‘Dungoons & Dragons’ is the Role game par excellenceand his reign has not turned off the least since 1974, when his most primitive version, still very little affordable because of his rules system, He saw the light. He still had decades ahead and much to evolve to become the accessible entertainment that moves millions of devotees from fantasy of all the world that is today.
In the Comic-with Malaga We have had the opportunity to listen to Jeremy Crawford, one of the architects of the fifth edition of the game. It is considered the most modern and affordable: its way of simplifying the classic rules without losing all the richness and complexity that had made ‘D&D This was told by Crawford, a recognized game enthusiast who is also a precise analyst of everything that is attractive to the franchise.
The fifth edition broke sales records from its departure, with 3 million copies sold (“It is the first edition of D&D whose sales have not stopped increasing”), But what factors contributed to this unprecedented success? A good part of this is attributed to the explosion of online retransmissions of items, As we count at the time: “Thanks to the fundamental role of Dimension 20 And many other live games programs, now just enter YouTube, Twitch or other services to see how the game is. You can see how fun it is. You can see that it is not as intimidating as it might seem by the extensive regulation “
An important part of this growth is also due to the “analog” part of that diffusion: players shared their enthusiasm for the game with friends and family, inviting them to try it. This made, despite having half a century old, the game was new to many people: “Much of what happened is that you started telling your friends. You started inviting your family,” says Crawford. This emotional connection contributed to the sustained increase in sales, a phenomenon that unusual in previous editions, which normally experienced a decrease after launch.
Recommended readings
However, all this does not start from the void. There are some previous and foundational elements that had to study before getting to work. Crawford told us that his team “not only studied the previous editions, but that we immerse ourselves in the books that inspired the original games (Elric’s novels, ‘The Lord of the Rings0, HP Lovecraft and Conan stories …) to understand firsthand on what the original D&D creators were based.” Much of that material was “included in the list of readings that Gary Gygax provided in the first edition of the Dungeon Master guide”
To this is added that Crawford feels “a deep love for ancient mythology and world history.” This personal interest, together with their trips through Europe and the reading of ancient books about occultism and history, constitutes “a large part of my inspiration when working in any fantastic world.” The objective is to understand “how people thought in the past and then transfer that to the worlds we create, the adventures we design, and incorporate part of that inspiration.” This approach guarantees a large range of options for players, by “resorting to as many sources of inspiration as possible.”
Finally, Crawford detailed some steps that had followed to determine which elements of ‘d & d’ conserve and which to let them evolve during the design of the fifth edition: one of the things is “play a lot. There is nothing to play your own game as a designer. And in the case of ‘D & D’, also being the Dungeon Master. “And there is the key to the contagious enthusiasm that Crawford communicated to the audience.
Crawford told the public that “any of you who is a game director in ‘D&D’ or other role -playing game, is a game designer. Because being a game designer means creating experiences for other people to enjoy, which is exactly what a master’s degree does.” And he concluded: “Every time someone asks me: ‘What should I do to be a game designer?’ I often say that you have to be a game director, because it is experienced in real time how people respond to what one has created. And also how people usually do what they want in response to what one has created”
And that was a bit the summary of what Crawford injected to the fifth edition: all the attendees were designers of the game because to start, the designers of the game were also players. That was the key to an impulse for ‘Dungoons & Dragons’ in its fifth edition and today survives.
Header | Gian-Luca Riner in Unspash
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings