Dungeons and Dragons has been around for quite some time. Its original incarnation, Chainmail, was released in 1971. In 1974, the creators decided knights should be able to fight dragons, get their divine magic from somewhere, and build up a massive fanbase consisting of write-in magazines, books, novels, and entire worlds.
For anything to last as long as Dungeons and Dragons has, it has had to go through some serious changes in order to keep itself relevant. Gone are the days where the vast majority of people think D&D is an induction into a cult. Now, nerds everywhere can rejoice in their perfectly crafted characters, plots, worlds, and fantastical ideas without much scoffing from those around them (usually).
10 D&D Really Pushes For Customization
Even the core rulebooks try really hard to drive home that every game should be unique, adjusted, homebrewed, and made into something special. The rules are more like guidelines – a starting place. That has given D&D the flexibility to be whatever anyone needs it to be whenever they need it to be.
9 Releasing The D20 System As Public Use Was Brilliant
When 3e was released, it also released the vice grip on the d20 system. Many of the monsters also became public use, with few exceptions such as the Beholder. This made room for a whole swath of new systems including Pathfinder which really expanded the tabletop rpg world tenfold.
Players were suddenly encouraged not to make their own Dungeons and Dragons game, but to make a whole new game entirely. Everyone knows where it started, and people often pick and choose from other systems for their own gaming sessions.
8 5e Simplified Itself To Make Room For New Players
Fans will always have their favorite edition of a game and Dungeons and Dragons is no different. Older editions had confusing terminology and mechanics that had yet to be ironed out, 3e and 3.5e had a ton of supplemental materials that sometimes made new players overwhelmed, 4e was not much of a success due to trying to be too digital, and 5e got rid of a lot of the harder details in favor of simplicity.
No matter what, nobody can deny that 5e makes itself an amazing entry point into the tabletop RPG world and the d20 system as a whole. Some mechanics are much more streamlined, such as combat, and there is less of an urge to get a thousand supplemental things to memorize in order to appease that one megafan in the group.
7 The System Is Versatile Enough To Pick & Choose From Anything
The d20 system exploded once it was released for public use. Any game that uses the system can be thrown over to a D&D game with extreme ease, but they are not the only ones.Everything about the system is so very flexible that just about anything can fit into a campaign if a little elbow grease is put in.
Favorite movies, video games, and television shows are plot points in a world of imagination, all blending together in one fabulous display. The best part is that it's not even all that hard to do, with or without an established d20 system having already done most of the heavy work.
6 D&D Has Managed To Make Its Way Into The Mainstream
Due to shows like Stranger Things, Dungeons and Dragons has stopped being something for young boys to play in their parents' basement or for lonely souls to play in the back of a comic book store. Instead, it's become pretty common to throw parties, make special drinks, food, and even custom miniatures to use in-game.
Some people might scoff and still hold some old perceptions of the game, but that's normal for everything. The fact of the matter is that D&D is now firmly in pop culture, where it's likely to stay.
5 There Are Tons Of Free Resources
There are lots of great resources on the internet, including forums to chat with people to generate ideas, developers making map, world, and character generators, and sites to make custom dice, miniatures, tilesets, and other extras for the game. A good number of these are even free or have free resources that can go with them.
It's not just fandom work either. The official website always has links to downloadable character sheets and even has the 3e and 3.5e core rulebooks available as free pdfs. D&D has suddenly become a game where anyone can play regardless of how much money they can throw at it for pretty new things.
4 D&D Has Become Extremely Accessible
The loss of so many hobby stores has done little to curb the accessibility of the game. Libraries often have some of the books on their shelves or can order them through the interlibrary loan system, host D&D events, or will rent out rooms for people to borrow to play.
Additionally, all of the books are commonplace in bookstores. They also have their old core rulebooks available for free download and most libraries are free or low-cost too, so it's easier than ever to get ahold of at least the basic materials.
3 Required Materials Have Become Minimal
Dice, character sheets, and the core rulebooks are the only things actually needed in order to play D&D, and dice can be replaced with number generators. Minis and maps are nice, but not required to have a full experience.
Additionally, while there are a lot of supplemental guides— 3e and 3.5e were horrible about adding them— they are just that. Supplemental. No books are required beyond the core rulebooks, and even some of those can be fudged with clever use of the wiki.
2 There's A Whole Swath Of Optional Material
Supplemental material offer tons of new ideas, themes, and alternate rules to run throughout the session. They can spice up things that were relatively drab before or even let things get really in-depth for a more specialist run.
Additionally, there are tons of dungeon crawlers and premade campaigns to keep even the busiest DM on top of things. Some might need some fudging to really get it to fit in the setting and with the characters, but they are still awesome ways to get going.
1 Merchandise Has Really Amped Up
One way to keep up with the ever-changing trends of the world is to have loads of merchandise to appeal to the current fanbase. Dungeons and Dragons does this well. There's everything from fancy dice to silly shirts, to home décor, cookbooks, and everything in between.
Since a lot of their assets have been given to public use, fans can make merchandise too. That just gives the brand even more insight into what fans really want while also giving a whole lot of free advertising. Additionally, this also means that players can get a whole lot of fun stuff to really amp up their gameplay experience.