... There was one very consistent influence and theme on the early work of nearly everyone: Dungeons & Dragons. Not surprisingly, many of the people I corresponded with had been big fans of the game, and often had been drawn into design through it.

There were several factors at work here: the accessibility of the game, with very wide distribution and a low starting price (particularly compared to buying a computer!), a pathway to move from player to Dungeon Master (DM) using established modules and rules, to designer creating your own dungeons and rules, and plenty of pathways from there on toother RPG's including so many computer-based variants.

The scans of early attempts at designing via pen and paper are a nice touch; the article is chock full of interesting little tidbits. It doesn't seem terribly surprising that game designers would display a propensity for game design as youngsters — unlike, say, practicing medicine, making up games is a pretty normal part of childhood, even if the designers in Falstein's piece took it a lot further than average playground hijinks.

Design Language: Designer Derivations [Gamasutra]

Full size version is at the link.

TF2 - D&D Alignment Chart [Halolz]

What's left to answer is why'd we be so into doing a fantasy game. That's probably the same as everybody else: Tolkien, D&D, myths, and of course, the movie Beastmaster. (We like the part where the evil priest is like, "You'll be sacrificed to 'The God of AAaa,'" like they didn't even bother thinking of a name, just powering through on the power of their badassedness.) But there were all kinds of things like that. In the movies, books, the arcade, PC, consoles, we were surrounded by that sort of thing.

It's an interesting, if lengthy, interview and worth a read through. The community that's sprung up around the game is almost as interesting as the game itself, especially the bits and pieces that have become popular outside the Dwarf Fortress community.

The Making Of Dwarf Fortress [Gamasutra]

"Wizards of the Coast has created many of the most popular brands in roleplaying, trading card and tabletop strategy games" said Patrick Buckland, CEO for Stainless Games. "We're proud to be working with one of the most treasured IPs in the games field in a true partnership which will produce a real gaming revolution later next year."

Wizards of the Coast Announces Partnership With Stainless Games

December 3, 2007 (RENTON, Wash.) - Wizards of the Coast, the world leader in hobby gaming, and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today announced an agreement with leading UK video game developer Stainless Games to produce an exciting new online downloadable game.

"Wizards of the Coast has created many of the most popular brands in roleplaying, trading card and tabletop strategy games" said Patrick Buckland, CEO for Stainless Games. "We're proud to be working with one of the most treasured IPs in the games field in a true partnership which will produce a real gaming revolution later next year."

Details about the game will start to become available in early 2008.

Dice have been around for more than 5000 years and have been part of the popular roleplaying game, D&D since its inception more than 30 years ago (though current gamers likely use dice made from plastics rather than oxen ankle bones like early forms of dice).

Intentions aside, many of us older gamers carried bulging dice pouches long before we toted game controllers about. I'm sure more than a few table top D&D players first got into computer gaming thanks to games like SSI's gold box series of PC titles. Besides, as any RPG fan can tell you, dice make for some pretty excellent mini-games.

*hums patriotic music* This Tuesday, remember our numbered, geometrical friends the dice. Be they 4-sided, 6-sided, 20-sided, or even the ever-rolling 100-sided, gaming wouldn't be the same without them. *stares off into the sunset as an eagle lands on his shoulder*

The rights to said games were originally transferred back in 2001 when Infogrames purchased Hasbro Interactive, which gave them MicroProse, Games.com, and the Atari name in the first place. So basically Hasbro is buying back rights they sold in a package deal six years ago.

I am wondering if this means the Hasbro buyback titles will all be disappearing from Games.com now and possibly moved over to the new Gleemax strategy gaming site recently launched by the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast. Would certainly be a sound strategy for raising awareness of the fledgling gaming portal. We'll just have to wait and see.

New Strategic Agreement With Hasbro Concerning The Dungeons & Dragons Franchise

DIGITAL GAMING RIGHTS TO BE SOLD BACK TO HASBRO FOR 19.5 MILLION US DOLLARS

Lyon, France, July 18, 2007 - As part of the relaunch strategy announced by the Group on June 21 and the Group's plan to focus its investment on major franchises with significant potential, Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257) today announced the signing of a new agreement with Hasbro concerning:

- the extension until 2017 of the exploitation of the intellectual property rights to the Dungeons & Dragons universe, under an exclusive license covering all interactive formats, including online and wireless.

The agreement covers all current and future products that are part of this universe, including NeverWinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, etc.

Two new games have already been announced for fiscal 2007-2008: NeverWinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack for PC and Dungeons & Dragons Tactics for PSP.

- the purchase by Hasbro of digital gaming rights (online and wireless) to nine franchises (Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Game of Life, Clue, Yahtzee, Battleship, Boggle and Simon), for 19.5 million dollars (*). This sale will have no significant impact on revenue for the current fiscal year.

"This agreement represents a reaffirmation of our partnership with Hasbro. It is an important step in our business strategy that will allow us to keep and strengthen a franchise with significant potential, while giving the Group additional resources to invest in the relaunch of its publishing business. Dungeons & Dragons is one of the Group's historic intellectual properties on which we plan to expand our business, relying on one of the largest and most active gamer communities in the world of video games," commented Patrick Leleu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

(*) of which, 4 million dollars shall be paid to Atari Inc

They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games.

Current and returning players will also enjoy a +50% XP and +1 to loot all weekend long, as well as special live events.

Meanwhile all European players who left get a full 10 days reactivation, because a European is apparently worth roughly three North Americans. Michael Fahey

Welcome Back Weekend! [Dungeons & Dragons Online]

Talk about starting them out early! This little tyke doesn't stand a chance of ever growing up to be anything but a stellar nerd of the first order. All to the good I say, as we need to keep the rank and file up to snuff after all! Let's just hope that he/she hangs on to that 18 charisma. The shield with the two bunnies and the carrot is especially sweet, although I usually prefer my bunnies with larger fangs.

As much as I love this though, my vote for best baby shirt ever still goes to the one that says "Daddy drinks because I cry." Truer words were never spoken. Flynn De Marco

[via Aeropause]

In a bid to bring in more players to their sparsely populated and just as sparsely designed MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, Turbine's created a solo area for MMORPG gamers who prefer to play alone.

To which I ask: huh? I just don't get these people — the guys who base their decision on whether or not to buy an MMOG upon whether or not they can play the game solo. It's nice for MMOGs to be a bit solo friendly, allowing you to have some fun when you can't get a group or your buddies aren't around. But I know entire swathes of gamers who are perfectly happy to pay $15 a month so they can essentially play it like a single player game.

In addition to the new solo area, D&D Online is making the game easier: you can level with less experience. Considering many people are already very easily able to max their level in D&D Online's month free play time, this seems like a rather boneheaded move towards customer retainment. The game's failing because it needs more and better content, not because it's too hard. Florian Eckhardt

Dungeons & Dragons Online Adds Solo Play [1UP]

Anyway, sacked is probably too strong a word: Ferret Badouin has left the project for unstated reasons (which he hints may have something to do with an upcoming candidacy for President, although we're pretty sure he's a Frenchie).

It's usually bad news when a lead designer leaves this far into a project, but the good news is that J.E. Sawyer of Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2 is filling his position. At least JE knows RPGs. Quoth J.E...

Ferret did work at BIS on both Jefferson and Van Buren (The Black Hound and Fallout 3). On F3 he was designing the highly nutty (but cool) Brotherhood of Steel/Circle of Steel stuff.

I'm now the acting lead designer on NWN2.

J.E. Sawyer takes the helm of NWN2 in the interim [NWN2News]

Dungeons and Dragons, long the red-headed stepchild of gaming, has decided to finally fight against the hordes of massively multiplayer role playing games that must be taking a frost giant s bite out of their profits. Their first blow is a Morningstar to the codpiece in the form of a snarky anti-MMORPG advertisement. Here s the copy: If you're going to sit in your basement pretending to be an elf, you should at least have some friends over to help. The ad is topped with this nice new D&D slogan: Get together. Roll some Dice. Have Fun.

Anti-MMORPG Ads from D&D [Boing Boing]