What Is Dungeons & Dragons?
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What Is Dungeons & Dragons? is a book by John Butterfield, Philip Parker and David Honigmann published by Penguin Books (UK) in 1982 that gives a detailed explanation of how to play the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
What Is Dungeons & Dragons? is a book that explains what Dungeons & Dragons is to people who have never played a role-playing game, and provides step-by-step instructions on how to play.[1] The book is divided into nine chapters:
- Basic overview of a role-playing game.
- How characters are created, in-game currency, languages, polyhedral dice, character alignment, equipment and encumbrance, and the basic settings of most adventures ("lairs, often hidden deep below ground, in labyrinthine complexes full of twisting corridors, secret passages, and nearly always, traps.")
- How to design a dungeon. The authors build an ancient underground temple called "Kollchap" from scratch.
- A walkthrough of the adventure Shrine of Kollchap, using the dungeon built in the previous chapter. This includes dialogue representing the interaction between players and the gamemaster, as well as gloss explaining which rules are being used at various points.
- How to be a Dungeon Master.
- Possible accessories, including metal miniatures, pre-generated adventures, and games magazines of the early 1980s.
- Role-playing using computers of the time.
- An overview of the various extensions to the rules of D&D such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal) rulebooks.
- Other role-playing games available in the early 1980s.
The book concludes with a list of publishers and model manufacturers, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index.[2]