Sages' Guild

When the world of Dungeons & Dragons was first created in 1974, it brought together disparate elements of gaming to create an entirely new experience. The real achievement was in coming up with a system that could continue to evolve with the players, allowing them to make up their own adventures as they leveled up. When creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson sat down to come up with the initial setting, though, they had several sources in mind. Some of them might surprise you.

• Improvisational theatre dating back to Italian commedia dell’arte served as an inspiration for the role-playing element of the game, in which players took on the persona of their own fantasy adventurer.
• Early 20^th-century wargaming was the first to simulate battle with rules that were published in “manuals,” such as Fred T. Jane’s Jane’s Fighting Ships (1905/6 ed.) or H.G. Wells’s Floor Games (1911). (read it All)

Forget Batman and Superman. Forget Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. In fact, forget anybody in a costume at all, because the characters of Knights of the Dinner Table can usually be found in T-shirts and jeans. Oh, and they’re not exactly heroesnot in real-life, anyway. Instead, they’re a special group devoted torole-playing games.The comic started as a strip in the Shadis gaming magazine in 1990, then moved to Dragon (an official D&D magazine) in 1996. The official comic book started that year as well, and is currently up to issue 166. Much of the humor and characterization will be familiar to Dungeons & Dragons players, although the main game in the comic is called HackMaster (an obvious pastiche). Unlike most representations, the gamers in the series are not stereotypical caricatures, but well-defined people who also represent different styles of playing (whether it’s “hack ‘n slash” or “powergaming”). The “antagonists” of the series are the Black Hands Gaming Society, a group of players who focus on killing off their traveling companions during adventures. (read it All)

Picture this. You’re playing Dungeons & Dragons with your friends, and one of them decides he wants to start talking about his “relationship problems.” Say what? This is D&D nightwhen all human troubles are forgotten, and only the game remains. But how do you politely put an end to his blubbering? You head to the stereo and put on Dungeons & Dragonsthe official soundtrack album by Midnight Syndicate.That’s right, Midnight Syndicate (a gothic ambient group headed by composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka) was requested by Wizards of the Coast to make the album in 2003. Although entirely ambient, the album’s a perfect fit for a night of adventuring. Earlier Midnight Syndicate albums were actually already popular among gaming groups. You can tell that a similar creative force is at workMidnight Syndicate’s 1998 album Born of the Night features track names like “Dark Tower,” “Masque of Sorrow,” and “Vampire’s Kiss.” (read it All)