DnD is an overall title, which can be divided into several levels from the inside to the outside. A work may only use part of it, but this part may not be original or representative. There may be other similar relatives, or even imitation and learning opponents. Sometimes different works use different levels of DnD, and there is no direct connection between them in appearance.
The innermost layer of DnD is the core mathematical rules, which is "how the world works." This is actually something that "doesn't exist" for the game characters, but it is very important for the players. Is the basis for determining whether an action can be successful and what the effect is, inevitable or random? (For example, KOF's attack judgment is very strict, and Contra's enemies' bullet damage is also very certain - one shot kills one life).
In other words, it is the mathematical basis of this game world. The mathematical structure used by DnD is based on the random numbers generated by 7 (6 types) dice. The most important one is the 20-sided die, which is used for most "success rate tests" (mainly combat, because DnD is a role-playing game with mainly combat components, and most of the non-combat parts can be judged through common sense) . Whenever you attempt an action that has a certain chance of failure, roll a die (this reflects the uncertainty of the objective world) and add any relevant modifiers to the result (this reflects known abilities, skills, environment and other factors), compared with the target value (that is, difficulty, the probability of failure caused by various adverse factors). If the final result is equal to or greater than the target value, the action is completed successfully; otherwise, if the final result is less than the target value, the action fails.
This is also called the D20 system, which is the rule system with D20 as the core. The D20 system includes D12, D10 (2 dice, used for rolling percentages), D8, D6 and D4, a total of 7 dice, which can summarize almost all events in the entire world. Features of the D20 System also include a level-based HD/HP system, linear growth of character abilities, etc.
To be precise, the history of "D20 system" is not long, and it is much younger than the entire DnD. Until 1995, TSR's second edition of "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" (ADnD) was still Various dice are mixed, such as D100 for rogue skills, D10 for initiative, and non-combat proficiency only for levels without rolling dice, which is quite similar to a skill-based game system. The concept of D20 System was officially launched after the third edition of the rules. After WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) took over, it streamlined and refined the original overly complicated "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" to create a "Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition" that is relatively simpler and easier for novices to understand and accept. , the simplified D20 System gradually took shape. Then WOTC issued a series of related rules, including D20 starwar (D20 Star Wars), D20 anime (D20 animation hero), D20 modern (D20 modern), and also Open Game License (OGL, open game license), open authorization Use this D20 system for everything. Therefore, most unofficial DnD-like games are called so-and-so D20, such as COC D20. They are all legal publications authorized by WOTC to use the d20 system.
It can be seen that DnD (D20) is also constantly evolving in the process of evolution. From the early "Chain Armor" (the predecessor of DnD's combat rules) to the current version 3.5, the difference is indescribable. Not big. Games made using rules from different periods feel completely useless. But the core of DnD has not changed. It still determines the success or failure or effect of things through (a random number and several adjustment values), simulating several random components and adjustment values ??that exist due to uncertain factors in the real world.
Of course, this is still just the surface. The more core ones include those "invisible rules", often called the "XX system". For example, the attribute system divides the character's abilities into strength, There are several major attributes such as agility, physique, intelligence, perception, and charm; the career system has designed a unique ability promotion process for different professions such as warriors, mages, priests, and thieves; the skill system allows characters to have opportunities (obtaining/consuming skills) with their levels (point form
) gradually improve one's professional skills; the spell system stipulates strict casting processes, prerequisites and strange effects for the mage's arcane spells and the priest's divine spells; the turn-based combat system Give everyone the opportunity to take turns to perform their own actions (completely opposite to games such as CS "Counter-Strike", "Need for Speed", "StarCraft", etc., where reaction speed and key frequency determine the efficiency of actions), etc., transform this world What happens is carried out step by step according to a certain framework or process, classified into categories.
A person who is familiar with the DnD system can apply almost everything to D20. For example: "I push the door and enter the house". If the door is not locked, it will not be possible for normal people. If there is no difficulty at all, it can be directly judged as a success; if the door is stuck and requires some effort to succeed, it can be assumed that this is not too difficult. The difficulty of pushing the door is 5 (for ordinary people, a successful push) The chance is very high), then I can push it open in most cases, and occasionally I need to try twice more; if the door is locked, it is quite difficult to open the wooden door, and it can be assumed that the difficulty of doing so is 20 (unless ordinary people I am very lucky, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed
), then I may have to try many times, even with a run-up, before I can kick it open; if this is a stainless steel security door, the door lock is very strong, It must be opened with extremely clever techniques, so the difficulty is above 20, and only a professionally trained locksmith can do it. This is a typical "D20" process.
The principles for setting difficulty, how attributes work, and the manifestation of levels and abilities are all core calculation formulas that cannot be changed easily, as one move can affect the whole body.
Is the "Fallout" series also produced by Black Island Company DnD? Of course not. "Fallout" uses skill proficiency, which is a skills-based system
Skills base.
"DIABLO", right? Even less so. No matter in terms of attribute settings, career settings, offensive and defensive tests, combat processes, or even internal formula calculations, the "DIABLO" series is completely different from DnD.
The middle layer of DnD is various data and settings, that is, "there is something in this world." This thing that many players are most keen to study is actually just a compromise solution simulated based on core mathematical laws - this sentence is scary, in ordinary words, it is "game balance". The so-called data means mathematical quantification of everything in the world that may be used in the game. The damage of the long sword is 1~8, the damage of the great ax is 1~12, the damage of the fireball is 1~6 points per level, the hit rate of the warrior is improved after upgrading, etc., all belong to data. Data is the quantification of rules. When necessary, Adjust as needed. This is also a distinctive feature of DnD. "Dungeons and Dragons" is first and foremost a tabletop game. It must allow the host and players to have a calculation method that is recognized as relatively fair and can operate with only simple manual calculations. As a game, everything that may be used must be digitized in order to facilitate processing.
The digitalization process must take into account three aspects at the same time:
Authenticity, simulating a relatively real world can make it easier for new players to get started, and they can use common sense to judge most things. It can save more time and energy and invest in the real game process;
Gameplay, maintain a certain degree of balance in the game (relative balance is enough, DnD is not a purely competitive chess and card game after all) game), allowing players with different preferences to have fun, with a random component within a certain range, so that players can always expect the results;
Operationability, after all, the original intention of DnD is to It is designed for desktop games, unlike computer games that can hand over a large number of complex calculations to computers (but DnD’s random number architecture also provided extraordinary convenience for early computer game design, greatly promoting the development of DnD) .
"The probability of elite = (100*(ilvl-qlvl)/4 1)/100 * (the probability of 1-exceptional)" (one of the item generation formulas of "DIABLO II") to this extent The calculation process can be said to be a piece of cake in computer games, but if you ask the game host of a tabletop game to check the table for half a day and press the calculator for several minutes to distribute the loot of an encounter, he will definitely go crazy.
Many European, American and even Japanese games also use data similar to DnD. For example, the "Magic and Magic" series is full of 1D6, 1D8, etc., but these are only "part of the data" similar, unless you get Authorization, otherwise you will definitely have to pay for copying the entire set of data.
Settings include specific standards for quantifying things, specific abilities of planes, races, professions, spells, items, and even special things unique to this world, especially those that have been registered. Settings It is the embodiment of rules. For example, beholders and mind flayers are unique things that have been registered (in fact, so are 20-sided dice, but WOTC has opened up the "right to use" D20). You can't see these two things in the open D20 OGL. A monster exists.
You can use all or part of the content in D20 SRD (WOTC authorized public document) to construct your own game world, including dragons, orcs, fireballs, lightning and "Holy Avenger".
There are dragons and dungeons, but it may not be "Dungeons and Dragons"; there are goblins, dwarves and elves, and it may not be "Dungeons and Dragons"; there are warriors, mages, priests, thieves, thieves It can "backstab", and the mage must rest before preparing the spell of the day. It may not be "Dungeons and Dragons" - but if it includes beholders and mind flayers, you must be careful.
In order to solve its financial difficulties, TSR issued many licenses to other companies. For example, the beholder mentioned in this article first appeared in "Eye of the Eye", and you can also meet it in the "Invincible Heroes" series. The money was shared among everyone, and colleagues followed suit and published many third-party products. Typical examples include a series of gothic-style adventure settings produced by White Wolf. Seeing the success of DnD, some companies even directly imitated its design without permission. For example, the island country where Japanese pirates are entrenched has always been famous for its imitation and absorption. Anyway, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, no one can care about it.
Yes, even though it looks nothing like it, the arcade side-scrolling action game "Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows of Darkness" is indeed "Dungeons & Dragons". Did you ever play in an arcade when you were a kid? There are dwarf warriors, elf archers, human barbarians and red-robed wizards. During battle, a circular menu can be cut out with many options for changing weapons and spells. It can be said that at that era, "Dark Shadows" stood at the pinnacle of almost all action games and was one of the most dazzling stars, sweeping the Japanese and American (and Chinese) markets. Later, "Journey to the West" and "War of the Three Kingdoms" "200% copied from "Dark Shadows". Especially "War of the Three Kingdoms", it can be said that it is completely copied, even the special swords are exactly the same. The design of "Dark Shadows" has been inherited in one continuous line, and its shadow can be found in many details of the popular "Swallowing Heaven and Earth" (the one in which Guan Zhang, Zhao, Huang and Wei teamed up to defeat Cao Cao).
Unfortunately, although the race and monster settings can almost be copied, and many designs including mathematical foundations have traces of reference to DnD, the "EQ" and "Might and Magic" series are indeed not "Dungeons and Dragons" ". There is "D20 EQ", which is a "D20-based EQ setting". The D20 system is applied to the EQ and belongs to D20. Neither is "Rhodes Island". "Rhodes Island" (to be precise, the SW setting - "Sword world", not the SW of "Star War") is said to have two versions: D6 and D20. I The Japanese is not good enough, and the research on this is not deep, so it is no wonder that I am wrong.
What needs special mention is WOW ("World of Warcraft"). As one of the online games with a very similar world view setting to DnD, WOW has also launched a corresponding desktop role-playing game setting "DnD Warcraft" - this is the authorized "Dungeons and Dragons: "World of Warcraft""!
The outermost layer of DnD is the background of the story, which is "what happened in this world." By extension, it can also be considered a set of philosophy that includes the entire world, universe, heaven, earth, and everything in it. This is a very broad scope. To put it bluntly, this thing is packaging, packaging boring rules and settings into something beautiful and easy to sell.
From the formation of the heaven and earth and the universe, the birth of gods and ghosts, to the geographical and racial changes of the kingdom, humanities, society, technology and religion, to the wedding of a short GG and Paladin MM in front of the Knights Templar. A few pieces of cake were thrown in. These are all background settings and are the parts that fans talk about the most. Talk to a hardcore DnD fan about terms like "everything is three", "all things return", "bloody battle", "cataclysm", etc. They can tell you that there are no duplicates for three days and three nights.
This layer is basically a purely historical, religious and humanistic society, which can be completely separated from "games" and form its own unity in the form of novels, poems, paintings, animations, movies... etc. Speaking of which, I have to mention "The Lord of the Rings". The originator of the "imaginary fantasy world" is Mr. Tuo. This work he wrote has a profound influence on later generations of fantasy literature and fantasy games, and indirectly gave birth to the entertainment form of "role-playing games". And Ernest (Gary) Gygax and Dave Arneson, the creators of "Dungeons and Dragons", the ancestor of role-playing games, are said to dislike "Lord of the Rings" very much (?!), but the things they designed are more like "Lord of the Rings" than anyone else. "The Lord of the Rings" (!!!), so later generations have two sayings: "DnD originated from "Lord of the Rings"" and ""Lord of the Rings originated from DnD"" - strictly speaking, both are rumors. First, the grand setting of "Lord of the Rings" attracted war chess enthusiasts, making them dissatisfied with existing products; and "Dungeons and Dragons" came at the right time, proposing a new gameplay for war chess enthusiasts, and The skeleton of the war chess game is filled with the flesh and blood of fantasy adventure, satisfying the new needs of players who are never satisfied. One creates the market and the other occupies the market. It is like dry firewood meeting a fierce fire. No matter how unwilling it is, it must be burned together. In the end, it will always be compared with others. When talking about one, it is inevitable to think of the other.
Rules, setting and background, the three influence each other and complement each other. Generally speaking, the "core rules" we refer to include the first two, while the "campaign setting set" mainly includes the latter two. Various The expansion book also contains endless variant rules, career settings and legendary chronology. Just like building a church, rules are used as the foundation and pillars, the setting is carved beams and painted pillars, and the background is beautiful decoration.
In the evolution of DnD for more than thirty years, rules, settings and backgrounds have been constantly changed and combined, just like the mythical Hydra. ) are the same, growing on the same body, they can attack simultaneously, and they can fight independently. If one head is cut off here, two more will grow there. In response to market changes and investor intentions, DnD has spawned a variety of completely different products.
Don’t think that “Dungeons and Dragons” are all dice games. DnD includes things like Magic: The Gathering, side-scrolling action games from Capcom (famous for producing “Street Fighter”), and countless anime. Novels, movies, music, and even pure war games from Minitures are all under the DnD umbrella. DnD is very successful in some places (note: what is mentioned here is "commercial success", which is different from "artistic success"), such as tabletop games, animations, novels, action games, including golden boxes, and infinite engines. of these RPG games. But it failed in some areas, such as role-playing theory, which was criticized as "scum" - as a representative of "role-playing games", this is so ironic that people can't help but sigh.
In a narrow sense, DnD is a trademark, and it must be authorized, otherwise it is not. For example, the movie "Dragon" is completely incompatible with DnD regardless of the script, setting or actors (the male protagonist claims to know nothing about DnD). "Dungeons and Dragons" is indeed "Dungeons and Dragons"; in a broad sense, DnD is the pioneer of modern role-playing and has influenced the design ideas of an entire generation of gamers. It can be said that any RPG game can be found here to a greater or lesser extent. For example, the defense of Japanese games is usually represented by reducing the degree of damage received, while the defense of European and American games is usually represented by reducing the chance of injury. These can be traced back to DnD and even its predecessor "Chain Armor". To exaggerate a little, as long as it is a "role-playing game", even if you can't play it, you can call DnD "Master". This is due to the greatness of DnD and the way it continues to operate today. For example, the most obvious "dungeonization of stories", dungeons are the greatest invention, and their significance is no less than role-playing games. Without dungeons, there would be no RPG. The dungeon environment that places the greatest constraints on players allows players to have the greatest autonomy. This is a very genius creation. Modern games have basically followed this point, except for "Ultima" - "Ultima Online". Their ideal is for players to interact with their own thoughts/other players, rather than locking people in cells to do this. Do that. "Questification of stories" is obviously also a creation of DnD. Continuous stories are divided into different paragraphs and chapters, described in the form of quests.
As far as the game itself is concerned, the success of DnD is obvious to all. For example, dice games, several friends gathering together and eating together, and cosplay. These are all important parts of DnD, and some are even the first of their kind. In the field of computer games, DnD is a unique and powerful one, and one system dominates the world. This is different from ordinary "XX game sequels". After a player is familiar with one of the works, he can easily adapt to all other games using the same system (with completely different story backgrounds). This is a great benefit to both game designers and players. This is a huge benefit, as both parties don’t have to waste too much time exploring the rules of the system, and can instead focus on the playability of the game itself. For example, DnD's status in RPG games is equivalent to the 3D engine designed by ID soft, or even Microsoft's DirectX - any programmer understands how great and important the concept of "interface universalization" is. Qin Shihuang's "book" "Same article, same train, same track" is nothing more than that! DnD also paved the way for newcomers to RPG games - a way to design the world from the top down. The world of DnD includes physics, faith, and philosophy. It creates an entire "ready-to-use" world construction method from the heaven, earth, universe, gods, history, and humanities. The settings of the planes, the intervention of gods, the confrontation between good and evil, chaos and order, are all unique and thought-provoking. Thinkers throughout the ages can almost find their final destination among the 15 factions in Sigil City.
There are two common theories in the domestic fantasy circle: one is the "pan-DnD theory", no matter what RPG games or even fantasy literary works are based on DnD, there is a saying that "the world's martial arts originated from Shaolin" " means; the other is "DnD only theory", which believes that only DnD is the supreme elegant game, and strongly rejects other different game design concepts, especially "Legend" and "Kimchi".
Some people hold both views.
The seeds of DnD have produced good grain, such as "Baldur's Gate", and bad grain, such as "Pond of Light". Nothing in this world is immortal, and nothing remains unchanged. DnD has also failed, made mistakes, had all kinds of flaws, ups and downs, but now life is still okay. It is also moisturizing (WOTC’s business operation model is indispensable). DnD's design method is simple (don't be surprised, any RPG game is no less complex than DnD, the difference is that they are not open to players), exquisite and easy to expand, with a clear view of good and evil, a unique HD system, and many changes These are the advantages that have allowed it to stand firm after more than thirty years of ups and downs. DnD also has a lot of criticisms, such as who explains the "charm" of who is confused, such as super monsters of superheroes, veteran players more or less have their own variant rules, but we also often say In a sentence: "The authenticity of the system is directly proportional to the complexity of the rules and inversely proportional to the simplicity of operation." Things that have been tried and tested have their own rationality, and of course there is room for improvement.
What is DnD? At its core, it is a game engine that does not involve specific plots, programs, or art, nothing more. "Dungeons and Dragons" can even feature no dragons at all, and no dungeons at all. As for which car this engine is installed on and how fast it can drive, it is up to the car manufacturer and the driver.
In addition to games, DnD has contributed greatly to promoting the integration of different art forms. His official and unofficial fantasy literary works such as the "Dragonlance Chronicles" series and the Forgotten Realms ("Icewind Dale", "Dark Elf") series are widely circulated. There is currently an online PC game called "Dungeons and Dragons Online" (DDO for short), and players also call it "Dungeons and Dragons" for short.
Reference: /view/1954.htm Simply put, it is a game of throwing dice