The genre of fantasy literature stems from the myths of our fathers. The marvelous creatures and strange sorceries of legend are part and parcel of that genre. Hardly anyone in the Western world has not been exposed to some element of fantasy, be it fairy tale, classical myth, or J.R.R. Tolkien’s estimable Lord of the Rings. There are many reasons for the widespread appeal of fantasy, the most compelling of which is its uncomplicated nature. Good and evil are readily distinguishable, and the hero invariably confronts the villain. It is all too easy to imagine oneself, clothed in exotic garb, wielding a magical sword, vanquishing the sinister sorcerer. Small wonder, then, that fantasy roleplaying games, which allow a person to play the part of that hero, are so popular today.
When you were a child, you probably played spontaneous, informal games in which you pretended to be a policeman, an Indian, a parent, or a pirate. You imagined what these mysterious and powerful people were capable of, and then you acted out scenes with your friends. There was no winner or loser, everybody won by getting the thrill of pretending to be another person. These games of “make-believe” had no real rules, no structure, and no equipment. They depended solely upon the imagination of the players to keep them lively and interesting.
Much of the wonderful, imaginative experience and free play of these childhood games can be found in their adult counterpart—roleplaying games. A roleplaying game is also one in which you pretend to be someone, but the ‘someone’ is very detailed in abilities, physical description, and nature. In fact, characters in roleplaying games are as detailed as the characters in a major novel. These characters inhabit a world, which is also very well described. In a fantasy roleplaying game, such as DragonQuest, the world is one of magic and monsters, quests and spells, and all the romantic color of an imaginary time and place reminiscent of early medieval Europe.
A live player plays each active character in the game. There are many other characters and monsters, all of whom are operated by the GM. The GM is a combination of referee, storyteller, and ‘hand of fate’. He keeps the story unfolding by telling the players what is happening and judging the results of any actions the players take. He has a very free hand to interpret the situation as he sees fit within the guidelines of the rules. The GM usually works from a prepared story synopsis called an adventure. This is the setting of the story and something of a general script outline for the course of the action. It also can contain maps and tables of information on the area and its inhabitants. This adventure is a tool for the GM and is not directly used by the players, although the players will actually create the detail and action of the story by the decisions they make as they participate in the adventure.
In a roleplaying session, the players (usually two to six people) sit around a table with the GM at the head. Sometimes the adventure can be played through in one sitting but, more typically, the players will meet a number of times to finish the adventure. Adventures can be strung together and players play the same character from game to game in a roleplaying campaign. Their characters will grow or diminish in strength, ability and wealth. Throughout the entire experience, the GM creates the world through which the characters travel, by interacting with and prompting the players.
There is also the fun of assuming the role of a powerful or outrageous character very different from your real-world self. The exhilarating experience of the power of one’s own imagination is terrifically entertaining and engrossing. Roleplaying is a very social experience as well. People can use their roleplaying identities to interact with one another in ways that are usually impossible. You can come to someone’s rescue. You can sell them the key to their quest—or you can sell them out! In particular, the GM has the chance to influence the very fate of the other players—how often do you get to tell a friend that he has found a fortune or been eaten by a dragon? The chance to be bold and brave without any real world consequence is one of the fascinations of roleplaying.
Fantasy roleplaying, as a way to spend one’s leisure time, has come of age in the last five years. Since the days when a small group of devoted die-hards first uncovered an enjoyable fantasy roleplaying game, the idea has attracted an ever-growing body of people whose divergent tastes demand innovative and original new works. Thus, enter DragonQuest.
Three general themes guided the design and development of DragonQuest and make this game different, and an improvement on other roleplaying games. First, DragonQuest was designed to impose as few artificial restrictions on the GM (GM) as possible. For example, a character is not limited to a particular group of abilities (known in the genre as a ‘character class’). A character class imposes certain arbitrary restrictions upon a character, forcing him or her into moulds, which have to fit, regardless of the inclination of the player. These classes came into being in other games as balancing tools, to make it just as advantageous to be a human fighter as to be a dwarven priest. In order for a character in a DragonQuest world to have as much freedom of choice as possible, anyone can be anything. Of course, the player who tries to have as versatile a character as possible will be correspondingly handicapped when he tries to rise in power. The important effect of this theme is that any character from the pages of fantasy literature can be re-created (in game terms) without causing aberrations in the game system.
Second, almost all creatures and magics are drawn from sources existing in myth, legend, or literature. We do not pretend that our fantastic inventions can compete with those reaching across the gulf of time to us, being the stuff of our heritage. Rather, we have attempted to imbue as much verisimilitude as we could, to allow those who play DragonQuest to live on a gaming table those worlds they have only been able to vicariously experience before. The fantasy of northern Europe is prevalent in these rules, because it is the common reference point shared by most of the people who will play DragonQuest. When a specific mythic creature or type of magic is reproduced, it is given all the characteristics ascribed to it in legend. When discussing the imaginary, brief mentions were often thought to be sufficient; in such cases, we try to explain as best we can. The few liberties taken were to fill the logical ‘holes’. Norse legend and the Lesser Key of Solomon (to name but two examples) are not entirely compatible. We have attempted to give the GM a solid base to which he may add his own or other cultures’ legends and magics.
A third concept in mind during the design process was to maintain the game’s flexibility, and allow the GM and players to expand on the original rules. The modular presentation of skills and magic colleges makes the introduction of new ideas easy; adding a new skill or college does not necessitate changing the original ones.
A point that should be emphasized is that printed rules are a framework for assuming the role of a person in a fantasy world, and cannot possibly cover every aspect of living. In every adventure, situations will arise in which the game master (GM) will be called upon to interpret or add to the rules. This may seem to be an obvious statement to those readers who are veteran roleplayers, but for those to whom this game is a first experience, it is a concept not to be glossed over.
While the rules as written are playable, they may not suit everyone’s taste. Some may be too complex, and some may not be complex enough (the desires of roleplayers are many and varied). The GM is empowered to change whatever he wishes (with the mutual consent of his players) in order to make the game more enjoyable for all concerned. In order to make these decisions fairly, he must know the entire body of rules thoroughly and have a keen sense as to what is good for his campaign. The first attribute can be easily attained; the second requires experience and an acute awareness of his players.
The GM must be fair and impartial at all times, and never lose sight of the fact that he is a referee. Within the framework of the rules, he objectively determines the results of the players’ actions. The players act out their part as if their characters actually existed in the world the GM has created. The GM is a master storyteller, a weaver of tales which deal with those themes aforementioned: fairy tale, myth, and fantasy. This job may, at first glance, seem both mammoth and unattractive. It is, however, one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences this author and many other individuals have ever found. While the players act out the parts of their characters, the GM gets to act out the parts of everyone else who inhabits his world—shopkeepers, evil wizards, dragons, and giants. Along with playing these parts, the GM is the referee of all the actions that occur; his impartiality is assured by the absence of a game persona directly identified with him.
It is strongly recommended that the GM and players have an adequate supply of ten-sided dice, which are used to resolve numerous game functions. These dice are readily available at game shops. If you have no suitable dice, a pack of common playing cards may be used. Extract and shuffle the Ace through 10 of both a red and a black suit and draw from these at random as required by the situation you are resolving (see rule 2.6).
Sometimes the rules will call for numbers to be rounded up or down to the nearest whole. Unless specifically stated otherwise, always round to the nearest whole number except in the case of exactly 0.5, in which case round up.