TTRPG’s: Nerdy satan worshiping since 1974
Entry posted by newbloodmoon in Entertainment
293 views
In this blog entry I will be talking about tabletop role playing games or TTRPG’s for short. I will begin with the origin story and then branch out and highlight a variety of other ttrpg*s that grew from the roots of Dungeons and Dragons. So lets start with the old man yelling at clouds OG rpg, D&D.
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. It has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997 (wikipedia).
Wizards Of The Coast is getting ready to release the 6th edition of D&D and calling it D&D one. This may be confusing to someone looking in from outside the hobby so lets take a step back and look towards the beginning. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson came from a background of playing ‘table top’ war games using miniatures. Instead of using vast armies they wanted a game where someone could play a single hero that travels with other heroes.
The D&D setting was originally medieval low magic setting. Sure wizards could cast such classic spells as fire ball, lighting bolt, and even more powerful spells as they leveled up, But it was much more difficult as a wizard to survive long enough to get those spells. Characters, depending on their class (thief, wizard, fighter etc) leveled differently based the potential power your character would get higher up. Thieves leveled rather quickly as they didn’t cast magic and weren’t causing the raw damage with weapons like a fighter would.
As noted above they will be releasing the 6th edition, I believe next year after some play tests so lets talk a little about past editions and my experiences with them.
1st ed. I played a session in the late 70’s as a young lad and I remember getting killed as I was a squishy wizard with one spell a day that I could cast. I had either a dagger or wooden staff and 4hp. That means if I took 4 points of damage or more I was dead, I didn’t continue until much later as I was more willing to run around the cow pastures, woods, ponds, and other outdoor places instead.
2nd ed or AD&D (advanced dungeons and dragons) probably my favorite edition, still difficult, characters were still squishy etc but that was the system I played the most of and eventually became a Dungeon Master. There were a lot of splat books for this edition like the fighters guide, book of necromancers, a book (I forgot the title) were you got to play monsters, etc.
3rd-3.5 another fun edition that simplified some of the rulesets. Instead of Thac0 or to hit armor class zero where a -numberd armor class was a good thing, they made it to where the higher the positive number the harder it was to be hit. To be honest THAC0 wasn’t all that complicated. A ton of splat books had come with this addition and many of my co players transitioned to this edition.
4th edition. Can’t comment to much on this system. I had dropped D&D at this point as the rule set in my opinion was too much like an online mmorpg or massive multiplayer online role playing game. Think games like world of warcraft, eve, and other subscription based online rpg’s.
5th edition the current edition until it becomes one D&D in 2024. I have the core rule books, players guide, DMs guide, monster manual, and Xanathars guide to everything. Though I don’t play in or run this system it does have some good ideas that I can yank for my games.
D&D is extremely popular in todays pop culture largely due to the game being featured in Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things, and the game being played online by Critical Role who in their words are “nerdy voice actors” who happen to have a strong fanbase.
There have been many settings that were released during the ADnD era such as but not limited to the following.
1) Ravenloft - gothic horror with vampires, death knights, werewolves etc.
2) Dark Sun - Desolate desert dystopian world.
3) Spell Jammer - D&D in space
4) Oberron - steampunk setting with fighting metal automatons.
Now lets move on to other TTRPG’s with a slight description if I have one.
Pathfinder - often referred to as D&D 3.75 when the game used the OGL (open game license) to use the existing 3.5 rules to make their own game with the creation of D&D 4th ed. Pathfinder now has a second edition. This is my currently preferred system to use. High fantasy setting.
Gurps - The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting.
World Of Darkness - this is the game world for Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, and others. This system uses very little dice rolling and leans heavily in to the role playing aspects. So for those who want to play a vampire, werewolf, or even a hunter these games might be for you.
OSR - Old School Renaissance. A variety of games that harken back to early editions of D&D were the player characters still have a chance of being killed in the game.
Big Eye Small Mouth - create and play your own anime character.
How to play the game:
Depending on the system will depend which rule set you use but for the rest it’s rather similar.
GM/DM - The game (dungeon) master is the person who presents a variety of scenarios to the players. The players then decide how they wish to interact with that scenario. EG: the party is in a tavern after a long days travel, they’re hot and tired from their trip so they want to knock back a couple ales. While in the tavern they could ask about the other clientele about any rumors, monsters in the local area etc. One of the patrons is the town drunk who then tells the group of player characters (PC’s) to buzz off.
Player Characters- are the rest of the players in the group who play the games characters. They could be elves, dwarves, humans, half orcs, or whatever playable race that is allowed in the game. Now in the above scenario they could ignore the drunk, pay for his next drink just to shut him up and hope he calms down. Or they could tell the drunk to take a walk and sober up. Does a fight break out between the drunk and whomever told him to shut up? Does a bar brawl erupt only to be broken up by the city watch and the PC’s are held responsible for paying the damages or go to jail? Who knows, it’s only limited to the imagination of the players involved.
Satanic Panic:
During the early part of the 80’s the Satanic panic went in to full steam. The moral right warned the parents of America that their children were doomed to hell just by listening to rock and roll music as musicians were singing about sex, devil worship, and (gasp!) putting backwards messages in their music. One of the things that fell in to the devil gonna get your soul was of course D&D as your character might learn magic and fight monsters. This translated in to little Timmy and Tabitha becoming warlocks and witches that were summoming devils/demons through magic they learned by playing a tabletop game using their imagination. See chick tract below.
So here you have it, the gate has been opened, the path has been revealed. Do you resign your soul to hellfire and damnation or just enjoy a social storytelling game with friends and have a good time while putting the stresses of life off to the side for a few hours a week?
Here are some popular D&D as well as other TTRPG monsters.
Beholders (D&D)
Illithid (D&D)
Leshy (Pathfinder) 
Goblins (pathfinder version) 
Edited by newbloodmoon
2 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now