A typical Dungeons & Dragons game consists of an "adventure", which is roughly equivalent to a single story. Adventures are usually designed by the Dungeon Master, but throughout the history of Dungeons & Dragons, numerous pre-made "adventures" or "modules" have been published. These modules allow DMs to run a game without needing to create their own adventures, and typically include a backstory, maps, and one or more objectives for players' characters to achieve. Some modules include illustrations or hand-outs to supplement the basic gaming experience.

A series of adventures played through by a common group of characters is commonly referred to as a "campaign". As a result, the fantasy settings in which D&D games take place are often known as "campaign settings". Like the individual adventures themselves, many Dungeon Masters create their own fantasy settings, but there are also many official campaign settings which can be purchased. These worlds range from magic-rich to magic-poor, from European medieval settings to east Asian realms, from sword and sorcery to swashbuckling adventure to futuristic or post-apocalyptic settings. A campaign may be site-based, event-based, or a combination of the two. For example, in a site-based campaign, the players might defend a town throughout a long war without ever leaving it. In an event-based campaign, the players might pursue and defeat a warmongering villain through several locations over a long period of time.

The wargames from which Dungeons & Dragons evolved used miniature figures to represent combatants. D&D continued the use of miniatures in a fashion similar to its direct precursor, Chainmail, with each figure representing a specific character or monster. While the original rules of D&D required the use of miniatures to resolve combat situations, the rules quickly evolved to a point where by the 1977 editions combat could be resolved verbally and miniatures were no longer required for gameplay. Although no longer required or assumed by the rules, some players continued to use them as a visual reference.

In the 1970s, numerous companies began to sell miniature figures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons and similar games. In 1977, the British manufacturer Miniature Figurines Limited became the first company to partner with TSR and release miniatures under the official "Dungeons and Dragons" label. * Other miniature manufacturers licenced who produced official figures include Citadel Miniatures (1984 - 1985) , Grenadier Miniatures and TSR themselves. Most of these miniatures used the 25 mm scale, though those for 1st Edition Battlesystem were 15 mm.

Periodically, Dungeons & Dragons returned to its wargaming roots with supplementary rules systems for miniatures-based wargaming. Supplements such as Battlesystem (1985 & 1989) and a new edition of Chainmail (2001) provided rule systems to handle battles between armies as miniature battles.

Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition (2000) assumes the use of miniatures to represent combat situations in play, an aspect of the game that was even more emphasized in the v3.5 revision. The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game (2003) which is sold as sets of plastic, randomly assorted, pre-painted miniatures, and can be used as either part of a standard Dungeons & Dragons game or as a stand-alone collectible miniatures game.

Dungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between the different editions.

The original Dungeons and Dragons was a box set published in 1974 with several supplements and magazine articles of official rules published over the next few years.


In 1977, TSR released two new versions of the game: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) and Dungeons & Dragons (sometimes called Basic D&D to distinguish it from AD&D, though TSR never used that term).

The version called Dungeons & Dragons (1977 - 1999) was, by virtue of being published as discrete sets with increasing complexity, was seen as "introductory" version of the AD&D. It actually was a similar complete game, and though often simpler than AD&D, this game in full included rule areas not in AD&D. In 1977 the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set was published as a boxed set. This set was revised in 1981, to coincide with the release of an Expert Set, and again in 1983 when the series was expanded to five boxed sets adding the Companion Rules, Master Rules, and Immortal Rules. The Dungeons & Dragons game was revised again in 1991, with a hardback book Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia consolidate all the core rules in a single volume, though several versions of intoductory boxed games were available through the 1990s.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (or AD&D) was a more complex version of the game in many ways, designed to collect, revise, and expand on the rules from the original version and its supplements. The AD&D game was not intended to be directly compatible with D&D and requires a bit of conversion to play between the rulesets. The term Advanced does not imply for higher level gamer abilities but the description of the more complex ruleset. Between 1977 and 1979, three hardcover rulebooks, commonly referred to as the "core rulebooks", were released: The Player's Handbook (PHB), the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), and the Monster Manual (MM). Several additional books were published throughout the 1980s, noteably Unearthed Arcana (1985) included a large number of new rules.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition (sometimes referred to as AD&D2 or 2nd Ed) was published in 1989, once again as three core rulebooks. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder which was later replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993. The release of AD&D2 also corresponded with an effort to remove aspects of the game which had attracted negative publicity. Removing references to demons and devils, suggestive artwork and playable “evil” character types like assassins and half-orcs from the core books. Aside from these changes, little changes were made to the rules except for the addition of nonweapon proficiencies (which originally appeared in 1st Edition supplements) and the division of spells into schools and spheres. In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as "optional core rulebooks". Although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition (in fact, the Player's Handbook contained a notice stating "this is not D&D 3rd edition"), this revision is seen by some fans as a distinct edition of the game and is sometimes referred to as AD&D 2.5.



Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (also referred to as D&D3 or 3E and not to be confused with the 1983 edition of the basic D&D game) was released in 2000 following three years of development which began when a near-bankrupt TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast in 1997. The 3rd Edition was the largest revision of the D&D rules to date, and also served as the basis for a broader roleplaying system designed around 20-sided dice, called the d20 System. The 3rd Edition rules were designed with the intention of making them more internally consistent and significantly less restrictive than previous editions of the game, allowing players much more flexibility in creating the characters they wanted to play. Skills and feats were introduced into the core rules to encourage players to further customize their characters. The new rules also standardized the mechanics of action resolution and combat.

Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 In 2003, the 3rd Edition rules were revised (also known as Revised 3rd Edition or D&D3.5). This release incorporated hundreds of rule changes (mostly minor) and expanded the core rulebooks.

A wide variety of optional supplements have been published for every edition of D&D. These supplements commonly include new rules, items, spells, and creatures. Other supplements include new adventures or detail entire fantasy worlds. The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons have won many Origins Awards, including All Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977, * Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989, * and Best Roleplaying Game of 2000 * for the three flagship editions of the game.

At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity for alleged promotion of such practices as devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder. These controversies led TSR to remove references to demons, devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D. In the 3rd Edition, some of the books that contained references to this type of material bore a "For Mature Audiences Only" label. The negative publicity only helped to increase D&D's popularity with younger audiences.

Dungeons & Dragons has also been the subject of unsubstantiated rumors regarding players having difficulty separating fantasy and reality, even leading to psychotic episodes. The most notable of these was the saga of James Dallas Egbert III, which was fictionalized in the novel Mazes and Monsters; the novel and especially the 1982 CBS made-for-TV movie adaptation helped fuel these rumors.

The game's commercial success led to lawsuits regarding distribution of royalties between the initial creators Gygax and Arneson. Gygax later became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR which culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.

Early in the game's history, TSR took no action against small publishers producing D&D compatible material. This attitude changed in the mid 1980's when TSR revoked even publishers they had officially licenced, such as Judges Guild, and took action to prevent others from publishing compatible material to a level that angered many fans. TSR itself also ran afoul of intellectual property law in several cases.