms and tribes compete for power amidst wildlands populated by monsters, magic and fantastical creatures. Greyhawk was also
32712-458: The world by 1981, and copies of the rules were selling at a rate of about 750,000 per year by 1984. Beginning with a French language edition in 1982, Dungeons & Dragons has been translated into many languages beyond the original English. By 1992, the game had been translated into 14 languages and sold over 2 million copies in 44 countries worldwide. By 2004, consumers had spent more than $ 1 billion on Dungeons & Dragons products and
32900-424: The year before, and soared another 52 percent in 2018, the game's biggest sales year yet". The game has been supplemented by many premade adventures , as well as commercial campaign settings suitable for use by regular gaming groups. D&D is known beyond the game itself for other D&D -branded products , references in popular culture , and some of the controversies that have surrounded it , particularly
33088-532: The year before, and soared another 52 percent in 2018, the game's biggest sales year yet. [...] In 2017, 9 million people watched others play D&D on Twitch , immersing themselves in the world of the game without ever having to pick up a die or cast a spell". In 2018, Wizards of the Coast organized a massive live-stream event, the Stream of Many Eyes, where ten live-streamed sessions of Dungeons & Dragons were performed on Twitch over three days. This event won
33276-661: The year. Diablo II was awarded with " PC Role-Playing Game of the Year ", "PC Game of the Year", and " Game of the Year " from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences during the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards . In August 2016, Diablo II placed 21st on Time 's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. It was placed at No. 8 on Game Informer' s "Top 100 RPGs Of All Time" list. On its debut day, Diablo II sold 184,000 units. The game's global sales reached 1 million copies after two weeks, and 2 million after one and
33464-451: Was conceptualized and designed by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer, who, with Max Schaefer, acted as project leads on the game. The producers were Matthew Householder and Bill Roper . The game was developed over a three-year period, with a crunch time of a year and a half. Set shortly after the events of Diablo , the player controls a new hero, attempting to stop the destruction unleashed by Diablo's return. The game's four acts feature
33652-666: Was derived from the novel Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson . A troll described in this work influenced the D&D definition of that monster. The Labyrinth of the Greek myth of the Minotaur has been seen as an inspiration for the game's use of dungeons as monster lairs. Other influences include the works of Robert E. Howard , Edgar Rice Burroughs , A. Merritt , H. P. Lovecraft , Fritz Leiber , L. Sprague de Camp , Fletcher Pratt , Roger Zelazny , and Michael Moorcock . Monsters, spells, and magic items used in
33840-497: Was first released. The success of the Dragonlance series encouraged role-playing game producers to invent and market additional fictional game worlds. Dragonlance is an epic fantasy campaign focused on a war between good and evil gods and the return of dragons after centuries of absence. It was created by Tracy Hickman and his wife Laura, with tie-in novels by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis . This box set introduced gamers to
34028-421: Was greatly expanded upon with many supplements throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the setting's concepts were based on ideas generated during Gary Gygax's D&D gaming sessions. Several characters in the setting were also based on characters created by Gygax's gaming partners. Oerth (the name of the world where Greyhawk campaigns take place) is a "standard" medieval fantasy world, similar in many ways to
34216-427: Was planned for January 1999 but not released. A campaign setting designed and produced by Kenzer & Company . The Kalamar setting focuses mainly on six human sub-races on the world of Tellene and its creators pride themselves on grounding the fantasy setting in 'reality' by taking advantage of realistic looking geography and political structures. This campaign setting is no longer officially supported by Wizards of
34404-640: Was published in 1975. In 2004, Blackmoor was again published by Arneson and Zeitgeist Games. It was also run as a massively multiplayer role-playing game, or MMRPG, a type of living campaign. In 1984, TSR released two AD&D Conan modules as licensed tie-ins with Conan the Destroyer (1984), the second Schwarzenegger film. CB1: Conan Unchained! is set in the Vilayet Sea. CB2: Conan Against Darkness! takes place in Aquilonia. In 1985, TSR released
34592-479: Was published, which brought together the various published rules, options and corrections, then expanded them into a definitive, unified game for hobbyist gamers. TSR marketed them as an introductory game for new players and a more complex game for experienced ones; the Basic Set directed players who exhausted the possibilities of that game to switch to the advanced rules. As a result of this parallel development,
34780-403: Was released as a revision of the 3rd Edition rules. This release incorporated hundreds of rule changes, mostly minor, and expanded the core rulebooks. In early 2005, Wizards of the Coast's R&D team started to develop Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, prompted mainly by the feedback obtained from the D&D playing community and a desire to make the game faster, more intuitive, and with
34968-509: Was released in May 2019. A campaign based on the Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons and Dragons comic book series was later released in November 2019. Alternatively, DMs may develop their own fictional worlds to use as campaign settings, either planning the adventure ahead or expanding on it as the players progress. The wargames from which Dungeons & Dragons evolved used miniature figures to represent combatants. D&D initially continued
35156-603: Was reported speculation that Wizards was planning on discontinuing the OGL for Dungeons & Dragons based on unconfirmed leaks. In response to the speculation, Wizards stated in November 2022: "We will continue to support the thousands of creators making third-party D&D content with the release of One D&D in 2024." Limited details on the update to the OGL, including the addition of revenue reporting and required royalties, were released by Wizards in December 2022. Linda Codega, for Io9 in January 2023, reported on
35344-403: Was ultimately the country's eighth best-selling computer title of 2001, with sales of 517,037 units and revenues of $ 19.3 million. Its lifetime domestic sales climbed to 1.7 million units, for $ 67.1 million in revenue, by August 2006. At this time, this led Edge to declare it the United States' second-largest computer game hit released since January 2000. It received a "Gold" sales award from
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