In the 1970's and 80's, TSR Hobbies became remarkably popular with the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) role playing games. No board. Dungeon Master. How many types of multi-sided dice?

Formulating/developing a character: Species, Character Type (magician, cleric, warrior, etc.), Skill levels, Abilities, Charisma, etc.

It took over a lot of high school/college campuses for a while. Scary!

*ahem* It still is and does, the Fundamentalists have just decided to target Harry Potter instead. In fact D&D has never been more popular several celeberities have even admitted to playing the game when the 30th anniversary of the game was celebrated a few years ago, actors including Vin Diesal and Micheal Myers are both advid gamers.

Just because it's not in the spotlight of attacks by those who feel the game is evil doesn't mean it's gone. It's in fact in it's 4th edition now in about a years time.

Oh yes ... and there are so many others out there too. My husband and his mates have gone through Rolemaster, AD&D and Warhammer roleplays all in the last year. They've been gaming since they were teens so I don't see it stopping any time soon.

30 years? Really? It must have been relatively new when my brothers tried to get me into it when we were about 10 then. Too many rules for me I'm afraid, but so many of my friends enjoyed it (and many still do)

Also, lots of role-playing games have gone online and virtual.

I remember the hysteria over D&D. OMG--it causes kids to kill themselves!!! I remember, too a really stupid tv-movie with Tom Hanks :: pauses to visit imdb :: yes, here it is: Mazes and Monsters.

I actually didn't knew this tv series I loved as a kid -I fell in love with the acrobat girl with the bikini- were actually based on a game! Altough I have never played it myself... my only contact with D&D has been the videogame Baldur's Gate.

Oh, my. I remember this very well! All the kids in our neighborhood once had a game that lasted months. There was one boy who was so into it that by the 9th grade we were seriously worried about him.

Dungeons & Dragons was so cool back in the seventies. I never got into it as much as my friends but the merchandise( like coloring books) were great. Have a few friends who are still into it. Shard mentioned the naysayers- yeah we were all suppose to go crazy and need to be exoercised after. The funny thing is things like Oija boards and Richard Pryor albums were supposed to be bad for us, honestly I think that just adds to the popularity of it.

My husband and I both played D and D back in the day. Lots of fun! We also bought some of the manuals and introduced our kids to the game. They absolutely love it and have begun nagging us again for another round. Probably have to wait for Christmas vacation, though...

If you think about it, isn't D and D a forerunner to the RPG computer games. The DM is essentially the game designer; the dice are the variables the computer is calculating, and you don't see.

I prefer the old fashioned D and D game. If I play a computer game, it doesn't tend to be a RPG. More imagination is involved in D and D.

I agree D&D is certainly the forerunner of modern Video and Console RPG's. It's nice to see that D&D is getting bashed anymore, it is just a fun game to play a character in.

When I was back in college four/five years ago, we played a lot of White Wolf games, like Vampire. The cool part about that was in addition to a table top version like D&D, there is a live action RPG, which for us averaged around 30-40 participants a night. We met once a month, it was a ton of fun, and much more character driven than D&D, since there was more in character conversation and acting involved. There is a national network, here is the link.

http://www.owbn.org/

Oh-ho! A younster! In my day, Bill-the-Cat and Opus were running for President/VP (1984). TSR had already been around for quite some time, by then. If you had a good DM, the books were helpful but not essential. Choose your character(s) wisely. Don't act too much on impulse. And most important: Don't get "distraught" if something happens to your warrior, elf, etc.

Remember the Balrog? Ooooooo. +1 silver arrow, +2 sword, Sorry, halflings don't get a long sword or a 2-handed axe. Teasure!! Rings? Cursed things. And then the books, and books, and books. (Monster Manuals)

How do you kill a goblin? hobgoblin? orc? troll? vampire? Now be careful, 2 against 1 may lose a third character in the end.

Wow, it's been a long time!

I can't believe i'm the only person up to date in both Potterverse and D&D...
You can learn how up to date the game remains in this site.

I think it would be a good time to gear this to what parallels can be drawn from D&D. It's a rather broad source however one thing that interested me is the fact that Horcruxes are based on a similar concept in D&D. That of the Lich and it's Phylactery, it acts as a container for the Liche's soul.

I would be interested to know how JKR's descriptions of Trolls might compare to those found in D&D. Conversely, is there any similarity between HP goblins and goblin descriptions in D&D?? As well, is there any structure of government in D&D that might compare with the Ministry of Magic? Finally, the themes of HP (tolerance, etc.), are they as clearly defined, exemplified in the D&D role play?

[Reason for Edit - Added information]

Regarding the Basilisk (CoS), this monster in HP is a serpent, a very large, very long snake with the ability to kill by direct eye contact. According to Wikipedia, the Basilisk of D&D, however, is a giant lizard with numerous legs. What's more, the Basilisks of myth are a hybrid of a serpent and bird.

So what does JKR do with the feet? And why?

You know, the guy who developed D&D just died this week. I believe he died of cancer. In an interview, his friend said that he always welcomed any fans who stopped by, and invited them in to play.

I sort of forgot how much I liked playing D&D when I was in college. I guess it was a good precursor to Potter

I've seen pictures of basilisks with two legs and none, but never with numerous. Exactly what a basilisk looks like depends on your source, and you can, like Jo, put your own twist on them. Just as she's done with every other legendary creature in the books. Or, indeed, the Hero's Journey.

It was a sad day when we lost Gary Gygax.

That is the beauty of Mythology being used in modern literature, that many authors can and do make their own changes to fit their stories. Or even their own interpretation of that.

The Goblins and Trolls are as different as they can be. In HP they are huge, low intelligent brutes. It DnD they are not as large, skinny and can regenerate and in Tolkien's universe they are huge and can be turned to stone by sunlight.

Did anyone else notice the connection between Liches and their Phylatry's and the Horcruxes? I fouind that very interesting.

Yes, i did... ;)

Glad I wasn't the only one! Also I think the Thestrals are like the Nightmares, only no fire but they are both connected to Death and the afterlife it seems.

I'm glad too. The collective unconcious seems to take some intersections between the different fantastic worlds of literature & tradition.

If only Harry had it that easy.

::Clears Throat:: It is now time for me to put in my Geek Cap.

I have been playing D&D since I was 16 (12 years now) and still play. I ran a LARP (Live Action Role Play) at NIU in Dekalb untill medical reasons made me quit early last summer. I still play D&D and several other games. My friends and I (of which I am currently the youngest at 28) actually set up a schedule so we can all play.


My Gaming Schedule:

Every other Friday Vampire the Masquerade LARP
Opposite Saturdays: D&D
Sundays after D&D: Star Wars, soon to be Hallow Earth

My Friends (and not myself) are an Exalted game (by the makers of Vampire) another Vampire LARP, another Star Wars game (different system).

WE also play (time permitting): Rifts, Star Trek, Stargate (well, they do), Big Eyes Small Mouth (Anime RPG), Spycraft, D20 Modern, and Shadowrun.

What amazes me is the differences in common creatures even amongst these games. Dragons in Paladium/Rifts are distinctly different (but no less Powerful) than D&D Dragons, which are different from 1st Edition and 2nd Edition D&D DRagons. Other than the Fire and on occasion color, they also have very little in common to JKR's dragons, especially since in D&D the dragons breath weapon is different depending on the TYPE of dragon.


And I won't even get into Neverwinter Nights (NWN) which is a D&D video game for the computer. ( and my new addiction )


BTW if you ever want to see where all us D&D Geeks converge once a year, go Here: www.gencon.com It is an Awsome gaming convention, though someone needs to work on money management. It just filed Chapter 13.

And any of us closet gamers want to see something hilarious then check out www.deadgentlemen.com and take a look at the trailer for their film the Gamers. I have never laughed so hard (untill I saw the sequel). The characters are charactures but you swear you know 'someone just like him'.

I love this game. Me and my friends get together and play. it use to be 2 or 4 times a week but since i moved now its only once or twice a month. But its still a great game to use your imagination. I would rather play with books and dice though and not the online version. I actually even created my own version of Character Sheets. They aren't as cluttered and easier to use bigger boxes and what not. Everyone I've let use them seem to like them better than the ones you get in the book.

Ilzairspar: I tried LARP once or twice when I was about 16 and I didn't really like it that much. maybe its because there were too many people there and I couldn't keep up with what was going on but I just couldn't get into it.

Yeah like Goblins in DND are nothing like the ones Jo uses. Though I swear there are some Dwarves in the DND fantasy worlds that act like the Goblins Jo used.

I love the Deadgentleman's movies those are hilarious all right.

What class/race/alignment would you assign to the HP characters? I've been having fun creating a HP party for my Icewind Dale games.

Harry -> Paladin Half-Elf (Lawful Good)
Ron -> Ranger Elven (Neutral Good)
Hermione -> Human Single Class Mage (Neutral Good)
Neville -> Elven Druid (Lawful Good)
Ginny -> Elven fighter/thief (Chaotic Good)
Luna -> Cleric (Chaotic/Neutral)

Starting with what I feel is the easier character assignment I think Luna is Chaotic, she doesn't care for any rules or laws. She is constantly following her own drummer with little regard to the "norm". Now Luna is a good person but sometimes I think she is a little distant on certain things. You never for example see her get angry not like rest I listed. She doesn't get outraged at mistreatment of House elves and I think some have this idea that "neutral" means one step from "evil" and I think that is wrong. It is more that a Neutral person will judge first before acting. She truly can be random at times.

Ginny I think has taken after the Twins in many regards so she has some thief like ways along with her strong fighting spirit. She's definatly willing to breaks rules and go on a crusade if she has to.

Neville is such a nature boy he has to be a Druid. ;-) He seems to really try to respect the rules so to me he seems a more Lawful person then the rest.

Hermione has got to be the single class Mage, they do need one afterall. I would say in her first two years she was Lawful Good but after Lockhart AND Umbridge I think she became Neutral Good.

Ron I made a Ranger for his affinity with animals and since he and Ginny and Neville are pure blood I made them elves, that is the only way to dual class Ginny.

Harry I made Paladin, I know he goes against the rules but only when he feels they are unjust or for the greater good.

Well now that I have revealed what a nerdy geek I am, I shall retreat to my closet to hide.

I rather see Luna playing as a gnome bard... ;)

Harry could hardly play as a paladin. He'll just amplify his own releckness personality.

Luna has a bard has some good points. I was just thinking of party balance. I just felt she had a special connection or understanding of death and perhaps could be a good healer type person.

I played D&D a lot in the early 80's. Then we all started getting married, and the real role-playing games took over. I also played Blizzard's Diablo series on the computer.